This “game” came up while driving home after a show couple of days ago. There were four people in the car and this kept the conversation going for a good while. It was also interesting to hear what everyone had to say about the names mentioned. Some lively conversation, I tell you. We ended up with various versions of the same game.

If you could spend an evening with three living musicians

• Bruce Springsteen
• Jason Newsted
• Dave Grohl

Over the past couple of years I’ve realized the awesomeness of The Boss. He is a musician with a long and very respectable career and I own every single studio album he’s put out. Sure there are few albums that I’m not that crazy about, but most of his material is simply incredible.

I have the utmost respect for Jason. I was a massive Metallica fan as a kid/teenager and while I don’t really care for what the band has done during the last 10 years or so, I have to say I respect Jason and James the most. When he auditioned for the band, he was more than prepared. When he played live, you could tell he was always in love with the music. And after a long career, he stepped down from one of the biggest bands in the world. The reason? To keep on playing music without restrictions. He’s one of the few musicians I would really love to collaborate with.

I was into Nirvana as a kid (still enjoy them from time to time), but the fact that Dave continued his career after 1994 is what I really respect in him. He went from one big rock band to jamming his own songs, going out on tours and eventually he was leading yet another big rock band. The first two Foo Fighters albums are just incredible and the fact that Dave, kind of like Jason, has continued to play different kinds of music with various people is what I admire in him.

If you could meet one living musician

I continued to go with musicians I haven’t met yet and chose Jason. Out of the three mentioned he’s the one I would love to collaborate the most.

If you could spend an evening with three dead people

• Cliff Burton
• Bill Hicks
• Gösta Sundqvist

There are no words to describe the awesomeness of Cliff. I grew up listening to the Metallica albums he played on. Watching footage of him was always jaw-dropping. You could always tell he didn’t quite fit in and that’s what set him apart in a very good way. Joel McIver’s To Live is To Die is something I encourage everyone to read if you ever listened to Metallica for more than one song.

When it comes to stand-up, there’s one man whose work will never be topped in my books. Not only was Bill funny, he was a man with strong opinions. He could take anything and make it funny. Painfully funny most of the time. I don’t necessarily agree with every single thing he said, but I find all of his jokes funny. Only the good die young.

Like with the previous two, there are really no words to describe Gösta Sundqvist. A truly one-of-a-kind human being and his life’s work will never be forgotten. There’s always more than meets the eye with his lyrics and even after 30 years his music sounds fresh and inspiring.

Aside from musicians

At one point we dropped the musicians only rule. Even then most lists contained musicians, but this made me think who would I pick if musicians weren’t allowed. So here are few variations.

If you could spend an evening with three actors/actresses

• Morgan Freeman
• Robin Williams
• Kevin Smith

Without going into a lengthy appraisal I’ll just say that this would be a pretty interesting dinner. Morgan Freeman is just someone you simply have to respect. Talk about charisma! Robin Williams is also one-of-a-kind and without about doubt would make things more interesting. And Kevin Smith. Clerks. Dialogue. That’s all that needs to be said.

If you could spend an evening with three…

I also have a great fascination for serial killers and I could go on with these lists forever. Three living serial killers, three dead serial killers, three people hunting down the serial killers and so on. I’ll just make a list of three fascinating people who are somehow connected to the world of crime.

• Theodore Kaczynski
• John Douglas
• Gary Ridgway

Why didn’t you pick..?

Even during our drive I heard “I was expecting you to say…” few times. I purposely left out musicians I have already met. As a music lover two of the probably biggest moments have been meeting Anneke van Giersbergen and Devin Townsend. Both times I’ve been at a loss of words and during my probably 60 second conversation with them I’ve simply thanked them for the music they’ve created.

These were my lists on an August night in 2010. I could’ve just as well added Shannon Wright, Morrissey or Björk, but maybe they’ll be on my list next year.