Showroom Dummy
It was easy to knock Gary Numan (he ripped off David Bowie, voted Conservative, and stared meaningfully at little pyramids on his album sleeves) and knock him I did. I used to have a Saturday job in the record department of a WH Smith's in the late 70s/early 80s when Numan was the biggest thing since sliced bread. One day these two teenage girls came in dressed up in full Numanoid regalia — black military jackets, black eyeliner etc. — and bought one of his records. While serving them I gave a condescending little smile and told them how Numan was just a Bowie rip-off and if they only heard "Low" and "Diamond Dogs" they'd realize where he got his whole act from and see the error of their ways. Even though it was only a WH Smith* and I was wearing a brown blazer I was still the sort of insufferably smug twat you can get in real record shops. Not surprisingly they ignored me, all they did was come in to buy a record and they got a lecture from the four-eyed wanker behind the counter (did I mention I was wearing a brown blazer?)
What I didn't tell those young ladies was that I owned a copy of the Tubeway Army single "Down In The Park" and loved it (still do.) This came out before "Are 'Friends' Electric?" made him a star which could be another reason why my snobby 17-year-old self thought it was OK, it was never tainted by the charts (or young girls buying it in WH Smith's). Thankfully I grew out of that attitude long ago.
Download: Down In The Park - Tubeway Army (mp3)
Buy: "Replicas" (album)
*I say only a WH Smith's but the staff were mostly young music nuts like myself and we were often the only place on Putney High Street that had things like the new Jam single in picture sleeve (most important) so we used to get a lot of Mods and Punks coming in. I first heard "Unknown Pleasures" while working there too.
7 Comments:
I remember hearing this song for the first time on OGWT and, somewhat bizarrely, when it finished Annie Nightingale said something like "where are you now, Syd Barrett?"
This is such a pivital record in my collection that I still intend to do a post on it when I've got better at getting my thoughts in writing and can do it justice.
i wish i could promise that i'd grown out of 'that first single no one bought but me was brilliant but then as soon as they got popular they went rubbish' syndrome but i've got a terrible feeling i've not.
a big chunk of my singles box came out of the 49p box at smiths in preston.
x
Putney was a bit more posh than Glasgow and we got our fair share of celeb customers. I served Sue Lawley once (she bought Neil Diamond's "The Jazz Singer" album) and one time someone spotted Andy Summers in the stationary dept. so we put on 'Roxanne' really loud. When he heard it he quickly left the store.
I remember working in Woolies, it was pretty crap, though I somehow thought of myself as loftier than the sweet counter staff as I worked on the record counter. Ah, such childish snobbery
Hi Lee
I used to work in a record shop in Putney too! But this was in the early 90s - by which time, WHS didn't sell records anymore (though there was an Our Price). I also own a copy of that Sinatra and Jobim LP - I am now going to try and find it... I've linked to you - hope you don't mind...
Course I don't mind. I'll add yours next time I update the ol' links.
When I was at Smith's there were at least 3 other record shops on and off Putney High Street. The Our Price used to be called Cloud 9 records, there was a really good indie one on a side street near the top of the High Street and one near the bridge next to where the Slug & Lettuce is now (or the White Horse as it was) that was good for bootlegs.
more of the same genre - an amazing mix:
http://acuterecords.com/blog/?p=12#more-12
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