Mine was a bit of an unusual one. Giving away my age a bit here, but whilst all my mates were listening to the likes of the Mondays, Roses, Primal Scream, Prodigy etc back in the very early 90s, for some reason I was immersing myself in all the Punk/New Wave stuff from fifteen years earlier.
I loved all of it, but the first band who ever truly made a massive impression on me were The Stranglers. Just loved everything I heard by them, from the punky early stuff through to the ultra-quirky pop they were putting out in the early 80s. I even had a soft spot for the polished, pristine AOR albums of the mid-1980s. Everything about the band seemed impossibly cool to a gawky, spotty young teenager like myself at the time. I loved how musically accomplished they seemed, basically a punk band with a keyboard player, with JJ Burnel especially being an outrageously talented musician.
Random memories: visiting HMV in Birmingham multiple times throughout the summer of 1991, each time luxuriating in having to decide which of their albums to treat myself to that week. Being distraught when my older brother laughed in my face when I showed him my tiny collection of Stranglers albums, with him sneering “Why are you listening to that bunch of deadbeats? They haven’t been any good since 1982!”. Excitedly joining their official fan club, which the band sniffily insisted wasn’t a fan club but was in fact a Stranglers Information Service instead.
Do I still listen to them now? Nope, not at all, bar the occasional playlist-assisted burst of Golden Brown. I remember enjoying the first post-Hugh album in 1992, but by the mid-90s my music tastes had shifted massively, and I’ve never really felt compelled to revisit any of their albums ever since. But I still remember that initial period of obsessive musical discovery incredibly fondly, and in retrospect think they represented a very worthy early gateway into “alternative music”.
Pearl Jam. Got fully invested in everything about them - Mother Love Bone, Green River, Temple Of The Dog, all the side projects etc. I still listen to them now but not very regularly. Tend to go back and have big binges for nostalgic reasons mainly
No (except for occasionally blasting the classics and early B sides when I want a nostalgia trip, chucking Bliss on really loud is always going to be worth it)
Yep, still love them (although not heard the recent 2 albums) but all the old stuff still slaps, Hello Rockview is one of my all time top 10 albums. Great live as well, just the best fun.
probably Thursday. had never heard owt like it at the time. the way the backing screams were played with the singer, who arguably couldn’t sing that well, was thrilling to me.
still listen to Full Collapse a lot, War All The Time not as much but periodically. will always have an eye out for them
Probably the band that properly got me into music but I burned myself out on them fairly sharpish. Still listen to In Utero fairly regularly and Bleach and Unplugged occasionally, but have absolutely no time for Nevermind these days.
Pearl Jam were hot on their heels and yeah they’re still my favourite band to this day. Flew to New York to see them last year.
