About

Unlike Blondie, in 1969 I did not have a lousy time, but was born in the year of Space Oddity and the moon landing.

My earliest musical memories include Shirley Bassey on the radio doing ‘Never, Never, Never‘ (1973) which always reminded me of  Baba-Yaga, the witch in a mortar who kidnaps kids. I loved the song – it terrified and thrilled me.

Aside from the drivel my parents listened to and vague tunes on the radio, the next major impact on my life – rather tragically, was ‘You Light Up My Life‘ (1977), by Debbie Boone. Which I chirped with a group of female friends before school each day, in the days I was not afraid to sing.

The combined films of that time ‘Grease‘ and ‘Star Wars‘ began the first of my real musical identity. John Travolta and Darth Vader in black, Stockard Channing’s defiant and tragic ‘There are worse things I could do‘. 1978 also saw the release of Blondie’s ‘Sunday Girl‘ for which I saw the video (TV performance?). Stunned to my feet by a woman with something I had never seen before – later years I realized it was strength and independence.

Blondie opened the way. I bought the ‘Scope’ magazine – South Africa’s censored version of Playboy, for pics of Debbie in an article on Woman in Rock, featuring Hazel O’Connor, Toyah and Siouxsie. The first 2 had radio hits at the time, Siouxsie was not standard fare in South Africa and thus began my purchasing of expensive imports by people I had never heard anything by, a habit that mostly paid off immensely.  Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance of particular note in 1984, and so on.

Thanks to a friend I was introduced to additional artists – Test Dept, Nick Cave, Eyeless in Gaza and Coil most notably. In turn leading to finding Current 93, the best discovery of my existence – music to inspire, to create to, to cry to, to live to. Occasionally to try to die to.

My pop sensibility has always remained strong, provided the person doing it was unique or interesting in some way. The way music should be – it should introduce you to new methods of thinking, opening your mind to new experiences and enriching your life. And sometimes being stupid fun.

Music Matters. http://www.whymusicmatters.org/