Music Critics # 3 Tom Hibbert

Music probably overtook Football in terms of my affections somewhere between the ages of 14 and 16. One book that probably played some small, imperceptible role in this process was The Perfect Collection edited by Tom Hibbert. They had a copy in the local library and I pored over it to a ridiculous degree, even though I was barely aware of most of the records it actually lauded. It certainly made a lasting impression on me in terms of highlighting exactly how much passion and babbling, almost incoherent enthusiasm could be invested into this stuff.

The basic idea behind the book was to list 199 albums that any self-confessed music fan should own. Compiled from the lists of contemporary writers and enthusiasts. Nothing new there. But the book was distinct from similar lists and projects in a couple of ways. Firstly, because it was really, genuinely funny in a way that I'd never experienced with music writing before. Secondly, because it was an education in itself. For example its listing there was the first time Television's Marquee Moon, a lifelong companion of mine, was brought to my notice. It was a particular favourite of Hibbert's and his unabashed enthusiasm for the record certainly piqued my interest, though it took me a couple of years to catch up entirely and actually buy the record.

Hibbert was a one off in many respects, in that he so clearly enjoyed writing about music but refused to take the process seriously and so his writing was scatological, irreverant and always first and foremost very entertaining. He made his name mostly due to his writing for Smash Hits and Q neither of which were particular favourites of mine but whenever I did browse through them his prose consistently stood out from those around him. In the words of friend Bob Stanley, 'His writing was offhand, intensely knowledgeable, iconoclastic, conversational and very funny.'

Pretty much a chain smoker, Hibbert was very ill for the last decade of his life before succumbing to a diabetes related illness in 2011 aged just 59. In many ways he's the polar opposite of writers like Jon Savage, who I've written about on this series previously. Hibbert never took the whole process terribly seriously and was all the better for that. Mark Ellen's Guardian Obituary here, sums up what made him so special.