Music
Some time early in 1970 I saved up my pocket money and splashed out on the biggest purchase of my young life – an LP. (more…)
This homsepun slice of whisky-soaked wisdom turned tough-guy actor Lee Marvin into the unlikeliest of one-hit wonders when it topped the charts in 1970. (more…)
Shocking Blue is one of those quintessentially Seventies band names. The enticing hint of naughtiness was enhanced not only by their exotic Dutchness (who ever heard of Dutch pop?!) but by sultry singer Mariska Veres, with her smouldering stage presence and peculiar pronunciation: “I’m your Venus, I’m your fire… JORE desire!” (more…)
Rod Stewart was Britain’s best blues singer before he became a pop superstar, especially on his first solo album in 1969. Just a shame about the lyric. (more…)
By the start of the Seventies, my embryonic musical taste (The Scaffold, Herman’s Hermits, Mary Hopkin) had begun to take a new direction. This was my first single of the new decade. (more…)
Glam didn’t *quite* begin with Ride A White Swan but Marc Bolan was the first to lay down a marker with Ride A White Swan. (more…)
Badfinger were the first band signed to The Beatles’ new label Apple and this was the fifth single I ever bought, written and produced by Paul McCartney.
Skinhead favourite Liquidator, now synonymous with football, started life as a reggae instrumental by Harry J Allstars, becoming a top ten hit in 1969.
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The Archies defined the term ‘bubblegum pop’ with this made-up song by a made-up group that made The Monkees sound like Genesis. It still sounds great. (more…)