I can’t pretend I was listening to disco music in 1979: I was parading around in a leather jacket festooned with badges proclaiming punk bands and anti-social slogans.

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In the pantheon of disco music there are two moments that tower above all others. The first is Donna Summer’s I Feel Love – surely the greatest disco song of all time – and this is the second.

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Linda Lewis was the first female black British singer I ever saw on TV. They were a rarity in the early Seventies – in fact she’s the only one I can think of.

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Here is another slice of white reggae from the dusty depths of my singles collection. I remember the cover art – by Ralph Steadman – as well as I recall the single.

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Gordon Lightfoot, who died yesterday at the age of 84, was a legend in his home country of Canada. He might not have the same global fame but he was revered there as much – if not more – than contemporaries like Neil Young and Joni Mitchell.

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Happy Beltane to all the old hippies, from the most famous pop idol to come from my neighbourhood, Stoke Newington.

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Peter Gabriel performed A Whiter Shade Of Pale as a punk parody – or was it a tribute? – at Knebworth in the summer of 1978.

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I know there are people – many people – who hate this prime fillet of cod reggae. They probably hate cricket too. In both cases they are mistaken.

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I really tried quite hard to like Nina Hagen, the so-called Godmother of German Punk. She was beautiful, glamorous and a little bit frightening – like a grown-up Toyah.

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Here is some rare footage of the last time Sting took public transport, way back in 1978, before The Police had had a hit single, and before Sting bought a lute.

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