This is listener James Heal from Epson in Surrey describing in his own words what his Memory Tapes is all about:
Here is my Memory Tape I've rather uninspiringly titled 'From High School to the Real World' - pretty much sums up my journey through high school, college and university. Hope it interests!
1992-1996: High School
I was always into music from a young age, listening to the Top 40 every Sunday and picking up any popular singles from Woolworths, but it wasn't until I hit high school where I started to really listen to music that would stick with me until today. Like most people my age (just too late for Baggy, just too early for Britpop, a millisecond before Grunge) Guns n' Roses was the first major interest point - they dominated 'The Box' (defunct alternative to MTV). This opened the door to 'guitar' (and later everything else alternative, indie, cool and/or edgy). REM were huge at the time so it was inevitable I'd pick up their album, but this was all preparation for what would be 'my band' and still are largely to this day - Pearl Jam in 1993. Sure I liked Nirvana and the other major Grunge players, but Pearl Jam stood out to me - with a mix of classic rock and brow-beaten, political correct earnestness! With my foot firmly in the guitar camp my choices broadened, some to great places, others to really rather forgettable.
I was all ready for 1994 - the year Grunge 'died' (although much of its legacy lived on) and Britpop started turning the masses, and music became my life (I got a guitar, joined a band etc). I had dallied with Manic Street Preachers for a year or so, but in the build-up to summer 1994, following Kurt Cobain's suicide, Richey James went into rehab and the attraction of a 14 year old boy to a Welsh art-punk army and navy dressing brigade took full effect - to this day The Holy Bible is one of my favourite albums. That summer, I went on holiday to Belgium. Up to this moment, with the exception of REM, the harder/louder sounds of a guitar tickled my fancy mainly - but I met a Devonshire girl who opened my eyes to Blur, and on the day I got home the Parklife single was released - although I loved the a-side, it was the b-side that really got me interested in buying more of their stuff - within a few days I had the album, and soon the rest of their back catalogue.
The obvious Britpop bands followed suit, but it was Sleeper next who made a big impact on me - because they were new, at the start of their career and I was straight to the Astoria at the start of 1995 bouncing along with all the other Britpop teenagers welcoming in this new generation of popstars. By the end of 1995 all of these bands were huge and taking over school playground chats - but some of the Grunge sensibilities were still winning through for me - the no-nonsense, keep it real approach. I attended some great shows at Brixton Academy which became somewhat of a second home to me in the mid-90s, with Radiohead and Foo Fighters being the stand-outs; so for all this popular guitar pop doing the rounds, the harder edged, sincere acts still had me right on board.
During my last few months of High School many new, and largely forgettable, bands emerged as record labels seemingly handed out contracts a dime a dozen. But it was Super Furry Animals that stood head and shoulders above the rest - like Radiohead, they just didn't seem to care. Their debut album took all that was great about Britpop and mixed it with classic rock to make one of the stand out 'Britpop' albums of the mid 90s. It also soundtracked my summer leaving school for college, going on holiday to Newquay for my first holiday with friends, no parents or teachers. Basically, that 'best summer of my life' that we all have.
01. You Could Be Mine - Guns n' Roses
02. Man on the Moon - REM
03. Once - Pearl Jam
04. Revol - Manic Street Preachers
05. This is a Low - Blur
06. Inbetweener - Sleeper
07. Lucky - Radiohead
08. Alone & Easy Target - Foo Fighters
09. Bad Behaviour - Super Furry Animals
1997-1999: College & Uni Drop Out
In reality college was pretty much the same as high school, except with no uniform and a few new people to interact with. It was during this time that newer, decent bands were a bit fewer and further between but already established acts started improving. Supergrass built on their teen punk-pop with a more mature, darker and harder sound, and their best album. At the time I was studying Media with an inspirational teacher (sounded like Ben Elton, looked like Sid Vicious) who would become my version of the teacher you'll never forget, who introduced me to Brass Eye, Bladerunner and questioning everything - ruining my TV news viewing and newspaper reading for the rest of my life. Richard III felt like that in song - a band slumping off the coy, mock pop tunes of their debut and accepting their leanings to a more rock sound.
In the summer 1997 I went on a family holiday to France - with my friends family rather than mine - and had a great time, p*ssing off the Dad by playing the 'noise' that was Prodigy's latest (and best) album at the time. Latterly at college my tastes started to branch out a bit more into 'trip-hop' and variants of the standard indie/rock - no doubt influenced by trying to look cool in front of pretty girls. Sometimes worked.
I did go straight to university in Winchester - but the combination of being bored by the course and being stuck in a failing long distance relationship saw me drop out by Christmas, taking up my part time video shop job full time; giving me an insight into the normal working life. Beck's 'Mutations' album I class as synonymous with my first real heart break of the time (shame really, as Sea Change a few years later would be more apt!). Life in the real world soon started to get boring; this correlated to listenign to a lot of Stereophonics - not sure if that's a confession or not! Chili Peppers 'Californication' reminds me of a great few days stay with a friend in early days of summer 1999 on campus in Southampton, seeing his experience at a different university with a new group of friends - which directly inspired me to sign back up, but also specifically in Southampton - albeit at a different university, so as not to step on his toes.
10. Richard III - Supergrass
11. Narayan - The Prodigy
12. We're All Very Worried About You - Fun Lovin' Criminals
13. La Femme D'Argent - Air
14. Make No Sound - Gomez
15. Nobody's Fault But My Own - Beck
16. UNKLE Main Title Theme - UNKLE
17. Just Looking - Stereophonics
18. Parallell Universe - Red Hot Chili Peppers
2000-2003: Uni, attempt 2
Within a few weeks of starting in Southampton I found myself with the University experience I had been looking for - I had a new group of friends, with the drink-fuelled experiences and one night stands expected of a University life. Of course I ruined it all within a few months by getting involved in the first of a few, in hindsight, pointless long-term relationships. But I had found a great group of friends - many of whom reminded me of my early loud, noisy rock days - so inevitably some of their tastes had an impact on me. Of these, Blind Melon were the ones I couldn't believe I had carelessly overlooked, while QOTSA were just emerging and to this day remain vital - I thanked them twice in my wedding speech (they had a direct impact on the start of my relationship with my wife) and we first-danced to 'I Wanna Make It Wit Chu'.
It was around this time, at the turn of the century that a batch of other new bands, many from America, started to emerge - living with an art student in my third year opened me up to some of the cooler new bands. I was always more of a White Stripes fan (and I maintain to this day I saw them play at some really small Southampton venue a while before I knew who they were) - The Strokes looked cool, but the Stripes had the musical knowledge to back it up.
In summer 2002 I went travelling SE Asia and Australasia - one of my best memories is driving around New Zealand for weeks, listening to QOTSA, Red Hot Chili Peppers and a new band who were huge in Australia - The Vines. Their debut album stands up as one of the best albums of all time, and its such a shame they didn't live up to their hype - they also sound tracked my last year at University (alongside heavyweights like Beck, Pearl Jam, System of a Down, Audioslave, Supergrass, Radiohead and Foo Fighters - who all had new albums in my final months) and prepared me for my first steps into the real world. In fact, The Vines' show at Brixton Academy (see, it really was a second home) in summer 2003 was my first gig, one day after leaving Uni for good. It was a bit disappointing to be honest, something I feared might be an omen for life outside of the comforting, responsibility-lacking walls of Uni life....
19. The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret - QOTSA
20. Pull - Blind Melon
21. Chop Suey - System of a Down
22. Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground - The White Stripes
23. Country Yard - The Vines
24. The Last Remaining Light - Audioslave
