Doms' Desert Discs

When “Desert Island Discs” first aired, in 1942, it was part of the BBC’s broader effort to make life during wartime slightly more bearable—a way to insure that not every waking second of life was lost to worry.

Ashes to Ashes by David Bowie. I was 10 yrs old when this was released, the importance of Bowie for my generation can’t be overstated, and it came with a very cool New Romantic video. I loved it then and I love it now. It’s only clear now, looking back, that the late seventies and early eighties for music was a golden age, and that was the formative time for me and my friends.

This Must Be The Place by Talking Heads. “Home is where I want to be” go the lyrics, and I identify, I love being at home, painting, reading, sniffing perfume, thinking. I am the kind of person to love my own company and what you might call your internal world or the realm of your imagination or creativity.

The Passenger by Siouxsie And The Banshees. This is a ‘Chanel’ song for me. We played it over and over when we were working on the Les Exclusifs line of Chanel perfumes, and then coincidentally two years later Karl Lagerfeld used it as the background music to his Spring 2007 collection, so I associate it with happy memories of that period of my life.

Do You Really Want To Hurt Me by Culture Club. I first experienced this when watching Top Of The Pops and Boy George created a sensation just by being himself. Back then they called it "gender-bender”,  although now we’d call it gender fluid or non binary, but whatever, this was crucial stuff in starting to change social attitudes towards LGBTQ people, and in my lifetime I can’t believe how far we’ve come. 

I Love The Sound Of Breaking Glass by Nick Lowe. I am a fan of the New Wave music that came about following the shock of punk in the late seventies, and this is a great example. Also it’s happy and catchy and makes me dance.

Lose Yourself To Dance by Daft Punk. This song reminds me of launching Shay & Blue, because it came out around that time, but also its rhythm reminds of the clubs I used to go to when I was 18 years old places like Heaven, Industria, Kinky Gerlinky.

Another Star by Stevie Wonder. I love love love Stevie Wonder, and this is one of the best R&B soul tracks ever.

Big Mouth Strikes Again by The Smiths. My first kiss when I was a teenager was to this song, which is appropriate because the boy I kissed was Captain of cricket and a bit over-confident and mouthy.

It’s a tough choice, because my guilty pleasures in life are painting and yoga, but I reckon I could get handy and weave a yoga mat out of tree matting, so in that case my luxury would be some art supplies so I could paint, I’m sure the island would be inspiring material.