Chuck Brown is surely not the only convicted murderer to have a hit record, but his crime lends a certain macabre cachet to his place in pop history. (more…)

Everyone knows them best for Boogie Nights but the Heatwave single I have in my collection is the 12-inch version of this sultry slow jam from 1978. (more…)

This isn’t the first recording by The Fall, but it’s the first to have been heard on the radio, when John Peel played their debut session in June 1978. (more…)

The first time I saw The Fall was at the opening night of The Vortex, a punk club at the top of Wardour Street just off Oxford Street on 4 July 1977. This was their first recording a year later. (more…)

Here’s a sentiment we can all agree with. And a song that ticks all the punk boxes: fast, angry, simple… and only two minutes long. (more…)

In many ways Crass are the quintessence of punk. You might call them punk in excelsis. No band walked it like they talked it with quite so much commitment to the cause of social change. (more…)

With their jangly guitars and vocal harmonies rubbing shoulders with an, ahem, driving beat, The Motors had were the prototype for Power Pop. (more…)

Here’s an example of what happened when a hippie group decides to jump on the punk bandwagon in the search for success. (more…)

Akron girl Jane Aire’s star burned briefly but brightly with this compellingly quirky slice of twisted teen-dream Americana. (more…)

The little-known city of Akron – self-proclaimed “Rubber Capital of the World” – had a musical moment in 1977. In fact Ohio had a bit of a moment, if you include Cleveland. Devo were Akron’s biggest export. (more…)