Having been a fully paid-up hippy in the Seventies - I would have argued with you all day and all night who was the best rock vocalist in the world - I never really embraced Punk and New Wave in the proper fashion.
However I was musically broad-minded and realised that the times they were a changin. Besides, I loved guitar-based music and listened to rock albums 24/7.
It wasn't long before I was being lent LP's of this trendy new genre and coming across the likes of Teardrop Explodes at the close of the Seventies.
I mention Teardrop as I'm at this very minute listening to their album Kilimanjaro as we speak courtesy of You Tube.
I remember so many of the tunes and riffs as clearly as if I was in a field of poppies. It is an exceptionally beat-full collection and worthy of much toe-tapping even now. Back then it was typical of the modern young sound at parties to which nest-topped kids gyrated and pogoed as the canons of Led Zepp and Sabbath gave way to harpy teenage guitars without solos.
The stand-out track of Kilimanjaro for me was and is The Poppies are In The Fields. With its catchy chorus line proclaimed by deep-voiced Julian Cope, its twanging rickenbackers and driving poppy riff its an indie classic - or is it New Wave? Dunno.
As an avid collector of things I definitely collected songs in my head, those which formed the soundtrack to my youth. The Teardrop Explodes' album Kilimanjaro is there alongside Lynyrd Skynyrd and Judie Tzuke as the heliopause of the Seventies whirled in my memory like a teardrop of patchouli oil exploding in a tub of hair gel.
Did you listen to rock and punk/ new wave/ indie at the same time readers?
Always enjoyed the New York City punk scene.The Ramones,Blondie,Dead Boys,Talking Heads.Never got to visit CBGB,but I saw the Ramones many times at a place called City Gardens in Trenton,NJ
ReplyDeleteI think I may have an eclectic taste in music, Woodsy. I tend to like specific songs, rather than particular types of music, artists or bands. I've got the Trumpton Riot EP you asked about :)
ReplyDeleteThe emergence of the Punk scene was a factor in steering my radio career... Although my listening of choice was at that time was 1960's music and instrumental bands like the Shadows and the Tornados; plus playing in a rock band. I just couldn’t get into most of the Top 40 stuff, and absolutely hated flared trousers and platform/beetle crusher shoes and the fashion of the time.
ReplyDeleteAnd then along came Punk Rock - I could hear an energy in that which I hadn't heard since the like of Johnny Kidd, the Who and the Kinks. Even the Jam were Neo-Mods, and dressed really smart!
Most late evenings were spent listening to John Peel, and Saturday Afternoons to Fluff Freeman. I was 17 years old and it inspired me.
By late 1978, I wanted to make programming which included this stuff as well as some of the fabulous 60's tracks too. But I essentially lived in an area surrounded by fields and mountains full of sheep, hundreds of miles away from anywhere! I couldn't drive at that time, so short of moving away, the only other solution was to build my own studio, which I did.
There was no internet in those days so everything was recorded on cassette tape and posted to the first station I broadcast on which was based in Swansea. Some thirty miles away. Yes I still have some of those very early cringe-worthy shows... Although having said that, I had a fair amount of equipment to hand, and did a lot of experimentation with Reel-To-Reel tape effects.
Eventually I passed my driving test, and within six years I quit my engineering job and was doing it for real.
Finished work for a fortnight and just catching up on comments. That's a very evocative tale Bill. Its interesting how Punk influenced your life in radio. I remember listening to Fluff freeman clearly in Saturday afternoons whilst riding in the car with my Dad taking groceries to to a relatives. The show was still very rocky then and I can't recall Punk taking his show over. It remained rock music based for me. The emergence of Punk must have been slow on the radio. Am I remembering that correctly?
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