1. MagazineRays And Hail, 1978-81
I’ve chosen a few compilations for this list. I very nearly went back to Real Life but I also like tracks from The Correct Use Of Soap. Magazine were a band that none of my friends were into but I adopted them. It’s nice when you’re in a position where you have "your band". I loved Howard Devoto’s lyrics because he was very articulate and arch. He was also very angry but he managed to articulate that in a very clever way. It had the same spark as punk but it had a lot more to say. He could express things that I didn’t have the words for. That’s part of what got me into them and he had an original way of describing things. Take a love song like ‘Parade’, which is a bittersweet tune and it has the lyrics, "Sometimes I forget that we’re supposed to be in love." This isn’t something like, "Oh she’s just left and I’m really upset" – it is something more thoughtful and with a bit more depth. ‘A Song From Under The Floorboards’ is kind of like the outsider anthem, if you like, and to awkward teenagers; that’s how we felt. For me, they were a real outsider’s band, really. I didn’t see Magazine first time around but I did see John McGeogh play with Siouxsie And The Banshees when he played with them and I was very taken with his guitar work.
