September 17, 2005

Desert Island Music

D. Keith Robinson at Asterisk (actually, Eric asked D.) one of those desert island questions. "If you were on a desert island and you could only listen to five bands for the rest of your life, who would they be?" Those sort of questions are only interesting if they're really hard to answer, and this one is.

I keep going back and forth, trying to come up with musicians I really like, and that I don't think will get old after repeated listening. But I'm also trying to get some diversity, which makes it harder.

  1. Wilco (on my playlist all the time)
  2. Tool (stole this from D., but this is one of the few metal bands that bears extensive, repeated listening for me; way complicated)
  3. Gillian Welch + David Rawlings (again, always on my playlist)
  4. Albert Ayler (was listening to part of the Holy Ghost box set earlier today; makes my head hurt, in a good way)
  5. Guided By Voices (pop, like pop should be: smart and goofy and earnest)

I figure this will give me a pretty broad range of sounds. I'm going to bend the rules a bit here and claim other music that key figures of those bands also figured in, which will let me include Uncle Tupelo and Golden Smog in with Wilco (let me really stretch it and include Jay Farrar and Son Volt), and Robert Pollard and Tobin Sprout solo material in with GBV. Even so, I'm already revising in my head.

Wait, where's Sonic Youth? What about some Hank Williams Sr. or Kitty Wells? If I include Hank Williams Sr., can I keep bending the rules and include Hank III? (I can live with skipping Hank Williams, Jr.)

Oh, some rap and turntablism: Public Enemy? Peanut Butter Wolf? Grandmaster Flash? DJ Shadow? DJ Logic? And punk. Clash? Rancid? Pennywise? Sex Pistols? (Maybe not enough stuff there.) And where the hell is Johnny Cash?

Damn, this is hard. Luckily, I'm not going to be stuck on a desert island any time soon, so I have time to revise.

[via asterisk*]

Posted by johndanseven at September 17, 2005 10:48 PM | TrackBack