Back in the early 90s there were a couple shows on 101.5 WIBA FM. This is way before Rolling With Scissors was even a dream.
It was definitely before iHeartRadio took over the freaking world.
The two shows I'm talking about were called Rock Line this program has been gone for a long time, but there are actually quite a few episodes available on YouTube.
There is also a show on after that call Desert Island Disc. These were both interview shows with various artists.
Desert Island Discs would ask each artist if they were stuck on a desert island what are the five albums they would want with them. The show was originally created on BBC Radio 4. When they brought it over to the United States, the format changed a little bit.
Being that we've been on the air for nearly 30 years at this point, I thought I would rework this post which was originally published back in like 2003.
I'm gonna change the rules a little bit. I'm going to say what 20 albums would you want on a desert island with you?
I am also reaching out directly to people in the music industry could be artists, producers and people we may get some interesting set lists from.
I know there are people that are going to ask. It doesn't matter if the album is a double disc or not it does not count against your 20 album limit.
Comments are turned on at the bottom of this post. Let's come up with some great set list together.
My list in no particular order. I numbered them in the list just to make it easier to keep track.
1. Tool Aenima
2. Fleetwood Mac Rumors
3. Dream Theater Awake
4. Alan Parsons Project Eye In The Sky
5. Stevie Wonder Talking Book
6. Grateful Dead,American Beauty
7. The Beatles White Album
8. Eagles The Long Run
9. Pat Metheny Group The Road To You
10. Woodstock Original Soundtrack
11.Pearl Jam Ten
12. Nirvana Bleach
13. Jim Croce Classic Hits
14. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Damn The Torpedoes
15. .Nine Inch Nails Pretty Hate Machine
16. The Gits Seafish Louisville
17. Alice In Chains Jar of Flies
18. Rush 2112
19. Michael Franti & Spearhead Stay Human
20. James Taylor Greatest Hits
I will admit this is a difficult task. There may have to be an honorable mentions update in the future. I hope you all get as much joy out of this exercise as I did.
Due to the crap, we all have to deal with on the Internet, also known as spam. After you post your comment you will not see it until it's approved.
Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath – Heaven and Hell
Black Sabbath – Born Again
Dog Fashion Disco – Anarchists of Good Taste
Polkadot Cadaver- Sex Offender
Knives Out! – Black Mass Hysteria
Major Parkinson – Blackbox
Twelve Foot Ninja – Outlier
Landon Tewers – Dynamite
Various Artists – Loud Rocks
Johnny Cash – American IV
Nine Inch Nails – With Teeth
Poor Man’s Poison – Providence
Hank III – Straight to Hell
Gojira – From Mars to Sirius
Godhead- 2000 Years of Human Error
Marilyn Manson – Mechanical Animals
Samurai Pizza Cats – You’re Hellcome
Tony Iommi- Fused
Tony Iommi – Iommi
see it works just like that. Josh has some amazing suggestions that now that I see them. Of course they would be on the list. If the list was longer, lol
Dog fashion disco – adultery Tom waits- raindogs
Ween- chocolate and cheese
Primus- sailing the seas of cheese
Frank zappa- over-nite sensation
Clutch- the elephant riders Tool-aenima
Barry white- the ultimate collection
Buckethead- the deli creeps
Morphine- cure for pain
Mr. Bungle- California
Ill mitch- still mitch
Marvin gaye- number 1’s
Pantera- vulgar display of power
Faith no more- angel dust
Miles davis- on the corner
Mr. Gnome deliver this creature
Murder by death- in bocca al lupo
Pink floyd- animals
Bone thugs n Harmony- creepin on ahh come up
O’Jays – Traveling at the Speed of Thought
Short Stuff – Short Stuff
Culture – Two Sevens Clash
Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath
Donna Summer – Four Seasons of Love
James Cotton 100% Cotton
James Carr – The Complete Goldwax Singles
Koko Taylor – The Earthshaker
Marvin Gaye – What’s Going On
Herbie Mann – Memphis Underground
Earl Van Dyke – The Earl Of Funk
The Notorious B.I.G. – Ready To Die
B.B. King – Live at Cook County Jail
Tammy Wynette – The Best Of Tammy Wynette
Clarence Carter – The Fame Singles Volume 1 1966-70
Muddy Waters – The Complete Aristocrat & Chess Singles A’s & B’s 1947-62
Miles Davis – Jack Johnson
Jimmy Smith – Christmas Cookin’
Nat King Cole – The Nat King Cole Christmas Album
Beach Boys – Pet Sounds
See, if you go with the live albums you cover more territory.
1 Captain Beyond
2 Yes Yessongs
3 Chicago IV
4 Grand Funk E Pluribus Funk
5 Mahavishnu Orchestra Inner Mounting Flame
6 Porcupine Tree Deadwing
7 Chris Squire Fish Out of Water
8 Camel A Live Album
9 Yes Going for the One
10 Yes Tales From Topographic Oceans
11 Ralph Towner Solstice
12 Jane Siberry The Walking
13 Terje Rypdal Whenever I Seem to be Far Away
14 Hawkwind Space Ritual
15 Yes Relayer
16 Genesis Seconds Out
17 Steve Winwood s/t
18 Steven Wilson The Raven That Refused to Sing
19 George Harrison The Concert for Bangla Desh
20 Peter Gabriel Secret World (Can I take the DVD too?)
Also, why can’t I take a hundred?
I’m curious how we’re going to be listening to these, and 20 ain’t nearly enough – Rick gets it.
A somewhat random selection out of many possibilities:
1. Guns N Roses: Appetite For Destruction
2. Tom Waits: The Heart Of Saturday Night
3. The Beatles: 20 Greatest Hits
4. Metallica: Ride The Lightning
5. Miles Davis: Kind of Blue
6. Nine Inch Nails: The Downward Spiral
7. N.W.A: Straight Outta Compton
8. Run DMC: Raising Hell
9. Beastie Boys: License To Ill
10. Living Colour: Stain
11.Vangelis: Blade Runner Score
12. John Williams: A New Hope Score
13. Pyotor Tchaikovsky: The Sleeping Beauty Ballet
14. Ministry: Psalm 69
15. Pantera: Cowboys From Hell
16. Band Of Gypsies: Band Of Gypsies
17. Black Sabbath: Paranoid
18. Kenny Burrell: ‘Round Midnight
19. Ted Greene: Solo Guitar
20. Prince and the Revolution: Purple Rain
Alice In Chains – Dirt
Animals As Leaders – The Madness of Many
Depeche Mode – Ultra
Dream Theater – Scenes From a Memory
Lana Del Rey – Ultraviolence
Leonard Cohen – The Future
Loreena McKennitt – The Book Of Secrets
Melissa Auf Der Maur – Out Of Our Minds
Metallica – Death Magnetic
Meshuggah – Immutable
Nightwish – The Greatest Show On Earth
Nine Inch Nails – The Fragile
Orbital – In Sides
Red Hot Chili Peppers – Stadium Arcadium
System Of A Down – Toxicity
Tangerine Dream – Quantum Gate
They Might Be Giants – Flood
Tool – Aenima
VAST – Visual Audio Sensory Theater
Zella Day – Kicker
Oz
Good god this is hard to do. I had to cut so much great music just to make it to 20.
You will probably figure out that I’m older than dirt , just look at my choices. I noticed that after about 1990 my selections did drop off
In no known order it goes like this
The Grateful Dead (of course) Workingmans Dead
James Taylor Hourglass
The Beatles. Rubber Soul
George Harrison. All things must pass
Santana. Abraxas
Neil Young. After the gold rush
Herbie Hancock. Head hunter
The Beach Boys. Pet Sounds
Miles Davies. On the corner
Paul Simon Graceland
Marvin Gaye. What’s goin on
Stevie Wonder. Songs in the key of life
The Rolling Stones. Exile on Main Street
Sly and the family Stone. There’s a riot going on
Tom Petty. Full moon fever
Bruce Springsteen. Born to run
Traveling Wilburys. Volum 1
Bob Marley. Legends
50 cent. Get rich or die trying
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Welcome Back My Friends to the Show That Never Ends – Ladies and Gentlemen
Using a double live album loophole to get material from Tarkus and Brain Salad Surgery.
Dream Theater
Live Scenes from New York
Another loophole here… this includes live version of all of Scenes from A Memory and A Change of Seasons
Nevermore
Dead Heart In a Dead World
Perfect!
Opeth
Deliverance
tough to pick between this and Blackwater Park.
Death Angel – Act III
Flotsam and Jetsam – “Cuatro”
Powermad – “Absolute Power”
These three were early in my metal listening years, and got a lot of plays…
Rush – Moving Pictures
Or I might exploit the live album loophole again and go with Exit… Stage Left.
Soilwork
Natural Born Chaos
Really cemented my love for this band
Incubus – “S.C.I.E.N.C.E.”
Winery Dogs – Self titled (1st album)
Three albums to pick from, I guess I’ll just pick the first here.
Neal Morse Band – Innocence & Danger
Tough to pick one from these guys too… I’ll pick their most recent effort, epic, emotive and top prog rock/metal-ish stuff.
Transatlantic – The Final Flight: Live At L’Olympia
So much great stuff from them, I’ll elect my live album loophole here again.
Yes – 90125
This one got a lot of plays in early high school as I transitioned from pop music to rock/prog.
Lords of the Trident – The Offering
Local band and friends… they get better with every release, Shadows from the Past is also excellent
Luna Mortis – The Absence
Also a local band, but perfect balance of catchy melodic metal with death metal aggression too.
At The Gates – Slaughter Of The Soul
Liquid Tension Experiment – LTE 2
Yeah a lot of Mike Portnoy bands on this list, go figure.
Wilco – What’s Your 20?: Essential Tracks 1994–2014
I’ll use the greatest hits loophole on this one 🙂
Queensryche – Operation Mindcrime
Stone Temple Pilots – Core
Tool – Lateralus
Nirvana – Incesticide
Au4 – And Down Goes the Sky…
Pink Floyd – The Wall
The Very Best of Buddy Holly and the Crickets
The Beatles – Abbey Road
Tool – Fear Inoculum
The Police – Zenyatta Mondatta
NIN – The Downward Spiral
Midnight Oil – Diesel and Dust
Extreme – III Sides to Every Story
Daft Punk – Random Access Memories
Bjork – Post
Yes – Fragile
Ben Folds – The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner
Blues Traveler – Live from the Fall
Helmet – Betty
Paul Simon – Graceland
Bauhaus – The Sky’s Gone Out
In no particular order…
Stone Roses – Stone Roses
Rolling Stones – Exile on Main Street
Prince – Purple Rain
Led Zeppelin – Physical Graffiti
Tool – 10,000 Days
Porcupine Tree – Lightbulb Sun
Miles Davis – Ascenseur pour l’echafaud
Maggie’s Dream – Maggie’s Dream
Bob Marley & The Wailers – Exodus
Bujinin – Glossolalia
Cake – Fashion Nugget
Fleetwood Mac – Tusk
The Clash – London Calling
Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here
Dead Milkmen – Beelzebubba
Black Sabbath – Paranoid
Gillian Welch – Revival
AC/DC – Back In Black
Hugo Kant – Secret Society
Tom Petty Wild – Flowers
In no order:
1. Losing Streak – Less Than Jake
2. Love Supreme – John Coltrane
3. Jews with Horns – Klezmatics
4. – Green Day
5. Midnight Marauders – Tribe Called Quest
6. The Food Album – MF Doom
7. The Real McCoy – Joe Henderson
8. The Shape of Jazz to Come – Ornette Coleman
9. Spiritual Unity – Albert Ayer
10. The Bridge – Sonny Rollins
11. Sonny meets Hawk – Sonny Rollins
12. Blues and the Abstract Truth – Oliver Nelson
13. The Kennedy Project – Oliver Nelson
14. Blue Serge – Serge Chaloff
15. Birth of the Cool – Miles Davis
16. Bad Hair Day – Weird Al
17. The TV Album – Weird Al
18. New York Mary – New York Mary
19. Lee Morgan – Live in Baltimore
20. Clifford Brown – Study in Brown