So here is, to mark the 65th birthday this week of Jake Burns – the very first punk single to come out of Northern Ireland exactly 45 years ago.

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Here’s another slice of Ulster punk from Protex. With their primal power pop sound they were Belfast’s answer to Buzzcocks. And with their ear for a good tune – like this, their debut on Good Vibrations – it’s a surprise they weren’t bigger.

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Here’s a little bit of music history – the first punk single from Northern Ireland… the first official one, anyway. Big Time by Rudi was the first release on Belfast’s homegrown Good Vibrations label in April 1978.

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Randy Crawford joined The Crusaders to sing what became their biggest hit, Street Life in 1979. Or, as my old colleague used to call it, Street Light.

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The Undertones released one of the greatest debut singles of all time in Teenage Kicks – in fact one of the best ever singles, full stop.

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All I really remember about Téléphone is that they were French and that I have a single made of red vinyl in the shape of (you guessed) a telephone.

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Here’s some more French punk: Stinky Toys may have been the first, Métal Urbain were the crème de la crème.

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French punk… who knew?! Well, anyone who went to that seminal Punk Festival at the 100 Club back in 1976, where Stinky Toys played alongside the Pistols, Clash, Damned and Buzzcocks – and were attacked onstage by Sid Vicious.

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Huey “Piano” Smith was one of the key figures in the transition from RnB to rock’n’roll in the Fifties. And a legend in his native New Orleans.

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Today, at long last, the sun is out and as so often my thoughts – and ears – turn to reggae. Today they turn to Jacob ‘Killer’ Miller.

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