If you were a kid living in miserable, drab 1970s England a Chopper bike added a dash of bright, pop-coloured glamour to your life. Sat on one of those a boy suddenly became Easy Rider or a Hell’s Angel, and the dingy road he lived on was transformed into a California freeway where the sun always shined and the girls had tans and great teeth.
Download: Whizz Kids – The Undertones (mp3)
It took me a second to remember that those are radios they’re holding to their ears, not mobile phones.
Can you imagine a disabled pub rocker being a pop star and having number one hits now?
I first saw this clip over at Dangerous Minds and seriously think it might be about the most brilliant music video ever made. The story goes that Hall & Oates were a bit cheesed off about having to lip-synch their latest hit “She’s Gone” for some local television station so they filmed this piece of hysterically fucked-up magnificence which takes the piss in rather epic style. It also looks like large quantities of drugs might have been involved too. Apparently the station never broadcast it, I wonder why.
(The girl walking across the screen is Daryl Hall’s girlfriend Sara Allen who he wrote Sara Smile about.)
Would you believe that Rumours came out a whopping 35 years ago? Of course you would, that’s what this blog is all about: reminding you (and me) that we’re all getting very, very old.
Video quality isn’t that brilliant but this is a terrific performance and Stevie Nicks looks fab. Play loud, if your geriatric ears can take it.
The greatest bike ever made? I think so. I desperately wanted one when I was a kid, but sadly it was not to be.
This track from David Essex is, believe it or not, 10 minutes long. He wasn’t just a pretty face our Dave and this is his “Jungleland” (though I imagine it being set in Plaistow instead), a ridiculously overblown street epic that’s also utterly brilliant.
Download: Out On The Street – David Essex (mp3)
