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Part II

The Seventies – A Decade of Disturbance

People who say they have no regrets generally mean the complete opposite. I would be lying if I said I had no such regrets. I now regret many of my actions from my formative years, but at the time the word ‘regret’ was not even in my vocabulary, neither was remorse. It seems that a book of this sort has to be justified, rationalised and, for whatever reason, vindicated. I have no intention of justifying the actions of myself or my peers and certainly not those of people I barely knew. This book is merely an observation and record of actual events which, at the time, seemed nothing out of the ordinary; indeed, this book could be penned by hundreds, if not thousands, of others just like me. It’s not a novel or a collection of dubious anecdotes collated by an ill-informed ‘keyboard warrior’ – it’s a true story, or as true as my memory allows it, of true people. Make of it what you will, draw your own conclusions.

Hidden deep amongst the pages of The Guinness Book of British Hit Singles, gathering dust and tucked away somewhere between the Moody Blues and Mott the Hoople lies a solitary and somewhat pathetic entry: ‘Derrick Morgan; Jamaica, male vocalist; entered chart 17 January 1970; title: ‘Moon Hop’; Crab record label, 1 week at number 49’. The ultimate insult, one week at number 49.

To the uninitiated and ignorant devotees of all things seventies, busily thumbing their way through to ‘Ride a White Swan’, ‘Waterloo’ and ‘Stayin’ Alive’ ad nauseum, the so-say ‘classic’ records of that decade, it would barely warrant a second glance. To those who were cut from an altogether different cloth, however, it may strike a chord, maybe raise a smile in appreciation and even evoke a warm memory of the plastic palm trees and light splits of the Bali Hai bar and of the music of the Locarno ballroom.

‘Moon Hop’ entered the record charts in the first month of that momentous decade and was as much an ‘underground’ record as any of those by the likes of King Crimson and Yes who are more readily tagged with that same irksome label. What’s more, ‘Moon Hop’ does not stand alone; ‘Movin” by Brass Construction, ‘Shadow’ by the Lurkers, ‘Another Girl, Another Planet’ by the Only Ones all only had a nodding acquaintance with the charts but, nevertheless, their impact and influence remains immeasurable. Scratch away the veneer, scrape off the dross and dismiss the detritus and you will find the music and the fashion from an altogether different world – my world, a world of Tonik suits, terraces and The Maytals, of race riots, safety pins and The Clash by way of P.Funk, platform shoes and discos. The true story of the most maligned decade in British youth history, through my eyes – my fashion, my music, my violence. Welcome to the real 1970s – it ain’t no Boogie Wonderland.