I didn’t know it at the time but I think I saw the very first gig by this band – London – at The Rochester Castle in Stoke Newington.
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Here’s a rarity from my dusty collection of punk singles from 1977-80. Straight outta Walthamstow, it’s The Wasps. (more…)

This song is for my old mate Gavin Martin who died yesterday. My not-so-old mate. He was 60. (more…)

Dutch singer Bonnie St. Claire represented the European wing of 1970s Glam but failed even to cross over the Channel – because she sounded like a shit Suzi Quatro.

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Everybody knows the Jackson brothers but not so many know their near-namesakes, the Brothers Johnson. (more…)

Geordie soul boy Eric Burdon teamed up with California funksters War to make this idiosyncratic cover of a Rolling Stones song. (more…)

Liverpool band The Yachts became the UK’s prototype for Power Pop as punk evolved into the New Wave. (more…)

Marianne Faithfull made a comeback, a generation after she came to fame in the Sixties, with the powerful Broken English. (more…)

Siouxsie & The Banshees brought punk fire and fury to their cover of Helter Skelter, written by John Lennon for The Beatles. (more…)