*1981’s Top 28 or so – 30th December 1981

  1. B-Movie – Remembrance Day
  2. The Jam – Going Underground
  3. Angelic Upstarts – We Gotta Get Out Of This Place
  4. The Professionals – Just Another Dream
  5. Clash – Clash City Rockers
  6. Sex Pistols – No One Is Innocent
  7. UK Subs – Keep On Running
  8. Exploited – Dogs of War
  9. UK Subs – CID
  10. The Members – Solitary Confinement
  11. Generation X – King Rocker
  12. Bow Wow Wow – C30 C60 C90 GO!
  13. UK Subs – Tomorrow’s Girls
  14. The Damned – Dr Jykell and Mr Hyde
  15. The Mutants – Hard Time
  16. Tenpole Tudor – Who Killed Bambi?
  17. The Members – Sound of the Suburbs
  18. Stiff Little Fingers – Sound of the Suburbs
  19. Undertones – My Perfect Cousin
  20. The Professionals – 1-2-3
  21. Cockney Rejects – Here We Go Again
  22. The Damned – Wait For The Blackout
  23. Tenpole Tudor – Rock Around The Clock
  24. Stiff Little Fingers – Johnny Was
  25. The Damned – Curtain Call
  26. Sex Pistols – Black Leather
  27. Stiff Little Fingers – Just Fade Away
  28. Tenpole Tudor – Swords of a Thousand Men

3rd Feb 2023 – This list is from the back of my diary and on the page following is a revision, top 25 only, though it looks like I planned more. That list added Stiff Little Fingers – Picadilly Circus, Adam and the Ants – Stand and Deliver, Stiff Little Fingers – Silver Lining and Clash – Magnificent Seven.

*The Week and rest of the year that might have been – 3rd August 1981

Single of the week: Skodas – Everybody Thinks Everyone Else Is Dead Bad

3rd August 1981
Graeme’s coming
Going to Bournemouth

3rd Feb 2023 – And here ends any entries for the rest of the year. Maybe the school holidays got too exciting to document. It’s a shame I didn’t get back to writing after the holidays as this was when I went to my first year of high school at Queen Elizabeth’s. Things became both more traumatic and more fun, as may be expected for any 13-year-old.

*The Week That Was – 27th July 1981

Single of the week: Channel 3 – I’ve Got a Gun, London PX – Orders, 4 Skins – One Law For Them

27th July 1981
Ist Day off
Bored

28th July 1981
Went to town
Bored
same as friends

29th July 1981
Guess who got married

30th July 1981
Damned album
but

31st July 1981
caught smoking yesterday

1st August 1981
Great Rock N Roll Swindle
In A Rut
3 quid (illegible)

2nd August 1981
(no entry)

This week’s chart-topper is: Shakin’ Stevens – Green Door

*The Week That Was – 20th July 1981

Single of the week: Oi – The EP, Flux of Pink Indians – Neu Smell

20th July 1981
Paul Cook eh!
(Paul Cook born 1956)

21st July 1981
Boring
I think

22nd July 1981
Guts for sale
Tennis
Understand this

23rd July 1981
It’s Friday and I still can’t fuckin’ remember what happened today

24th July 1981
Finish school
Got a pack and swapped it (illegible)
Playing cards all-day
Got me ears pierced

25th July 1981
beat Matthew at tennis
7-8, 6-2, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3

26th July 1981
WHY WHY WHY BUT WHY
DISCHARGE

This week’s chart-topper is: The Specials – Ghost Town

*The Week That Was – 13th July 1981

Single of the week: 999 – Lil Red Riding Hood, Siouxsie and the Banshees – Arabian Nights

13th July 1981
This is now Tuesday
I got some leather

14th July 1981
Malcolm Owen 1980 overdose
For Malcolm – Shine On
Athletics again – go to Lychett and Sandford

15th July 1981
1 week to the shit

16th July 1981
Ain’t it boring

17th July 1981
1 week til the end

18th July 1981
Oi – The Album

19th July 1981
Today was (not) really interesting

This week’s chart-topper is: The Specials – Ghost Town

*The Week That Was – 6th July 1981

Single of the week: Bauhaus – Passion of Lovers, Modettes – Tonight

6th July 1981
A good day
Something happened but I can’t remember (July 10)

7th July 1981
Same as yesterday

8th July 1981
East Dorset
1st, 1st and 3rd
Fuckin hot

9th July 1981
Started raining
Fuckin hot and wet

10th July 1981
APOCALYPSE NOW
in Sounds

2nd Feb 2023 – This would have been about the Apocalypse Now tour with Exploited, Discharge, Anti Nowhere League and Chron Gen and not connected with the movie of the same name.

11th July 1981
Strength Thru Oi
Seb Coe breaks another record. YAWN

12th July 1981
Made a tape
Well, half a tape

13th July 1981
This week’s chart-topper is: The Specials – Ghost Town

*The Week That Was – 29th June 1981

Single of the week: Professionals – Join The Professionals, Psychedelic Furs – Pretty in Pink

29th June 1981
Don’t remember

30th June 1981
Bus didn’t come so I’m missing history
hahaha

1st July 1981
Same as Monday

2nd July 1981
Semi
Borg v Connors 0-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-0, 6-4
Maybe getting a Damned album

3rd July 1981
Sports Day
Won everything
Chris Lloyd versus Hana Mandlikova

4th July 1981
McEnroe beat Borg
shitshitshit

5th June 1981
Lorna came

This week’s chart-topper is: Micky Jackson

*The Week That Was – 22nd June 1981

Single of the week: Kid Creole and the Coconuts – Me No Pop I, Crass – Penis Envy

22nd June 1981
Played basketball
HOT

23rd June 1981
Usual

24th June 1981
Usual

25th June 1981
Mum went out

26th June 1981
Asked Spoors out
Went to the youth club with Nick and Joe

27th June 1981
Fete
(illegible) has flick knife

28th June 1981
I missed this one out as well

This week’s chart-topper is: Michael Jackson – One Day

*The Week That Was – 15th June 1981

Single of the week: Bad Manners – Can Can, Splodgenessabounds – Cowpunk Medlum

15th June 1981
Not bad
Adam and the Ants

16th June 1981
Dead Kennedys out
oh well

17th June 1981
Haha
Frampton got hit on the head by a cricket ball
Haha

1st Feb 2023 – I remember this as being Jonathan Duncan, not Tim Frampton, either way, the sound of the ball hitting the side of his head was sickening and dropped him to the ground for a good few minutes. I wonder if there was any long-term effect from that?

18th June 1981
Did Adam and the Ants talk in music

19th June 1981
Farmer’s a creep
Creep creep

20th June 1981
Anti Pasti, UK Decay, Cure, Clash, Damned
That’s what I got

21st June 1981
I missed today out

This week’s chart-topper was: Faggy Robinson’s Barley Water – Bee’s With You

*The Week That Was – 8th June 1981

Single of the week: 999 – Obsessed, Vice Squad – Resurrection EP

8th June 1981
Anarchy in the UK on John Walker’s show
JW taking JP’s place

9th June 1981
TOO DRUNK TO FUCK IS IN THE CHARTS AT 36

10th June 1981
Went to rounders
I am great

11th June 1981
A good day
Nothing happened though

12th June 1981
You’ll never believe this but I watched telly

13th June 1981
England 1 – Germany 2
Won 10, Lost 5

14th June 1981
BLOODY HOT

This week’s chart-topper is: Smokey Robinson – Being With You