Clive Hook – Five Miles Out

And I’ve travelled many days to reach this place to make my stand

The Electric Light Orchestra were everywhere in the 1970s. Jeff Lynne’s love of The Beatles manifested itself in the band – originally Roy Wood was the “biggest” member but after two albums (imaginatively titles ELO and ELO2) Wood left and Lynne fused classical music with melodic pop (including a lot of strings) to make OnContinue reading “And I’ve travelled many days to reach this place to make my stand”

The thunder of guns

AC/DC are an Australian band that started in the 1970s. I had no idea who they were as, like a lot of heavy metal bands, they did not have hit singles in the UK. Clive Hook lent me a load of their albums on tape in the early summer of 1981. Their early albums areContinue reading “The thunder of guns”

We Stood and Stared

Where did heavy metal start? Well for me it was with Clive Hook who was doing the music for Scott House assemblies at Meridian. In the fourth form Mr Newbury was our head of house and he wanted Clive to play some loud music for an assembly. Clive asked if I could help him andContinue reading “We Stood and Stared”

Celebrate the great escape

I do think year 10 (or fourth form as it was in the 1980s) is the biggest shock in the education system. Things get more structured at different stages but now it is exam study. Parents and teachers tell you how important these exams are. In the 1980s they were both more important, as youContinue reading “Celebrate the great escape”

This is not a situation for a nervous boy

The first of many mentions for Clive Hook. At the end of the fourth form (year 10) Clive had been put in charge of music for House assemblies (Scott, Rutherford, Kennedy and Churchill – so no over representation of white men there). For some reason I was in Scott when most of my friends wereContinue reading “This is not a situation for a nervous boy”