5. The Smiths: This Charming Man
It is an undisputed fact that some of the best bands in the World have come out of Manchester and one of the best have to be the Smiths. I don’t subscribe to the view that they should reform as I am happy to remember them as they were. Morrissy’s lyrics were superb and Marr’s guitar playing sublime.
4. Dr Feelgood: She does it right
Back in the mid 1970’s I started going to gigs on a regular basis. One of the best live bands I ever saw was Dr. Feelgood at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester. Their guitarist Wilco Johnson had a unique style and sound and here’s a bit of film from a TV series in 1975.
3. The Who: Won’t get fooled again
The Who didn’t enjoy the same success as The Rolling Stones and The Beatles but their contribution to rock music is just as important. As a songwriter, Townsend has no equal and here they are at their blistering best.
2. Chuck Berry: No particular place to go
If you like rock music, you have to like Chuck Berry. The two are inseparable. In fact, there would probably not be much rock music if it wasn’t for Chuck Berry. Guitarists like Keith Richards and Joe Strummer owe a lot of their style to Berry’s playing. There are plenty of great songs by Chuck but this is my favourite and the clip, from French television includes a rather amusing beginning when Berry attempts to speak English with a French accent.
1. The Ramones: Blitzkrieg Bop
Everybody has their favourite songs. I figure I’ve got about 150 and it’s growing all the time. You might think that 150 isn’t that many but the songs have to be pretty special to be included. They are in no particular order but I do want to start with a song that changed my life. In 1977 you could pretty much choose either a path that took you to inane disco music and madness or line up with the masses to witness the latest Neanderthal super group, whose success was gauged by the amount of synthesisers they had. It wasn’t the sort of music being played by local kids in local venues.
Much as people remember where they were when Elvis Presley died, I remember exactly what I was doing when I first heard The Ramones. I was sat at home trying to block out the sound of my younger brother practising the bass guitar when one of our friends knocked on the door. He had an album in his hands and he was obviously excited. Being readers of the NME, we were aware of the ‘new’ music people were calling punk but we had yet to hear any of it.
The bass was turned off, the record placed on the turntable, the sound turned up and we were transfixed. This was what guitars were made for. Not only was the sound unlike anything we had heard before, the band looked great. Life would never be the same again. ONETWOTHREEFOUR!
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