1988 was the year in the 20th century that had the most digits when written as Roman numerals: MCMLXXXVIII. So there's that. The Phantom of the Opera, the Lib Dems, Al-Qaeda, Fairtrade and the Tokyo Dome all became a thing, Celine Dion won Eurovision, Lester Piggott, Piper Alpha, Benazir Bhutto became the first female head of government in an Islam-dominated state (Pakistan), the Clapham Junction rail crash, the Lockerbie disaster and the first proper Internet connection was made between New Jersey and Stockholm. Going underground were Richard Feynman, John Holmes, Kenneth Williams, Enzo Ferrari, Roger Hargreaves, Roy Kinnear, Charles Hawtrey…
read more...Clive's Album of the Year, 1989
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In 1989 I was fifteen, and for my birthday I got my first guitar and a year's worth of guitar lessons. Thank you eternally, Mum and Dad, RIP. It was, it transpires, a historic turning point (yes I'm quoting Wikipedia) in politics, due to a wave of revolutions that started in Poland and swept across Europe eventually ending in the dissolution of the USSR at the end of 1991. It was the last year of the 80s, and the last year until 2040 that, when written in Roman numerals, contains an L. Make of that what you will. Bush Snr.…
read more...Clive's Album of the Year, 1990
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So, 1990. What happened in 1990? Um… I finished school, I suppose. Passed all my GCSEs and waved goodbye to Ratton. Errrr. Oh, I think I got my first decent guitar – a Fender HM Strat in Ice Blue. Nice. Mr. Bean came to our televisions, the US invaded Panama, the Leaning Tower of Pisa was closed to the public, Nelson Mandela was released from prison after 27 years, the "Pale Blue Dot" image was sent back from Voyager 1, Gorbachev became the first President of the Soviet Union, Poll Tax, Strangeways riot, Hubble, the World Health Organization declassified homosexuality as…
read more...Clive's Album of the Year, 1991
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In 1991 I lost my virginity and got a 49cc moped. And the first Gulf War began. So, you know. A mixed bag there. Street Fighter II hit the arcades, the Birmingham Six were released, former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated, Boris Yeltsin, Sonic the Hedgehog, TBL announced the WWW, the Soviet Union fell to bits, Linus Torvalds announced he was working on an operating system and a really old dude was found. The fallen included Steve Clark, Leo Fender, Johnny Thunders, Dr. Seuss, Miles Davis, Gene Roddenberry, Robert Maxwell and a man from Zanzibar originally named Farrokh…
read more...Clive's Album of the Year, 1992
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Right. This is going to be a long one, so strap in. Get a coffee, or a beer, or a whiskey, or a cigar. Or all of them if you think it'll help. But first, our usual business… In 1992, I turned 18 and joined my second band, a heavy metal outfit called Ugly Seed. Excellent fun, that was. I finished college and failed the shit out of my A-levels (two Ns and a U), and so started working full-time in a soap factory in my home town of Eastbourne. The Atari 2600 was discontinued, Boutros-Boutros Ghali became UN Secretary…
read more...Clive's Album of the Year, 2015
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In 2015 I left my two-year contract in Westminster to go work for a Jimmy Wales venture, and the nearly 2-year wait for my BlacKat DC7 finally came to an end. It was both the International Year of Light, and of Soils. Something for everyone there, then. The Charlie Hebdo shooting happened, an earthquake hit Nepal killing over 9000 people, Sepp Blatter, Greek money bother, NASA did a flyby of Pluto and found liquid water on Mars, Volkswagen were caught rigging emissions tests, a stampede at Mecca killed over 2200 people, Elon Musk's SpaceX launched and landed a reusable rocket,…
read more...Look Them In The Eye
Right, stop what you're doing and listen closely. If you go into a shop to buy something, or interact with someone behind a counter who is serving you in any way, STOP YOUR FUCKING PHONE CALL WHILE YOU DO IT. OK? Understand? Whether you're buying a packet of crisps from a corner shop or £300 of groceries from fucking Waitrose, STOP TALKING TO THE PERSON ON THE PHONE while you conduct the transaction. You can do this in one of a number of ways. You should be able to work some of these out, but in case you're one of…
read more...Seventeen
And so, the blog is back. I've moved house and though the boxes still fill most corners of the new place, there is at least internet and I finally got the Raspberry Pi that houses this thing a wi-fi adapter and got it back on the internet. Let joy be unbounded. So shortly we return to the Albums of the Years series. I'll bet you can't wait. We shall probably skip forward again to 2015 before returning to the thorny issue of the 1992 shortlist. And as for 2016, well I'm not looking forward to writing the intro to that…
read more...Going Under
This blog will be going offline for a little while shortly, as I'm moving house. The blog runs off a Raspberry Pi in my house, and since the new house won't have internet for a good week or so after the move, it will be perforce offline (and probably in a box). Which means that you won't be able to read this. If you can, then i) I haven't moved yet, or ii) I haven't got internet in the new house yet. Should be back online early-to-mid-December. As you were.…
read more...Clive's Album of the Year, 2014
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2014 was the International Year of Crystallography, of Family Farming, of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, and of Small Island Developing States. So now you know. I turned 40, lost my Mum but gained a son, lost a wonderful cat, but gained four more. A mixed bag there, then. Ebola broke out in West Africa, Belgium legalised euthanasia, Russia annexed Crimea, Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 Flight MH370 disappeared, Boko Haram kidnapped ~276 girls and women from a school and killed ~300 people in a single night in the towns of Gamboru and Ngala, another Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 was shot…
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