90s – Five Miles Out

That’s Me in the Corner

It’s hot. It is close to midnight but it’s still as hot as an English summer day. I am not yet drunk but I am well on the way there. I have travelled nearly 2,500 miles to be there and we are in a street full of youthful people and lined with bars. One ofContinue reading “That’s Me in the Corner”

Also Known as the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu

I am counting the JAMs, The Justified Ancients of Mu-Mu and the K Foundation as one group here. It was going to be about how they withdrew all their music at the height of their success in a Great Garbo move, then they bloody go and release it again on streaming services after nearly 30Continue reading “Also Known as the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu”

The past is steeped in shame

Aztec Camera are ok – I had liked Walk Out To Winter and Oblivious, but they are the last entry on the list that will not have a playlist. This was a collaboration between them and Mick Jones (the first of two entries on the list for Jones, so one of his groups will appearContinue reading “The past is steeped in shame”

The one you love is the one that should take you higher

I am always astounded by some of the groups that throw people out for taking too many drugs. Ozzy Osbourne was one (https://wordpress.com/post/fivemilesout.home.blog/1681 ). Guns ‘n’ Roses drummer Stephen Adler was thrown out of the band for his habit, given that this was a band that had narcotics delivered by the truckload that is aContinue reading “The one you love is the one that should take you higher”

You’re dangerous ‘cos your honest

What was going to come after New Wave and the New Romantics? It seemed like there would be a glacial, Celtic music from Simple Minds (https://wordpress.com/post/fivemilesout.home.blog/2247 ), Echo and the Bunnymen (https://wordpress.com/post/fivemilesout.home.blog/436 ) and later Big Country (https://wordpress.com/post/fivemilesout.home.blog/746 ). The band that seemed least likely to succeed from the group was U2. In 1980/81 itContinue reading “You’re dangerous ‘cos your honest”

Exit light. Enter night.

This is the comic for people who do not like superheroes. Mainstream and accessible, though with a goth sensibility. It has tenuous links to the DC Universe, but you need no pre-knowledge to understand the series. The Sandman. All 75 issues and assorted on-offs were written by Neil Gaiman. It was structured in a wayContinue reading “Exit light. Enter night.”

Tonight I should have stayed at home

First there was Joy Division and their lead singer committed suicide (https://wordpress.com/post/fivemilesout.home.blog/1803 ). A lot of bands would have folded in the face of this. They didn’t but nor did they keep the Joy Division name, linked forever with the late Ian Curtis. Instead they added a new member and renamed themselves New Order (bothContinue reading “Tonight I should have stayed at home”

There’s a fire in your heart

I know the UK does not understand it (for a large part) and I am pretty sure the USA doesn’t for the most part. A lot of people abroad think we are at least self-serving arseholes, if not outright evil. Britain still perceives itself as a punching above its weight superpower, when it patently isContinue reading “There’s a fire in your heart”

You had chemicals boy

I hated Night Clubs. Night Clubs started out as places to go where the posh elements of society could have a meal, a cabaret and a dance to live music. When they mutated into large pubs with DJs and the ability to stay open and serve alcohol after 11pm they somehow kept hold of someContinue reading “You had chemicals boy”

We take the pills to find each other

The Culture War started in the USA and has progressed to the extent that wearing or not wearing a mask in the face of the worst pandemic for a century is a political act. For years the British laughed at this while the Tory party joined as enthusiastically using nativism and the politics of hatredContinue reading “We take the pills to find each other”