Like so many punk groups, The Ruts were inspired to become a band after singer Malcolm Owen saw The Sex Pistols, but as their short career progressed, they increasingly incorported reggae into their sound.

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Buzzcocks had evolved far beyond the primitive proto-punk and two-note guitar solos of Spiral Scratch by the time they released their third album in 1979. A Different Kind Of Tension was a game-changer of two halves: the first side an unremarkable set of short sharp pop-punk songs.

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Looking back at the landmark albums released in 1979, it’s hard not to conclude that it was the best year for music. One of them was Fear Of Music by Talking Heads.

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The Cure made their debut in 1979 with a single containing 10.15 Saturday Night and Killing An Arab, two songs dating back to Robert Smith’s mid-teens.

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Elvis Costello’s initial run of singles was as strong as anything in pop history. This is arguably the best of them – the opening single from his third album Armed Forces.

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One of the great underappreciated bands of the postpunk era, The Sound not only erm, sounded like Joy Division but met a similar fate, with their singer taking his own life.

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“Following an incident at a press reception in Kilkenny for Thin Lizzy, it was decided that it was in the band’s best interests if the band’s manager – and drummer – Nigel Hamilton left immediately following the tour.” That may be the most interesting thing about Belfast band The Tearjerkers. Sadly it seems that whatever happens in Kilkenny stays in Kilkenny.

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I wonder what the actor Colin Salmon (three Bond films, two Resident Evil movies, and lots of telly) thinks when – all right, if – he listens back to the solitary single released by The Tee Vees in 1979.

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It’s facile to think of all Northern Ireland punk bands furiously raging against the Troubles. Apart from Stiff Little Fingers, most of the New Wave bands from Ulster tended more towards power pop. Like Starjets.

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Returning to Seventies schmaltz, here’s another oldie from another husband-and-wife duo, Captain & Tennille. It’s not their debut single, Love Will Keep Us Together, and not the peculiar Muskrat Love, but their comeback song after a stint hosting their own TV show.

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