An occasional blog devoted to my musical musings, interspersed with childhood recollections, new discoveries and unearthed gems.

This is the story of a post-punk kid, told through a record collection. It’s my attempt to explore the musical make-up of my history, its influence on my outlook on life as well as the records I buy.

But why, Steve?

It is my belief that a synchronicity underpins everything. People of a similar time, a similar place, a similar background, a similar outlook, a similar economic status, will behave similarly. Do they continue to behave similarly or do they grow apart as time goes by?

I have always had great trouble understanding many people my age, and many people my age have often had trouble understanding me – particularly when the subject of music is brought up. And music has always been a very large part of my life. How can people who were born and brought up in the same place at the same time struggle to find a connection?

It is this search for a connection which led me to leave my home town. Some fascinating people were met, some great friends were made – but still this feeling of (for want of a better term) exclusion persisted. Is economic status a factor in this disenfranchisement? If the jobs of your parents are a vital influencer in the direction of your life, then why not the records they listened to?

Ultimately it is this search for “connection” that has led me to write this blog. To see if there are other people out there who were brought up on the same records and have a similar sense of their life as I.

This is not a search for music lovers. I have met many people who enjoy many of the records and bands that I will discuss on this website. Then they will present something out of the racks that I utterly hate, perhaps on musical, moral, ethical or even emotional grounds. I always find this slightly surprising as for me, my musical taste is not merely about what music I like to listen to and what I don’t. It’s the basis for a whole philosophy, a way appreciating the world and the people within it, its cultures, its art, its films, its histories. Certain music has definite resonance for me while certain music falls flat. Is it my upbringing that has steered me on to this path? Or do I just have some funny ideas about life?

Some were born in the Jazz Age. Others came into being accompanied by the hammered piano of Jerry Lee Lewis; their mothers strained to the strains of Aretha, or conceived to the beat of disco. Me, I’m a post-punk kid.