




My Auntie Karen, her husband Phil and my three cousins Luke, Russell and Vicky lived in Barnsley, a long way from my home in Wiltshire. Oddly the only thing I remember about visiting them in 1992 is that it was around the time that rave music had gone mainstream, and as well as The Shamen's excellent 'Ebeneezer Goode', Felix's 'Don't You Want Me' and Snap!'s 'Rhythm Is A Dancer' were also massive hits at the time. I also remember that while I was there visiting on that occasion, I listened to Genesis live at Knebworth on Radio One. At least it wasn't more Right Said Fred.A lot of you who read my music blog will be thinking "Queen? Right Said Fred? Erasure? Barry fucking Manilow? How did this guy end up with the fine taste and knowledge he has now?". It's 1993 and i'm 8 years old. The radio is full of shite, and it's impossible to hear anything good. And if you don't hear what's good, you don't know what's good... Rather like the kids of today in fact, although not quite as bad.


But that still didn't stop me from experimenting with some seriously dodgy music during my childhood. I can remember a family holiday to Andorra and the music played during the drive, plus some of the stuff I had on my Walkman while tackling the Andorran ski slopes. The music I heard a lot of during this holiday included a tape of Erasure's greatest hits. An awful group who made appalling songs, but I suppose it was an early indication of my future fondness for electro music. The holiday to Andorra involved a long drive through France and I do recall some of the music that accompanied this journey.... A cassette copy of 'The Freddie Mercury Album' (which represented the very worst side of the man), 'Take That And Party' (they didn't seem so dismal to an 8 year old)... A tape of Eric Clapton's 'Journeyman'... what sort of 8 year old would listen to this? I can't remember if it was actually mine or if it belonged to my parents.

But as I said in last week's column, all the tapes and records I owned at that point were either bought for me as presents or home-recorded copies of stuff, and the first record I actually went out and bought myself was still a while off yet. The hotel we stayed at was owned by my Auntie Susan (the same Auntie with the house in Southwick) and her husband Dave, and a great place it was too. They had a stereo system that played music in the bar, dining room and the little radios in the rooms, and all I remember hearing on it was Cher's Greatest Hits. While in the shops I can recall hearing Lenny Kravitz's 'Are You Gonna Go My Way', 'Run To You' by dance act Rage, and 'Be My Baby' by the singerVanessa Paradis.Also present with us on this holiday were my Dad's mate Brian and his family. Brian was the singer in a crappy covers band called Footloose, who played a mixture of cliched 50's rock n roll numbers and AOR hits. One night in 1993 or possibly 1994, they played at the Trowbridge Rugby Club, where I ended up being invited up to sing Queen's 'I Want To Break Free' with them. Not exactly the most credible of introductions to the world of rock n roll...But although the rest of 1993 would result in me owning more hideous records, things started to change later in the year...
I'm 9 years old, and about to start my fifth year at primary school. This was 1993 again, and my school (Aloeric School in Melksham) had each class bury a time capsule containing various items from the 20th century. With my fondness for music developing, I decided that it was important that future generations could experience popular music as it was in 1993. So what did I pick as a definitive musical representation of the 20th century and all its creative wonders? 'No Limits' by 2 Unlimited. Quite why I picked it I cannot be begin to imagine. Imagine in years to come, every single CD, tape and record is wiped out by an earth sweeping fire that also takes out all the computers, leaving the few remaining survivors with nothing left of the complete history of recorded music. Then years later, future generations of man find a time capsule from the 90's buried in Melksham. Then imagine the future inhabitants of earth marvelling at the likes of 'Tribal Dance' or 'Maximum Overdrive'. A scary thought.

Far more important for me was the arrival of David Bowieinto my musical life. I'd first seen Bowie on telly, singing at the Freddie Mercury tribute concert, and he had been appearing on the ITV Chart Show a lot since he'd just released 'Black Tie White Noise'. But I'd only really heard a couple of his tracks and for some reason at that point I still didn't really take much notice of the 'Hunky Dory', 'Aladdin Sane' and 'Diamond Dogs' LPs that my mom owned. I should have. It might have saved me from listening to mostly shite for the rest of 1993. But having said that, I was listening to more of my Mum's BeatlesLPs, and was becoming quite a fan. I found it so intriguing how they seemed to have changed into a completely different band over the space of just a few years. But in those days I was definitely more fond of their earlier work, easy to singalong to and simply the best pop music there ever was.


But I was still too young to know good music from bad music. It all just sounded like a load of songs. You have to grow a bit and hear more of what's out there to set a standard. Because otherwise you'll end up like one of those people that buys X Factor singles and who accepts any old rubbish that's played to them. And I suppose in a way, listening to stuff like 2 Unlimited, Right Said Fred, Shaggy and Green Jelly taught me what bad music was. Well it did after I had learned how awful it was compared to the real treasure out there in the musical world.

But despite now being aware that 'I Would Do Anything For Love' is a true abomination, hearing it still gives me this nostalgic sensation that some would mistake for the feeling they get when they hear a good song. But because I know this song is subconsciously attached to my childhood, that's why it still sounds powerful to me. Despite being shit. I hope you know what I mean.But I know enough good music to know that David Bowie will always sound great in a sentimental way AND in terms of knowing you're listening to some truly great work. His impact on my life was absolutely pivotal. And you'll have to read the next installment of my story for more about that...
