Category: 51 for 50

The earliest music-playing device that I owned was a cassette player, one of those oblong things that had a speaker in it at one end, the tape deck and then a handle. Hardly hi-fi. But I loved it, and I loved the first few cassettes that I was given for it (alongside the blank ones … Continue reading 51 for 50 – 1981

Oh my goodness I got obsessed by The Cure in my late teens. Emerging from a world of electronic and hip hop, through the gateway of New Order, I ended up in Indie guitar world but then introduced to The Cure by friend and occasional Smooly Batrash co-conspirator Alex. The first Cure album I really … Continue reading 51 for 50 – 1980

Most of my childhood, bar the first couple of years, was spent living in Watford, a not particularly interesting little town to the North West of London, just outside the Orbital M25 motorway. But for a few years in the late 1970s and early 1980s my parents, wanting to get more space than the two-up, … Continue reading 51 for 50 – 1979

There are a few artists who I feel I probably should know more about but I don't. I know nothing of David Bowie's albums. Or The Clash. Patti Smith or The Ramones not a clue. At least I have gotten around to buying, listening to and loving one Bob Marley album, even if it is … Continue reading 51 for 50 – 1978

1977. The year of the Silver Jubilee. The year that the Sex Pistols took centre stage. It's going to be a punk classic for #51For50 this week isn't it? Nope. There's a certain class of 70s music that sticks with me from hearing it on the radio on long journeys in the back of my … Continue reading 51 for 50 – 1977

The Stevie Wonder albums from the 1970s are things of wonder and delight. Grown up from his "Little Stevie" days, they are complex and nuanced, political and funky. We had Talking Book at home - the cover etched into my brain with Stevie in his long robe sitting in the dust, the typography surrounding. But … Continue reading 51 for 50 – 1976

So it turns out that next to no music from 1975 has permeated into my consciousness. Certainly no albums. The year before Punk, when Rick Wakeman was doing concept albums about King Arthur, I'd like to think it's because of my good taste. But there were generally acclaimed great albums by Led Zepplin, Patti Smith, … Continue reading 51 for 50 – 1975

The godfather of rap? Possibly. Gil Scott Heron set the mould for bombastic, political rhyme that would be followed years later by the likes of Public Enemy. But alongside the polemic, there was also the tender. Songs like Lady Day and John Coltrane and When You Are Who You Are are simply great pop songs. … Continue reading 51 for 50 – 1974

The first artist on this list that I’ve actually seen perform live, Herbie Hancock first came into my field of musical view from his crossover hit Rockit in my hip hop-obsessed early teens. In my twenties, occasionally getting the chance to DJ chill out rooms at the hard house nights that friends ran in Camden, … Continue reading 51 for 50 – 1973