Issue 12 April 1983 - Pop Wallpaper

Pop wallpaper and friends again were interviewed in this issue and 33 years on we finally know why terry hall hated those gigs. Ghost town wasn't out at this stage but urban wasteland featured heavily in reviews of bands, both tapes and vinyl, or vynil as we kept calling it. When ghost town did finally arrive I remember thinking - "yeah, that's what I wanted with 'the penny drops'", a song I'd written and performed badly with life support. Google life support the penny drops - I put it on YouTube- well I say that but I failed miserably to get the song on in one go so it's in two parts! I could get a job in an irn bru ad...but enough about me being a fanny, and back to issue 12.

I liked Stuart's dance factory ad as it brought an image alive from deep in my recesses. He was hand writing it in Dundee uni and I was standing waiting and explaining I was getting the stagecoach at 3:30 to get down to Edinburgh to give it to the printer at 6 and I'd be back with issue 12 in the morning to hawk it around Dundee.

It's why I do this blog I guess. Nostalgia yes but memories keep my brain alive. I also like getting into the mind of my 20 year old self and when I witter to my soon to be 24 year old daughter I can pretend I get being young. Then I read my musings in deadbeat and realise that being young was not about thinking at all for me, it was all about living, just doing it. I didn't think about missing the bus to Edinburgh or even that I needed the ad, I just did it. I didn't think about it being my final set of exams at uni, I just ignored it. Of course May came around and I failed them all again but issue 13 sold out in less than a week so who cares, except the 53 year old me who only found a copy last month! Like issue 12 it just happened so fast and it was away, we were onto the next issue. Issue 5 was 500 and issue 13 was over 1000. That was a lot of printing, collating, stapling and folding- no wonder I couldn't go to lectures. Then there was distribution. Buses to Glasgow, Perth and Dundee to collect cash and leave more copies, and have a pint at the station tavern or whatever pub caught my attention. I did a lot of work in the pub, reviews, interviews. I remember one trip to Glasgow. I dropped 100 copies into virgin and picked up my £8. I only got £7 in Edinburgh per 100 although they did shift 3 lots of 100 most issues. I then met slaughterhouse 5 and did an interview and still had £7 left! How cheap was bevy back then eh?!