in various strip joints. One group of four greasy
leather clad rockers who hit Hamburg and came
home to tell the tale and got quite a following
in their home town was ‘The Silver Beatles’,
soon shortened to ‘The Beatles.’ They started
playing in a dingy cellar called the ‘Cavern’ in a
dingy back street - Matthew Street. Now billions
of tourists visit regularly. The walls would drip
with sweat and the toilets would overflow and
it was an absolute shit’ole that people would
queue for hours to get into and scream their
lungs out worshipping these heroes. Bands from
all over played at the Cavern; The Rolling Stones;
The Who and anyone you want to mention.
Directly opposite the Cavern is an old Liverpool
pub called ‘The Grapes’. Most of the famous rock
stars from then and now drank in there, Lennon
‘n’ McCartney wrote in there. But if you go in
that musical holy of holies now... It’s a bloody
Karaoke Bar!
For some reason my first record was Morning
Has Broken by Cat Stevens... Which I swapped
for Alice Cooper’s ‘Schools Out! I had never
bought an LP, as they were in those black n’
white, far flung vinyl days, so I’d never listened
to the ‘Fab Four’ unless they were on the telly.
But one day my dad came home with an 8-Track
player bought from the biggest ‘knocking shop’
www.thecartoonistsclub.com
in the world, Fords, Halewood! He had two
8-Track cartridges, I can’t remember one, but the
other had a great picture of an exploding pinball
machine and it was by a band called The Who!
That was me hooked... I played it to death and
even bought The Beatles and was pleasantly
suprised. I didn’t buy a lot of records, but Top Of
The Pops’ Was on the telly with The Old Grey
Whistle Test with Whispering Bob Harris for
the serious rock music follower, as opposed to
the pain in the arse Radio 1 DJs for pop fans, or
pop-pickers! All blathering like, well, caricature
pop DJs that Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse
would take the piss out of.
One thing worse than the DJs was the bands in
the 70s n’ 80s. When Glam Rock kicked in, glitz
‘n’ glamour was the main thing. Make up, platform
shoes - remember The Sweet, Slade, The tartan
of The Bay City Rollers... (oh god!). The good
thing about them days was that the gigs were
played in theatres like the Empire in Liverpool,
an old victorian theatre, great for watching
bands. I’d’ve loved to have seen The Who with
Keith Moon when they were at their peak in
the Empire. Now they play in Arenas, massive
places requiring the aid of huge videos to see the
bands. You often have to stand at ground level,
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