At nights I'd listen to James Stannage do his jokes hour before dosing off. My morning wake up call was at seven so I'd usually be knackered for school.
When Radio 5 started up around 1988/89 five nightly shows between the hours of ten and twelve were my first encounters with the best programmes on the wireless. 'Rave' from Wales, 'Earshot' from Scotland, 'Hit the North' in Manchester, Johnny Vaughan in Birmingham and another show meant the telly was taking second place in my life.
It was also around this time that my schoolmates started getting into Manchester Indie scene. Stone Roses, Inspiral Carpets and The Happy Mondays featuring in their lives, when I had a bunch of obscure DJ's. I have to say this period never crossed my path at all. I was more interested in the Girl at the Bus Stop.
It was while listening to Mark Radcliffe one night that I heard a song which got me into looking for records. 'Little Hands' by the BMX Bandits was so good that I knew I had to have it. So instead of buying the damm things I did some illegal home tapings instead. Sadly, these archives of nasty pop tunes and obscure indie bands have been lost. Lack of financial support around this time and the fact I couldn't be arsed getting a paper round like everyone else, meant I just re-recorded over my tapes again and again. What did survive was an interview with Mark E. Smith by Scrawn.
When Radio 5 added the 'Live' bit too it's name, I listened to some bloke on Virgin Radio who used to get his arse kicked for swearing and phoning tinpot local radio stations telling them they were shit. It was not until I rediscovered Mark on Radio 1, that I got back to listening to some decent music. It was 1994 and and College was the worst pile of toss that I'd encountered. Having opted to go to college rather than staying on at the Sixth Form meant that I'd lose halve my friends and my education was a shambles from then on. I must have spent more hours down Manchester looking at records, games and at the cinema than in lessons.
Grabbing onto the Costly Disc revolution after it had been going in full swing for years, armed with my concessionary bus pass and a cash card, the Vinyl and Corn Exchange turned into a heaven for me. All those rejected records by the BMX Bandits and other Glaswegian bands. Doing miniscual amounts of revision revision in the arts section of Manchester Library just about got me through my A-Level years.
Your mates gathering off big style to University meant only one thing, blowing my entire Computing Degree grant on records. Seems stupid now, and it was then. I had to get a part-time job selling fags and booze to survive. Anyway the music was a therapy to the crap Uni life I was experiencing. Lets face it, when your new found friends quit the course after a few months it's less than encouraging for you to continue. So Mark and Lard at nights was the perfect cure to it all.
I entered the second year of University in a different frame of mind. Basically I'd rather leave now than experience the kind of bollocks I had to endure in the first year. This was when I became a live music addict. Gigs that were crap, some not too bad, and some bordering on the okay. Going to a small underground tavern watching slock on a Friday night used to be a daunting prospect but became a fun way to welcome in the weekend.
Mark and Lard moving to shifts meant less new musical encounters for me, Actually I did get into Spacemaid and Rialto from the show. John Peel never was the same as Scrawn and so it was more gigs and less pub visits. Easy on the ears but less than kind to the pocket. The afternoon slot announced Spearmint and Showgirls to me but you know it's been a bad year when you're Costly disc machine breaks and the records stylus wears out. Back to good old tapes.
What next? After another year of listening to the afternoon show whilst working on my placement year, I'll be back for more Uni life. It's going to be tough, as I can't decide on whether to go back or to sack the course right off and then listen to the wireless, as I owe my life to it.
Some of my favourite songs.
My homepage.