*The Week That Was – 23rd February 1981

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Single of the week: Crass – Nagasaki Nightmare/Big A Little A or/and Tribal Rival

23rd February 1981
Writing fanzine all-day

24th February 1981
Writing fanzine all-day
Record of the month: Kids on the Streets/Kids in America/Nagasaki Nightmare

25th February 1981
Gave typewriter back today

26th February 1981
County trails for football
NOT GOING

27th February 1981
Not a good day really
Met an old friend Lorraine

28th February 1981
Coventry 0 – Ipswich 4

1st March 1981
Same as last week

This week’s chart-topper is: Joe Dolce – Shut Your Face*
Highest new entry: Status Quo – Something About You

*The Week That Was – 16th February 1981

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Single of the week: Kim Wilde – Kids in America

16th February 1981
OK day
in a way
St Michaels P – Ferndown P

17th February 1981
I’m knackered
Grange HILL

18th February 1981
Rugby Reds 32 – Blues 3
I’m red

19th February 1981
Off school cos still knackered from yesterday

20th February 1981
same as yesterday
Got Toxic Graffiti with CRASS flexi
It’s great Oi

21st February 1981
Ipswich 3 (2) – Wolves 1 (1) (2-0)

22nd February 1981
Managed to get a typewriter

This week’s chart-topper is: Joe Dolce – Shut Your Face*
Highest new entry: Headgirl – St Valentine’s Day Massacre EP

*The Week That Was – 9th February 1981

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Single of the week: Angelic Upstarts – Kids On The Streets

9th February 1981
Still beating in Mac

10th February 1981
Gorsemoor 3 – St Michaels 3
Ref was a cheat

11th February 1981
We won rugby (illegible)
14-0

12th February 1981
Emm
St Michaels 0 – Allenborne 8 or 9

13th February 1981
CRASS in NME

14th February 1981
St Michaels 2 (0) – Wargrave (from Suffolk) 3 (3)
Ipswich 2 (0) – Charlton 0 (0)

15th February 1981
Went to Lorna’s cos her birthday

This week’s chart-topper: John Lennon – Woman

*The Week That Was – 2nd February 1981

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Single of the week: Going Red – Some Boys

2nd February 1981
SID VICIOUS DIED
2 years ago today

3rd February 1981
4 matches in 8 days next week
UGH

4th February 1981
Beating in Mac and Fog (illegible) in rugby
HaHaHa

5th February 1981
Fog’s away
No guesses why
HA
No friends

6th February 1981
Bought book rack – I made it
It ain’t no good
I’m gonna be RICH

7th February 1981
Ipswich 3 (0) v Crystal Palace 2 (1)

8th February 1981
Finishing off Punk Greatest Hits Volume One cassette

This week’s chart-topper is: John Lennon – Woman

*The Week That Was – 26th January 1981

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Single of the week: The Freshies- I’m in Love With the Girl on a Certain Manchester Checkout Desk

26th January 1981
not very good day
UGH!

27th January 1981
Ipswich 3 – Shrewsbury 0

28th January 1981
16UP about drugs and Malcolm Owen
RUTS

29th January 1981
Quite a good day
More home-taping

30th January 1981
Record of the month
Damned – There Ain’t No Sanity Clause

31st January 1981
Ipswich 4 – Stoke 0
Fitt is shit

1st February 1981
JOHN LYDON
Born yesterday
If you see what I mean

This week’s chart-topper is John Lennon – Imagine
Highest new entry: Blondie – Rapture

*The Week That Was – 19th January 1981

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Single of the week: Wild Willy Barrett – We Gotta Get Out Of This Place

19th January 1981
Wrote a good poem
like J C Clarke

20th January 1981
Waiting for the next episode of Grange Hill
Quite a good day

21st January 1981
16UP hope it’s better than last week with some
PUNKS

22nd January 1981
Bad day I hate school
TOTP is SHIT

23rd January 1981
Have to see Kneeves for something
> Been made a prefect

24th January 1981
Shrewsbury 0 – Ipswich 0
replay Tuesday
Got a good edition of Sounds Oi

25th January 1981
Mum’s not working
Shirley is instead

This week’s chart-topper is John Lennon – Imagine
Highest new entry: John Lennon – Woman

*The Week That Was – 12th January 1981

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Record of the week: Damned – There Ain’t No Sanity Clause

12th January 1981
So Bored
By the end of the week I could die of boredom

13th January 1981
OK day, got Flexipop with Sex Pistols

14th January 1981
16UP
wasn’t all that good
John Cooper Clarke

15th January 1981
Mum has to pay for the roof of our house which is bust
Estimate 500 pounds

16th January 1981
Quite a good day
New pinball snooker

17th January 1981
Going to Mac’s
Playing snooker loads
Move stuff on walls
Everton 0 v Ipswich 0

18th January 1981
Usual day as Sundays go

This week’s chart-topper is John Lennon – Imagine
Highest new entry: David Bowie – Scary Monsters

*The Week That Was – 5th January 1981

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Single of the week: The Motels – Days Are OK

5th January 1981
Last of Something Else
It was good for not a good day

6th January 1981
Gotta finish project
Sex – even Grange Hill is talking about it

7th January 1981
School starts
Nicked a golf ball and tennis scoring sheet from school

8th January 1981
Nothing happened Bored Bored Bored
Nearly bust record player

9th January 1981
Hurray no school tomorrow
Go and see Fog

10th January 1981
Didn’t do much
Ipswich 2 v Notts Forest 0

11th January 1981
Got up at 12
SEEMS LIKE A GOOD DAY

This week’s chart-topper is John Lennon – Imagine
Highest new entry – The Look – I Am The Beat

Singles of the Year – 31st December 1980

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Dead Kennedys – Holiday in Cambodia
The Fall – How I Wrote ‘Elastic Man’

17th July 2021 – Holiday in Cambodia still sends chills down my spine. I would have first heard this on John Peel’s radio show I’m sure, as well as all the Fall singles. I listen to the Fall quite regularly still (still discovering parts of their huge back catalog), more so than the DK’s.

I’d scour the NME and Sounds ‘indie’ charts and marvel at all the weird names of bands and song titles, curious about everything. The genre ‘punk’ still encompassed so many different sounds around this time and even crappy little bands from places like Nowhere, Cornwall could sell 10,000 or more copies of their DIY 7″. I feel lucky to have been at just the right age to get caught up in it all.

At the time I wished I was older and could have gotten caught in the first punk wave but in retrospect that explosion seemed to alienate many after a year or two and it’s legacy, whilst worthy, perhaps wouldn’t have inspired such a life long dedication to these oddball sounds that I still hanker to find in new bands today.

Albums of the Year – 30th December 1980

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Damned – Machine Gun Etiquette
Damned – Black Album
Cockney Rejects – Vol II
Dead Kennedys – Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables

13th July 2021 – I can’t imagine how I had these records at aged 13! I know I used to steal money from my mum’s stash of savings hidden in the bureau (sorry mum!) so maybe that was it. I do remember a year or two later I would never eat lunch and just saved the money my mum gave me to buy records on the weekend. I was skinny and starving.