Marco, Merrick, Terry Lee, Gary Tibbs and Yours Truly

Evening all….so I had this great dream last night, I tend to dream a lot about things that have actually happened to me years ago but once in a while they are just weird collages of memories and sounds. The only constant is my dreams ALWAYS have a soundtrack, what is that all about? So anyway in my dream I was about fifteen and wandering around New York City – luckily in keeping with the theme it looked like 1982 also, the clothes were right as were the cars. I heard snippets of conversations, people were moaning about the economy and Ronald Reagan but it all had a good New York vibe. I went into a big record shop and there were rows and rows of vinyl, some tapes and that was it. I found myself looking for a Joe Strummer album (my chance to get Rock Art on vinyl…not realising this was just a dream) which was daft as The Clash still hadn’t split (it was 1982!!) and even asked the clerk at the shop, he was a hipster with big ‘Alarm’ hair and he looked at me like I was mad, he simply showed me where The Clash albums were. Thanks mate!  It was one of those dreams where everything is so real you can almost smell it and The Jam were playing (via the Speakers) it was The Gift album and I was thrilled to bits. Anyway I bought a copy of Melody Maker with Madness on the cover and an Aztec Camera badge and when I was fumbling through my pockets the alarm (not the band) went off and I woke up.

Not much of this makes sense, I was only in New York before at the age of nine and then again not til I turned 19 so it wasn’t a logical dream but it was good fun. I typed in New York 1982 and different combinations of music/video and found the Psychedelic Furs video below, I’ve never seen the video before though I always liked the Psychedelic Furs. In fact for a while after The Clash kicked out Mick Jones I would see The Furs as often as I could as they seemed truer to post punk than a lot of the new romantic nonsense that was going round at the time. I’ve got to say, if you were too young to remember what the scene and the kids looked like in the States (and London for that matter) around 1982-1983 this video captures it rather well.

http://www.dailymotion.com/videox92u9

From the hair having some height to the jackets with a military look we were all ex punks looking for a scene and a song. To think I used to reckon Adam and The Ants looked pretty brilliant for a short time. One of these days I’ll write about the most stylish bands I ever saw on stage, I’ve got to say the 80′s had some decided flair even in hindsight. From the Bunnymen to The Pale Fountains, The Smiths and The

The Pale Fountains (and a dog)

Housemartins, The Jesus and Mary Chain and Japan….we really knew how to dress! Now it’s Nike, Utility and (anything but) Independent, Diesel and Fubu. What happened to indie shops and indie shopping?

Doesn’t matter if its London, Los Angeles, Chicago or Dublin – it’s all change – we’ve moved into a world where The Gap and Barnes and Noble  have replaced any sense of identity. When did blandness suddenly become so hip – and why didn’t I take more notes in 1979-1989 when things were really up for grabs for a while? Ah well, hope my dreams takes me to Camden Town circa 1983 tonight…I can hope.