39: Clubbing & Buying Records

Football grounds are now where I do my clubbing and Oxfam has my record collection!

Which record shop do I spend most time in? HMV, Virgin, the independent outlet in Soho that manages to knock every CD out for no more than a tenner? No, Oxfam. Oxfam has my record collection, or at least the one I sold when I was 27.

I still like to think of myself as relatively up to date as far as music is concerned. I worked in and around it for nearly 20 years. But now I’m in my 40’s, and although I can still spend a decent amount of cash on new releases (although I’m far from the ‘£50 bloke’ that has been identified as a consumer market), I can’t help but have a nose inside an Oxfam or Cancer Research to fondly remember the vinyl I once (unbelievably) owned… Thompson Twins, Sade, Culture Club, Simple Minds, Howard Jones, ELO, NOW 1, Ultravox, OMD, Kid Creole……

If I want more up to date loud music in a clubbing environment then I just nip along to my local football league club where tannoy announcers now play a set playlist of chest thumping, high BPM classics – who is the PA announcer at the Millennium stadium? – Surely Radio 1 beckons for them.