Insince.re

The final part. The end, or I suppose, the beginning. Back to 1974, the year of my birth. The best release of 1974 was clearly me and frankly I only get better every year, but musically… 1976 Winner Jean-Michel Jarre - Oxygene One of the few artists I got into when I was young (not in 1976, obviously) and before I was gripped by the majesty of rock (and the mystery of roll) was J-MJ. I like pretty much all his stuff and always have. Oxygene was probably my favourite of his, and "Oxygene 4" was used on the TV…

On we go, come on come on, keep up, I haven't got all day, you know. 1980 Honourable mention Van Halen - Women and Children First When Van Halen burst onto the scene they undeniably took it apart (more on that later), and they were still pretty much at the top of their game by the third album. Punchy. Top track: "Everybody Wants Some!!" Winner AC/DC - Back in Black Well. I know I'm going to get into trouble in some quarters, but for me AC/DC has a Geordie singer with a flat cap. I know, I know,…

Right, I hadn't developed a real taste in music this far back, and a lot of what I've gotten into from these years is the back catalogues of a handful of bands, so it's going to get samey from here on in. I shall therefore be brief, we'll skip the preambles and births and deaths etc. – I'm sure you can all use Wikipedia. 1985 Winner Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms Possibly the first album I properly enjoyed. My mate next door, Craig, had it on tape and we would play it over and over in the tape decks of…

1986. I was 12, and had yet to develop any taste in music, so as before this is all retroactive. This is also as far back as I’m going with the whole “1 winner and 5 runners-up” thing. My original idea was to try and go right back to the year of my birth, 1974, but I just can’t find enough music that I like from all of those years. What we’ll have after this is a digest format with the best one of the year, and possible an honourable mention or two. So now you know.…

Unnnnnngh. Whoo. Ummm… yeah. 2016. OK. Shit. *deep breath* Right. Let’s do this. *girds loins* 2016 was The International Year of Pulses, but despite that it started badly and then went downhill from there. And after that it got worse. We were still reeling from the (not wholly unexpected) passing of Lemmy in December 2015 when the (relatively unexpected) news of David Bowie’s demise reached us, and so began Super Grim Reaper Ultra Party Bonanza Deathfest. (Plenty) more on that shortly. I had spent my Christmas holiday (hah) looking for work, and ended up back at my old…

In 1987 I was 13, so what do you want? I was at school with bad hair and short curly skin, choosing my subjects for GCSE, and in a deeply committed relationship with my ZX Spectrum. It is the year in which the movies American Psycho and The Wolf of Wall Street were both set, which just goes to show you… something. Aretha Franklin became the first woman to enter the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Terry Waite was kidnapped, British Airways was privatised, cross-channel ferry the Herald of Free Enterprise capsized killing 193 at Zeebrugge, The Simpsons first…

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…

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.…

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…

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…