How did you discover new music growing up? For me in the mid 1970’s long before the internet and streaming sites it started by me going through my brother Ken’s record collection and then going to my friends house and listening to their albums. At school my Chemistry Teacher was a music fan and a small group of us used to go to his Class Room at lunch break every Thursday and read through his latest music magazines and I went on to get Melody Maker every week followed by New Music Express and Sounds . At night when I was supposed to be asleep I had a transistor radio and earphones and listened to Radio Luxembourg, Radio Caroline and the John Peel Show.
On television I wasn’t really a fan of Top of the Pops although occasionally there would be a band I liked but it was The Old Grey Whistle Test with Bob Harris which was a must watch for me. I came from a large family, there were nine of us altogether and we had one television which meant if you wanted to watch a programme like TOGWT you had to do it when other people were in the room. I remember squirming in my seat when Meatloaf performed a very raunchy Paradise by the Dashboard Light whilst my Mum was in the living room, I laughed out loud when John Otway fell off his amplifier, cried when Paul Kossoff who was off his head on drugs whilst being interviewed by Bob Harris and I was blown away watching Lynard Skynyrd perform Freebird for the first time.
One of the many bands I discovered through TOGWT was Judas Priest who me and my mate Phil went to see at Slough College, tickets were £1.00 and the support band were Spitfire. This was the first of many gig’s we went to in the new Students Union Hall at Slough College and before judas Priest hit the stage the room was filled with dry ice, so much so that you could not see your own hand if you put it front of your face and the volume for the intro was deafening it was such an assault on the senses I did have a mild panic. As the smoke dissipated the band entered the stage in Monk’s Habits to bells tolling and then rocked the night away. The album the band were promoting was Sad Wings of Destiny which was the album that started to break the band as a force on the UK Heavy Metal scene. I did go and see Judas Priest again two years later when they were in their prime on 10th February 1978 at Hammersmith Odeon with support from English Assassin, tickets were £2.50
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