January 7th 1974

“Berfday. Got lamp, pygamas, £2 from Mormor – bought Stranded – Roxy – Smart!”
So the wild and crazy out-of-control teenager turns 16 and celebrates with … erm… some pyjamas (mis-spelled), a lamp (a lamp??) and a couple of quid from his Danish grandmother.
However, it seems like I made up for it a little later in the [...]

July 23rd 1973

“Stuck project into folder” / “Went into ELeigh and got Life on Mars + Pyjamarama” /”Neil came up later”
This purchase of two singles – probably both snagged at Jack Hobbs Records in their clearance bins  – would seem to solidify my teenage passion for all things musically “glam”
David Bowie’s “Life on Mars?” single was released [...]

May 17th 1973

“Borrowed Imagine off of Gina K – Quite good really”
Would it be sacrilegious of me to state that, over the years, my opinion of John Lennon’s second solo album, Imagine, has altered dramatically?
Instead of “quite good” I now react to hearing cuts from this album with a series of customary swear words.
Especially that bloody title track. Even despite [...]

April 29th 1973

“2nd aniv at T.I.B. – took beer and Roxy Music album”
See?…. if organised religion was like this all the time I could possibly have been a player.
In hindsight there’s something quite glorious about taking an album which features a song about a blow-up doll to a churchly get-together.
Not to mention the ‘beer’ thing.
I was 15 [...]

April 19th 1973

“Bit boring all morning with Mormor – in afternoon went into eastleigh;- lent Mark P Tarkus and bought For Your Pleasure – Roxy Music – smart!”
Poor old Mormor. For the second time in these diaries I have referred to her staying with us as “boring”. What an complete git ungracious grandson I was in 1973.

In apparently [...]

April 14th 1973

“Work all day. Broke bottles. Went up Nigs in evng – listened to For Your Pleasure – Brilliant!”
Broke bottles? What does that mean? Does it mean that I maybe knocked some bottles off a shelf and broke them, or did my work today involve breaking down bottles, maybe to recycle them? (Unlikely it’s the latter [...]

April 13th 1973

“Had lie in, in morning (great)” / “Went up Dave C’s. Brrwd Roxy Music, lent him Phantasmagoria. Started work at 4 o’clock”
On of the strange things about being a teenager is this inate ability for them to just sleep and sleep and sleep.
I was no different.  On Sundays – or days when i didn’t have [...]

April 12th 1973

“All work all day. Got wages for something 2.84 (wow!)” / “Roxy Music at Gaumont. Sharks support”
So, my third ever concert was Roxy Music at the Southampton Gaumont.
Nice of me to write so very much about it eh?
Naturally, I can’t remember anything about the night, even more surprised by my diary entry that Sharks were [...]

April 4th 1973

“ARGUMENT! (smashing of the plate)” / “Got card from Gra” / “Roxy on TOTPs” / “Paid Trev for ISOS”
Oh dear – it would appear that one of the arguments took a worrying turn, with crockery being thrown? *sigh* I can’t remember this altercation – probably for the best I guess? – but it has got [...]

March 26th 1973

“Pete B gave me money to buy Roxy ticket”
Unlikely I became a tout at such an early age – in fact did touts even exist in 1973? – so this would appear to be no more than a friendly schoolboy favour.

In a “what’s weird” moment, this Pete B and myself would become rival music retailers [...]

March 22nd 1973

“Roxy Tickets on Sale” / “In table tennis I beat Trevor 21-19″
In the current ‘technology’-led age its difficult to completely comprehend how we got our hands on concert tickets in the 1970’s.
There were a few methods, all of them seeming as antiquated – and honest – as possible.
A date would be given stating when tickets [...]

January 28th 1973

“Dave came up in the morning and borrowed Pictures and lent me Roxy Music”
I was almost dreading the debut mention of Roxy Music in this blog.
Why? Because it is extremely difficult to explain the impact that the band – and their style – had on this particular teenager. It’s also difficult to explain to [...]

Number Ones of 1972 (Part 5)

…[continued from Part 4]
You know when you write about a year in these terms – all the number ones – you wonder whether it gives a realistic representation of the music everyone listened to.
In terms of sheer public popularity I guess it does, but in my own personal world I feel there were many different songs [...]

Number Ones of 1972 (Part 1)

In this ”debut diary year” of 1972 I have spoken a lot about the albums I either bought, borrowed and/or taped.
It would be fair for readers to think these albums would represent what I would have listened to the most in 1972.
Fair, but wrong.
Every Sunday, almost without fail, I would avidly listen to the “Pick of the Pops” show [...]

January 14th 1972

“In the evening recorded ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’ by Emerson, Lake & Palmer”
Proof, if it were needed, that musical piracy was rife even in the Seventies.
However, this was not your perfect “digital copy” of the 21st Century, but something FAR more rudimentary indeed.
The only record player I had was my parents Dansette, a cream flip-lidded [...]