Author:Paul Sexton
Remember those long ago days when there were no arenas or exhibition halls? If you wanted to attend a gig, it was a small club or perhaps a city hall. Into this vacuum came the university venues, satisfying the new market created by the rising popularity of that new fangled rock music. Boasting an introduction by none other than Mark Knopfler, this excellent and hugely enjoyable book tells the story of how, with the advent of the albums era, upcoming and even established bands travelled the length and breadth of the UK in their trusty Transits in search of the next gig, while hoping to be offered that elusive record deal. Looking back, it’s no surprise that many of today’s managers and promoters cut their teeth as social secretaries, learning their trade at the sharp end, and giving opportunities to bands that went on to become household names, such as Zeppelin, Floyd, Sabbath. Genesis, Dire Straits, Queen and The Who. Even Paul McCartney played this circuit when Wings first took flight. There’s plenty of fond reminiscences and hoary old anecdotes from the main players as the author explores that burgeoning scene when we were all so much younger and the rock market was just about to reach critical mass. This really is an entertaining read that delves deep into this fascinating topic, and I’d certainly recommend it if, like me, you were a regular gig goer in that era.
Length of Read:Medium
Might appeal to people who enjoyed…
Cheap tickets, cheap beer, a constant ever changing stream of artists on offer – own up now, who else spent far too much time in the student union?
One thing you’ve learned
For those who were there and somehow still came out of the other side with an academic qualification!
The author was on a Word in Your Ear podcast, and if @beany wasn’t interviewed for the book he should have been.
Fond memories of my time on ‘Security’ for the Social Sec’s office at University. Countless gigs, poor, middling and amazing. Working behind the bar in the Union beforehand, couple of pints gratis in return. It was like a Bryan Adams song. This will be a must-read for me.
When I was putting bands on at Stirling University, we were offered Nirvana for £350 just before Nevermind came out. I couldn’t book them because the Christian Union were using the venue for a disco.
Now that’s what I call territorial pissings!
We had Nirvana play in the Student Union at Portsmouth in about 89 or possibly 90, supporting a band of large extremely hairy chaps called Tad. Now admittedly I can’t hold my hand up as being a fan of grunge but both bands were unmitigated noisy metal sludgerock shite and you would never have guessed one of them would be so huge not that long after.
I feel I may have shared this one before but I have a story from my brother’s time at Exeter University in the early 80s. One of his friends was responsible for the sound in their concert hall. He joined us for lunch and had a long moan about The Tourists. He called Annie Lennox a “cow” for being such a perfectionist and taking so long on their sound check. Very much in the vein of “I mean…who does she think she is?”.
Annie Lennox? Am I right in thinking that Afterword Megastar Lodestone of Wrongness once went on a date with Annie Lennox in Aberdeen? Or “almost” went on a date with her? Something like that, anyway….
I left my wallet in my locked house forcing me to miss the bus for our 7pm first date. On Monday morning outside her school she walked straight past me. I’ve studied the lyrics of her songs but, surprisingly, can find no reference to “The handsome young man what broke my heart”.
You’ll maybe remember my first wife, then, a couple of years below the striking head girl of the school they each attended. ( I have asked her whether she could remember any handsome Aberdonians, but, oddly, she can’t, if plenty of other varieties come more easily to mind.
I think you’ll find that you were the inspiration for ‘You Have Placed A Chill In My Heart’. 🤔😉
My brother was technical manager at Bolton Octagon. He said there’s an inverse relationship between fame and awkwardness. Established people say what they need and as long as they get it that’s it. Wannabe acts are utter nightmare, nitpicking about everything.
He said the nicest musician he had to deal with by some distance was Martin Carthy.
I’m reading this the moment, and it is a great read, particularly for those of us who were there.
My dine out story, and I’ve told tnis before, is when Slade turned up at St. Paul’s Teacher Training College in 1971 for the Saturday night gig. Obviously this was pre fame and the only pictures in the press had been their brief skinhead era, so we didn’t know what to expect. Anyway, they pitched up at the wrong site – I happened to be in the bar and offered to guide them through town. I got in the front of the van and Noddy and co were sat in aircraft style seats in the back. My memory is of them being super friendly and a pleasure to meet. They were absolutely terrific live, and we booked them back immediately. In the interim, they had their first hit (Get Down and Get With It), but they fulfilled the gig and were brilliant once again. I think this may have been the only time we actually had a hit making band at the college!
I had the opportunity to interview Dave Hill a few years ago and told him my story – he confirmed my aircraft seat memory (‘Nod’s idea’) and the fact that they absolutely would have fulfilled their gig obligations – they really appreciated the college scene and how it honed them as a band..
I clearly remember us also having Vinegar Joe (very good) and Gentle Giant… the rest is a bit of a blur. I have tried to research who we had but hit a brick wall – there are very few records of college gigs., not only for us but in general I found out. Apparently this is largely because there were generally no adverts locally for internal college gigs, so trawling through old papers is fruitless.
Trawling through old Melody Makers would yield at least some results, Nige. Many artists had ads or appeared in news items listing blocks of dates, among which would be various colleges. And many ads specifically for this or that college concert also appeared – whether paid for by agent or promotor or whoever. It wouldn’t be comprehensive but I’d imagine you could retrieve at least some St Paul’s events/dates by a forensic trawl of the early 70s editions of MM.
Thanks Colin. Obviously I can pretty much deduce the small range of possible dates as I know approximately when it was in the year and term times were actually quite short, and I know it was a Saturday! There is a Slade website giving known dates (St Pauls isn’t there) and I did contact the website a few years ago, who did mention my point about adverts. Good shout though! I will do some more digging…
My memory is that, in the 70s at least, most of use weren’t there. Hardly anyone went to university and there seemed tonne no way of getting into one of the gigs if you lived miles away and didn’t know a student. This had, admittedly, changed by the time I was going to gigs at ULU and SOAS in the late 80s
At Exeter in the 70s the debate about whether gigs hosted on campus premises should be open to non-students – the so-called ‘town/gown’ conundrum – was a constant rumbling issue that never got properly resolved.
The crux of the matter was that while the University had the venue (Devonshire House Great Hall – rented out to the Student’s Union for gigs) and the University had the required staff (professional bar manager, building security and cleaners) whose overtime would be paid for by the Social Secretary’s office, but the building itself, for which the University were responsible, had a legal capacity only designed to cater for its academic purpose – graduation ceremonies and the like.
Once gig tickets were available to the general public, the likelihood was that, for any sold-out performance, there could be hundreds of disappointed students – whose fees paid for the Social Sec etc. – left without tickets. With tickets available only to the student population, for any less popular artists the risk was that unsold tickets could easily have been flogged in town.
Heads you win, tails you don’t achieve a sustainable turnover.
Leeds Uni seemed to be fine for non students I certainly went to quite a few there before becoming a student.
Speak for yourself 😀
Still reeling from the claim that hardly anyone went to university in the seventies!
It does seem like an odd statement…
About 10% of the population went to university in the 70s. More precisely, the figure was about 8% at the beginning of the decade and 14% at the end. Whether that counts as ‘hardly anyone’ is a matter of opinion.
Quite.
Perhaps more went iwherever you grew up. . I went to a grammar school in a working class town. About 25 % of kids passed the 11 plus and went to the grammar. Of these, 40-50% left school at 16. Half of the remainder left at 18. If you are a graduate, I am sure you can do the math.
I went to a comprehensive, formerly a Secondary Modern, so still had the mindset of “leave school and get a job”. Some of my year went to 6th Form but I can only recall two that I knew who went to university, although I’m sure there were more. It was quite a large school, more than a thousand. I left in 1980.
I left comprehensive school in 87 .. I stayed for a year to bolster my paltry 5 CSEs.. From a year group of around 200, about 50 went on to A Levels and (probably) university after that. 25% university entry, but more telling 75% work or tech college.
And this was a school that prided and boasted of it’s higher than average for the area University entry
Apparently, in the 60s 8-9% of young people went to Uni. In the seventies, this reached 14-15%.
Today it’s 49%.
Debate if this is “bad” or “good”.
What was once something to aspire to nowadays feels like an entitlement for anyone that wants it.
I felt that there was a lack of careers guidance at my school which meant that anyone who had an idea of what they might want to do was an easy win for the careers officer, or whatever they were called, rather than exploring other options which may ultimately have been more suitable. My two have both been to uni. Son has benefited from having a degree, landing a really good job, daughter has only just finished so we’ll see how she gets on but in her case, it’s been the making of her: given her confidence, independence and expanded her horizons enormously so hugely beneficial IMHO.
A big change, but skewed slightly by the renaming of polytechnics to “universities” in the 90s.
Meanwhile, there is an acute shortage of skilled building tradespeople (who generally end up earning more than most graduates, once qualified, and aren’t saddled with huge student loans to pay off).
The UK education system pushes everyone towards university, whether there are jobs to be had in their chosen speciality or not, or else it just writes them off. The path towards apprenticeships is obstructed by wrongheaded government legislation and the ignorance of the education sector.
I never went to uni. Left school at 16 and got an apprenticeship with Post Office Telephones. After various jobs/misadventures I ended up as an Electrician before retirement.
My younger brother went to further ed. college and became a Quantity Surveyor in construction.
My big sister was a housewife, barmaid, cleaner and shop assistant (and union rep) at various times. No further education for her since leaving school at 16.
My nephew Daniel went to uni in Southampton and came out with a degree that wasn’t directly useful for future employment. He did, however, quickly get a job in administration with BUPA, because he was degree-educated. He hated it and didn’t stay long.
These days he has his own successful gardening business in the Lake District, having studied horticulture for a few years.
His wife has a degree in Sports Management (used to work for MK Dons) but is currently child-rearing.
None of my other nephews and nieces went to college. Both of my other two nephews from my sister’s tribe are married to graduates, though.
In line with @davebigpicture points above, going to University is not just about getting a degree. From the dark recesses of my memory, I recall our physics teacher at A level saying that going to Uni was 50% learning and 50% growing up.
That said, with student loans etc, it’s an expensive way to grow up and I can see the debate on whether it’s worthwhile. I still a string believer in free eduction (it’s your countries future)
And in today’s low-unemployment job market, job application candidates need something to get them the interview. I’m not saying it is right or wrong, it is just how it is.
Offspring the Elder has found that having a first degree isn’t enough to get into her chosen career path and needs a Masters as well. Offspring the Younger (who stopped after A-levels) has figured out that he is going to be trapped in minimum-wage jobs unless he retrains.
I’m pleased I’m not young.
My daughter’s degree is in animation. She’s a very talented artist but whether it’ll ever be more than a side gig remains to be seen.