There used to be a radio show called Forces Favourites, playing requests for families where one of them was stationed abroad. Later on it became Family Favourites. It was on Radio 1 in the early 70s presented by Annie Nightingale (the only national female DJ). Radio 1 had a very limited schedule in those daysContinue reading “Per ardua ad astra”
Tag Archives: Music
This Is Not Enough
In my earlier posts I spoke about the depiction of women in music videos (https://wordpress.com/block-editor/post/fivemilesout.home.blog/39) and then there was Sabrina (https://wordpress.com/block-editor/post/fivemilesout.home.blog/65). Now at least Sabrina was in the 80s – to me that seems like yesterday, but society has changed a hell of a lot. Yet you still get videos like Call On Me, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qetW6R9Jxs4Continue reading “This Is Not Enough”
For Your Eyes Only
In the early days in the sixth form we had plenty of time on our hands. Obviously, there is “No such thing as a free period. It is a self-study period” – copyright just about every teacher ever was repeated to us a lot. Of course we ignored it. We spent one entire morning withContinue reading “For Your Eyes Only”
Listen to What I Say
I have been line managed by 8 people in the last 28 years (since I left Grant Thornton). Seven men and one woman, which says something about power structures in the UK all too sadly. I am also lucky, as I would say there is only one of them who I would say was anContinue reading “Listen to What I Say”
When you hid your pain and smiled in the rain
I think this will be the only song featuring Ian Gillan on vocals that will be on this list. People who know me and my taste for heavy metal and rock music may be surprised and assume that for some reason there will be no Deep Purple track on the list (Gillan fronted Deep PurpleContinue reading “When you hid your pain and smiled in the rain”
Born in the UK
Obviously I did not hear this when it came out. I heard it first at university. I was surprised that the Equals were a group of different ethnicities. Even in the 80s that was not common. I was born in 1966 in Newmarket Hospital. In those days the mother stayed in hospital for day afterwards. Continue reading “Born in the UK”
Follow the Leaders
Killing Joke never made it big, but I can bet Nirvana listened to them a lot. They had some amazing tracks like (Let’s Go to the) Fire Dances and their most famous, Love Like Blood. I was a conformist. I obey rules and would probably have been a totally conformist cog in society without theContinue reading “Follow the Leaders”
Can you hear them crying?
This is a serious one. I am not sure you could even release this today. The Specials were famous for Too Much Too Young and other ska-based tracks that were part of the 2 Tone movement. Then they released Ghost Town – a haunting view of inner-city desolation in the inner cities of 1981. TheContinue reading “Can you hear them crying?”
Have You Ever Had It Blue?
The mid 80s turned into a pretty barren period musically. After the regular injections of innovation from Punk, New Wave and New Romanticism mainstream popular music moved towards a fairly middle of the road approach. Do not even mention Jazz/Funk dance music – no one ever does because it is like muzak. The Style CouncilContinue reading “Have You Ever Had It Blue?”
School’s In
I never really thought about having a good memory. I knew that exam revision was pretty easy for me and once I had studied a subject at school I could remember most of it and only have to polish up on details. What made me realise that it was not normal it was that myContinue reading “School’s In”
Five Miles Out 