Desert Island Discs
 

For those that don't know, Desert Island Discs is a long-running BBC Radio 4 programme.

Guests are invited to imagine themselves as castaways on a desert island, and asked to choose the eight pieces of music they would take with them; discussion of their choices permits a review of their life. Aside from the music they select, they are also permitted to take one book, excluding the Bible or other religious work and the complete works of Shakespeare, which are deemed to be already present on the island (probably to force castaways to make more original and interesting choices). They also choose one luxury item which must be inanimate and of no survival value.

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I thought it'd be interesting to see what everyone here chose. There's going to be many repeated choices, so there's little point moaning that someone else chose selection X as well - just be pleased they have good taste!

Likewise, don't criticise people for just having a different opinion to you - then again, if they choose The Blobby Song then feel free to go postal on their ass. I suspect that there's going to be a lot of differences in opinion - Jakiri and Dante, for example.....


So: eight pieces of music, of any origination; one book; one luxury item.


1) Bran Van 3000 - Drinking In LA
2) The Killers - Andy, You're A Star
3) The poem If, read by Des Lynam and written by Rudyard Kipling
4) Nirvana - Where Did You Sleep Last Night? (MTV Unplugged, 1993)
5) The Verve - Bitter Sweet Symphony
6) Oasis - Sunday Morning Call
7) Oasis - Champagne Supernova
8) Massive Attack - Teardrop

Book: John Steinbeck - The Grapes of Wrath

Luxury item: an unlimited supply of pens and paper

Re: Desert Island Discs
 

1) fugazi - waiting room
2) converge - you fail me
3) murder by death - those who left
4) makaveli - hail mary
5) a silver mt zion - god bless dead marines
6) eluvium - the well-meaning professor
7) circa survive - house of leaves
8) neutral milk hotel - king of the carrot flowers pt 1

book: the stranger, camus

luxury; 24/7 high speed internet access with no restrictions wotsoeva to hd space or bandwidth or anything

Re: Desert Island Discs
 

Music:

1. Billy Cobham - Red Baron.
2. Charlie Parker - Confirmation.
3. Dennis Chambers - Roll Call.
4. Miles Davis - So What.
5. Sonny Rollins - Oleo.
6. John Coltrane - My Favourite Things.
7. John Scofield - Everybody's Party.
8. Tower of Power - Attitude Dance.

Book: Douglas Adams - The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

Luxury Item: Lifetime supply of quilted toilet paper.

Re: Desert Island Discs
 

if everyone chooses a computer as their luxury item I'm going to be seriously pissed off :mad:

Re: Desert Island Discs
 

90% of mine would be classical but you cant really compare 40+ minute pieces of music to shortish songs and this isnt an album thread so I'll leave them out:

Delerium - Silence
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Tery Bina
Philip Glass - Opening
Can - Mushroom
<various versions> - Cat's In The Cradle
Guided By Voices - Tractor Rape Chain
Autechre - Leterel
Robert Wyatt - Sea Song

book - wittgenstein's nachlass

luxary item - computer obviously

Re: Desert Island Discs
 

I think anything powered by electricity (including solar power) is going to have to be really. I know they've allowed computers on the programme itself, but this is an internet forum and 90% of people will choose computers :(

Re: Desert Island Discs
 

Bog roll to prevent unwanted rash which will irritate me while trying to read & listen for the win.

Re: Desert Island Discs
 

paging phang to thread 195537

Re: Desert Island Discs
 

Music:
Bossk - II
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Rockets Fall On Rocket Falls
Gorguts - Clouded
Led Zeppelin - Immigrant Song
Mogwai - Mogwai Fear Satan
Pink Floyd - Echoes
R.E.M. - Losing My Religion
Tool - Wings For Marie (Part 1) & 10,000 Days (Wings Part 2) (**** you, this is one song)

Book:
I honestly haven't the faintest idea.

Luxury Item:
(token "computer with unlimited internet access, granting me access to eBay and torrent sites, thereby rendering this list useless" choice here)
My glasses.

Re: Desert Island Discs
 

1. Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture
2. Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata
3. Nobuo Uematsu - One Winged Angel (Orchestral)
4. Prodigy - Firestarter
5. Foo Fighters - Everlong
6. Psyclon Nine - Scar of the Deceiver
7. Uninvited Guest - The Devils Toybox
8. Radiohead - Pyramid Song

Book - Frank Herbert - The Atreides Trilogy

Luxury Item - AK47 (w/ammo)

Re: Desert Island Discs
 

Wasn't this Brian Herbert? And also rubbish?

Re: Desert Island Discs
 

This is surprisingly hard, any single piece of music would annoy me to no end after a while in such a situation I can imagine.

I'll return later to drop my final list of songs but I'm pretty sure I'll bring a piano or another intstrument as luxury item. I don't play an instrument myself but I always wanted to learn to play the piano, guitar or even violin so there, also in the long run it might be much more enjoyable then listening to the same 8 pieces of music every time.

It goes the same for books..I can't imagine a book still being interesting after so many years. Maybe Homer's Odyssee? I never read it and knowing that the verses where really ment to be sung it could be used on multiple purposes, also it's supposed to be good as people considered it being the best that has ever been written untill around the 18th century.

edit:

Can I trade these pieces of music and the book for a pen and paper supply? I'll keep the piano as a luxury good.

Re: Desert Island Discs
 

Pity you won't have a PC to use this brilliant setup. :)

Re: Desert Island Discs
 

This is rather difficult.

1) NOFX - The Dcline
2) Oasis - Champagne Supernova
3) The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony
4) Bob Dylan - It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
5) The Beatles - Come Together
6) The Libertines - The Good Old Days
7) Boxcar Racer - There Is
8) Dr Dre - Still D.R.E.

Book: George Orwell - 1984

Luxury Item: It has to be the super toilet paper.

Re: Desert Island Discs
 

lol youtube judgement. all 8 tracks there are easily some of the most sincere and haunting music i've ever listened to. i can't really understand how anyone can't appreciate genuinely powerful music but then you chose bands like tool and foo fighters so perhaps there's no surprise. i'm even more amused that you actually just went on a limb to let marv's choices stand. where infact, 5 of marv's 8 pieces are some of the more soulless jazz i've ever heard. i'm not a big fan or student of jazz either mind you, i'm limited to liking coltrane mostly. but i certainly don't like music as mathematics or just a piece of craft. but hey it's i who's exercising in insincerity rite :cool:

i've listened to each song over again and they are definitely wonderful pieces of music - the only question marks being the fugazi and makaveli tracks. the makaveli one is probably the best hiphop/rap track ever written so i'm willing to keep it in and the fugazi one is obviously not their best at all but i don't think a better straight forward punk rock song has ever been written either so i'm set.

by the way none of the bands apart from murder by death and eluvium, perhaps i've mentioned are obscure - unless you mean 50-100k per record sold, is obscure. fugazi and converge are two of the biggest independent punk rock bands around. this is as mainstream as good punk music gets (apart from the clash.) circa survive is a pretty forgettable emo mixed with prog band that probably have more than 200k fans atm, however the song i've mentioned is still ****ing excellent. a silver mt zion is an off-shoot of godspeed you black emperor, pretty well known i believe. makaveli is a different alias of 2pac. most rap fans are probably aware of this. perhaps it's an exercise in obscurity in choosing a dead guy's side project but when his mainstream music is god awful hopefully it's forgiveable.

neutral milk hotel are probably the biggest indie rock band in the world, still selling thousands of albums yearly nearly a decade after they disappeared from the music scene. eluvium is one guy with a piano, i'm not sure how many know of him but it's lovely music. murder by death are probably my only real exercise in obscurity but i can't see how someone with all the music you've obviously listened to and all of your knowledge of music theory, can't appreciate them.

my three favourite books are probably, 'the curious incident..' by mark haddon, 'waiting for godot' by beckett and 'the stranger' and they have been for over a year now probably. do you need me to discuss the weight of existential debates or turn into horn before i'm allowed to like one of the best pieces of literature ever?


edit ASG - i'd get that aol broadband that comes with a free (presumably terrible) laptop and go from there..! if no electricity/etc i guess i'd settle for some sort of a renewable power station and try to create things myself

Re: Desert Island Discs
 

Then why bother going to the island? :confused:

Re: Desert Island Discs
 

i'm a castaway not a recluse

Re: Desert Island Discs
 

I think people should be allowed to bring a computer if they really want to, but they cant expect there to be any internet on a deserted island. I suppose a 'computer with a lifetime supply of new batteries' could somehow work though if you had a computer where you could constantly put in new batteries.

Re: Desert Island Discs
 

Im not sure at all on which songs i would take with me but I imagine my boom would either have to be the biggest book of piano\guitar notes i could find which also had a section on how to learn to play the bloody things.

My luxury object would ofcourse then be a guitar or piano that never breaks.

The problem is that noone would be around to take joy in the marvellous pieces of music i would no doubt create on the island.

if only i could have brought some paper, a pen and a lot of bottles :(

Re: Desert Island Discs
 

ASG - Still. With. A. Crap. Taste. In. Music.

Re: Desert Island Discs
 

Which would take less than 2 hours to read. Also as it's not an overly deep or complicated book i don't see how you could get much enjoyment out of it. Now don't get me wrong i like the book, it's one of my favourites, but if that was the only book i could read for the rest of my life i think i'd go mad / be very disappointed with my choice.

Re: Desert Island Discs
 

i can't think of any other books i've got more out of to be honest but i guess you're right in a way. i can't get any more from it but then surely that'd be the same for any book i've already read / liked?

Re: Desert Island Discs
 

There's probably more overlap than you'd think.

Re: Desert Island Discs
 

1) Any recording of Jerusalem sung by a reasonably competent boy's choir. Mabye a mature male-voice choir. I'm not sure really.
2) VNV Nation - Chrome
3) The Sisters of Mercy - Alice
4) Chopin - Nocturne (E-Minor??)
5) Kraftwerk - Der Model
6) Goteki - Steam Virus
7) The Scary Bitches - Piss All Over Your Grave
8) Rotersand - Exterminate Annihilate Destroy

For a book, I would probably opt for Bill Bryson's Notes From a Small Island, so I could remember Blighty and all her many glories. Although I might go for an as yet unpublished tome by my own true self entitled I Had a Violent Sexual Fantasy About Sir Malcolm Rifkind which I suppose I could work on during my time on the island.

Re: Desert Island Discs
 

you've missed the point andrew, what i presumed he was inferring was that i don't genuinely like the stranger as opposed to the stranger being a good piece of literature. as far as justifying goes, the reason i find the stranger wonderful has very little to do with silly and drub existentialism but more because it, unlike any other piece of literature i've come across has filled me with a sense of peace that i find pretty blissful to be honest. anything and everything i like is nearly definitely to do with what feeling i can derive from it, there's probably a few things in various art forms that i like that don't hold up objective value in their own craft form but certainly none of the things i've listed fall in that category.

Re: Desert Island Discs
 

whut?

Anyway...

1. VNV Nation - Beloved
2. Billy Bragg - Waiting for the Great Leap Forward
3. NOFX - The Decline
4. Eels - Flower
5. Wagner - Ride of the Valkyries
6. Rancid - Time Bomb
7. VNV - Rubicon
8. Louis Armstrong - What a Wonderful World

Lord of the Rings would most probably be my literature choice, because anything more serious would just get on my nerves after a while. If it's something I've not read, I'd go for Les Miserables.

A notepad and/or computer seems like cheating, so I'll choose a duvet. Or a digital watch.

Re: Desert Island Discs
 

What is the point of bringing cds to a island where you will live shipwrecked and by your lonesome?
Unless your luxuryitem is a cdplayer that is.

Re: Desert Island Discs
 

It's a given assumption that you will have the ability to listen to the music.

Re: Desert Island Discs
 

I would take 8 CDs each with a different case material. I would then attempt percussion maybe even Jazz.

I would take take a lot of blank paper, maybe 2000 sheets, and fashion a book detailing the most important lesson from Zen Buddhism.

My one luxury item would be a pen to write in the aforementioned book. It would work as the drumstick even after the ink runs out and I don't care to use my blood and/or faeces anymore as an ink substitute.

Next question please.

Re: Desert Island Discs
 

If that's the case I'd sell the islands built-in hifi on ebay and buy so much French porn its mass could also work as another island. A holiday home.

Re: Desert Island Discs
 

The thing is that it makes this thread pretty pointless, as I said earlier. We're all internet geeks so we're inevitably attached to having computers around us in some form.


Personally I've always been interested in writing monographs, hence my choice of pen/paper.

I just didn't want to see the thread turn into a shit-storm over some eclectic choice of music, it seems to have done fairly well though.

Re: Desert Island Discs
 

Well longer or more complex books probably have more rereading value - I imagine you could reread something like Crime and Punishment or Les Miserables a few months after your finished it and get a lot more out of it, to a greater degree than you can with something like the Stranger which you could read in a couple of hours. Its probably like music - youre going to get bored of any pop song after youve heard it a few times no matter how cool it is, but with a longer and more complex piece of music youll keep noticing things that you missed on previous listens.

If youre really playing the desert island game properly rather than just listing your favourite books then I suppose you should pick something thats going to take many readings over a period of months/years to finish and digest, like Feynman's lectures on physics or Heideggers Being and Time or whatever.

Re: Desert Island Discs
 

This is a good point, I'd get a huge amount out of Feynman's lectures on physics since the subject was pretty badly taught at my school.


If I could get away with it, I might take a copy of Halsbury's Laws of England with me....only 54 volumes.

Re: Desert Island Discs
 

lol

Sorry. I just find the notion of Dante stuck on a desert island willingly listening to Hitlermusik rather amusing.

Re: Desert Island Discs
 

But have you ever actually tried it? One special item is not something to gamble with.

Re: Desert Island Discs
 

Your whole list is just ruined by the fact that you failed to type the song name correct. It's Das Modell. (Or was this some very clever and uncanny attempt to play a pun on German grammar? If so, it's very cunning indeed, I just can't figure why skip one "l" if so).

Re: Desert Island Discs
 

To quote your custom title, OH NOES!

My mind is kind of a bit 'off' these days. And it's a long time since I dug out my Kraftwerk junk, so I couldn't honestly remember whether it was die/der/das.

Re: Desert Island Discs
 

Perfekt.

Re: Desert Island Discs
 

Re: Desert Island Discs
 

thanks Lou.

Re: Desert Island Discs
 

1. Technohead - I Wanna Be A Hippy
2. Ali Project - God Diva
3. Bomb The Bass - Bug Powder Dust Mix
4. Nine Inch Nails - Perfect Drug
5. Planet Funk - Chase The Sun
6. Mellow Trax - Outa space
7. TISM - Whatareya
8. Richard Cheese - Lets get it Started

Book: 3D Math Primer - Dunn & Parberry

A solar powered laptop loaded with MSVC.

I just figure with all the time in the world on my hands I may finally learn 3D programming.

Re: Desert Island Discs
 

The philosophy behind Wagner's works is somewhat opposed to the Nietzschean concepts that influenced the third reich, true story.

Re: Desert Island Discs
 

If it doesn't work out, I can always make paper aeroplanes :)

Re: Desert Island Discs
 

Adios Ayer - Jose Padilla
Spiegel Im Spiegel - Arvo Part
Deliver Me - The Beloved
Coming Back to Life - Pink Floyd
Halcyon and on and on - Orbital
No Ordinary Morning - Chicane
Three Little Green Candles - Chris Rea
The Bongo Song - Safri Duo

I feel that's sufficiently diverse to keep myself entertained for a while. One book is more difficult. I'd probably agree with nodrog and bring some massive tome on philosophy for my reading material, roger scruton's introduction to philosophy was good but I'd probably take something more indepth but I haven't read much philosophy recently so I wouldn't be sure.

My luxury item would be a comfortable chair. I'm not reading a book lying on the ****ing sand or in some faggoting hammock.

Re: Desert Island Discs
 

Daft Punk - Aerodynamic
Bob Dylan - Desolation row
Ben Folds - There's always someone cooler than you
Smashing Pumpkins - Geek USA
Simon and Garfunkel - I am a rock
The Beach Boys - I wanna go home
The Dresden Dolls - Delilah
The Postal Service - Such great heights

A lot of them were really hard as i normally get bored of a song quickly so tend to listen to albums, picking one song from each album is difficult.

Book: Gravity's Rainbow probably, or something like it that i haven't read yet that i can discover new things in each time i re-read it.

Luxury item: Goban, although i guess i could make one there...

Re: Desert Island Discs
 

I'm the only one of us who'll ever actually be asked.

Re: Desert Island Discs
 

I would have pinned him as Margaret Thatcher but thats just me

Re: Desert Island Discs
 

"Sloop John B".

Re: Desert Island Discs
 

Music:
1: Guns and Roses – Welcome to the Jungle
[hopefully this will drown out the salivating natives bongo drums]

2: Red Dwarf Closing Theme Song
[apt, lest I forgot my current pickle]

3: Sex Pistols – God Save the Queen
[I’ll be running a tight fascist regime]

4: English Philharmonic Orchestra – Pomp and Circumstance
[for those moments when you simply have to march up and down the beach b*****k naked like a demented brass band leader]

5: Kylie Minogue – I Should Be So Lucky
[understatement of the year]

6: Chubby Checker and The Fat Boys – The Twist
[beach party time]

7: Wamdue Project – King of My Sand Castle

8: Queen - Fat Bottom Girls
[here’s hoping it’s a Samoan Island]

Book:
The Greek Myths : Complete Edition – Robert Graves [to fill the void that was Coronation Street]

Luxury Item:
Mirror [yeah yeah yeah, looking good]

Re: Desert Island Discs
 

My reference there is more a personal one rather than a comment on Wagner's philosophy; I don't 'get' a lot from Wagner and surely even his fans would conceed that 'Walkure' stands out. If you're a fan, then it seems like an awfully strange choice tbh. (Although I imagine like most of Wagner's stuff, it's probably best in situ.)