Adventures in Music Part 3 1980s Part 2

At some point I was given a old mono record player by someone living in our house. The record player was so old and useless that should really have been thrown away, it barely managed to screech out sounds and most likely ruined the few vinyl albums I played on it. It wasn’t long before I was bought a better stereo/record player. I used it to mainly play the 7inch singles that were lying around and the vinyl albums that both my mum and step-dad owned. We actually had three of these record players at one point in our house. My brother had one in his bedroom, so did I, and my parents had one in the lounge.

I remember the first vinyl record I was able to influence being bought was ADAM AND THE ANTS’ Kings of the Wild Frontier. The only reason I got to choose this album was on the proviso my brother also got to choose an album too. He choose the soundtrack to the film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. It was the start of a luckily short-lived career of bad decision making purchases by him that thankfully ended with A-HA. My parents bought the Pickwick Records version of the film Grease soundtrack that I later failed to trade for the Cluedo boardgame, but thats another story.

I listened to my new album purchase over and over again, and I began to discover music shops as being a place to explore new music. Most of the music I wanted to explore wasn't mainstream. I tended to visit the independent record shops as none of the main shops stocked this kind of music. I discovered that ADAM AND THE ANTS had back material and bought some of their 7inch singles and their Dirk Wears White Socks album showcasing music from their punk beginnings. It was their earlier material I enjoyed rather than the mixed banquet that was Prince Charming that they released after Kings. Only a couple of the songs were decent from Prince Charming, the title track and Stand and Deliver made a mockery of the music and it became embarrassing to admit to liking glam punk and such a “popular” song. They went from a punk to new romantic to ridicule in a matter of weeks.

I didn't identify with punk music, even though it had its roots in the 1950s and 1960s rock and roll. Punks had a reputation that was far worse than rockers and mods. Punks in Ipswich were notorious for causing trouble at birthday parties.

I found myself getting into anything that wasn't mainstream, including SIGUE SIGUE SPUTNIK, which was more electro-punk, and one of the few times I didn't buy a good album. I bought it because it was recommended to me from the same friend who got me into ADAM AND THE ANTS, without any other reliable music source I bought the album.