The Jam (1977): This is high school. A boys’ school. I hated it. But we had a ‘trendy’ art teacher who allowed us to have a record player and play music at lunchtime. One of the boys had an older brother who was really into punk and a 100 Club regular. I never liked the Sex Pistols and the other discordant art punks. They said nothing to me. They were adults. But The Jam were young and represented the suburban theme that was my life. It took something familiar but made it thrilling. It was short. It was sharp. It didn’t waste time. It reflected that post the 1973 Miners Strike and Queen’s Jubilee that things were changing. I didn’t understand the social dynamics that were coming, but I did understand things weren’t going to be as they were. There was a break from a hippy/prog past to a sharper, more vicious, more uncertain future.
Iron Maiden (1980): This is Sixth Form College. This is the relief of not being at high school and looking for punk’s diametric opposite to ‘cement’ the break from my past. This is going to see Iron Maiden at the Finsbury Park Rainbow. This is seeking out new things. This is the sheer noise. This is roaring the chorus. This is swooning over Steve Harris’ ‘foot on monitor’ pose that makes me so squirm with embarrassment today. This is feeding off their excitement at playing their first major gig. This is music where even if you shout at the top of your voice, you can’t hear anything above the music. This is the sheer sensory assault of sound and lights. This is the darkness in which to jump around and head bang like an idiot without embarrassment. This is youthful energy. This is breaking the parental strings. I can still feel the buzzing ears the next morning. I can still feel my neck-ache from the head-banging. I can still recall babbling excitedly the next day to my sister and her sneering. For her, Joy Division was the epitome of cool. And NWOBHM was its antithesis.
mp3 : The Jam – Batman Theme
mp3 : Iron Maiden – Iron Maiden (live at The Rainbow, 1980)
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