The other night we were at a barbecue and most of the people there didn't know one another. We talked about this and that and of course we ended up talking about visa problems. Someone briefly brought up politics but i squashed that before it got going (why do people do that?)

The food was pretty rubbish and that was something we didn't talk about but should have because our host has no idea how to cook on a BBQ apparently.

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_{seriously dude, what are you doing over there?}

The chicken had blood in the middle and the sausages and burgers were so overcooked that they no longer had any taste to them whatsoever. How it is possible to seriously undercook and overcook on the same grill is beyond me.

Anyway: One friend had an interesting game / topic of conversation and it went like this.

You can choose 3 bands/musicians to bring on your desert island:

This can be any individual or group or composer and you will get their entire body of work to bring with you. You will receive no other music. It's an absurd scenario but it does get you thinking and also finding some commonality with strangers. It took me a minute and I may have made some incorrect choices but here were mine.

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Metallica

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Mainly I choose them for their first 4 albums up to the Black Album, which unlike the masses I don't particularly care for. I wouldn't say I am even terribly familiar with most of their work after the Black Album but there are a few good tracks here and there even in their newer stuff. I find Master of Puppets and Justice for All to be 2 of the most perfect metal albums ever made.

upon receiving my anthology on the island i would immediately destroy St. Anger

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Dimmu Borgir

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I may have actually made a mistake with this choice and to be honest I was probably probing the audience a bit to see if anyone even knew who they were. This wasn't a "metal crowd" i was dealing with at the party.

However, i find myself returning to 5 or 6 of their songs every time I listen to music, so when someone does that, perhaps it is a good indicator that you really like them. I would probably end up regretting this choice since it is pretty hardcore and that isn't terribly conducive to a "trapped on a desert island" environment. However, perhaps the loudness of the music would be helpful in signalling the rescue boat.

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A-Ha

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Based on my other choices it might seem a bit strange that A-Ha is also on my list but despite the fact that metal is my music of choice, I also have a "soft side."

I think most people probably only know A-Ha from their hit song in the 80's Take on Me but there is really a lot more to this band than just that one track. They have 15 non-compilation albums and most of them are actually really good.

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_{most people only know this one song but they have a hundred more!}

The Hunting High and Low album was the one that was their greatest success but unfortunately after they failed to have a follow-up hit, the global music industry kind of left them behind. I remained a fan and so did most of Norway, but for the rest of the world, they haven't had a song crack the top 100 since 1986.

The Norwegians have remained die-hard fans (it might have something to do with the fact that A-Ha is from Norway) as every one of their albums except the last two made it to number 1 in that country.

If you like A-ha at all and wanted to give another album of theirs a shot I would highly suggest their second album which is entitled Scoundrel Days. As a whole their 2nd album is actually better than their hit debut album, but most of the world didn't agree.

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_{hopefully a slightly larger island}

Well, that was the game. I was the odd man out in this game as most people were picking musical icons such as the Beatles, Michael Jackson, and Led Zeppelin (which are all good choices) but maybe i'm a bit of a weirdo as far as music is concerned and that is just fine with me.

What are your 3?

keep in mind that it can be a composer like Mozart or an individual singer like Cat Stevens or something. It doesn't have to be a band.