Throughout 1980, Led Zeppelin were still my favourite band, and along with Rush, and an increasingly number of other rock bands, they were the main motivating influence towards learning to play music myself, which would finally become a reality in 1980.
The music that I listened to, loved, and discovered, would come less from the radio this year, and more from going out to places which put on rock 'discos'; the main one being the Masons Arms in my home town of Mansfield. I had made my first tentative steps into the world of pubs after leaving school and starting work the previous year. After seeing an advert for a 'Heavy Rock Night' in the local paper, my friend, and fellow Led Zeppelin fan, Martin, had first gone to the Masons Arms rock disco as two naive 16 year olds who didn't even know what drinks we should order.
But by 1980, going to 'the Masons' on a Friday night had become the thing to do, and especially exciting was the fact they frequently put on live bands, of which there were several on the thriving local rock scene, that would enhance my desire to be one of them. Most particularly the aforementioned 'Savage', who through a mutual friend of their guitarist, Andy Dawson, I came to know well in year or so to come.
There were also more gigs from big name bands that I went to, including a second Motorhead gig, which would further cement their importance to me in my musical development. The influence of Motorhead was not as immediate as that of Led Zeppelin before them. In that sense, they were something of a slow burner which would come to fruition more in following year. But nevertheless, the 'Heavy Metal Barn Dance' festival, which they headlined that year, was easily the most memorable gig of the year. Motorhead were slowly but surely on the rise in my musical consciousness , and their importance would increase much more so after the release of the classic 'Ace of Spades' album at the end of November that year.
But for the moment, Led Zeppelin were still my main band. 1980 was the year when I added the rest of their back-catalogue of albums to my record collection, and I had a particular penchant for their third and forth albums, which would feature a fair amount of acoustic guitar based music, the most famous partially acoustic track obviously being 'Stairway To Heaven', which back in those days didn't have the "cliché" baggage that is has today. It seems to be the case that everyone who learns to play the guitar goes through that 'Stairway To Heaven' phase of learning those famous opening chords; and I was no different. More on this later.
The Canadian rockers; 'Rush' were still big on my musical agenda throughout 1980. Not only did I see them live in concert again, but I bought a few more albums from their back-catalogue, as well as that year's album release; 'Permanent Waves'; and Geddy Lee's bass playing in particular, still continued to be an inspirational force for the next year or so.
Continuing on from the previous year, I was still finding new music to listen to, either via the radio or the regular rock discos which I used to go. And some bands like 'Hawkwind', who so far were only represented in my collection by the 'Silver Machine' single, gradually became much represented throughout 1980, and went on to be THE single most important rock band of my life within a couple of years. Whilst others like Pink Floyd would fade away to be represented by only a couple of albums to this day.
The seeds of Hawkwind's enigmatic appeal were actually planted a couple of years earlier via Tommy Vance on the Friday Rock Show, when he played 'Spirit of the Age' from their 1977 album 'Quark, Strangeness and Charm', which I recorded onto cassette. But in the days before I left school I couldn't afford buy many albums, and the likes of Hawkwind, Pink Floyd, and Jimi Hendrix had to wait their turn. I finally got around to buying 'Quark, Strangeness and Charm' in 1980, But many of the albums I bought were just what happened to be available in the cheaper second-hand shops; And in the case of Hawkwind, by pure coincidence, it was their very first two albums that I acquired next.
At this stage, although I liked both Motorhead and Hawkwind independently, I hadn't realised that my future bass playing role-model, Lemmy, was actually a Hawkwind veteran. Particularly as he wasn't on any of those first three albums that I bought, and I hadn't recognised the younger Lemmy's voice on the 'Silver Machine' single. It wasn't until nearer the end of the year when I picked up the album 'RoadHawks', that I made the connection. Ironic that both Motorhead and Hawkwind were such important influences on me, yet in both cases it was a slow-burning process over a couple of years, and in the case of Hawkwind, they would overshadow every other band that I had discovered, relegating even the mighty Led Zeppelin to a distant second place.
Nevertheless, In 1980, Hawkwind were largely an 'also-ran', with the front runners being Led Zeppelin, and Rush, along with other pioneering rock legends like Deep Purple and Black Sabbath, whilst Motorhead slowly gained ground to become my favourite band in the year to come.
Meanwhile, on the guitar playing front....
Earlier on, and enthused primarily by Led Zeppelin; I had gone to my local music shop and bought myself a beginners book of basic guitar chords. I didn't have a guitar yet, but my mother still had her 'ornamental' Spanish guitar, which I'd started to muck around with. It has to be said that my early attempts at playing the 'Stairway to Heaven' chords were somewhat thwarted by this pretty awful guitar, and my big, shovel-like hands which seemed to have difficulty fitting my fingers into the required spaces. I eventually managed to work out only the first 2 or 3 chords by ear, as the book was of no help in this specific regard, although I did pick-up a couple of basic chords, though not without some difficulty. It would be a few more years yet before I learned the rest of 'Stairway to Heaven'! This was a slightly smaller-sized guitar, which I hadn't really realised at the time, and it really felt as though there wasn't room inbetween the strings for my fingers. Plus I found that I liked the sound of the lower strings, which didn't sound so tinny. Then there was the fact that I'd really noticed, and liked the bass playing on those Zep and Rush albums so much..... It seemed that everything was pointing me towards the bass......
In the meantime, my friend Martin and I had taken to visiting our local, big music shop which was called: 'Carlsboro Sound Centre', just look and dream over the guitars. One day they had a Rickenbacker 4001 bass guitar in the window. Geddy Lee used one of these bass guitars, and so did Lemmy, and gradually I began to focus more and more on the idea of playing bass guitar, whilst gazing lovingly at those Rickenbackers, which I could never afford in million years at that stage.
At that time, I'd gone to work in a furniture shop soon after leaving school with no qualifications, and being sent off to interviews for any old job by my parents. I hated it.
Apart from the fact because I worked on the shop floor, I couldn't grow my hair too long, the wages in retail work for people under 18 were not very good at all. Buying records and going to the pub once a week, and the occasional concert pretty much demolished my £30.00 per week wage packet; let alone buying a bass guitar.
But one Saturday in September I was in Carlsboro looking at guitars, when I spotted a beat-up, battered looking, red-coloured Jedson SG copy which didn't have a price on it. When I asked, I was told I could have it for £40.00. It wasn't a Rickenbacker, and it would cost me over a week's wages, but I asked my Dad to loan me the money, and he agreed. I rushed back, and it was still there, and five minutes later I walked out with a big smile on my face and a bass guitar! I didn't have an amplifier yet, but I was on my way!
In the midst of all my first attempts to play and acquire an instrument, the biggest real-life inspiration was the local rock scene itself , with live bands playing at the Masons Arms and a few other places.
The so-called 'New Wave of British Heavy Metal' had shot up towards the end of the '70s and there was quite a thriving little rock scene in the humble town of Mansfield. This was a time when the most notable of north Notts heavy metal bands; 'Savage' had recently got started. I was present at many of their early gigs, and gradually got to know the band, whose guitarist Andy Dawson, as it turned out, didn't live very far from where I lived at the time.
Soon I was going to as many of their gigs as I could, and ended up helping out as a roadie. This was a big inspiration to me to see at close quarters, the workings of a gigging band, from the rehearsals, and the composing of material, to the thrill of travelling around to gigs with them. I loved going around with them, and just to be involved in that scene was tremendously important in fuelling my desire to learn fast and hopefully be good enough to join a band. But they were such an accommodating bunch of lads, and I learned a lot from watching and listening to them.
In the meantime, I was trying to practise with my cheapo Jedson bass. Still with no amplifier until that Christmas, when mum and dad bought me a little 15w bass practise amp. I had been trying to play it through my stereo speakers, which made my early attempts to play along to a records that I was trying to learn, somewhat difficult. Especially as it was only a cheap copy with pretty rubbish pick-ups. At any rate, I distinctly remember the thrill of pleasure and achievement upon managing to learn the opening bass-line to Led Zeppelin's 'Dazed and Confused'. It's a simple bass-line, but it was the first thing I could do properly, and I'd managed to learn it by myself. I thought I had arrived!
A lot of things seemed to snowball at that point. It was only a short matter of months after buying that first bass, that I had the chance to buy a much better bass guitar, when Savage's bass player/vocalist, Chris Bradley upgraded to a Fender Precision bass, and gave me the opportunity to buy his red, Rickenbacker 4001 copy. This may not have been a real Rickenbacker, but it was a good quality copy, and a far better instrument than my battered old Jedson, and Chris let me have it for only £60.00. I was as pleased as punch.
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