Such a good programme last night and it just asks the question, how much was on the cutting room floor?
As we all know the Velvets were the popular starting point for many bands but the Scottish Grandfather of Punk was surely Alex Harvey, and pawky wee Scotland had just celebrated Archie Gemmill's goal in 1978 and we had our own glam meister's S.A.H.B.
I remember going along to a gig in the Pollock Halls, I think it was Dirty Reds, TV21 and The Cubs, but too be honest I cant remember. After Archie Gemmill had scored much of my life was a blur.
The funniest part of the cutting room floor has to have been the drugs. Lets face it, there were loads and the heady combination of teenage rebellion and sub culture pop fanfare led to many things burning out, not just the bands, but the people too. Its well documented that shooting smack with Nico does little for your band's longevity, but I'll bet it was pretty cool at the time.
Another part fell (APF) to the cutting room floor when Another Pretty Face failed to get a mention. As Mike Scott migrated through Funhouse to The Waterboys it must surely have been his lack of availability that left him out in the cold.
We could watch another 10 episodes of this wonderful social history. "Mind", aka remember, we were on the cusp of independence in 1979, the whole drama of the era resulted in the carnage of the closure of the heavy industries and the expression Labour's not working turning ironically into labour's not working, as we drop the capital and go from 1m unemployment to 3m at a stroke.
We had all this oil, we had Orange Juice, Aztec Camera and the Skids, another one to hit the cutting room floor. When we were doing the fanzine my epiphany was realising it was all about the venues and Allan Campbell's understated contribution last night was superb. His Hoochie Coochie Club was just a mecca for us all as we took the teenage camino from street corners, to bedrooms, the Tap and then Tollcross.
The venues throughout Scotland played such a big part for us as we watched, reviewed and interview the bands. Dundee had the Tayside Bar, and while student venues existed in most cities places like Perth and all over the country relied on a publican who liked live music.
If there's a crime that's been committed in the last 30 years it is the shrinking of the small venues. I saw Eddi Reader 35 years on at the Festival Theatre the other night and she was superb, but I do wonder if 35 years on if my daughter will have anyone worth watching. With all the aforementioned drugs, I wont need to worry!
Its why I like Bannermans schedule of bands and why I thought I'd start the fanzine up again, that and I've still got a couple of Deadbeat ~Tapes to sell. 3 albums from 1983-1985, the sound of not so young Scotland but as I remember it we managed to cover a few more cities and even the peerless pulsebeat-plus from Arbroath, the East Kilbride of Angus!
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