But Anthony offers me a brief delusional reprieve (by e-mail). Apparently the comments on blogger has been a bit flaky lately. If you want to post as 'other' (as opposed to an 'Anonymous' commenter or with a 'blogger profile', it chucks you out.
Has anyone else been having problems? Let me know willya?
What Anthony was going to say (and he's resorted to e-mail) was:
"...how pointless most desert island disc selections are because they're actually more about projecting a particular, carefully chosen, image than anything else. Forget Captain Beefheart if I was on a desert island i'd just want a few AC/DC albums."Well, it was Rullsenberg's idea, and she anticipated Anthony's objection. That’s why she said that people only had two days to complete it – so that we'd not have time to construct a manicured version of our tasteless selves.
Of course, anyone with a decent-sized ego can still construct a fairly shiny self-portrait when they're given two whole days. The only way to do it properly would be to do it with a five minute phone call and then transcribe it.
Anyway, I don’t know if it’s not missing the point of pop music to say that you have to make a choice without any regard to how it will effect your credibility. I’d argue that we listen to music in a slightly narcissistic way. People mime guitar playing or drumming don’t they?
If you have, for some reason, a guilty secret about, say, Gilbert O’Sullivan, part of it would involve you putting the record on and making a codpiece of yourself miming to an air-piano.
I don’t think I could like a record that I wouldn’t be prepared to put on in front of my hippest and most intolerant friends. As a kiddie, I used to find a really hip LP and take it into town two or three times (in the old yellow Nottingham Selectadisc bags, natch) so that anyone I ran into would be able to see the LP that I ‘just bought’.
White Light White Heat and The Human League’s Reproduction are two LPs that I recall doing this with.
Perhaps that would be a better task for Rullsenberg to be demanding of us?
Eight LPs that the reflected glory of owning them eclipsed the pleasure of actually listening to them.
PS: I can understand Anthony's comment about Beefheart. I think that if anyone told me that they'd take something of Trout Mask Replica to a desert island, they'd just be showing off. But some of Clear Spot is actually quite sweet and accessible - in a similar place to some of Tom Waits' early stuff.
1 comment:
Hi Paul, in the very short period c2000-2001 when Sony Mini Discs were going to take over the world, I had a disc that I called 'Desert Island Discs', the idea being that if I ever got bored of any of the tracks, they could be deleted without having to re-record the whole thing.
It started, as all good mix 'tapes' should, with a statement - "It's a good thing", That Petrol Emotion, but also included Beastie Boys, Cinerama, the full 10 minute "Never Let Me Down" by Depeche Mode & coincidently, Dexy's "Plan B".
However, as a boy of the 80's, it had to have a touch of New Romantic excess, Spandau Ballet's "Cut a Long Story Short". Tony Hadley's vocals still on equal footing with the synths & Bass.
I remember skipping over this track while sat listening on a bus back to Arnold, wary of the thoughts of the young girl sat next to me.
But I also remember the guilt I felt at not continuing my listening pleasure fearing the scorn of a complete stranger. Never again.
"Dance as though no-one is watching"
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