Desert Island Music Album Draft 2013 - draft complete

[GoGoGadget]

I'll be nice and get this out of the way quickly before taking my central time zone self to beddy-bye. My next pick is:

Room on Fire -- The Strokes (2003) http://www.allmusic.com/album/room-on-fire-mw0000693088
The Strokes are one of those bands I've fallen in and out of love with several times over the years, and it's usually this album that brings them back into my good graces. I've always had an intellectual fondness for their talent and musicianship -- they are, gimmick and trendiness aside, an objectively good band -- but I'll go long stretches of time without listening to any of their albums in full (or on purpose). Then I'll remember that Room on Fire is a thing that exists, and I'll play it on a whim, and it invariably becomes THE thing I'm listening to for about a month or so. I'll always remember and love "Reptilia," embedded below, and will usually go back to the album because of it, at which point I'm surprised by and reminded of how much I also love all of its other songs.

"Automatic Stop": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gwbXjHNcwA
"Meet Me in the Bathroom": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1BmOfhqx00
"Under Control": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkEA2BJOhxo

 

[Padrino]

For William Blake:

At Action Park - Shellac - 1994

Steve Albini does Math Rock. It’s everything you might expect out of an Albini record: it’s minimalistic, it’s threatening and it’s dry, both in the music and the lyrics. I’m a fan of pretty much his whole output but this is my favourite.

EXCELLENT pick!!!!! didn't have it on my shortlist for the remainder of this draft, but it easily could have been on there.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

I really dont get the hatred for Durst. Is he a bit of a DB? Yeah, of course he is, but so are half the rockers out there. And though many thougth he was talentless, we was able to blend rap and rock as well as anyone in his day. Hey, 40,000,000 albums sold, I aint the only one...

It's authenticity, which Durst has none. Incidentally that is precisely why I found him to be the least offensive of the bunch. But the tastemakers love them some authenticity. Problem is most of what passes for authenticity these days is every bit as manufactured and an illusion.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

The tastemakers? Is that even a thing?

Also, in my own (admittedly anecdotal) experience, authenticity is grossly overrated.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

The tastemakers? Is that even a thing?

MTV, radio operators, music journos, bloggers, etc. It has been going on for years but the 90s and the internets opened up the backlash against the mainstream tastemakers via alternative media.

Also, in my own (admittedly anecdotal) experience, authenticity is grossly overrated.

IMHO, it can make something good great but it can't make something awful any good.

 

[EndGame]

It's authenticity, which Durst has none. Incidentally that is precisely why I found him to be the least offensive of the bunch. But the tastemakers love them some authenticity. Problem is most of what passes for authenticity these days is every bit as manufactured and an illusion.

I guess i am unsure of that you are talking about when you say "authenticity". Are you saying that he did not write his own music, that he sounded like other groups in that sub-genre? What?
Being that he has had the support of Korn, Dr. Dre, Snoop Lion (Dogg), Eminem, Method Man, etc., i would say he has a least acceptable standing in the music world. You just think its cool to say you dont like him and then use big words like authentic.

 

[Padrino]

Limp Bizkit were of a time and a place. they, like a great many of that same time and place, were biting off the reputations of better, more influential bands like Bad Brains, Rage Against the Machine, and Sacramento's own Deftones. the Deftones have themselves survived by outgrowing the unfortunate fratboy trend of nu-metal, instead crafting smart, forward-thinking metal. their most recent album, last year's well-received Koi No Yokan, is a perfect example of how to age gracefully as a metal band. Limp Bizkit, on the other hand, never had success moving beyond their immature, misogynistic, crotch-grabbing antics...

and while i think that Limp Bizkit were a scourge on all that i hold dear about heavy music, Fred Durst, to his credit, has actually himself attempted to age gracefully. he's branched into film direction (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0783515/), and clearly has no problem poking fun at himself or his band. i just wish he'd leave Limp Bizkit behind, instead of resuscitating their flimsy, red ball cap-sporting brand every few years or so...

 

[pdxKingsFan]

I guess i am unsure of that you are talking about when you say "authenticity". Are you saying that he did not write his own music, that he sounded like other groups in that sub-genre? What?
Being that he has had the support of Korn, Dr. Dre, Snoop Lion (Dogg), Eminem, Method Man, etc., i would say he has a least acceptable standing in the music world. You just think its cool to say you dont like him and then use big words like authentic.

No no no. I have acknowledged owning the album somewhere and said I found him the least offensive in a genre I generally can't stand (putting it very mildly). You asked why nobody likes him and I answered that the musical taste makers (a group I clearly have no part in), they have deemed Fred Durst not authentic and not worthy of their time and the general public that swallowed up their albums turned on him just as fast.

And I offered my opinion that because from what I saw he didn't appear to go on and on about how he was keeping it real but seemed to just be enjoying his 15 minutes was a sign that he had more than a smidgen of self awareness which I thought made him worthy of more respect than most feel he deserved.

 

[NoBonus]

No no no. I have acknowledged owning the album somewhere and said I found him the least offensive in a genre I generally can't stand (putting it very mildly). You asked why nobody likes him and I answered that the musical taste makers (a group I clearly have no part in), they have deemed Fred Durst not authentic and not worthy of their time and the general public that swallowed up their albums turned on him just as fast.

And I offered my opinion that because from what I saw he didn't appear to go on and on about how he was keeping it real but seemed to just be enjoying his 15 minutes was a sign that he had more than a smidgen of self awareness which I thought made him worthy of more respect than most feel he deserved.

I think, as music fans, we want the best from our favorite artists... but there is no concept of "authentic" or "original" or "sell out" or any of that nonesense. Music, as is mostly consumed, is a product fine-tuned to sell to the masses. The idea that a musician has some sort of integrity because they did something first is almost crazy; it is always been who can do it best, because first sells... but best sells way better. And we are going to listen to "best" forever. I wish we had an honest system where people sat down and wrote songs and we took them at musical value, but that is simply not the case with popular music. So, we shouldn't ask ourselves is this music the first? Is it pure? Is it authentic? We should ask, "Do we like this music?" and nothing else.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

I think, as music fans, we want the best from our favorite artists... but there is no concept of "authentic" or "original" or "sell out" or any of that nonesense. Music, as is mostly consumed, is a product fine-tuned to sell to the masses. The idea that a musician has some sort of integrity because they did something first is almost crazy; it is always been who can do it best, because first sells... but best sells way better. And we are going to listen to "best" forever. I wish we had an honest system where people sat down and wrote songs and we took them at musical value, but that is simply not the case with popular music. So, we shouldn't ask ourselves is this music the first? Is it pure? Is it authentic? We should ask, "Do we like this music?" and nothing else.

I could care less about authenticity (John Lennon can sing about a world with no property but he managed a pretty sizable estate) but selling out and originality are somewhat important to me. And that isn't because if I like band A I don't want to hear band B that sounds just the same, but I don't want to hear band B if they once sounded like band C but changed their style because A is hot right now. I don't think any of us are innately qualified to know for sure when a band does this, but sometimes it just feels more obvious than others, and so I may choose to move on or ignore if a band changes styles in a direction I don't want or hops on a bandwagon from out of nowhere.

Incidentally, as padrino pointed out, Limp Bizkit appeared to burst on the scene from nowhere jumping on a bandwagon popularized by other bands (who I really don't like). So in as much as some bands from that period are considered trailblazers and given more regard over time by fans of the genre, LB have been mainly marginalized to the back of the bus. That said, if I have to listen to that music, I'd rather hear Starfish endlessly than something else (putting aside the cringe inducing album title). Because sometimes I want a little immature crotch grabbing in my life.

 

[NoBonus]

I could care less about authenticity (John Lennon can sing about a world with no property but he managed a pretty sizable estate) but selling out and originality are somewhat important to me. And that isn't because if I like band A I don't want to hear band B that sounds just the same, but I don't want to hear band B if they once sounded like band C but changed their style because A is hot right now. I don't think any of us are innately qualified to know for sure when a band does this, but sometimes it just feels more obvious than others, and so I may choose to move on or ignore if a band changes styles in a direction I don't want or hops on a bandwagon from out of nowhere.

Incidentally, as padrino pointed out, Limp Bizkit appeared to burst on the scene from nowhere jumping on a bandwagon popularized by other bands (who I really don't like). So in as much as some bands from that period are considered trailblazers and given more regard over time by fans of the genre, LB have been mainly marginalized to the back of the bus. That said, if I have to listen to that music, I'd rather hear Starfish endlessly than something else (putting aside the cringe inducing album title). Because sometimes I want a little immature crotch grabbing in my life.

Let's just call it like it is, we do not like Limp Bizkit collectively, for the most part, except for Endgame.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

What's all this "collectively" business? I like Limp Bizkit just fine. I wouldn't select them to be part of a 20-CD playlist if I were stranded on a desert island, but that's hardly the same thing.

 

[VF21]

I couldn't possibly care less about Limp Bizkit...

KG4 has been at work all day and is now involved in soccer meetings for the Little Princesses. (Yes, she truly is a soccer mom.) She will be making her picks as soon as possible.

 

[Kingsgirl4]

Ok work and soccer Mom duties over. With the final selection of the 15th Round My next pick is:

Journey-Escape-1981



wiki


I am so glad I didn't miss out on this album as it includes some of my favorite songs. "open arms" is such a good sappy love song. "Don't Stop Believin" which will now always remind me of the series finale to the Sopranos and "Who's Cryin Now". This album is going to get a lot of playing time on my island

 

[Kingsgirl4]

With the first selection of the 16th Round my next pick is:

Bush-Sixteen Stone-1994



wiki

Ok, I had to have just one more grunge band. Sixteen Stone is the Debut Album for Bush. I fell in love with this band the moment I heard the first single to this album ""Everything Zen". There was just something so intriguing about Gavin Rossdale's voice. Plus he really is nice on the eyes. I can honestly say I love EVERY song on this album. My favorite song on the album is "Glycerine". I went to a Bush concert at Arco years ago. Although the sound inside Arco has never been the best for concerts hearing Gavin sing live and in person was AMAZING! I was really relieved this Album was still available this late in the draft.
1. "Everything Zen"
2. "Swim"
3. "Bomb"
4. "Little Things"
5. "Comedown"
6. "Body"
7. "Machinehead"
8. "Testosterone"
9. "Monkey"
10. "Glycerine"
11. "Alien"
12. "X-Girlfriend"

 

[pdxKingsFan]

Let's just call it like it is, we do not like Limp Bizkit collectively, for the most part, except for Endgame.

I'd be happy if one of my picks ever inspired this much chatter.

 

[Bricklayer]

With the first selection of the 16th Round my next pick is:

Bush-Sixteen Stone-1994

View attachment 4587

wiki

Ok, I had to have just one more grunge band. Sixteen Stone is the Debut Album for Bush. I fell in love with this band the moment I heard the first single to this album ""Everything Zen". There was just something so intriguing about Gavin Rossdale's voice. Plus he really is nice on the eyes. I can honestly say I love EVERY song on this album. My favorite song on the album is "Glycerine". I went to a Bush concert at Arco years ago. Although the sound inside Arco has never been the best for concerts hearing Gavin sing live and in person was AMAZING! I was really relieved this Album was still available this late in the draft.
1. "Everything Zen"
2. "Swim"
3. "Bomb"
4. "Little Things"
5. "Comedown"
6. "Body"
7. "Machinehead"
8. "Testosterone"
9. "Monkey"
10. "Glycerine"
11. "Alien"
12. "X-Girlfriend"

That one was an alternate on my lists as kind of a forgotten megaalbum of the grunge era. Everybody remembers Nirvanna, Pearl Jam etc. Bush, not so much. But for one year back there song after song off this album was all over the airways. Thing is, this was my exact note on my list: "Bush (joyless)". Everything they did was solid, but I'm not sure I was ever in love with them, and 15 years later I couldn't decide if taking them would be an act of love or just done out of a sense of respect.

 

[GoGoGadget]

Had a busy night, and have to be at work in about 7 1/2 hours for an opening shift, so won't bother with much of a writeup this time. In the 16th round, I'm taking:

Last Splash -- The Breeders (1993) http://www.allmusic.com/album/last-splash-mw0000618655
Fun alternative album that is just chock full of early 90s goodness and which takes me back to a time that was as fun as my clothes were hideous.

"Saints": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snBsvB9UVfM
"Divine Hammer": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_l4ZOVJ-ts
"New Year": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1TOkSYmNFE

 

[GoGoGadget]

That one was an alternate on my lists as kind of a forgotten megaalbum of the grunge era. Everybody remembers Nirvanna, Pearl Jam etc. Bush, not so much. But for one year back there song after song off this album was all over the airways. Thing is, this was my exact note on my list: "Bush (joyless)". Everything they did was solid, but I'm not sure I was ever in love with them, and 15 years later I couldn't decide if taking them would be an act of love or just done out of a sense of respect.

Have a nostalgic fondness for Bush now, but I always liked Rossdale as a frontman (his voice, specifically) more than I liked the band as a whole.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

Tori Amos - Under The Pink (1994) (wiki link)

To this point, there's not a lot of piano on my island. I'm going to fix that by grabbing one of my favorite Tori Amos albums. I had to wrestle with this one, but I finally zeroed in on Under The Pink. Some of the decision came because the instrumentation is a bit more stripped down and lets the piano shine through, some of it came because her signature sensuality comes through a bit more evocatively and a bit less overtly, and some of it came because when it came down to it, I felt this album had the one Tori Amos song I couldn't part with.

(Link to Space Dog, the song I couldn't let go)

(Link to Cornflake Girl)

(Link to Pretty Good Year)

 

[Löwenherz]

All right everyone, I had no plans to go anywhere near thrash metal, but I really can't keep letting this album slide anymore.

Master of Puppets - Metallica (1986)

If I'm being honest, I don't really "deserve" to take this album. It should have gone to a diehard metalhead in the top several picks as it did in the last draft. Someone who lives and breathes thrash and can pinpoint the exact moment Metallica gave their true fans a middle finger to sell-out their sound to the masses.

That's not me. I don't celebrate the entirety of the pre-'91 catalogue, I like songs on both sides of the "sell-out" and I'm comfortable with that. Truthfully, while hardcore thrash metal was a big part of my high school football days, my musical affections have mellowed considerably since then to the point I wouldn't classify myself as a Metallica fan at all now.

And yet, all that said, I'm grateful Master of Puppets is available to me in the 16th round as the third Metallica album picked. Metallica was my very first ever "favorite band." In fact, there was a long stretch of time they were the sole member on my favorite bands list. So nostalgically speaking, Master of Puppets, both the album and the song, is where my journey into the world of music began.

The first half of the album is monstrous, leading in with quite possibly my favorite Metallica song, Battery (video below) followed by the impossibly famous title track, a hardcore song about Cthulhu (The Thing That Should Not Be) and wrapping up with tour and fan favorite Welcome Home (Sanitarium).

That portion of this legendary album alone is why I would pick it over other Metallica offerings. To me, those four are the ideal blend of the hard metal for which they built an early cult following and the more accessible sound for which they would become notorious through the 90s. I say this because even as a complete non-metalhead, I immediately liked all four upon my first listen.

The second half is a celebration of thrash with three genre defining gems in Disposable Heroes, Leper Messiah and Damage Inc with the cool instrumental Orion in there providing a bit of a breather. I appreciate the second half even if it certainly isn't my preference. And with a lifetime on the island, I'm confident I'll learn to enjoy the finer complexities, mad energy and chaotic beauty of the album's second half as well.

When it comes down to it, this is a value pick and a nostalgia pick. An album that really shouldn't be available at this stage, but the only time I could justify taking it as a nod to the days when Metallica was the only band I felt comfortable telling people I liked. As it is, I think it provides a nice change of pace and counter-point to the rest of my island.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_of_Puppets

 

[pdxKingsFan]

Technically their best work start to finish. They perfected the "Metallica album formula" with this one, though it would die soon after. Songwriting wise I prefer the follow up, but production wise it can't hold a candle to Puppets. Can't believe this fell so far. As one who finds their later work unlistenable I thought this was a fitting write up.

 

[Bricklayer]

If I'm being honest, I don't really "deserve" to take this album. It should have gone to a diehard metalhead in the top several picks as it did in the last draft. Someone who lives and breathes thrash and can pinpoint the exact moment Metallica gave their true fans a middle finger to sell-out their sound to the masses.

You know...I have often found that logic kind of deeply flawed, and mostly from the side of diehard fans who get stuck. Not one of us is remotely who we were at 20 by the time we hit 40, and yet there is always this "well the way to be authentic is to never change your sound ever because I liked your old sound" nonsense. This band probably sold out. On the other hand I think it may often be bigger catering, bigger "selling out" to artificially continue repeating the same sound that you thrashed to at 20 into your middle age, even though that's no longer who you are as a person or musician. If the idea is to be "authentic" I think there is at least as much room for the lie to be staying stationary as there is for the lie to be moving forward and changing like the rest of the world.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

The problem is that stripping out guitar solos and moving from songs featuring dozens of riffs that texture the song structures and arrangements into more radio friendly traditional arrangements isn't what most people call evolution.

Still I think most people accepted some of this, it was the shift in attitude that followed that really caused alarm. Here was a band built on the backs of fans and tape trading that became leaders in the bands suing fans movement post-napster.

Plenty of bands are capable of evolving, including drastic shifts in genres, without getting hit with the sell out tag.

 

[EndGame]

I have to say, pdxKingsFan is DYING for their own island.

I'd offer them some space on my island but i have a feeling there would be too much crotch grabbing by me n Durst and too much un-technical rockin by post Puppets Hetfield...

Too bad, we could have had fun.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

I've done like 5 of these drafts and at least when this was getting started I had too much crap going on in my life to participate. At some point people started getting antsy and wanting to get through a complete round every day when the original idea was it could take a whole off season.

I like crotch grabbing and stated as much so I don't know why you keep thinking I am the one who hates Durst more than the others here. And also stated that my favorite 'tallica album was released after Puppets! Do you read my posts?

I'm sure my past drafts are available if you do some digging feel free to critique them!

 

[NoBonus]

I've done like 5 of these drafts and at least when this was getting started I had too much crap going on in my life to participate. At some point people started getting antsy and wanting to get through a complete round every day when the original idea was it could take a whole off season.

I like crotch grabbing and stated as much so I don't know why you keep thinking I am the one who hates Durst more than the others here. And also stated that my favorite 'tallica album was released after Puppets! Do you read my posts?

I'm sure my past drafts are available if you do some digging feel free to critique them!

Let's be honest, everybody like crotch grabbing.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

Totally. And I just realized what your avatar was. sweet game!

 

[NoBonus]

Totally. And I just realized what your avatar was. sweet game!

I have always loved the Gateway to Apshai... played it like a maniac on the Commodore 64... I guess that is why I still love a dungeon crawler.

 

[EndGame]

I've done like 5 of these drafts and at least when this was getting started I had too much crap going on in my life to participate. At some point people started getting antsy and wanting to get through a complete round every day when the original idea was it could take a whole off season.

I like crotch grabbing and stated as much so I don't know why you keep thinking I am the one who hates Durst more than the others here. And also stated that my favorite 'tallica album was released after Puppets! Do you read my posts?

I'm sure my past drafts are available if you do some digging feel free to critique them!

You never actually said you liked a later album more, just the songwriting. Also, your hatred of Durst and the Bizkit is known not only in this forum but over the entire internet. Just own it.

And finally, I am glad you are chiming in, i have had more fun in this draft during the last few days than i did for any other round