For my birthday in August 1989 I had bought the Guinness Book of Number Ones, listing every song which was number one from when the music charts started, on Friday 14th November, 1952, to Christmas 1987. The first ever number one was "Here in my heart" by Al Martino. At this point of course, I had heard many songs listed which were number one from the 1960's, 1970's and 1980's, but not all of them. There were a lot of songs I had heard but I didn't know the title. This book triggered off an obsession with songs which had been number one and music in general, as I wanted to find out what all of the number one's listed in the book sounded like. Would I like them or not, and what was music like in such and such a year. That included music from the 1950's and 1960's. The obsession escalated in 1989 and 1990 in particular, as you will read.
In September 1989 at Secondary School when asked what music I was into, everybody fell about laughing when I said "Elvis, Queen, Dire Straits and music from the 1950's to now", as nearly everybody was into Bros and Brother Beyond, and you seemed to be against the trend if you hated them, but I did. It didn't upset or offend me. To this day, my music tastes still, run from the mid-1950's to the present, and I still hate Bros and Brother Beyond. My music tastes have widened greatly from 1988, 1989 and 1990 though.
On Saturday, 1st April 1989 I was near where I lived, playing cricket with three other people. They were all OK to get on with, and I presume still are. I couldn't however, bowl overarm accurately, though I could catch the ball and bat. One of the people present was sniggering at me, on the quiet, over my inability to bowl overarm. I saw him, and said I was going in. They asked why. I remarked that I was bored, but I really couldn't stand someone laughing at me on the sly. I could bowl overarm but not underarm.
On Monday, 12th June 1989, we had a quiz in Music at Secondary School. The arrangement was that we worked in pairs. I knew all the questions, including those about songs from the 1950's and 1960's. Everybody was wanting to know what I had wrote, and were whispering, "What have you wrote?"... The person I was with said, "Ignore them, they are using you". I got top marks in the quiz as well. In hindsight they were using me.
On Sunday, 6th August 1989, me and my parents went to my Grandmother's house. My parents took with them the projector and slide that they own to this very day. On it are slides of my parents honeymoon in York in December 1972, when they went to Tenerife on holiday three years later, holidays, including one in Rhyl in August 1977, during when, Elvis Presley died of a heart attack, whilst sat on the toilet, aged 42. Someone mentioned Elvis Presley, and I started a rambling monologue about Presley and his life. My Grandmother eventually had to say "Shut up about Elvis Presley".
I said another embarrassing thing (Or at least embarrassing to NT's) on Tuesday, 22nd August 1989, involving the late Kenneth Bradley, who lived across the road from me at the time, and this woman named Olive. Mr Bradley was born on Tuesday, 11th November 1919 - the first anniversary of the end of World War I and died in Hospital on Tuesday 20th July 2010 of Bronchiopneumonia and Heart Failure. I went to his funeral on Monday, 9th August 2010.
I saw Mr Bradley and shouted out of total innocence in a cheery voice "Hello Mr Bradley, is that your new girlfriend?". Two females across the street, who I knew, then aged 20 and 12, glared at me angrily and said "Oh God. Go away. We don't know you". To his credit Mr Bradley joked and said that she wasn't but he wished that she were! I couldn't understand why they would get so angry over that at the time.
On the night of Saturday, 7th October 1989/Morning of Sunday, 8th October 1989 I stayed at my grandmother's house overnight. My parents had gone to Gary's (See Christmas 1981) 30th birthday bash at the Frontiers nightclub at Wakefield. A busload of people went but there was no-one to look after me at the time so I had to stay there. I was nearly 14 when my parents started going out and leaving me alone. Me and my grandmother played cards (Don't ask me what the game was - I can't remember) and I remember dealing and I was very slow. My grandmother remarked that I was slow and a bit clumsy for "A young man like yourself".
In November 1989, I was excused from games. I said "I can't do games today, I have asthma in my feet". I meant to say Eczema. This brought out loud and sustained laughter for five minutes. Another pupil said to me "Asthma in your feet? How can you get Asthma in your feet?". Someone else laughed and shouted, "Get an inhaler, Kevin's going to have an eczema attack".
During the six-weeks summer holiday that year, 1989, I started listening to "Classic Gold" and I can clearly remember the jingle now, from 1989. It went "Here's yours truly, memory making, Classic Gold" and "Forty years of hits - Classic Gold". They played music from the 1950's and 1960's.
In December 1989, someone in my class asked me to finish off the title to the Sydney Youngblood song, "Sit and Wait". He said, "All we can do, is sit and...". I replied, "Smoke". The other pupil replied, "Yes that's it, sit and smoke.... sit and smoke? What? Where the F**k do you get sit and smoke from?".
