N&G Desert Island Discs

[Selaws]

I thought this could be a fun idea for a thread. For those of you that are unfamiliar, for the past 77 years the BBC have programmed a weekly radio show called 'Desert Island Discs'. The premise is that the guest chooses 8 of their favourite recordings, a book, and a luxury item which they would take with them if they were to be stranded on a desert island. The guest usually explains the reasoning for each pick, before ultimately cutting the 8 tracks down to just 1.

As an example, here is the latest show with Thom Yorke

Im going to collate mine today and get back to you all. In the mean time, feel free to make the selection yourself!

 

[Joe Mac]

I thought this could be a fun idea for a thread. For those of you that are unfamiliar, for the past 77 years the BBC have programmed a weekly radio show called 'Desert Island Discs'. The premise is that the guest chooses 8 of their favourite recordings, a book, and a luxury item which they would take with them if they were to be stranded on a desert island. The guest usually explains the reasoning for each pick, before ultimately cutting the 8 tracks down to just 1.

As an example, here is the latest show with Thom Yorke

Im going to collate mine today and get back to you all. In the mean time, feel free to make the selection yourself!

Great idea! I love Desert Island Discs! It’s going to be tricky to narrow it down to 8 songs though, never mind just picking the 1 to save from the waves...

 

[Poly-Rythmo]

I thought this could be a fun idea for a thread. For those of you that are unfamiliar, for the past 77 years the BBC have programmed a weekly radio show called 'Desert Island Discs'. The premise is that the guest chooses 8 of their favourite recordings, a book, and a luxury item which they would take with them if they were to be stranded on a desert island. The guest usually explains the reasoning for each pick, before ultimately cutting the 8 tracks down to just 1.

As an example, here is the latest show with Thom Yorke

Im going to collate mine today and get back to you all. In the mean time, feel free to make the selection yourself!

Ooo, I've always thought about trying to do this. Nice idea.

 

[Selaws]

Great idea! I love Desert Island Discs! It’s going to be tricky to narrow it down to 8 songs though, never mind just picking the 1 to save from the waves...

Tell me about it, when I set this up I thought it was a great idea......until I realised I would have to participate myself. So tricky!

 

[Joe Mac]

Tell me about it, when I set this up I thought it was a great idea......until I realised I would have to participate myself. So tricky!

Yeah I mean beyond the just the eight songs do you go autobiographical or just outright favourites, tricky, and only one book too! I’ve always wondered it I could bin Shakespeare and the bible and just pick 3...

 

[Joe Mac]

So I’m going to go for it...

This is neither entirely autobiographical or entirely my all time favourites, it’s kind of a mix, so here we go.

1. Bryan Adams - (Everything I Do) I Do It For You

So let’s be honest, in retrospect, this is an utterly terrible song. But 8 year old Joe loved it. For context I grew up in Nottinghamshire, was a bit obsessed with Robin Hood (the Sherwood Forest visitor centre is 3 or 4 miles from home) and this was the soundtrack to the Kevin Costner Robin Hood film from that same year. I still have my original cd single of it because, nostalgia!

2. The Beatles - We Can Work It Out

So I couldn’t tell you when I got into The Beatles because they have just sort of always been a huge part of the background sounds of my life. I could probably pick 100 different songs on any given day but today I’m going for this song, it’s an absolutely perfectly formed pop song!

3. Oasis - Rock n Roll Star

So now we get onto me becoming a huge music fan in my own right. Oasis were the first band that came along that were “mine”. Their first two albums are just perfect documents of that time and the first, which this opens, is the best. It’s that sound of ordinary lads lying in the gutter dreaming of the stars. Whenever I listen to this it just fills me with confidence and I walk a little bit taller.

4. Manic Street Preachers - Faster

My next obsession. Around the age of 16 I got completely and utterly obsessed with the Manics, and in particular the album The Holy Bible. This is both the best song on that album and, for me, their best ever single.

5. The Coral - Dreaming of You

Being in university was so much fun. Loads of parties and booze and good times. This song really brings me back to there and then! Also bonus fact, The Coral are the band I’ve seen live the most, I think that with supports I’m well into double figures!

6. Bob Dylan - Simple Twist of Fate

As a teenager my dad often tried to get me into Dylan with varying degrees of success. It took me choosing to go there on my own in my last year of uni for me to really get it. He is now one of my all time favourites and Blood on the Tracks is my favourite album. I think this song is close to being my all time favourite song (if one can ever have such a thing) it is just lyrical and musical perfection.

7. Bloc Party - Helicopter

The happiest I have been in my life was the three years between finishing uni and moving to Dublin. Young free single and surrounded by the most amazing friends whilst living in Manchester. This is my theme tune for that period of my life!

8. Radiohead - How To Disappear Completely

Throughout all of my different phases these guys have been the one constant in my top bands and albums. On this occasion I’m going for this song because it’s heartbreakingly beautiful and because it references Dublin (he floats down the Liffey).

Book

Paul Auster - Leviathan

This portrait of the gradual distancing of a once intense friendship to the point that you feel like you know longer know the other party affected me enormously the first time I read it. It’s such a beautifully melancholic read.

Luxury

A lifetimes worth of Teeling’s Stout Cask Whiskey with a lifetimes supply of ice and a good quality crystal whiskey tumbler.

The Disc I Save From The Waves

Oasis - Rock n Roll Star

Because although I’m all on my own stranded on a desert island:

“In my mind my dreams are real
Look at you all you’re all in my hands
Tonight, I’m a Rock n Roll Star”

 

[ChristoBee]

So I’m going to go for it...

This is neither entirely autobiographical or entirely my all time favourites, it’s kind of a mix, so here we go.

1. Bryan Adams - (Everything I Do) I Do It For You

So let’s be honest, in retrospect, this is an utterly terrible song. But 8 year old Joe loved it. For context I grew up in Nottinghamshire, was a bit obsessed with Robin Hood (the Sherwood Forest visitor centre is 3 or 4 miles from home) and this was the soundtrack to the Kevin Costner Robin Hood film from that same year. I still have my original cd single of it because, nostalgia!

2. The Beatles - We Can Work It Out

So I couldn’t tell you when I got into The Beatles because they have just sort of always been a huge part of the background sounds of my life. I could probably pick 100 different songs on any given day but today I’m going for this song, it’s an absolutely perfectly formed pop song!

3. Oasis - Rock n Roll Star

So now we get onto me becoming a huge music fan in my own right. Oasis were the first band that came along that were “mine”. Their first two albums are just perfect documents of that time and the first, which this opens, is the best. It’s that sound of ordinary lads lying in the gutter dreaming of the stars. Whenever I listen to this it just fills me with confidence and I walk a little bit taller.

4. Manic Street Preachers - Faster

My next obsession. Around the age of 16 I got completely and utterly obsessed with the Manics, and in particular the album The Holy Bible. This is both the best song on that album and, for me, their best ever single.

5. The Coral - Dreaming of You

Being in university was so much fun. Loads of parties and booze and good times. This song really brings me back to there and then! Also bonus fact, The Coral are the band I’ve seen live the most, I think that with supports I’m well into double figures!

6. Bob Dylan - Simple Twist of Fate

As a teenager my dad often tried to get me into Dylan with varying degrees of success. It took me choosing to go there on my own in my last year of uni for me to really get it. He is now one of my all time favourites and Blood on the Tracks is my favourite album. I think this song is close to being my all time favourite song (if one can ever have such a thing) it is just lyrical and musical perfection.

7. Bloc Party - Helicopter

The happiest I have been in my life was the three years between finishing uni and moving to Dublin. Young free single and surrounded by the most amazing friends whilst living in Manchester. This is my theme tune for that period of my life!

8. Radiohead - How To Disappear Completely

Throughout all of my different phases these guys have been the one constant in my top bands and albums. On this occasion I’m going for this song because it’s heartbreakingly beautiful and because it references Dublin (he floats down the Liffey).

Book

Paul Auster - Leviathan

This portrait of the gradual distancing of a once intense friendship to the point that you feel like you know longer know the other party affected me enormously the first time I read it. It’s such a beautifully melancholic read.

Luxury

A lifetimes worth of Teeling’s Stout Cask Whiskey with a lifetimes supply of ice and a good quality crystal whiskey tumbler.

The Disc I Save From The Waves

Oasis - Rock n Roll Star

Because all though I’m all on my own stranded on a desert island:

“In my mind my dreams are real
Look at you all you’re all in my hands
Tonight, I’m a Rock n Roll Star”

Are those a hint for December ?

 

[Selaws]

So I’m going to go for it...

This is neither entirely autobiographical or entirely my all time favourites, it’s kind of a mix, so here we go.

1. Bryan Adams - (Everything I Do) I Do It For You

So let’s be honest, in retrospect, this is an utterly terrible song. But 8 year old Joe loved it. For context I grew up in Nottinghamshire, was a bit obsessed with Robin Hood (the Sherwood Forest visitor centre is 3 or 4 miles from home) and this was the soundtrack to the Kevin Costner Robin Hood film from that same year. I still have my original cd single of it because, nostalgia!

2. The Beatles - We Can Work It Out

So I couldn’t tell you when I got into The Beatles because they have just sort of always been a huge part of the background sounds of my life. I could probably pick 100 different songs on any given day but today I’m going for this song, it’s an absolutely perfectly formed pop song!

3. Oasis - Rock n Roll Star

So now we get onto me becoming a huge music fan in my own right. Oasis were the first band that came along that were “mine”. Their first two albums are just perfect documents of that time and the first, which this opens, is the best. It’s that sound of ordinary lads lying in the gutter dreaming of the stars. Whenever I listen to this it just fills me with confidence and I walk a little bit taller.

4. Manic Street Preachers - Faster

My next obsession. Around the age of 16 I got completely and utterly obsessed with the Manics, and in particular the album The Holy Bible. This is both the best song on that album and, for me, their best ever single.

5. The Coral - Dreaming of You

Being in university was so much fun. Loads of parties and booze and good times. This song really brings me back to there and then! Also bonus fact, The Coral are the band I’ve seen live the most, I think that with supports I’m well into double figures!

6. Bob Dylan - Simple Twist of Fate

As a teenager my dad often tried to get me into Dylan with varying degrees of success. It took me choosing to go there on my own in my last year of uni for me to really get it. He is now one of my all time favourites and Blood on the Tracks is my favourite album. I think this song is close to being my all time favourite song (if one can ever have such a thing) it is just lyrical and musical perfection.

7. Bloc Party - Helicopter

The happiest I have been in my life was the three years between finishing uni and moving to Dublin. Young free single and surrounded by the most amazing friends whilst living in Manchester. This is my theme tune for that period of my life!

8. Radiohead - How To Disappear Completely

Throughout all of my different phases these guys have been the one constant in my top bands and albums. On this occasion I’m going for this song because it’s heartbreakingly beautiful and because it references Dublin (he floats down the Liffey).

Book

Paul Auster - Leviathan

This portrait of the gradual distancing of a once intense friendship to the point that you feel like you know longer know the other party affected me enormously the first time I read it. It’s such a beautifully melancholic read.

Luxury

A lifetimes worth of Teeling’s Stout Cask Whiskey with a lifetimes supply of ice and a good quality crystal whiskey tumbler.

The Disc I Save From The Waves

Oasis - Rock n Roll Star

Because all though I’m all on my own stranded on a desert island:

“In my mind my dreams are real
Look at you all you’re all in my hands
Tonight, I’m a Rock n Roll Star”

Fantastic list, thanks for biting the bullet and posting first!!

Weirdly enough I have a nostalgic link to Brian Adams - (Everything I Do) I Do It For You. I must have been 9-10 when they had the 'Party At The Palace' to celebrate the golden jubilee. I had it taped on VHS and thought Brian May playing on the roof of Buckingham Palace was just the coolest thing ever. Later in the recording Queen (band) perform again but just before that Brian Adams performed that song. I would always skip to that bit, listening to Adams before skipping Tom Jones to the Queen (band) bit!

 

[Joe Mac]

Are those a hint for December ?

Hahahaha! You lot are incorrigible! As I haven’t picked which of my options is going to be the ROTM I can neither confirm or deny this

 

[Joe Mac]

Fantastic list, thanks for biting the bullet and posting first!!

Weirdly enough I have a nostalgic link to Brian Adams - (Everything I Do) I Do It For You. I must have been 9-10 when they had the 'Party At The Palace' to celebrate the golden jubilee. I had it taped on VHS and thought Brian May playing on the roof of Buckingham Palace was just the coolest thing ever. Later in the recording Queen (band) perform again but just before that Brian Adams performed that song. I would always skip to that bit, listening to Adams before skipping Tom Jones to the Queen (band) bit!

No worries! I’ve been kind of doing it in my head every Monday morning for the past few years whilst listening to the podcast on my way to work so it didn’t take that much effort haha!

Awesome! I’m glad I’m not the only one who has a nostalgic link to that song. Most people just groan and remember it as the terrible song that was at number 1 in the charts forever (I think it was 17 weeks at the top of the charts!)

 

[Poly-Rythmo]

OK, here goes. Like @Joe Mac neither autobiographical nor purely my favourites but something in between.

Edward Elgar - Enigma Variations: Nimrod
Coming from Worcestershire, this record plays in my head every time I return home. Yes, it's a cliché (and it's not even my favourite Elgar - that would be the cello concerto) but it is incredibly evocative for me.

Led Zeppelin - In My Time Of Dying
I first discovered Led Zeppelin at about 11 and they've been my favourite band ever since. I even used to see Robert Plant down my local pub occasionally. I could have chosen pretty much any of their songs (and in fact changed my mind while writing this) but what I love most about them is they are all great musicians. This song particularly shows the power of John Bonham, a drummer like no other.

The Beatles - Strawberry Fields Forever
The Beatles have always been there for me. If I have could probably have one discography, it may well be theirs as I just love the journey their music takes you on over a period of only seven years. I like all periods of the Beatles and choosing a favourite song is a bit like choosing a favourite child but this one just shades the others.

Oasis - Columbia
Oasis were the soundtrack to my teenage years. I saw them live at nearly all their big gigs - Sheffield, Earls Court, Maine Road, Knebworth - and while I can't get quite as excited about them now they'll forever be the music playing while remembering drinking scrumpy and messing around in a graveyard.

Gillian Welch - Revelator
This song just gets me viscerally every time I hear it. Gillian Welch has the most gorgeous voice and David Rawlings' solo on this (and even more so live in concert) is just incredible.

National - Slow Show
Purely on musical grounds there are probably 100 songs I'd take over this, but personally the National and in particular this song have a lot of meaning to me, providing a musical backdrop to a relationship that has given me two kids and a lot of fun.

Orchestre Poly-Rythmo - Aihe Ni Kpe We
The song that set me off on a Poly-Rythmo rabbit hole unlike any other. I've listened to west African music for a very long time but this song was what started me buying original vinyl and 700 LPs and 200 7"s later, I have a big problem...

Miles Davis - Agitation (live, 1967)
Frankly, I'd happily have a whole of one of the amazing 1967 concerts of the second great quintet especially as there are no real breaks between songs, just one long symphony of music. But if forced to choose I'll take the opening track as some of the most exciting music I've heard.

Book: L'étranger by Albert Camus
By some distance, my favourite book. I've re-read it nearly every year since first discovering is as a teenager and there's always something new in it for me.

Luxury item: radio tuned to Test Match Special
Just about the only thing that can keep me away from music for a whole day. I love sport but have always loved it even more on the radio. The pictures they paint with words are just so powerful and no sport benefits from it as much as cricket where TMS is an institution with as much chat on pigeons, cakes, and much much more. My life ambition was to become a radio sports commentator and I failed miserably but TMS allows me to daydream constantly.

One song to keep: Gillian Welch - Revelator

 

[gaporter]

I'd like to take a crack at this... figuring out only 8 tho is gonna be tough.

 

[Joe Mac]

I'd like to take a crack at this... figuring out only 8 tho is gonna be tough.

It is tough but what helped me was trying to tell a bit of my story through them. If had to do 8 all time favourites i would have been screwed!

 

[noelledemort]

This was tough! Great idea though! Mine is largely autobiographical but several of the song choices are some of my favorite songs as well. Kind of a combo like the others so far.

1. The Monkees - Daydream Believer

When I was a kid, MTV aired repeats of episodes of The Monkees. The show, band, and music positively entranced me. I watched an episode or two of the show every night while I fell asleep. It was fun and happy-go-lucky. I would remain a fan of The Monkees for the rest of my life, which included discovering their more mature and experimental music later in their careers. Daydream Believer is a good tune but has a particular flavor of nostalgia for my simple childhood.

2. They Might Be Giants - Birdhouse in your Soul

My father is a musician, both my parents were music lovers, and they owned a music store during my childhood. That led to a lot of exposure to music that was not playing on the airwaves of my little hometown in New England. I loved TMBG so much, and it was my first inkling of "weird" music that would definitely come to define a lot of my musical tastes later in life.

3. Oingo Boingo - Private Life

When I became a teenager, my interest in the "weird" definitely started expanding. Oingo Boingo was one of those bands that caught my interest heavily. I discovered them in the mid 90s, and they were so different to anything on the radio. The variety of musical sounds (new wave, rock, ska mashups) and themes (death, sex, religion, politics) basically rocked my 13 year old brain. I still think Oingo Boingo is one of the more brilliant bands to have ever existed. Also by this age I was pretty much glued to my computer in a socially awkward haze, making friends online and ignoring the world around me, so I felt a lot of relatability with Boingo's songs, in particular Private Life.

4. The Offspring - Gone Away

My mother died around the time this song came out, and it became a daily listen for me. It represents a very angry and depressed period of my life, which coincided with my later teen years in an unhappy confluence of shitty life events and hormones. I got into a lot of punk and heavy rock during this period. Songs where people half-screamed lyrics and sang about the injustices of life. Most of the music I don't listen to any more, as it was a coping mechanism, but this song will always resonate with me and represents a turning point of my life in which everything was drastically altered for me.

5. Bloc Party - This Modern Love

Years later, I went to college and escaped the trappings of a small town. Stereotypical, but my 20s were a whole lot of 'finding myself.' Emotionally, I calmed down. I leaned a lot into indie music - and this was the mid-2000s so there was plenty to be had. I fell hard for any band with soft guitar, pianos, or melachonic lyrics about finding your way in life. Bloc Party was the premier band of that period of my life, and every song on Silent Alarm is amazing. This Modern Love is the one song I would pick to represent my 20s as a whole.

6. Radiohead - Idioteque

Obviously I'd known about Radiohead for years and enjoyed their singles, but for some reason I took a long time to get into them. Maybe because their bigger singles (Creep, Karma Police, Fake Plastic Trees) were good but didn't necessarily catch my interest like the weirder stuff off their albums. But around a decade ago I came across a link to this song somewhere on reddit, and immediately I was hooked. I remember thinking "THIS is Radiohead?!" It led to me falling into a deep rabbithole of listening, one I've never really crawled out of, haha. They apppealed immediately to my love of Weird and overall I thought it was a brilliance I hadn't heard since Oingo Boingo. And although I'd dabbled in it before, this was really when my love of electronic music began.

7. Yazoo - Only You

I liked new wave well enough as a genre growing up (I liked plenty of the well known hits) but outside of Oingo Boingo, was not really a genre I ever delved into. That was, until I heard this song. And I still remember it - it was a song featured at the end of an episode of Fringe, one of my favorite tv shows. It was used so well in the episode and struck such a chord with me that I immediately downloaded the song and the rest of that album to boot. That started a path of discovery for me for new wave and synth pop, which have become some of my favorite genres of music to listen to.

8. FM-84 - Wild Ones

My most recent and still feverish love (that I've been enjoying for a couple years now) is synthwave. This song is a perfect encapsulation of the genre, and also is the first identifiable synthwave song I listened to. It was a wonderful, modern take on a genre I loved. In some ways, it makes me think back to my early love of the Monkees. A lot of synthwave is positivity, bright colors, and optimism. Almost kind of circles back to the music I liked as a kid.

Book: Stephen King - The Stand
My favorite book. I love dystopias, thanks to this book.

Luxury Item: My cats
I'd go crazy alone on an island, and my cats would keep me company and keep me sane.

The disc I save: Radiohead - Idioteque

My favorite song by my favorite band. It's a keeper.