An extract from the first chapter of his wonderful autobiography Head On focussing on the Liverpool Punk Scene and The Teardrop Explodes
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'It's April 1970 and I'm surrounded by boys much older than me, all chanting and laughing and pushing and prodding me. I'm 12 years old and I'm thinking I may have made a big mistake.6 months ago I had been asked to play Oliver Twist in the school's version of that musical. I had accepted and I was a success. Well, with my parents. And with the girls at school. And the teachers. Yes, I'm the pet of pretty much everybody in the school. Except, that is, except the guys .... the dudes.... the bad-ass mo-fos - the people who mean shit. So now I'm standing in the middle of a group of heavy 15 year olds all chanting, 'Sing Oliver sing!' Every playtime it's the same - tears are running down my face and I'm trying my best to block out what is happening, to go back inside myself, to remove myself from this rude spectacle and watch quietly and calmly from within until these people perhaps get bored, realise that it's the same thing every day with this one and eventually go away...
But gradually I began to think differently. The bullying took its toll on me for a while until, one special, special day... I had a Blinding Flash. In the corridor on the way to a Geography class, I was confronted again by the whole 'Sing Oliver sing' gang. Their leader walked up to me, pinched my ass and said: 'Ooh he's gorgeous.... Ay Julie-Ann. You're gorgeous. Tell us how gorgeous you are... Give us a kiss. Gorgeous...'
So I did. In one blinding earth-shattering moment, I threw my 12 year old arms around his stupid 15 year old neck, clung on for dear life and began to kiss. Kiss, kiss, kiss, slobber, kiss!!!
In about 30 frenzied seconds my weakness left me, never to return. The 'Sing Oliver Sing' gang stayed away from then on - Everyone stayed away. Keep back, he's weird.
Psychologically, I became so strong from that incident that it changed my life entirely. As time passed, I felt almost as if I had been saved. Saved from an early death and free to run like a crazy wherever I wanted. By the time I was fourteen I was totally free-spirited.'
And the rest is history...
From 'Oliver' to...
Sleeping Gas 'Sometimes I wonder if you're really living...' amongst the best opening lyrics to a career ever I imagine.
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