Sounds Of The 1980's - My Youth

I am inside (where else would you be with the current weather) listening to 'George Best', the first LP by THE WEDDING PRESENT, and it bristles with energy and excitement. What a pity they and many other bands, it must be said, no longer energise nowadays. Back in the 1980's it seemed that nearly every band that bothered to cut a record had to be heard: SMITHS, HOUSE OF LOVE, SPACEMEN 3, MICRODISNEY, STARS OF HEAVEN, MEGA CITY 4, SENSELESS THINGS, I could go on and on. The music emanating from cities across the UK (and further afield) was the noise annoying the shit out of our parents. Sexually inhibited boys had, at last something to latch on to. It was a kind of release valve. MORRISSEY's hugely over-subscribed free (if you wore a SMITHS or MORRISSEY T-Shirt) gig in the Wolfrun Hall, Wolverhampton c. 1989, was an example of that valve in perfect working order. If you were sexually confused, or in any way lacking in confidence, MORRISSEY's 'asexuality' was a breath of fresh air. You were not alone.

For me my saviour was a DJ, JOHN ROBERT PARKER RAVENSCROFT, better known as JOHN PEEL. I have a blog on him prepared for publication in the 'CHRONICAL' scheduled for later this year, so I'll keep my words on him here to a minimum. Peely was on between 10 and midnight on Monday's, Tuesday's and also on Wednesday's. He was a joy to listen to. Of course he obsessed over some awful music, but many artists he gave 'Needle time' to made some wonderful sounds. A good proportion of the music he championed (too many to mention here) remained in obscurity however the charm was so appealing to a sixteen year old listener like me.

Television, these days, isn't kind to music but in the 1980's there were a number of programmes set aside for 'sound enthusiasts'. Most famous would have been 'THE TUBE' on Channel 4. Even that show had a mainstream ring about it. Presented by BOB GELDOF'S ex wife, PAULA YATES, alongside co-presenter JOOLS HOLLAND, THE TUBE was made in NEWCASTLE but was a hub of entertainment for teenagers everywhere. Most of the music covered on the programme was quite homogeneous, however it had its moments. I can recall PAULA YATES swooning over TERENCE TRENT D'ARBY (eighties pop singer). Indeed any slightly good-looking male musician at the time, that appeared near YATES, rarely escaped her amorous attention. By the end of the 1980's 'THE TUBE' was history.

I started to buy my first records around 1988. ARETHA FRANKLIN,UB 40, ELMORE JAMES, BOB WILLS, LOOP, JESUS AND MARY CHAIN, NANCI GRIFFITHS, STIFF LITTLE FINGERS and BILLY BRAGG were just some of the people whose records made their way to my battered DANSETTE (bought in the summer of 1988 at a car boot sale in the East Midlands, UK for £4). It was exciting to grow up with these sounds around me. If it had been in the 1940's the sounds would probably have been bombs exploding. COMET (RIP) and FREEBIRD Records were two of my haunts at weekends. Both shops were heaving with records and my constant efforts to locate LP's that PEEL had played on his shows were usually fruitless. It became a challenge to me and eventually I would start to find some of those records.

DAVE FANNING (RTE) also influenced my aural passions. Hearing him play DINOSAUR JR.'s 'Freak Scene' for the first time was an epiphany and I made it my duty to get the band's recordings. However at IR£9.99 I had to wait and then got it years later on CD (!). People go mad about NIRVANA (US) but I would say that the 'grunge' band of most importance at the time was MUDHONEY. The latter's 'Touch Me I'm Sick' and TAD DOYLE's 'Saltlick' mini LP were some of the better records in that genre in the late 1980's.

ANDY KERSHAW was (and is) a legendary broadcaster and I can well remember buying an LP by 'Zydeco' musician, BUCKWHEAT ZYDECO and his masterly talent on the Accordion after ANDY featured him on one of his shows on his BBC Radio show. I have amassed a good number of African LP's (and CD's latterly), one of my most treasured is 'Shabini' by THE BHUNDU BOYS from ZIMBABWE. Its a perfect example of the shimmering guitar playing they were famous for in the mid eighties. The energy of the 'Soukous'/'Jit Jive' styles they created was compelling. Had it not been for my access to 'Medium Wave' on my little red transistor, I got as a Christmas present in 1984, I may never have bothered with music to the extent I did.

Buying LP's was an event for me. Because I had no income I relied on the odd fiver (or tenner if I was lucky) from relatives at times like birthdays and Easter or Christmas. Typically I made the journey into central DUBLIN at the penultimate day of the school holidays so as to have something to look forward to before my studies resumed the following day. The decade in question was a time of economic hardship in IRELAND but musically it was quite exciting. One of the small clutch of Irish bands that I loved (and still do) was THE GOLDEN HORDE. I would spend my days in school telling anyone who'd listen about them. When I got home I'd play the 2 or 3 tunes by the band that I had taped off the radio. One of my enduring pleasures was pressing the 'play' button endlessly and telling myself: "The homework can wait."

So the 1980's were my 1960's - a time when music could ease the horror of school and I dreamed of working in a Record Shop. 'Maybe I could work in 'ROCK ON' ', I thought, but it didn't happen. 'I 'll have to see about 'GOLDEN DISCS'. my dreams would have to wait to become a reality and sure enough I fulfilled that longing and in 1997 (starting to sound like 'This Is Your Life') I found myself working behind the counter in a DUBLIN based record emporium, TRINITY RECORDS where I extended my knowledge of music both business and artistically. However the 1980's was when my dreams began - a time in my life I'll never forget!