From Hair to Eternity....

I'm currently writing a book on the 1980's rock scene, and in particular how if affected me as a teenager living in Nottingham, England (home of Robin Hood for those of you on foreign shores, but don't even think of mentioning Kevin Costner!).

This has been a long gestating project, some three or four years in the planning, during which time I've written something like 60,000 words of notes on various topics, and which I'm finding now that I'm actually about two-thirds of the way through the first draft, was an invaluable exercise.

So, how does one go about researching a book on rock music?

Well, for me it mainly involved revisiting some of the publications of my youth, most notably Kerrang! magazine which any rock fan brought up in the eighties will know was the holy grail of all things rock and roll in those days. Today it's still an OK magazine, but many of its writers have grown up, like me, and now write for Classic Rock magazine, and so I too have moved on to these more mature pastures, though I like to think that aside from retiring from the mosh pit several years ago after nearly crippling myself (don't ask!), I still rock every bit as hard as I used to. (Well, nearly....)

Wading through some hundred and fifty issues that the magical wallet-lightener known as eBay forced upon me (yeah, right), memories of the old days came flooding back - the first time I went to a genuine rock gig (Iron Maiden, 1986, Nottingham Royal Centre), the first time I saw Guns'n'Roses (1987, in a small club venue called Rock City, again in Nottingham), my first stage dive (not sure when, but I'm pretty sure it was at an Onslaught gig at Rock City) - I could go on (and frequently do, particularly when I get together with my old friends) but you can read all about it sometime later this year if all goes to plan.

The other grinding, tedious, boring task (Who am I kidding? It's been a blast) I put myself through was watching dozens of old rock videos on YouTube. For all its faults (like the world needs footage of another dumbass stapling a ten dollar bill to his forehead, or another teenager showing me just how much better at Guitar Hero III he is than I'll ever be), this is probably the greatest thing that YouTube has given my generation. The ability to dial up virtually any of the old school rock videos is so addicitive that just the other night I found myself glued to the screen for several hours as I played one after the other after the other.

However, to save you trouble of weeding through the hundreds on offer, I proudly present a list of five of my favourite hair metal clips for you to track down...... enjoy!

David Lee Roth - Just A Gigolo
Zodiac Mindwarp - Prime Mover
KISS - Let's Put The X In Sex
Twisted Sister - We're Not Gonna Take It
Poison - Nothin' But A Good Time