O Caroline, No

I spent an afternoon at Radio Caroline once. It was around 1991 and the glory years were long gone. The ship was moored on the Kent coastline and the former pirate station was then working as a dowdy, legitimate one. All I remember is a bunch of rust, some harmless records and the sense that another iconc story was not so impressive in real life.

Then again, the station had done its job - giving a geneation of DJs a sense of adventure and the chance to declare their passion for popular music in the face of an establishment that cared little.

I had made my modest pilgrimage with a Brummy band called Dodgy. They were good fun and would late write 'Staying Out For The Summer', which is possiby their pension plan. I was partculatly fond of drummer Matthew. I called him a "Black Country Belushi", a role he excelled at. These days, Dodgy are semi-reformed and Matthew also works as a co-manager of local champions Panama Kings.

Musical connections - ain't they funny?