The Clash "London Calling " is 30 yrs old this week , only got to see them once but what a gig , the Rainbow Finsbury park supported by the Buzzcocks, the Jam and the subway sect and one other band who got bottled off , missed the last train home and slept in the park outside Euston station
The late capital ( when it was a good radio station) DJ Roger Scott summed up the joy of buying an lp back in the day , finding the album, walking home with it under your arm , it was a way of identifying yourself and the anticipation of playing the lp ,the hiss and crackle as you placed the needle on the record , reading the cover and the artwork and then playing it loud enough so that anyone passing could hear it, even louder if the girl you fancied was passing
Unfortunately, it's 40 years, not 30. I bought the album the day it came out and can still recall that first listen. They were MY band back in the day and sensational live. I've done a count back and I saw them 17 times. I've now seen The Damned over 130 times but I've had 37 more years in which to do it and The Damned have always been more accessible. After a Clash gig at Brixton Academy/Fair Deal, my cousin and I stuck around after to meet the band and after ended up going to someone's flat and missed all public transport home or we just ran out of money? We were staying at his parents' place in Coulsdon and had to walk it back. I've just looked it up and it's all but 12 miles. Thank **** it wasn't raining! This is the soundtrack of that sensational night...minus me moaning that my feet hurt. It was also the last time that I saw them live..... I only found out a year or two ago that my then 13 year old sister was there too. Good girl.
Of course it's 40yrs Brian my typo , 17 times ,respect mate and 130 for the Damned.......neat neat neat
Post-Clash, Joe Strummer did time with The Pogues, another of my favourites. I was at this gig and what a night! Complete chaos... They nearly always played around Christmas and I miss those gigs terribly. You've got to grab it whilst it's still here.
What was that place called near biddy mulligan's on the kilburn high road ? , I saw the pogues play there a couple of times I also saw Joe with the Mescaleros at a two bit " festival" around 2000 there must have been 60 people watching and he did a solo of Redemption Song which to this day still gives me shivers when I think back
Kilburn National? It was a great venue. Unfortunately, it is currently occupied by a bunch of God Squad types. I found this... http://kilburnwesthampstead.blogspot.com/2016/01/kilburn-national-club.html Oh the memories...
That's the place, great link its jogged my memory that I saw The The there and earlier the waterboys and the Cure We used to drink in the Black Lion just down the road but made sure we left before the old Irish boys started singing songs of the homeland and missing their mammy and the IRA collections at the end of the night
My dad's parents were back in Kilburn by the early 70's, having had a pub in Islington through the 50's and 60's. I didn't spend a lot of time drinking there but The Grange Cinema building is part of my young memories of the area. I went to a number of gigs there over the years and was at The Waterboys gig you mention and a number of others. I definitely recall seeing The Smiths there late on in their career and Killing Joke.. I'm a god parent to a young lad, he's actually 7 today (but I digress) and at his christening I was talking to a very attractive young lady. As usually happens, the subject got around to music and The Waterboys cropped up and then World Party. Then she dropped the bombshell that Kurt Wallanger was her brother.... It's a small world.
My mate Yid Andy was on the 'phone this afternoon. He's the governor in a pub just down the road from the O2 in Charlton (North Greenwich is a made up place). Today, he came by 2 VIP tickets to tomorrow's Rod Stewart concert. He asks me if my wife wants to go to the gig (he omits that she's going with his wife, not him) I ask..."Finally, you're getting round to asking my wife out on a date, after 32 years". He responds..."No you stupid bastard. You and I are going out on the piss. Much more fun." So, there you have it. I'm officially more fun than a night with Rod Stewart....I wonder if Penny Lancaster knows and is at a loose end?
If I thought any woman saw me like the first video, I'd trade that for the second in a heartbeat. Rod makes the guys from Sweet and New York Dolls look good in make up...
His first 4/5 albums are spot on and the Faces albums but after that apart for a couple of tracks meh, stick to train sets and keep out of politics
A mate of mine played in a band in the 60s with Brian Connolly , don't let the hair and make up fool you ,this lad was a Glaswegian nutcase , lived hard died young He was also the half brother of Taggert
That's why the make-up was so incongruous. I forgot who it was who wrote that they looked like some brickies in make-up...and they did. Great band, though.
Glam rock is great. The punk rock sound was a natural progression to me - especially the U.S version. The Ramones were influenced not just by The New York Dolls, but also Slade, Sweet and The Bay City Rollers. The intro to "Blitzkrieg Bop" (think AO advert for the uninitiated) is a rip off of "Saturday Night" by the Rollers.
