It is hard to imagine how big Blondie were. Coming out of the punk clubs of New York they assimilated musical influences, even managing to make lasting tracks from a disco influence. Debbie Harry was the sex symbol of choice for those just a touch older than I am (my friend Nigel, who is sixContinue reading “Your hair is beautiful”
Tag Archives: Music
My heart rushes through my brain
It might be hard to believe but there was a time when Bruce Springsteen was not only unknown in the UK, but even a lot of the people who had heard of him were quite dismissive. In the UK he had minor hits from The River album that I heard on evening radio, they evenContinue reading “My heart rushes through my brain”
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”
Just hold your heading true
I like Mike Oldfield, but you have to weigh up the legacy of his music against the fact that without him Richard Branson would probably be an obscure ex-Hippie and not the annoying utter twat that he is. Without the phenomenal success of Tubular Bells there would have been no Virgin Music, Virgin Airlines, VirginContinue reading “Just hold your heading true”
To describe the way I feel
Without the Stone Roses I probably would not be writing this blog (take that as a good or bad thing depending on your opinion of it). I was thoroughly not enamoured with the music scene of the late 1980s. Following Punk, New Wave and the New Romantics nothing happened in popular music. It got blanderContinue reading “To describe the way I feel”
My life’s a vain pursuit of meaningless miles
On the same program that Paul Gambaccini played the Beatles (https://wordpress.com/post/fivemilesout.home.blog/2177 ) he played Jackie by Scott Walker. He admitted that Walker was actually an American and, as this was meant to be a show about his favourite British artists, that this was a cheat. Walker had lived in the UK for twenty years byContinue reading “My life’s a vain pursuit of meaningless miles”
Those were the best days of my life
Whilst our first couple of nights in Kos 1991 had been good, it had really just been drinking excessively and dancing to heavy metal. Dave thought that there had to be more and found out that, whilst Bar Street was the hangout of choice for the Scandinavians, most of the British tourists went out atContinue reading “Those were the best days of my life”
This means nothing to me
There was something about Berlin. At school I did not understand how the Soviet Union blockaded Berlin as I assumed that it was on the border between East and West Germany as it was split between the NATO powers and the Warsaw Pact nations. When I finally saw a map then I realised how itContinue reading “This means nothing to me”
Let bitter silence infect the wound
It is hard to imagine how much grief Marillion got in the music press when they started out. A prog rock band in 1981/82? The music press thought that punk had killed off prog rock and now this band appear who are playing a 17-minute track based on Anglo-Saxon folklore called Grendel. What did SidContinue reading “Let bitter silence infect the wound”
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”
Five Miles Out 