City Limits

Even in the age of the iPod, we all still have our Desert Island Discs -- you know, the ten records you wouldn't want to be without if you were stranded on a desert island. Now here's a twist: If you could limit your music collection to bands and artists from a single city, which city would it be?

If you were trendy, you might choose New York, and get all sorts of contemporary indie bands like Grizzly Bear, Vampire Weekend, The National, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Animal Collective but also get The Velvet Underground, The Ramones, Talking Heads, Sonic Youth, The Beastie Boys, Run DMC and Public Enemy. Not a bad choice by any means.

If you were a classicist, you might choose Liverpool and get the Beatles, which for a lot of people would be all you need. But you'd also get Echo and the Bunnymen (pictured above) as a bonus. Trouble is, you'd have to suffer with Frankie Goes to Hollywood and A Flock of Seagulls.

How about LA? All that crappy hair metal would offset anything good (Beck, The Byrds, Beach Boys, Red Hot Chili Peppers, X) and Gangsta Rap would get old pretty quick on a desert island. And Seattle would give you Jimi Hendrix and plenty of grunge bands -- Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam -- but you'd also be stuck with Kenny G.

London's a solid choice -- you'd get The Clash (pictured above), Led Zeppelin, The Stones, The Who, The Jam, The Police, David Bowie, Elvis Costello, The Cure. But you'd also get the Spice Girls and Coldplay.

 For my money, I'll go with Manchester. I'll happily wile away hours on my desert island listening to The Smiths (pictured above), The Fall, Joy Division, The Buzzcocks, New Order, Happy Mondays, The Stone Roses, Doves, The Chemical Brothers. And yeah, I'd put up with Oasis and Simply Red -- that's a price I'm willing to pay.