Record of the Week: Sex Gang Children – Song and Legend
27th March 1983 FEEL ILL
28th March 1983 AT SCHOOL – QUITE A GOOD DAY FELT ILL LATER
29th March 1983 ILL AND AWAY
30th March 1983 ILL AND AWAY
31st March 1983 HOLIDAY Went to doctor – usual Contemplating getting Atari
20th Feb 2023 – My diary says it’s Maundy Thursday and I had no idea what that is. Then I see that this is something to do with Easter as the following day is Good Friday. Don’t recall ever having a holiday from anything on this day since. ‘Went to doctor – usual’ – what the hell does ‘usual’ mean? Maybe I was going there often and just being told I was ill. I knew that much already! Part of the reason I was probably sick a lot was that since starting junior high school I never spent the money my mum gave me each day on lunch, instead saving it to buy records at the weekend, which I would then have to smuggle into home, often leaving them outside, hidden in bushes, until the coast was clear. I didn’t want to have to explain where the money came from to buy them. A few times mum would see my ever-expanding collection and ask where I got them all from to which I lied that I was just borrowing most of them from friends.
1st April 1983 DIDN’T DO MUCH STILL NOT FEELING TOO GOOD
2nd April 1983 GOT THE ATARI FUCKIN’ ACE
20th Feb 2023 – My handwriting was so bad that I started practising writing with capital letters all the time. Later, when I didn’t want mum to see what I was writing in my diary (not that I think she ever bothered to look) I would return to an illegible scrawl, which my poor eyes are going to have trouble deciphering. Perhaps strangely, I don’t recall the Atari but have fond memories of other games systems and early computers. I do seem to recall the Atari being a big deal. Rupert had one now that I think about it but the only game he had was Pong. This was amazing enough for us at the time. We couldn’t believe that we could play a game on our TV. We sat in his living room for ages playing but soon got distracted with things outdoors instead, and then later, distracted with alcohol. Games were expensive too, so if you bought one you’d want to make sure you really would enjoy it. Hmm – so searching for a picture I think Rupert just had the Pong console and not the Atari that took cartridges (the 2600), which I think is what I had.
12th May 2022 – Looking for info on this show, I discovered that the poster for the attached image sold for more than £1,600!
Another band played this show too but I don’t remember and can’t find any other information.
My mum would’ve taken Rupert and me down to this and picked us up afterwards. I wonder now, what she was doing during the time we were there. Did she go home or go and hang out somewhere? If it was me (now) I would’ve found something to do nearby although, admittedly, back then there wasn’t much else to do except go to the pub. I guess there’s not much else to do even now but people can keep themselves occupied fiddling with their phones whilst waiting. I’d take a book.
I don’t remember anything about this show. I just have a snapshot in my head of a blurry stage and Mick Jones on the left. I’m sure I enjoyed it though. Rupert and I would’ve been pogoing like mad punks were supposed to.
19th Oct 2021 – My very first concert. Mum dropped me and Rupert at the Arts Centre around 7pm and would come back around 10.30pm to pick us up again. There were people everywhere. This was still a time when entertainment was not at anyone’s fingertips and folks would save their money for events like this and make a night of it. We were rowdy 14-year-olds on what felt somewhat like unknown territory.
My only recollection of the Flying Padovani’s was a bald guy on stage. Their music passed me by like a familiar b-movie, anticipating the real deal.
Stiff Little Fingers had made a big impression on me back in 1980 with their ‘Nobody’s Heroes’ album and seeing them perform ‘At The Edge’ on Top of the Pops. Intelligent lyrics and rousing choruses, melodic guitars and galloping rhythms.
By 1982 they had already released their third album ‘Go For It’, another classic, and were touring around this new ‘Listen’ EP. Although the recording felt a lot more restrained than previously, they were still writing great songs and they translated perfectly for the live experience.
Our skinny bodies were adept at squeezing our way near the front and the hall was rammed with people. When SLF came on I learned something that many have noted since, that the floor at the Art Centre was sprung, or at least felt that way. Jammed side by side with other sweaty youthful punks and rockers, the whole front of the audience pogoed and bounced in rhythm with the songs. It was impossible to fall over, everyone was packed in so tight. It was so exhilarating.
I was rapt from start to finish and asked my mum to buy me an SLF silk scarf which I still have.
Record of the week: C’mon Everybody – Sex Pistols Highest entry: Chic – Good Times – 22 (What crap!)
7th May 2022 – Well, I’m going to take my word for it and not even going to bother checking out the Chic song again. Could C’mon Everybody really be by the Sex Pistols? Were the Pistols the Pistols without John Lydon? Obviously, moneymakers thought they could use the name but when it comes to the actual ‘real’ band, they only really had about 18 songs in their catalogue. For a band that had such a great impact on musical culture (culture in general, really) it seems an incredibly small recorded legacy. Are there other bands with such a minuscule recorded output that was such a huge influence?
The video has Sid riding his motorbike without a helmet, which was SO punk rock to 11-year-old me. I couldn’t understand how he was allowed to do that, to get away with it! I’m going to watch it again in a minute but the footage I remember is of him riding through English country lanes and that takes me back to the time of doing the same, pushbikes and then motorbikes (with helmet, of course!), about 5 or 6 years later.
I went on a bike ride this morning, around a lot of country lanes here in Chiang Rai and despite the different types of foliage, it’s quite a similar experience. As I was riding I was thinking about going back to the UK and hitting up Rupert and Jeremy, hiring some 50cc mopeds and hooning around our old haunts.
1st July 1979 Yesterday I was in bed all the time because of me leg (see Friday 24th June) 2p
2nd July 1979 POP DAY Making out my pop records that I’m playing 2p
3rd July 1979 Used a spud to make C L A S H, you know, cut-outs. 2p 2p^ not in debt
7th July 2022 – My love of the Clash was getting creative. I also made some tiny bread buns of those letters and at school made them out of wood whenever there was free bits leftover from making….whatever we were supposed to be making. I was never handy with tools and soon gave up on woodwork and metalwork classes.
4th July 1979 I’m actually saving money If you look back to Feb 9, the middle statement has become false 2p 4p^
5th July 1979 1. Tubeway Army – Are Friends Electric? 2. Squeeze – Up The Junction 3. Janet Kay – Silly Games (what crap!) 4. Anita Ward – Ring My Bell 5. Gerry Rafferty – Night Owl 9. Sex Pistols – C’mon Everybody 2p 6p^
6th July 1979 Sports Day This year Last year Long Jump 1 1 75m 1 1 150m 1 1 Cricket Ball 1 1 Relay 1 2 2p 8p^
7th May 2022 – I could’ve been a contender, I suppose. There wasn’t much support for a dumb kid from the backwaters of England and there wasn’t enough internal motivation. I didn’t believe in myself, no one else believed in me and so it goes.
7th July 1979 Borg vs Tanner 6-7 6-1 3-6 6-3 6-4 Ipswich’s last 3 seasons places 6.3.6 2p 10p^
7th May 2022 – I liked Bjorn Borg for some reason. He seemed humble.
1994ever 