DAY 22: Return of the desert island top 10

Back in the day (a time period spanning from 1980-1999) I remember having lots of discussions about "the desert island top ten". These discussions usually started in bars, during the day, when I probably should have been studying. The DITT was simply our list of 10 albums that you'd take with you if you were stranded on a desert island. One was to assume you would have an Onkyo stereo and giant speakers, as is usually the case on desert islands with which to listen to said cassettes/cd's. Arguments were had and tempers escalated over defense of your albums. Day drinking usually amplified this.

Last week my friend Bill Rhodes started up a whole FB thread on a topic similar to the DITT and it was easy to see that our group of friends liked a lot of the same stuff, though his lost was geared more towards albums that stuck or influenced you.

For the DITT, it's a little less profound. If you secretly listen to Color Me Badd and couldn't live without it. You add it to the list. Leave your "cool" at the door and be honest.

I'd love to see y'all list yours in the comments section below.

I'll go first. In no particular order of importance: 1. Drivin N Cryin-Mystery Road- I can put this on while driving and can immediately be shuttled back to 89-94. I had the pleasure of opening up for Kevn Kinney a couple times (he's the lead singer songwriter) and even got called on stage to play Straight to Hell with him. That didn't suck. 2. U2- The Joshua Tree- I saw U2 on this tour on Thanksgiving night 1987 at the LSU P-Mac. I bought my first guitar the next week. 3. REM-Life's Rich Pageant-I liked a lot of REM but this is "the" REM album for me. It is everything good about southern progressive rock. 4. The Cult-Electric-plastic fantastic. Lobster telephone. Nothing more needs to be said. Oh yes there is. All hail Rick Rubin who scrapped an earlier version of the album that sounded like "Rain" and forced the band to re-record it. 5. Better than Ezra- Surprise- opened up a ton for these guys when playing with Meantree and still call them all friends. Between this and #1 I probably wore out 3 copies of each. 6. Uncle Tupelo-No Depression-pure power. The album that spawned the "alt country" movement. Changed how I played the guitar and wrote for a few years. 7. Son Volt-Trace-When Uncle Tupelo split you had to choose sides. I chose Jay Farrar and his new Band Son Volt. This album is damn near perfect and takes me to 95-97 in the first three notes. 8. Marvelous 3-hey- This was tough because I wanted to put a Butch Walker (lead singer/guitarist) album on this list, but I had to go with the number of songs I loved on a particular album and this one just had more. Pure 90's power pop. 9. Jason Isbell and the 400 unit-live from Alabama. Has my favorite Drive By Truckers songs and some solo stuff by Isbell. I wanted to put his newest album Southeastern on here but this one kills two birds with one stone. 10. Meantree-I'd call this a shameless plug for a band that I played in, but I am still proud of this album. I was young, slightly angry, definitely stupid, and not very talented. Chris Garrison and I stared out playing acoustic together. I convinced Blye Hunsinger to bring his drums back to college one Christmas and we picked up Brad Mooney along the way. I've been meaning to do a full post on this but want to be where I can access the music to upload it. Best unsigned Baton Rouge band ever!