1. A kind of magic- Queen

Queen, the first band I knew all the dates of birth of, the first band I covered my walls with pictures of, the first band I grabbed as my own. Sadly, all due to the death of Freddie Mercury which I heard on the radio before I’d really heard much of their music. But the radio stations all played Queen songs, the tribute concert is still on video somewhere at my parents house and I was hooked. I remember clearly the moment my friend handed me a recording of their second Greatest Hits album in the corridor at school, the longing to get home and play it.

Queen have done better songs than this one, there are others I could have chosen, but this is the first one I really listened to that afternoon when I got home from school. I remember switching off the stereo after two or three songs because it was too much, I wanted to savour it all. The opening bars of ‘A kind of magic’ had sent shivers up my spine, an over used cliche when talking about songs, but the best description of the way music can grab you, do something that nothing else has ever done before inside you and make you long for more.

Every Saturday I would go down to the collectors record shop in Guildford with a friend, we would spend hours looking at the records and tapes and eventually buy one, sometimes just for the need to buy one, sometimes because we’d found what we were looking for, sometimes because we wanted to educate each other. Gradually all the Queen albums were found and I became hooked on buying, collecting and loving the feel of walking out of shop with a fresh load of music to do things inside me.