The House of Neil

This Site Is Dead! Last updated some time in 2002. Here for archival purposes. This is where the action is.

There were a few. They were a year older than me, and had their own uniform. They were Jam fans, and as such they would dress in black suits, white shirts and black ties. I thought they were totally hardcore, and I was in complete awe of them. My friend Voasy had taken the first Jam album to the hairdresser with him and asked for a haircut like Bruce Foxton's. That impressed me so much. I didn't see them that much, but whenever I did I felt like I was in the presence of royalty. They accepted me, probably thinking it was cool for a younger kid to be into it. They also didn't have any of my albums, so swapping and taping was a big deal. I would see them in the street sometimes, but we would meet most often when one of the local youth clubs or churches would have a disco. Basically they would hire a DJ and open up one of the church halls, serve soft drinks and charge an entrance fee. Obviously most of the music they'd play would be the crappy hits of the day, mixed in with some crap metal for the sweats. Deep Purple, Sabbath, Rainbow. You name it. It sucked. However, we learned that if we brought our own records the DJ would play them sometimes, so that is what we would do. When he played them we would go apeshit. It was there that we could prove who we were and why we loved this music to the squares and sweats. We would pogo, do the skip, grab each other, generally cause mayhem. The sweats had this one dance called the stomp where they would face each other, and with their thumbs in their belt loops, would sway and bob in time to the music. If they played a punk record after a sweat record we could catch the sweats still in their lines and we could pogo down the line between them. This was the ultimate test of faith! The sweats didn't like it much obviously, and the older ones would threaten us sometimes, but they were pussies in the main. Once they brought some biker friends in, and we thought we were going to die. That was the famous time when a fringe punk called Nutty climbed out the bathroom window to "go get help". He was never heard from again!

My wardrobe kept getting better. More straight leg pants were acquired, more badges etc. I even got an old school blazer and covered it with badges and safety pins. I even wore a chain and padlock around my next ‡ la Sid Vicious! Getting bolder I ventured over to Liverpool and went to the home of punk over there, Probe Records. Every town had a place like that: the independent punk record shop that became the hangout for all the hardcore. It was the first one to ell punk stuff, and it sold t-shirts, fanzines: the works. It was a rite of passage to go there. The place was always packed with all kinds of unsavory characters. Pete Burns the singer from Dead or Alive worked there. It took balls to go in the first time, but I did, and bought "King Rocker", the new Generation X single, "Sound of the Suburbs", the new single by The Members, and the coolest Clash t-shirt you could imagine. It was a white shirt, with a side shot of Strummer hanging onto the mike, and The Clash picked out in garish color above his head in the font from the 1st album. It had other loud colors in it too. A killer shirt, and one that really announced "this guy's a punk!" I also got a black v-neck mohair fluffy jumper from one of the other punk stores around. I was rad!

I went to my second show in Aril 1979ÑThe Jam in Liverpool. I followed that with The Police in May 79 (with The Cramps supporting), and from then the gigs started coming fast and furious. 1979 was my real coming out party. I was 16, feeling my oats, and punk rock had given me my own means of expression. I was getting into more and more bands, but throughout it all, The Ramones were the biggest constant. Their 1st live album, "It's Alive" came out in spring 1979, and it was THE album of that summer with the Wallasey punks. You heard it everywhere. Not only was it the best live album I've still ever heard, it was also the perfect mix of the best songs from the 1st 3 albums. Couldn't afford those albums? (and who could then) Just get It's Alive and you'll get all of your favorites: Blitzkrieg Bop, Sheena is a Punk Rocker, Rockaway Beach, Cretin Hop, and my favorite, California Sun. 28 songs on one double album with gatefold sleeve so you could look at the pictures and wish you'd been there. Amazing stuff.

The years moved on and I got into more and more bands and genres. I was into mod, psychobilly, post-punk etc. I bought the albums and went to the shows. I became obsessed with certain bands at different times, but nothing could ever turn me from my first love. Friends would make fun of me for getting excited by the new Ramones album when I could get the new Gang of 4. The guys in the record stores would look at me funny when I would bother them endlessly for release dates for the newest album. The same went for The Buzzcocks. I would buy anything that The Ramones or The Buzzcocks put out no matter how out of fashion they were or how stupid people made me feel. I wasn't and never will be changed. The Ramones and punk rock are a major part of who I am and why I turned out like I did. I've always been an individual, not afraid to do my own thing or go my own way ever since that fateful day when I first heard DeeDee shout "1 2 3 4!"

RIP Joey. I will miss you.

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