Ned’s Atomic Dustbin once declared that “my childhood obsession was my record collection” and for many a person this is true. I’d love to be able to say that I was one of them, but no, my obsession was Airfix kits and not records - they came later…..
You read many a story online or in the good old music magazines about some hipsters first record that is always inevitably cool beyond words: “Oh yeah, first record was bought from Our Price in Prestatyn when I was 6. First Pressing of God Save The Queen, on neon snot vinyl – was always a punk me, stood out in the playground. Yadda yadda yadda…..”
I was never that cool. The first record I ‘owned’ was ‘The Rupert Album’, closely followed by ‘The Wombling Album’. My Dad (whose record collection from the 60s and 70s is pretty damn awesome) recently said to me “I’ve got some records for you.” Hopes of a first press of the Stones, Beatles, Kinks etc were soon dashed as he lovingly pressed into my hands the aforementioned Rupert and 4 Wombles. Thanks Dad.
Music was always a part of my younger years. Whether 60s mod classics from the Who, 70s prog rock from Yes, or Genesis and Dire Straits. I absorbed my Dad’s tastes, but never got the bug to own my own records until the early 80s. The annual holiday to Cornwall was always sound tracked by cassettes that Dad had crafted for us to listen to. Copious amounts of the Beach Boys obviously as we headed South West for the surf. Dad was stoked with his selections, and unknowingly the music seeped into my subconscious.
The first song I really remember sticking in my brain though was ‘Ghost Town’ by The Specials. As a giggling ten-year-old, the age-old misheard lyric kicked in and my sister and I used to dance around the lounge when Top of The Pops was on singing “too much farting on the dance floor”. Happy days…..
Then one day Dad joined the Britannia Music Club. I think it was the promise of 5 free records that clinched the deal. The catalogue was a thing of wonder to me, as were the new records arriving in their big square cardboard mailer. Then one night a new entry on Top of The Pops grabbed me – a song about far off places, vegemite and chunder. Yes, I was intrigued by a land down under. I never asked for the single but there in the next Britannia catalogue was their album. A bit of badgering with and a few weeks later ‘Business As Usual’ was mine. My first proper record. I loved it!! All the cliches about artwork, lyric sheets and titles were true. I played it to death.
Next came my first real obsession. Again, Top of The Pops introduced me to the Pet Shop Boys. ‘Please’ was followed by ‘Actually’ and ‘Disco’. Every release was eagerly anticipated and bought with my own money. By the time I was 16 I was rushing down to the local record store in Market Harborough during school lunches to buy not just the 7 inch, but the 12 inch and remix of their latest single (“do I really need the 12 inch Lithuanian remix of ‘Heart’…… of course I do…..”). Erasure, INXS and Prince were late 80s favourites, with a bit of Yello thrown in for good measure. Nothing too radical, or alternative. I do remember singing along with Julian Cope’s ‘Eve’s Volcano’ on my bike as I cycled around the village though. I must have looked weird.
Once I left school and got a job, I had disposable income to burn. Through the Pet Shop Boys and Erasure I got I was into electronic music. Once rave hit, I was buying from 5HQ and BPM as well. I always seemed to seek out a different version. I loved picture disks: “ can I have the Hand Shaped Beloved 7 inch please Mr Shopkeeper…..”
Madchester skewed the boundaries between dance music and guitars and my first gig was a coach trip to Rock City to see Adamski supported by EMF. Gigs suddenly opened up another world. What was this new danceable guitar music? Soon they were followed by Carter USM, Jesus Jones, Kingmaker, Senseless Things and the three mighty Stourbridge bands: the Stuffies, the Poppies and Ned’s. I devoured them all and ended up a fully paid-up indie kid. My social circle was suddenly indie kids too. We were influencing each other (“have you heard Blur……. Think you’ll like em….”), swapping homemade mixtapes and records and through that social group I ended up at Glastonbury in 1992.
I sort of always knew of the Levellers, having seen them on Top of The Pops and was attracted to their driving fiddle based punk music. They were unlike anything I was listening to and I needed to find out more. ‘Levelling The Land’ and ‘A Weapon Called The Word’ were swiftly obtained and when I saw that they were playing at Glastonbury that year it was one of my ‘must sees’. Many a Levellers fan gets dewy eyed reminiscing about their headline performance in 1994 (which I saw too), but their ‘92 performance is like their Pistols at The Manchester Free Trade Hall, or Stones at Altamont moment. They owned that festival infront of a mammoth crowd. I was completely hooked and came back home wearing a sweary Ned’s T-shirt, with a new obsession that stays with me to this day.
This obsession opened my eyes to different ways of life and my ears to crusty bands, like minded bands such as New Model Army, dub reggae, folk music, punk (how had The Clash passed me by until then), anarcho-punk (The Mob, Crass), post-punk and all sorts of stuff. Julian Cope came back into my inter planetary orbit – maybe ‘Eve’s Volcano’ had burned deep into my soul obviously.
I still bought records, but only Levellers records seemed to be purchased as an unbreakable rule. Until recently that is. A mate set up two record labels focused mostly on space/psych rock (Dirty Filthy Records and The Weird Beard). I wasn’t necessarily a big fan of the style of music (a brief dalliance with Ozric Tentacle aside) but I wanted to support a mate and hey, “you’re releasing them on coloured limited editions of 250 you say… take my money immediately mate…..”. Hooked again.
So what’s my point. I think it’s this. It doesn’t matter when or how you get hooked. It doesn’t matter what your first record is. I played The Wombles at the weekend – singing along with the ‘Wombling Song’ brought back happy memories.
We all get hooked at some point. It can be one song that opens the door, one band, one format. At the end of the day, it's important to us as individuals and our collections matter to us in only ways that we ourselves understand. If you want to catalogue your collection alphabetically, chronologically by artist, by genre one or by sleeve colour, it’s all fine; it’s your choice and that’s cool. So, Ned’s was correct; collecting records can be an obsession, it’s just that my obsession came later.
Ed1 Marv - Thanks Stefan, a nice insight into your vinyl journey. I just wish I didn't have wombles songs going round my head now! "Underground, overground, wombling free....."