OLD SKOOL MUSIC - What's your memory?

Ain’t it strange how the simplest request, and sometimes off-the-wall requests, can be the most difficult to answer.

At my company today, a number of us were asked by our training and development team to “name one of two songs that automatically take you back to school and your school days”.

Maybe that is easy for some for whom music is only relatively important but for an eclectic muso like myself, it proved a nightmare.

When I started school, it was “ring-a-ring of roses” and “round and round the garden”. When I left, it was The Damned’s New Rose and Siouxsie’s Hong Kong Kong Garden as I’d discovered punk/new wave (or did it discover me?) but I additionally had plenty of crossover and still do. How can I possibly name just 2 school songs from my myriad of influences? Can you??

As I was pressed, I went for I’m The Leader of the Gang – Gary Glit

ter (as it was often the cue for many a good school fight with its Come On, Come On line and gesturing to someone you wanted to sort out – that’s Fitzalan boys for you!). It’s probably not clever to admit this now but don’t forget, this was back in the days when kids loved Gary Glitter and not the other way around!

I truly loved all that glam rock stuff from Bowie onwards (or downwards depending on your view) – throw in T. Rex, Slade, Sweet, Mud and co too.

Fitzalan .... aah nostaligia

Then it was truly time for revolution and punk and I could choose any of 501 here. It was halcyon times when we heard or saw ground-breaking anthem blitzes on Old Grey Whistle Test or John Peel and spoke about little else in break next day. “Amazing” was the buzz word and it was compulsory to describe any group or tune you liked in this way. I chose DEVO’s Jocko Homo as they’re my favourite group to this day and it was just so different to anything else. They w

ere the forerunners of MTV with performance theatrical videos, outfits, their robotic dance moves moving prog rock into art rock with balls, all truly revolutionary. They were also the first group to showcase break dancing in a video, pop pickers!

But I could have gone with anything from T Rex, Squeeze, Undertones, Slade, XTC, Bowie, Clash, Joe Jackson, Pistols, AC/DC, Gang of Four, Third World, Damned, Judge Dread, Elvis Costello, *Blondie, Thin Lizzy, SLF, Specials, Buzzcocks, Ruts, Ian Dury, Penetration, Stranglers, Misty In Roots, Tubes and even the likes of Leo Sayer and 10cc!!! (*I wasn't really into Blondie's music but her picture sleeves made for good schoolboy wank material that you didn't have to hide from your mum!)

Could also have gone for Chuck Berry’s novelty “I want you to play with my ding-a-ling”. That was useful for school disco, it worked a couple of times too!

So what 2 would you choose? Bloody hell, some people hear are going to name current chart acts. This is ageist you know!