Well according to Michael Fish we had nothing to worry about. So its Friday the 16th of October 1987 when Fishy engaged mouth before brain and said Earlier on today, apparently, a woman rang the BBC and said she heard there was a hurricane on the way. Well, if you’re watching, don’t worry, there isn’t. Worry, it turned into the Great Storm of 1987 and a forecasting blunder that left at least 18 people dead, felled 15 million trees and caused a billion pounds’ worth of damage but what was I up to I hear you ask?
The Whoddy, The Lost Boys and a pantheon of Legends.
Well, I was a second year Uni student in ’87 and was at home in Corby getting intoxicated with my friends whilst the campus was being battered by a warm tropical air flow and very cold polar air colliding over southern England. I was studying civil engineering, getting drunk and get horizontal gratifications whenever the opportunity presented itself. I lived in a student house with three lads from my course, Nigel, Doug and Andy and we frequented the winner and looser at the end of the street called The Who’d ‘a’ Thought It, a great pub, with a great name and a great landlord. The landlord of the Whoddy brought in a private security team to maintain the status quo in the form of two feckin large rottweilers that bossed the joint. They displayed their authority by strolling to your table, looking at you and if you had a packet of salt & vinegar crisps sitting next to your pint, they would just relieve you of your potato based snack.
You got to love flying pigs – especially when they are all feed and ready to fly!!
On a slightly different topic but still in ‘87 and the iconic film (refuse to call it a movie – sorry sceptics), no drum roll required as it’s the blogs picture, my global audience I give you The Lost Boys. What a feckin film, but did you know that the title references the Lost Boys in J.M.Barrie’s stories about Peter Pan and Neverland (not Micheal Jackson’s Neverland, different film, moving swiftly on), who like vampires never grow up. Anyway, listen up ladies as I have a word of warning for divorced mothers with two teenage boys, DO NOT move to Santa Cruz, California. The fair at the end of the pier does look like fun but there are gangs of dodgy characters hanging around……. trust me.
This is the actual Lost Boys bridge without a coven of vampires hanging off it.
I was 20 in 1987, enjoying life, going to gigs at the Hammersmith Odeon and working part time in pubs to finance my lifestyle. I can safely say I have never worked in Max’s Video (Google it people there is a link) nor have I taken to bungie jumping off random bridges. So, what is the link to The Lost Boys I hear you ask. Well get comfortable, brace yourself my global audience and here it comes. I went to see loads of bands but one was free entry at the Dublin Castle in Camden Town but I paid $465 to see them in 2025, cop a load of these Lost Boys……….
November experienced Sydney, the Harbor city turn into a city of Manc wannabes swaggering around the joint in oversized parkas, Adidas trainers and bucket hats saying ‘mad fer it’ – yes Oasis was in town and what a banging gig that was. They were outstanding from start to finish. Filling the Accor stadium with Britpop, guitar driven, melodic rock at its very best with 80 thousand fans rocking out to every word Liam sang and every cord Noel played. It was a fantastic night, every single person enjoyed the gig, and memories were made and to cap the night off they played this to those lucky enough to get a Sydney ticket.
But that’s not all people, the following weekend I went to see Metallica. Yes, a band I saw at the Hammersmith Odean in ’87 as a long-haired student now I watched them with no hair wearing board shorts – go figure. The start of the gig was the usual The Good, the Bad and the Ugly , an AC/DC compilation then straight into Creeping Death. Now a band that has been together since the ’80s do not need to warm up they were full throttle from the off, then they played an oldie that has aged well,
Then a song that was written in mid-1985 and released on March 3rd, 1986.
I’m not done there my global audience, the following week, yes three stadium gigs in three weeks, I attended these legends
It’s not often you get to see true rock royalty, and they did not disappoint as Sydney is where it all began for the group. In November 1973 Malcolm and Angus formed AC/DC in Sydney where they lived, Burwood to be precise but they practiced a lot in Newtown. Their first official gig was at the Chequers nightclub on 31st December 1973 and the rest is history – and they did get their name from the power adaptor of their sister, Margarets sewing machine. To say the gig was old school rock is an understatement, I saw then in late 1986 on their Who Made Who tour. AC/DC finished their 2025 Power Up tour with this little beauty, filmed by my own fair hand on my Samsung….For Those About to Rock…….We Salute You
Now over the years I have seen a lot of support bands, but I have to say Evanescence, who supported Metallica were outstanding, enjoy Bring Me to Life
With that, be safe, regardless of race, colour or creed and for pity’s sake, look after each other as there is a lot of crazy shit going on in the world right now – SAVVY
And another thing my global audience, I am never going to get my Blog made into a Netflix series unless I get your support so Like, pass on and leave comments – come on people!!.
Badger & Batbottom 