My Top 5 Deserted Island CDs

5) Tie - Mazzy Star "So Tonight That I Might See"



If you're stuck on an island, it's important to have at least one really depressing disc. I had trouble deciding so I chose two. If you're the guy who's gonna say, "oooohhh that's fucked up, you can't have a tie," eat shit. This is what I think of you.

Say what you will, but this album gets it done for me every time. It borderline makes you want to walk out into traffic, but you probably don't have to worry about that on a deserted island, so it is what it is.

Top Songs: Fade Into You, Into Dust

5) Tie - Elliot Smith "From a Basement on the Hill"



This guy wrote the book on depressing music and then oddly enough, he committed suicide by knife in 2003. If you listen to him too much, the melancholy really starts to take over your whole persona. Whenever I hear "Miss Misery" I feel like barricading myself into my apartment for two weeks and consuming nothing but cheap scotch and chinese. Every album is really the same. I chose this because it has a song named, "A Distorted Reality Is Now a Necessity to Be Free."

Top Songs: Twilight, A Fond Farewell

4) Rolling Stones - "Exile on Main St."



If you haven't jumped yet, you're gonna need something to bring you back off the edge of that cliff. For me "Exile on Main Street" is just what the doctor ordered. It puts a little extra jump in your step. It has a song called "Happy." It has a song called "Turd on the Loose." If that's not fun, I don't know what is.

Top Songs: Rocks Off, Sweet Virginia, Tumbling Dice


3) Son Volt - "Trace"



I can listen to this whole album start to finish. It takes some time to really appreciate what these guys bring to the table, but once you figure it out, you won't look back. Trust me. If Tom Hanks had this album with him in Castaway, he wouldn't have had to start talking to a god damn soccer ball. It's that simple.

Top Songs: Drown, Catching On, Loose String


2) The Replacements - "Tim"



One of the most under rated bands of the 80s, these guys really didn't care about being hip or making catchy videos - they just wanted to drink, fuck around with some instruments, and maybe play a few songs in between. I saw lead singer Paul Westerberg in DC one time and he kept giving money to people in the front row to buy him more beers. By the end, he was lying face first on stage and some kid from the audience grabbed the mic and started singing. When the bouncer dragged the kid off-stage, Westerberg rose from his stupor long enough to order the bouncer to let the kid return. Unrefined? Perhaps. Genuine? Absolutely.

Top Songs: Just listen to this drunk set: Bad and Worse. If you have time, check out this video for Bastards of the Young. Comments under the video include: "this is a really good song but the video is slow" and "dumb vid." These are the types of people that just don't get it, and knowing they weren't with me on the island would make me happy.


1) Radiohead - "In Rainbows"



If I'm stuck on an island, I need to have a Radiohead album with me. Truth be told, I could probably get by with 5 Radiohead albums, but if I heard "Ideotheque" one too many times, it's possible that I would morph into one of those mutant humans from "I am Legend." And don't give me that shit about how they're over-hyped and this and that. Just stop. They deserve every bit of the hype. Simply put, they are on another level - kind of like that kid who had sex with not one but two of his teachers.

Ok Computer and The Bends are the obvious choices here, but In Rainbows has really grown on me. I used to listen to "Nude" on loop while working out until one time I woke up 30 minutes later doing Romanian Dead Lifts with no shirt on. Game, set, match.

Top Songs: Nude, All I Need, Jigsaw Falling into Place (Tavish, if you read this, I know you're going to say, "Nawwww, Track 4 is the best, man" but you're wrong. It's not.)