Way back in the halcyon days of 2002, a bunch of people posted their "Desert Island 10" or "Bomb Shelter 20" lists to
this thread. It's been five years since then, so I figured I'd post another thread asking for your lists. I think it will be interesting to see if the lists of those who posted in the older thread have changed at all (I know mine has) and also to get input from BBS members who've joined since that thread fizzled out.
Here's the basic premise of the exercise, as explained by tfabris:
Quote:
You imagine that you're going to spend the rest of your life like Tom Hanks in "Castaway". You've got a CD player and a lifetime's supply of batteries, but only ten albums to listen to. (I know this would never happen, but it's a mind-exercise, so just shut up and play the game.) Which ten would you bring?
Some folks like myself decided to include an extra ten to make it a so-called "Bomb Shelter 20" list of albums that don't make it to the Desert Island, but were hard to leave off the top 10. Feel free to do this as well, as it helps you refine the top ten. Use of "greatest hits" compilations is considered by some to be cheating for the purposes of this exercise, but I do think a case can be made that some compilations (such as soundtracks) should be fair game. Also, most people agreed that albums that span more than one CD (e.g. Pink Floyd's "The Wall") should count as one album, since 74 minutes is not one of the fundamental constants of the universe.
In any event, here's my list from May 2002:
1. Pink Floyd - Dark Side of The Moon
2. Rush - Moving Pictures
3. Tori Amos - Under the Pink
4. U2 - Achtung Baby
5. Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
6. Pearl Jam - Ten
7. 10,000 Maniacs - Our Time in Eden
8. The Gathering - Mandylion
9. The Cranberries - Everybody Else is Doing It, So Why Can't We?
10. Morphine - Cure for Pain
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11. Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes
12. Pink Floyd - The Division Bell
13. Pink Floyd - Meddle
14. U2 - The Joshua Tree
15. Rush - Roll The Bones
16. Tool - undertow
17. Suzane Vega - Songs in Red and Gray
18. Nightingale - I
19. Portishead - Dummy
20. 311 - Music
I think my 2002 list has held up pretty well over the last 5+ years, but there are some additions, deletions, and position changes. Here's my new, updated list for 2007:
1. Pink Floyd - Dark Side of The Moon
2. U2 - Achtung Baby
3. Tori Amos - Under the Pink
4. Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
5. Pearl Jam - Ten
6. 10,000 Maniacs - Our Time in Eden
7. The Gathering - Mandylion
8. The Cranberries - Everybody Else is Doing It, So Why Can't We?
9. Beastie Boys - To the 5 Boroughs
10. Rush - Moving Pictures
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11. Green Day - American Idiot
12. Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms
13. Morphine - Cure for Pain
14. Pearl Jam - Live 2003-05-03 State College, Pennsylvania
15. Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
16. Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes
17. U2 - The Joshua Tree
18. Rush - Roll The Bones
19. Tool - undertow
20. Portishead - Dummy
Bold denotes albums that are new to my list, and italics denote albums that weren't released at the time the original list was made. Only three additions from the 2002-present era, ones that I think will hold up for at least a few years. For some reason, two of the three Pink Floyd albums I picked for the original list don't make the list any longer, but Wish You Were Here's stock rose enough to crack my top 20. The albums that were knocked off the list are all albums I still listen to, but for whatever reason just don't rank as highly anymore for the desert island scenario. Only one album got pushed off the desert island list, but Rush's Moving Pictures, for whatever reason, barely cracks my top 10 now.
Anyway, this was a fun exercise before, and I'm interested to hear what you guys have.
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