By most accounts, the concept of so-called "Desert Island Discs" — at least as it relates to rock and roll journalism — began with a book published in 1979 called Stranded: Rock and Roll For A Desert Island, edited by one of America's foremost rock journalists, Griel Marcus.
In that book, Marcus posed the simple question "What one record would you bring to a desert island and why?" to a panel of America's leading rock scribes at the time, including people like Dave Marsh, Robert Christgau, and the late, great Lester Bangs.
In their detailed essays, this rather esteemed panel mostly stuck to the rock and roll of the era, and wrote about the exact names you would expect in a book like this one. It was a cast of all the usual suspects like Van Morrison, The Beach Boys, The Kinks, and The Eagles with the somewhat occasional surprise of a random choice like Ronnie Spector (well okay, maybe not so random).
Since that book's publication, Desert Island Discs eventually became a solid part of the rock and roll landscape. In its monthly Pulse Magazine for example, Tower Records (R.I.P.), ran a regular feature asking readers to send in a top ten of their own so-called "DIDs," that often generated some very interesting and eclectic results.
Here in Seattle, our local adult-alternative station The Mountain does the same with its listeners daily, and often even devotes entire weekend blocks of programming to the concept. I'm sure there are any number of stations across the country who do the exact same thing. Unfortunately, here in Seattle, Mountain listener's DIDs tend to be somewhat samey, leaning heavily towards the Dave Matthews, Bob Marleys, and John Mayers of the world.
So while the Desert Island Discs concept is hardly a new one, it has been in dire need of a facelift for some time now. As much as things have changed within the musical landscape since the 1979 publication of Stranded, that much more has changed in the world of rock journalism itself, and in the way music is actually written about these days.
Article comments
1 - El Bicho
I can only bring one? I grab more than that on the way to work, and I am supposed to live with only one album on an island? Let the headhunters kill me. It would be less painful.
2 - Rodney Welch
My general answer to this question for years has been Love's Forever Changes. I still love the record, still play it, still want it close at hand, and I could say the same of a number of other great records: Blonde on Blonde, London Calling, Born to Run, Tonight's the Night Beggar's Banquet, Uncle Meat, Moondance, The Basement Tapes, yadda yadda. But that's a boring batch of DIDs to choose from, isn't it? So old and predictable. It reveals someone who hasn't listened to much new music over the past couple of decades. On the other hand, you want a DID that's consistently interesting, which basically means it has to be a towering classic I can still play over and over.
I'll have to mull this over.
3 - Glen Boyd
Those were all fine choices Rodney. A little old? Sure, but they all share the common trait of having aged like fine wine. I would not dispute a single one of these as absolute classics. If it were me, I'd probably throw in things like Horses; Pet Sounds; and What's Goin On. As far as something more modern? I've definitely been grooving quite a bit lately to Porcupine Tree. Maybe some Ryan Adams, something by Radiohead other than OK Computer (like Amnesiac)....you know I could just go and on with this...
-Glen
4 - Rodney Welch
Ditto those three, Glen; especially Horses. It's her best, I think. I frequently spin the three Patti 1970s classics, the other two being Easter and Radio Ethiopia.
Pet Sounds might be a strong contender for DID. I love it, I think it's great, but I've never overplayed it. There's a lot left to discover on it.
I find myself getting in ruts occasionally with the discs I put in the car, that I keep winding up going back to the tried and true. But that is, too, what makes them classics, because you can listen to them over and over again.
There's a reason you play some CDs once every six months, and others -- like Sticky Fingers, currently in the player -- where as soon as it's over I want to play it through again. Some CDs are just the Thing that Won't Leave the Player.
Among newer discs, a contender that comes to mind os Sufjan Stevens Greetings from Michigan, the Great Lakes State but I seem to recall you're a Sufjan non-enthusiast. Oh well.
I like OK Computer too.
I like Arcade Fire's Neon Bible and Regina Spektor's two discs. They're very good, but I don't know if there's enough variety of sound song to song, which you want in a DID. That is a distinguishing characteristic of the ones we've mentioned. There's a whole lot of different stuff on them: soft, strong, hard-rocking, sweet, highs, lows.
5 - Natalie Bennett
This article has been selected for syndication to Advance.net , which is affiliated with newspapers around the United States, and to Boston.com. Nice work!
6 - Matos W.K.
Just to clarify (I'm a contributor to the book), the discography at the end is Phil Freeman's work alone, though I'm sure he consulted people in the book about it. But he's its sole author.