I want you back!

it's been a while ... this blog and me ...

but hey ...

 turn your volume up to 11 

and enjoy some cool Ian Gillan Band ...

MISS HEAVY METAL

I will be back soon
I've been really busy at work
as an artist I need to grab work and commissions when they come along
and I've been working all hours to meet deadlines

I recently found my old diaries ...

Obviously I can't divulge ALL my secrets but it's got a lot of my stuff about what gigs I went to in the late 70's and early 80's, the music I bought, old photographs, and what it was like being part of the whole exciting NWOBHM thing. Also found some of my metal badges. I had a whole jacket full but only a dozen of the metal badges left! I know I'm a sad case but I loved growing up at the time I did and I MISS HEAVY METAL!

Ramble on ...

1977

You want me to ramble on a bit ... ?

1977 was a big year for me, gearing up for exams and stuff at school. I packed in my paper round. Yes, I was still slogging away in all weathers mainly cos all my money went on jeans, tshirts and albums. A big year because everything started going "tit's up" at home with parents because I was listening to "the devil's music" and going out more. Peeler was still my biggest influence, we went through everything together. Jake was driving, got a car, left home and we didn't see much of him that year. Scottie was getting serious but I wasn't ... he wanted to work on an oil rig and have 5 kids when we grew up ... I knew it wasn't going anywhere ...

Looking back I'm kinda proud that I was into great music early on. I was growing up in a really exciting period of time for music. I was just at the right age for NWOBHM and after getting into progressive rock, hard rock, metal and classic melodious rock/metal nothing else will do! I can't stand most pop music, it's drivel that just goes right over my head. At the time I also hated everything about the punk scene with a vengeance (but now I like and appreciate the music of The Sex Pistols, but that's mostly down to the dry wit of Mr. John Lydon. I now appreciate his English patriotism (oh yes!) and sense of humour which is misunderstood, bless him! Johnny Rotten you are a star and I now have Never Mind the Bollocks in my record collection! Annoyingly, a song did stick in my head "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll" by Ian Dury and the Blockheads but you have to do the ska movements to it. I digress ...

My music has got me through lots of stuff in the past ... it's a constant with me, a passion. I really got into Thin Lizzy, still one of my bestest bands ever, I was lucky to see Phil Lynott several times in later life (more on that later). I started hanging around with Skip and his mate Manny. Actually, I'd known Skip for years (family friends) but only just found out we shared the music. Manny was really into music, going to record fairs all over the country with his Dad. He was a big collector. In 1977 we were all 15

I got:

Rush - Farewell to Kings

AC/DC - Let There Be Rock

Pink Floyd - Animals

Motorhead - Motorhead

Judas Priest - Sin After Sin

Scorpions - Taken by Force

Fleetwood Mac - Roumers
Thin Lizzy - Bad Reputation
 

I listened to Foreigner, Neil Young, Status Quo, Queen, Rod Stewart
and Pink Floyd's progressive rock album Animals a lot

On the telly in 1977

I watched ..... The Sweeney, The Good Life, Starsky & Hutch, Hawaii Five-0, Top of the Pops, The Old Grey Whistle Test, Tiswas, Star Trek, Fawlty Towers, The Goodies, Magic Roundabout, Doctor Who, Rentaghost, Man About The House, George and Mildred, Carry On movies, Are You Being Served and The Benny Hill Show

It was 1977 and I was aged 15 !!

Blogging on Saturdays

I like blogging on Saturdays

It's like end of the week, get paid, buy records, go out, have fun, get inspired for the week ahead. although some weeks I just don't get time for a long ramble on
so decided just to do a quickie when it's like that so at least I keep going!

Hope to ramble on a bit next week ...

There's a Rainbow Rising ...

1976

I had the most hideous purple lace shirt with big roundy collars, although in 1976 I didn't think it was hideous I thought I was the bees knees ... but surely not with a hand knitted tank top ... ? For formalwear I wore long skirts with boots, shirts done up at the neck with boot lace ties, an early influence from Top of the Pops I think ... don't ask!! It looked cool on Phil Lynott anyway, not the skirt thing, you know ... the boot lace tie thing .........

Around this time I started wearing denim jackets and being able to sew came in really handy because I was able to take my jeans right in on the leg (really tight)

I listened to Rainbow Rising - who didn't have this album in 1976?
















and I got these ... Rush's 2112 and Black Sabbath's We Sold Our Soul for Rock n Roll

































as well as Black Sabbath - Technical Ecstasy (hard to say), Led Zeppelin - The Song Remains the Same, (Peter) Frampton Comes Alive, The Eagles' Hotel California, The Eagles' Greatest Hits, Rush 2112, Wings - At the Speed of Sound and lots more (too many to name) but these were the influencial ones for me ...

and OK ... nostalgic time ... a few for the road ...
I liked and still like all of these singles from 1976:

Thin Lizzy - The Boys Are Back in Town
Thin Lizzy - Jailbreak
Blue Oyster Cult - Don't Fear The Reaper (yes I know it's got uumlauts, I took the quiz)
Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody (but these days it has to be in the car with a paper bag)
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Free Bird
Chicago - If You Leave Me Now
The Four Seasons - December 1963 (Oh, What A Night)
Pussycat - Mississippi
Bob Dylan - Hurricane
Rod Stewart - The Killing of Georgie
and this one will kill ya - Rodrigo's Guitar Concerto (Concerto De Aranjuez) - Manuel and His Music of the Mountains (because it was the coolest album my Dad owned)

On the telly in 1976

Sadly, we lost the great Sid James in 1976

I watched ..... The Sweeney, The Good Life, Starsky & Hutch, Top of the Pops, The Old Grey Whistle Test, Fawlty Towers, The Goodies, Magic Roundabout, Doctor Who, Paddington, Rentaghost, Man About The House, George and Mildred, Carry On movies, Are You Being Served, Dad's Army, This is your Life and probably lots more I've forgotten about but will try to remember ...
















Once again it's cool to be self sufficient!

It was 1976 and I was aged 14 !!


Wasn't able to blog last week - I just didn't get time

This week I've been to see Sin Pusher - a heavy HEAVY cover band (Allman Brothers, Jimi Hendrix, Robin Trower, Black Sabbath, ZZ Top) with lots of big big hair and banter. Confessing to three pints of bitter!

A folksy 12 month

1975

Looking back on my secondary school years I realise now that I never really fitted in with the girly thing of screaming at bands and getting all stupid over pop stars. I was always more comfortable hanging out with lads my own age and listening to "cool" music. This, I think, explains why I always felt like a fish out of water at the school disco and at the youth club etc. The girl next door was into BIG Barry White but it was "not my bag baby"

I listened to lots of stuff in 1975. I loved Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Sweet, Slade, Mud, Queen, Bad Company, Bob Dylan, Cat Stevens, Carly Simon, Emmylou Harris, Fleetwood Mac, Eagles, Styx, Jethro Tull, Nazereth, Pink Floyd and Status Quo

It turned out to be quite a folksy 12 month in many ways and I really loved the folk song "All Around My Hat" by Steeleye Span. And if anyone should ask me, the reason why I like it, I would have to say "Gawd knows - what was all that about?"

On a cooler note, I discovered Rush. I listened to their album "Caress of Steel", loved the track "Bastille Day" and had to have it - oh yes - it will be mine!

















On the telly in 1975
I watched ..... Captain Pugwash, The Sweeney, The Good Life, Supersonic, Top of the Pops, The Old Grey Whistle Test, Fawlty Towers, The Goodies, Magic Roundabout, Rhoda and The Mary Tyler Moore Show










I also remember seeing the film "Tommy" but I'm not sure if this was on the telly in 1975 or whether I saw it on telly later. I've seen it a few times since but it's all a bit of a blur

Still flogging away (through rain, rain, cold and rain) with the paper round I managed to save up and get Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow. Now don't we all love the classic "Man on the Silver Mountain" and "Catch the Rainbow"

















I can't have been all that well off for pocket money coz I didn't buy many records that year and only a few singles:

Bay City Rollers - Give A Little Love
Status Quo - Down Down
Status Quo - Roll Over Lay Down
Sweet - Ballroom Blitz
Sweet - Fox on the Run

It was 1975 and I was aged 13 !!


Decided to put Steeleye Span on Miss Heavy Metal Radio for a giggle and had a little jig all around my hat for a while. I've left it playing on Steeleye Span Radio while I write this. Now playing Fotheringay - "Gypsy Davey", Fairport Convention, John Renbourne "The Earle of Salisbury" which has a medievel sound to it with someone playing the spoons, Planxty - Only Our Rivers (is nice!), Ewan MacColl - Dirty Old Town, Silly Wizard ..... bloody 'ell I'm nodding into me beer. I'll be watching Wuthering Heights next!

It was a very sociable week so I didn't lose any weight, but didn't gain any either! Phew! So, I'm gonna have a good week ..... buy a new TShirt, listen to some great music and go see a band on Friday night .....

Bare Foot in 1974

1974

In 1974 I was quite a tomboy through hanging around with Peeler and there was someone else on the scene - Scottie. He was my "boyfriend" from age 9 until I was 16. I lived in the south-east, he lived up north, he was one of Peeler's mates, and I only saw him during school holidays really. It was all so innocent in those days. We would go to the pictures, play space invaders in the arcades, go to the beach, swimming, ice skating, listening to records - always in a big group of us including Jake and Peeler

I can't think what he saw in me! I had a hideous sense of dress in the Seventies, but then didn't everyone? I begged and begged for a pair of white patent leather platform boots like Dave Hill's which I wore with hotpants. Now we know, that was not a cool look! I had really long hair down to my waist and around this time I went everywhere bare foot because I thought that's what hippies do! I was just a bit too young for the real "Flower Power" period, but I caught the tail end of it and I wanted to be like Sandie Shaw. The bare feet phase went on all summer ... and then the gravelly tarmac in the road got to me and I just thought "sod it" and started wearing shoes again ... platforms

















My girly school mates were into disco music, The Osmonds, David Cassidy and The Bay City Rollers. OK - I confess to watching "Shang a Lang" on telly and getting caught up with Rollermania but I never was the type of girl who screamed and screamed for a band. Never did! It's not cool! While my friends loved going to school and youth club discos I was never comfortable with it and later I realised why

In 1974 me and Peeler listened to Deep Purple, Hawkwind, Bob Dylan, David Bowie's "Diamond Dogs", The Rolling Stones "It's Only Rock n Roll", Queen, Status Quo, Wizzard's "Are You Ready to Rock", Suzi Quatro's "Devil Gate Drive", The Sweet's "Teenage Rampage", Ralph McTell's "Streets of London", Terry Jacks's "Seasons in the Sun", Lynryd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama" and loads more

On the telly in 1974
I watched Top of the Pops, Tiswas, Magpie, Shang a Lang, Man About the House, Monty Python's Flying Circus, Rising Damp, Porridge, Dad's Army, Doctor Who, Are You Being Served? Hawaii Five-O, The Clangers, Roobarb & Custard and The Goodies















Around 1974, I started taping "the Top 20" on a portable cassette player. There was a lot of good music coming through in 1974, much of it I didn't discover until my late teens

I got "Burn" which is still, to this day, one my most favourite albums

















and "Bad Company"
















It was 1974 and I was aged 12 !!

Early influences

1973

I grew up with Jake and Peeler. They were my two older cousins and it was like having two older brothers. Jake, the eldest, was three years older than me and he learned to play guitar and loved guitar bands. Peeler was the same age as me and we were both influenced by the music Jake listened to at that time, which he bought and borrowed

The Beatles - Red and Blue double albums
Paul McCartney & Wings - Band on the Run
Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon
Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy
Deep Purple - Made in Japan

Other bands we listened to - Alice Cooper, Bob Dylan, Black Sabbath, The Byrds, Cat Stevens, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Eagles, Eric Clapton, Fleetwood Mac, Free, Genesis, Hawkwind, Jethro Tull, King Crimson, Peter Frampton, Roxy Music, Status Quo, The Rolling Stones, Santana, Styx, Uriah Heep

I was still young and liked Sweet, Slade, Wizzard and Suzi Quatro from the charts, but all this heavier music was going in my head and had a deep influence on me. It shaped my life

In 1973 I had a paper round which earned me £1.20 a week for six days' work (20p a day!) which supplemented a bit of pocket money my parents gave me. They didn't have a lot of money in those days and I struggled to buy albums. I listened to what I really liked and I managed to get these:

Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon
















Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy
















Deep Purple - Made in Japan















David Bowie - Aladdin Sane
















Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
















The Sweet














It was 1973 and I was aged 11 !!

Heavy Metal Umlaut Quiz

just for fun (or "shits and giggles")

have a go at the "Heavy Metal Umlaut Quiz"

I got "a not so nerdy" 70%

It's a start

1972

Like a lot of people my memories are connected to songs. At first, I was influenced by radio (I listened to Radio Luxembourg under the covers at night) and Top of the Pops and Magpie on telly. My important school years were played out to Slade, Sweet, Status Quo, Alice Cooper, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and David Bowie. There was other stuff as well, but these were the main ones. I didn't know at that time that some of this was called "Glam Rock". I loved the heavier Slade stuff from an early age. I was in love with Brian Connolly, and this was also the period when I realised I "fancied" men with long long hair but not the makeup thing

Slade

Look Wot You Dun (1972)

Take Me Back 'Ome (1972)

Mama Weer All Crazee Now (1972)

Gudbuy to Jane (1972)

Cum on Feel the Noize (1973)

Skweeze Me Pleeze Me (1973)

My Friend Stan (1973)

Merry Xmas Everybody (1973)

Everyday (1973)

The Bangin' Man (1973)

Far Far Away (1974)

How Does it Feel (1975)

Thanks For the Memory (Wham Bam Thank You Mam)(1975)

In For A Penny (1975)

Let's Call It Quits (1976)

Nobody's Fool (1976)

Gypsy Road Hog (1977)

Burning in the Heat of Love (1977)

My Baby Left Me - That's All Right (1977)

Sweet

Poppa Joe (1972)

Little Willy (1972)

Wig Wam Bam (1972)

Block Buster (1973)

Hellraiser/Burning (1973)

Ballroom Blitz/Rock & Roll Disgrace (1973)

Teenage Rampage (1974)

Fox On The Run/Miss Demeanour (1975)

On the telly in 1972

I watched The Clangers, Crackerjack, Jackanory, Lizzie Dripping and the Witch, Arabel and Mortimer, Blue Peter, Top of the Pops, Magpie, Doctor Who, The Goodies, Dad's Army, On The Buses, Randall & Hopkirk, Steptoe and Son, The Fenn Street Gang, Monty Python, Dixon of Dock Green, Jason King, McMillan & Wife, The Two Ronnies, Morecambe & Wise, Columbo, Hawaii Five-O, Star Trek, Are You Being Served?, Z Cars, The Liver Birds, Benny Hill

Before and into 1972 ... I watched ... Watch With Mother, Andy Pandy, The Woodentops, Mary Mungo and Midge, Pogles' Wood, The Flower Pot Men, Camberwick Green, Trumpton, Tales of the Riverbank, The Herbs, Bod, Noggin the Nog, Bleep and Booster, Pinky and Perky, Playschool, the Casey Jones TV series at Saturday morning picures, Space Cadettes, The Flintstones, Elvis films, Here Come the Double Deckers, Banana Splits, Zorro (TV series), The Flashing Blade, White Horses, Animal Magic, The Magic Roundabout, Pollyanna, Anne of Green Gables, The Monkees, Timeslip, The Saint, The Avengers, The Champions, Family at War, The Sullivans, Peyton Place, The Likely Lads, Please Sir, It's a Knockout and Je Sans Frontiers!, Saturday Night at the London Palladium, The Golden Shot (Bernie the bolt)

It was 1972 and I was aged 10 !!

*****

now, I'm all grown up and working as an artist

the reason for this blog is that, recently, I've been struggling with my head. I'm still 18 going on 27 and I still look young and feel young and I want to get back to how I was back then and metal still does it for me! When I listen to my heavy metal, when I hear certain songs, a voice, I'm back there ...

I love to talk about music, and the powerful memories and emotions of going to gigs, being in love and living for heavy rock and metal music ... a Saturday blog ...

are you in your forties and struggling with your head thing?
do you love metal and rock music from the 70's and 80's?

I still have very long head banging hair