Brierly Hill 90210

Time continues to pass in the Miller household. It doesn't seem very long ago I was introducing episodes about impending parenthood, kids being born, sleeping habits of babies and interactions with other parents. But here we are with one son studying engineering in his second year of college and another in his last year of high-school with plans of becoming a doctor. I do now find myself considering the world that will be left to them. Conflicts first covered in this series 70 years ago are still raging and political machinations from the past are being repeated, with similar outcomes seemingly inevitable. Meanwhile, the planet burns or is under water. I wanted this series to be a journey through our collective past and a celebration of human achievement. Is it fast becoming an obituary or a lengthy epitaph? Am I the voice of wisdom or is this just the negative, cynical ramblings of an old fool? Welcome to the next tick of a clock, the next beat of a heart, the next rising of the sun.

There's not much to laugh at in 2024. It was a year dominated by an escalating conflict in the Middle East, the continuing war in Ukraine and extreme weather events across the globe. Probably as an escape from reality, 2024 features some quite upbeat songs. There are some contrasting emotions in this episode. I hope you enjoy the ride.

As a youngster, on the way to my grandparents, there was a hill completely covered with trees except a small clearing in the middle and down one side. I remember thinking that it would be an ideal place to build a perfect house, white and overlooking the valley below. I only realized relatively recently that childhood memory stayed with me and subconsciously resurfaced when we saw a Victorian gothic revival house for sale in Pennsylvania. It was white, perched on a hill with a view of a creek in the small valley below. As 2008 began, our second child was born and our offer on the house was accepted. The high-school drop-out from the Cotswolds, survivor of Cheltenham's drug-fueled excesses of the 1980s and 90s, was happily married with two kids, working in Silicon Valley with more stock options than he new what to do with and, by April was living in his dream house with beautiful views of the Pennsylvania countryside. The job in California still meant traveling out there once a month and the first monthly trip after we moved wasn't timed well. Leaving a wife with a baby and a two-year-old in a run-down house with no phone or running water did not go down well! Like a lot of people at that time, we thought we were financially indestructible. We'd bought the new house without selling our old one, thinking that would inevitably happen soon after. The global financial situation had other ideas. While Americans are focused on the campaigns for a presidential election in November, there are major red flags being waved in the automotive, insurance and financial industries. Get ready for a fall. Welcome to 2008.

The iPhone debuts, Doctor Who blinks & a financial crisis is afoot. The Wombats dance to Joy Division & Tall Pony are your boyfriend now.

Becoming a first time dad at 40 was exhausting. I felt too old, yet knew I had been too immature to have done it earlier. Our son was NOT a good sleeper. People often asked how I had the time to record a weekly online radio show. But it was the perfect thing to do during those sleepless nights. I was getting sent so many demoes and suggestions that I always had something new to listen to and organize. I would sit up all night rocking Daniel to sleep while listening to music. Surprisingly the boy seemed to find Shitmat's Killa Babylon Kutz album strangely relaxing! So join me as we revisit my sleepless trauma of 2006.

The year begins with George W Bush celebrating a second term as US president while the world mourns and prays for those effected by the massive Indian Ocean tsunami at the end of 2004. On the personal front, by February, we were pregnant again and, after many nervous months, this time it stuck. Looking back, I don't remember a direct connection but find it hard to believe it's a coincidence that I wanted to do something musical and creative while we were expecting. I was experiencing a slow realization that I no longer liked the music that I liked, if that makes any sense. I didn't want to listen to the music that was being offered through mainstream outlets so I started searching out new and interesting music, not paying attention to whether it was actually released by a record label. That concept of “record label” was disappearing and the DIY essence of punk rock that I fell in love with as a teenager was once again to the fore, more so than ever. Folks could record whatever they wanted in their bedrooms, basements and garages and make it available to the world on the internet and new sites such as MySpace. The Wrong Music collective in the UK was even being referred to as “the new punk” and, with surprisingly impeccable timing, I was becoming involved in a new golden age of music. In hindsight, likely because of impending fatherhood fostering a sense of “legacy” and I'm sure because of John Peel's passing the year before, I wanted to share my musical discoveries with an audience. So in June, with no clue what I was doing, I launched Brierly Hill 90210 as a weekly, 1-hour online radio show on Live365. By the end of the year, a handful of like-minded individuals had discovered the show, liked what I was doing and started to contribute suggestions. That improved the quality of the show and one or two more people would find me. I don't want to say audience figures snowballed as episodes often had a listnership that could be countered on the fingers of one elbow! But I felt part of something bigger and of “community” that I'd never experienced since listening to John Peel under the bed covers many years earlier. About to turn 40, I was like a kid with a new toy and new friends. Welcome to a whole new world of discovery and adventure. Welcome to 2005.

It's hard to imagine now but in the late 90s, Apple were on the verge of going out of business. Things changed with the return of Steve Jobs and the introduction of new software and services such as iTunes and new hardware such as the iPod. The iPhone was not even a twinkle in anyone's eye yet. In 2003, I liked what I was seeing from Apple, switched my home computer from Windows to Mac and bought by first iPod. It was still the early days of online music and Apple had “New Music Tuesday” when they would give away a newly released track and would list all of the albums that had been made available in iTunes that week. It was a small enough number that I could scan through each Tuesday to see what was new. Looking back, it was probably the start of my rediscovered love of new music. That came to a head in 2005 which we'll cover in that episode but the trend starts in 2003 and you'll hear an eclectic mix of music I was listening to at the time and that I discovered since.

BillBoard magazine describes 2000 as a “year that would bring a totally different sound befitting the turn of a new millennium” and John Peel described it as “a great year for music”. But I was too wrapped up in seismic personal changes to notice. We had been married 6 months and I broke out on my own to become a self-employed software developer. My first gig was in the US mid-west where Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota all meet. Not only is that part of the world incredibly cold in January, I was working in a meat processing plant and slaughter house so it smelled awful too. The people I worked with were terrible and it was one of the worst experiences of my life. Luckily, it only lasted a few months before I was able to escape back to work with old friends in Ohio (so could take in more Major League Soccer with the Columbus Crew) and California. Silicon Valley does not smell of cows and death.

Personal events will forever shape my memories of 2023. My father passed away in September, just shy of his 84th birthday. While I was pleased I got over to the UK the previous year to see him, I will always regret not going back again while he was ill. I did rush over to help out with funeral arrangements, and ended up staying for a month. Even though it was for a very sad reason, I did enjoy that time spent mostly with family and there is a large chunk of this episode heavily influenced by that time spent in the UK.

Brierly Hill 90210 presents... 1975 I was 8-years old as the year began so was mostly interested in riding my bike, climbing on the backs of tractors as the summer harvest was brought in, waiting until prompted to yell “Crackerjack” at the TV and thinking how much fun it would be to hang out with Jimmy Saville. I have a vague recollection that there was to be a referendum on the UK staying in the European Community but was fairly oblivious to anything else going on in the world. It's hard to believe that, less than 50 years ago, a major Western European nation, Spain, was still living under a dictatorship. Equally hard to believe was that the Vietnam War was still going on. But you better believe... it's 1975

1973 is another of those years that feels like one chapter is ending as another begins. That may have something to do with personal memories. I turned 7 and, while I certainly have earlier memories, they're just glimpses and fragments. There are stories in this 1973 episode that have a concrete “time and place” to them. But there's a flip side to this. While I have distinct memories of Australia and New Zealand protesting French nuclear testing, the energy crisis, Goodies and the Beanstalk and a host of the other TV sound-bites, I am struck by how many times I found myself saying, “how did I not know this?”. I did not know that there was a referendum in Northern Ireland about whether to remain in the UK or not. I have visited Bermuda several times but never knew that the Governor was assassinated in 1973. I vaguely remember Skylab but did not know that Skylab 1 was shortly followed by Skylab 2, launched to repair Skylab 1. I did not know about an arson attack on a gay bar in New Orleans that killed 32 or the fire that swept an Isle of Man amusement center killing 51. I had never thought through the fact that Nixon was elected with Spiro Agnew as his vice-president but that Gerald Ford was VP when Nixon resigned the following year (sorry for the spoiler by the way). Agnew resigned before Nixon because of his own challenges with bribery, extortion and tax fraud. See if you spot these and other memories as you sit back and enjoy the world of 1973.

My name is Jon Miller. I was born in 1966 in the idyllic countryside of the Cotswold Hills in the south west of England. I have a brother who is two years younger than me and soon after he was born, my parents moved from the tiny village of Salperton, to the slightly less tiny village of Hazelton about 2 miles away. I was 5 as 1972 begins and attended school at Northleach CofE. I spent most of my time riding my bike, climbing trees (or onto the roof of my dad's shed) or kicking a football around. I have vague musical memories of seeing artists such as Slade, T Rex, Gary Glitter, Roxy Music and Gilbert O'Sullivan on Top of the Pops. But I couldn't swear they were the songs you'll hear or later ones. I do remember Gordon Banks car crash, a world of airplane hijackings and Mark Spitz winning lots of gold medals. But I do not remember some of the bigger news stories carrying over from the previous year; Bangladesh seeking to separate from Pakistan, the British stepping up activities in Northern Ireland or the continued war in Vietnam. For some people, the story stays the same. But for others, things are about to change.

In this episode you going to hear from artists that are the epitome of 1970s music; T Rex, Rod Stewart, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, what have you. But there's a new sound creeping in that doesn't even have a name yet! Discotheques had been popping up in Europe as early as the second World War. The shortened term “disco” first appeared in 1964 to describe a fashion and a certain type of LA night club. It wasn't used to describe a style of music until 1973 but there's a prelude to that in a couple of songs you'll hear in this episode. You've probably heard bits of it previously (Sly and the Family Stone comes immediately to mind) as the sounds of rhythm and blues, soul, gospel and funk started to align. Motown had added a distinctive sound of their own, bringing in disco elements, including the bass and orchestra. Contributions come out of Philadelphia and New York plus the role of the UK can't be misstated either with the sounds of northern soul and the newly emerging glam-rock also playing their part. But before this turns into a whole musical history lecture, let's get on with the show. Welcome to 1971.

The music of the early 70s does not have the greatest of reputations. You can judge for yourself if that is well-founded or not. But there certainly seemed to be less good songs to draw from as I put this episode together. But, if you're of a similar age to me, a child born of the 60s, there's something that starts to feel more familiar now. See if you agree.

One of the reasons for looking back to pre-rock'n'roll in this series was to learn more about the styles, trends and back-stories that shaped the music of the punk rock movement and beyond. I've mentioned before that there's clearly never an alignment to musical styles starting or ending with how the calendar falls. But there was almost a dividing line in the middle of 1968 that signified the end of what I think of as “60s music” and what feels like the 1970s. You hear commentators talk of the “end of an era” and the “end of innocence”. But there is a sense of weariness, cynicism and down-right anger as we bear witness to the death throes of the 1960s. The big news story is the moon landing and is something, as a 3-year old I do vaguely remember being woken up for. There's little in the way of music or other current events I recall. But we're starting to hear TV that was a large point of my childhood. Listen out for Mary, Mungo and Midge, Scooby Doo, Pot Black, The Clangers, Ask The Family, Chigley, and Dastardly and Muttley.

From the start of this series, I've included clips from television shows, mostly from when they first broadcast. Even though I was born in 1966, I have memories of shows that debuted as early as the mid-50s; The Woodentops, Andy Pandy, The Flowerpot Men. But as we get to the TV of 1968, I'm starting to have more direct recollection of watching them. As I was only 2, it may not have be right away. But you'll start to hear shows that I remember watching when I was small, maybe only a few years after they first came out. Listen out for snippets from Hector's House, Lamb Chop, Joe 90, Wacky Racers, The Herb Garden and The Banana Splits. You'll also hear one of the first movies I remember as a child. See if you can spot that towards the end of the episode.

As a child, I had a fascination with the year 1967. Why would that be do you think? Having plunged into the music and sounds of the year to bring you this episode, I'm still not sure I know the answer. It is undoubtedly a year of dramatic change. Musically, the best that the 60s had to offer transitions into the drippy, hippy nonsense that become the navel-staring self-indulgence of the early 1970s. But the other side of that coin sees the development of a harder rock n roll while there are soul performances that show-case some of the best song-writing ever. Documentary film makers are starting to tell a different tale about Vietnam and you'll hear great contradictions in America as the summer of love competes with Vietnam protests and the long, hot summer that saw racial tensions become violent in many US cities. Maybe it's that sheer number of contradictory and complimentary story lines and musical numbers that appealed to the young Miller. For this episode, more than any other, there were too many songs and sound-bites to fit in. There were many editorial decisions to be made. But hopefully I captured the mood of 1967. Maybe that's the real headline.

Back in 1953, many British homes bought TVs for the first time so that they could watch the coronation of their new Queen. But there are also TV-related changes afoot in these episodes from the mid 1960s. Filmed news reels are increasingly being replaced by TV news coverage. Maybe this happened earlier and it's only becoming apparent because technology hadn't allowed earlier TV news to be retained for posterity. But it's evidenced in 1966 with the US coverage of Vietnam and the British coverage of the World Cup and the Moors Murders.

As another year gets underway, there's a striking change in tone for stories that have been running for a while. There's a difference in the action taking place in Vietnam but also in the way it is being reported. Similarly, race relations are being addressed more directly as steps are taken, both forward and back, in all corners of the world.

1964 is a year without the single, big-impact story of other years. The assassination of President Kennedy is still a fresh, raw memory as Americans go to the polls later in the year. Political change is coming to the UK also with a general election on the horizon. Children are going missing in the Manchester area, close to Saddleworth Moor. That's a story that gets very little attention in '64 but, while nobody know Brady and Hindley yet, they're names that make headlines later and will remain in infamy to the present day. Having conquered England, four mop-tops from Liverpool lead British bands charge across the Atlantic. It's tempting to say they're “top of the pops” but that's a phrase given to us early by the gift-giving year that is 1964.

The year started with something I'd avoided to this point; I came down with COVID the first week of the year. I was very poorly for 24-hours but quickly recovered after that. Others have not been so fortunate. As is always the case as the calendar turns a page to January, one's never sure what kind of year it's going to be. I don't think any of us were expecting what 2022 would throw our way.

It's hard writing the introduction for an episode when you know a major news story will dominate it. While the focus will inevitably be on events in Dallas in November, there are other things happening in 1963, some significant, some less so. While the US has had a presence in Vietnam for the last few years, a coup changes the political complexion in that part of the world. At the same time, but much closer to home, Americans hear wise words in the race for civil rights. There's also a bunch of firsts in the race to conquer space. While, closer to the ground, listen out for the introduction of the Hillman Imp, Vauxhall Viva, Ford Anglia. Musically, there is no question that the “sounds of the 60s” arrive with a bang. A 4-piece beat combo from Liverpool are set to have a break-out year. So, with no further ado, welcome to the 1960s. Welcome to 1963.

As a new year begins, the US continues to ramp up it's presence in Vietnam. But Americans are looking closer to home. The previous year had seen the failed invasion of Cuba by former exiles of that country. The invasion, though it wasn't known at the time, has been funded by the US government. Their response to this failure would be a trade embargo of Cuba early in 1962. Let's see how all these twists and turns pan out. Welcome to 1962.

As a new year begins, tensions are rising between the US, led by newly elected President John F Kennedy, and Cuba, two years after the revolution that installed Fidel Castro as it's leader. On the other side of the world, pressure is also building as communism spreads in south-east Asia. The United States is keeping it's finger in that pie as well. Musically, while I didn't expect there to be the flick of a switch to turn off the rock 'n' roll of the 50s and turn on what we think of as the “sound of the 60s”, I did expect a gradual fade of one into the other. But what I hadn't thought through was a musical revolution occurring between the two. R&B artists such as Etta James, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Roy Orbison and The Shirelles were recording hit records that certainly stand-up better today than the awful “bubblegum rock” that it was competing with. That continues into 1961 but, while Johnny Kidd & The Pirates were already, in my opinion, way ahead of their time, there's a single by Tony Sheridan in 1961 that went almost unheralded in the UK but that is of incredible significance in predicting what is to come. If you know your musical history, you already know what I'm talking about. But, if not, listen out for the pieces falling into place and I'll reveal all at the end of this show.

Something that's struck me throughout this series is the evolving use of language through the decades. It's a fascinating insight into trends and attitudes present in general society of the time. There's a real contrast from the language used in 1960 news reels and even in the TV news of race riots in the late 70s and early 80s to what you're likely to hear as you tune in for information in the 21st century. As this episode unfurls, listen out for some choices of words which wouldn't be considered acceptable today. Ironically, you'll also hear famous words describing a “wind of change”. Welcome to a new decade. Welcome to 1960.

I noticed a musical trend starting in the previous episode. The earnest beginnings of rock n' roll were joined by novelty songs in 1958. You may recall songs about lollipops, splish-splashing and yakety-yakking. Do you see parallels to later musical movements; earnest angst to begin, novelties soon follow but then more serious musicians shape the period after that? I'll leave you debating that one and whether it really matters as you listen to the sounds of 1959.

I was born in 1966, 3 years before man first walked on the moon. I have a vague recollection of my dad getting me out of bed to watch some of those Apollo missions. So it's interesting to hear the prelude to those memories, forged 11 years earlier from America's fear of the Soviet Union. Also aligned to the fear of communism is the west's fear of Arab nationalism. This creates new tensions in the middle-east and elsewhere. Sit back and enjoy these and other historically significant moments while global and musical revolutions continue apace. Welcome to 1958.

As I work on this series, I'm still fascinated by the highs, lows and lulls that are outside of my control. The working title of the series was “chronology” and, as much as possible, I let that tell it's own story. The music, news and entertainment timelines drive the narrative. While there is still excitement and a newness to the music of 1957, worldwide events seem to be taking a pause, to catch their breath after the upheaval of 1956 and social change coming in the 1960s. That's not to say there aren't some significant headlines in 1957. But it still feels like a “filler year” between what came before and what's still to come. See if you agree as you sit back and let the sounds of the year wash over you. Welcome to 1957.

Historical! Montgomery, Suez, Hungary, Eurovision and Bert Trautmann. Musical! Little Richard, James Brown, Johnny Cash and Gene Vincent.

There wasn't a specific date when rock 'n' roll started. As mentioned in earlier episodes, it had been a term used since the 1940s. DJ Alan Freed had used it as early as 1951 and rock 'n' roll recordings had occasionally charted since 1953. But there was an event that happened in 1955 that put rock 'n' roll in the headlines and firmly on the map. That event was the movie Blackboard Jungle. So listen out for that as the rock 'n' roll story kicks up a gear This is a series about music. So I mostly introduce each episode with a musical bent. I'll sometimes tie those musical stories to events happening at the same time. But there is a commentary bigger than music and mere “stories” that I'm equipped to capture through an introductory sound-bite. I'll say no more as bigger stories unfold. Welcome to 1955.

Alan Freed used the term “rock and roll” as early as 1951. It was a euphemism for sex but Freed used it to describe rhythm and blues, or “race music”, in a way that was more acceptable to white audiences. Freed was keen to promote white cover versions of songs originally recorded by black artists. But, while this new rock 'n' roll music started to gain popularity and see increased record sales, there wasn't an instant mass take-over of the music scene. You'll hear a marginal increase in rock numbers but the charts are still dominated by big band orchestration and actor/singer cross-overs. Listen out for a crooning Norman Wisdom as you sit back and enjoy the sounds of 1954.

If you've followed this series from the beginning, it started with 1977, the year I began high school and a year when music changed with the arrival of punk rock. So why jump back to 1953? As I recorded the earlier chronological episodes, I found myself thinking, both for the music and the major news stories, how did we get here? What's the back story of each news event and what are the inspirations and ground-breakers that blazed a trail for music through to today? Because, primarily, this is a series about music, I wanted to look back to just before rock n roll to get an understanding of the popular music before it was changed forever. I thought that would mean 1956, maybe 1955 when Bill Haley's Rock Around The Clock first charted in the UK. But in keeping with the series theme of taking a view from both sides of the Atlantic, things started a little earlier in the US. There's still debate about what was the first rock n roll record or even which was the first rock n roll “hit”. But the one I went with was released in 1953. See if you can spot it and listen out for the other, less successful recordings that were clearly appropriated for what became known later as rock n roll. A couple of foot-notes to explain things that were different back in the 1950s. It was not uncommon for the same song to be released multiple times by different artists almost at the same time. One song in this episode charted 5 times in the same year all by different artists! So don't be surprised to hear songs in this episode recorded by unexpected artists. In the 21st century, because of the nature of the internet and digital content, new music releases are usually a single, global event. But in the 1950s a record could be released a year or more apart in the US versus the UK versus other parts of the world. This certainly made determining what constitutes “music from 1953” a challenge. There will be disagreements. World War II had only ended 8-years earlier but conflict continues in Korea. That will be an early order of business for new US president Dwight D Eisenhower and vice-president, Richard Nixon. In the UK, King George VI (sixth) has just died, resulting in his young daughter Elizabeth taking the thrown. She hadn't been formally crowned as the year begins and the impending coronation will be televised in the UK, seeing increased sales of TV sets. Televisions have only existed for 17 years and around a quarter of British households now own one. Welcome to 1953.

I was 7 as 1974 began and, while my musical memories are becoming more well formed, they are still a little fuzzy. Most of them from this episode seem to be around October and I suspect this is from a Sunday night chart rundown that my dad taped for me off Radio 1 and that was played over and over until the tape broke. Memories of 1974's music are further enhanced in this episode with genuine hiss and crackle from vinyl recordings. It's weird that as I record this some 50 years later, there is a recently added vinyl section in my local Walmart. In an earlier episode, I mentioned that the word “disco” was applied to a style of music in 1973 and 1974 was when it started gaining mainstream attention. I was expecting to hear more in this episode but, as I'm sure some of you are glad to hear, there are only a few hints of it. That's likely because it's popularity was growing in cities like Philadelphia and New York and the 7-year-old Miller was very mainstream and into whatever was in the British charts. I'm surprised it's as late as this but disco doesn't peak until 1977 or 1978. So while you have that to look forward to, get the funk out of your face and shake your pants down to the floor. It's 1974.

As the year begins, stories from 2020 are coming to a head. COVID vaccines are being rolled out, cases attempting to show that black lives do matter will get their day in court, and Donald Trump continues to not accept the result of the election. On the home-front, continuing the saga from the year before, our house is still on the market, but there's more interest and we need to make a decision. While it still feels restrictions from the pandemic will never end, lockdown has fostered a new golden age of musical discovery. This makes it as personally significant as the late 1970s, coming of musical age with chart-based pop music and ska, discovering musical independence through John Peel's radio show in the early 80s, coming to America in the mid 90s and launching a podcast in 2005. Welcome to a golden land of musical opportunity and adventure. Welcome to the sounds of 2021.

1976 is a defining year in British music. The glam rock of the early 70's is making way for disco as it gains mainstream success. There is also a disturbing trend in sickly pop ballads. But young people are becoming increasingly frustrated at the lack of opportunities and the general staleness of the establishment. Harold Wilson is Britain's Labour prime-minister, Margaret Thatcher has recently replaced Ted Heath as leader of the Tories while Jeremy Thorpe leads the Liberals. Elsewhere, Gerald Ford is president of the United States. He faces his first election having inherited the presidency with Richard Nixon's resignation in 1974 and the vice-presidency when Spiro Agnew resigned in 1973. But 10 year-old me is oblivious to all of this. He attends Northleach C of E Primary School in the Gloucestershire, Cotswold country side and his main interests lay in convincing his mother to let him have jeans with flares and seeing what they got up to on Blue Peter. He developed a crush on an older woman; 14-year-old Rumanian gymnast, Nadia Comeneci and love is developing with the romance of the FA Cup. Love to love 1976.

We'd been living in our “dream house” for 12 years but, it having been built in the 19th century, there was always something failing, breaking or otherwise needing repair. It was beginning to take it's toll, both financially and mentally. So we decided it was time to move on. With the impeccable timing that had us buy during a major financial crisis, turns out we would try to sell as the world experienced a global pandemic! Obviously that's the main story you'll hear in this episode. The world went into lock-down, the kids stopped going to school and I stopped going into the office. But working for a company that manufactured highly sought after items like diapers and paper towels, unlike many others, I was in no danger of losing my job. Having that stability on the work front was an immense blessing as we tried to sell our house while the world deteriorated into chaos. You'll hear that chaos in the next 56 minutes as the global, national and local situations changed by the day or even hour, particularly in March and April. To keep my self sane, I walked every day in the Pennsylvania countryside, discovering and enjoying other people's podcasts, some of which you'll hear in this episode. I started listening to more music, some new but also older numbers that I curated into chronological order. The music jogged associated memories which I dug out from the internet and this series fell into shape, recorded under the original Brierly Hill 90210 monicker. Cotswolds Radio, recently established in my old stomping grounds of Northleach, were on a similar COVID-related journey and they started broadcasting the Cotswold Hills 90210 version of the show in October. But I'm getting ahead of myself. As the year begins, while there are stories coming out of China of people with flu-like symptoms, here in the west, things are relatively calm as the main stories are President Trump's impeachment trial, the UKs impending withdrawal from the European Union and continuing tensions in the middle east. Welcome to the calm before the storm. Welcome to 2020.

It's interesting how many major news stories are going on that will be forgotten with what's to come the following year. There's a lot to cram in here. The year begins with the US Government shut down over a refusal to fund Trumps wall on the Mexico border. In the UK, the bickering over Brexit is taking everybody nowhere fast while, globally, many are starting to wake up to the potential impact of climate change, mostly young people making their voices heard. There's a new personal musical high on the horizon, almost certainly due to events in 2020 so I'll talk more about it next time. But listen out for some great music in this episode. Welcome to 2019.

It was 2016 when the UK voted to leave the European Union. But as 2018 begins, the government has still not worked out how they're going to do it. There is equal chaos on the other side of the Atlantic as somebody clearly ill-equipped to be president jumps from one fiasco to another. If aliens invaded in 2018, many of us would be embarrassed to be a member of the human race.

Although I didn't know it, the curtain came down on my podcast in 2017, in it's original format at least. After 12 years of reinvigorating my love of discovering new music and sharing it with a small but loyal following, the broadcasts that had become more and more sporadic, finally petered out. Our youngest was now 9 years old and after being continuously ill since he was born, he was finally diagnosed with something; celiacs disease, a major gluten allergy. The poor kid loved pizza and bread and those were things that were killing him. But he adapted quickly to a change in diet and we found gluten-free versions of his favorites. We'll never forget the time he told us, “I never knew you weren't supposed to get sick every time you ate something”. Broke our hearts. Over on the world stage, Britain has voted to leave Europe so is eagerly embarking on their well thought through exit strategy. While, on the other side of the pond, everyone gets behind the orange, small-handed, lying sack of monkey guano that they voted president. The new year definitely signals the start of a new chapter. Whether you're young, dumb, broke or any combination there of, nobody knows how it's going to end. Welcome to 2017.

They say age is just a number but it felt more than that to me as I turned 50. From 1966 with the crowd on the pitch thinking it's all over, an 11-year old attending Westwood's Grammar School in the Gloucestershire countryside, a move to America, Barack Obama in The White House and David Cameron in Number 10. Time plods slowly onward and we just tag along for the ride. Welcome to 2016.

There's a lot to unpack in this episode. Along with several long-running stories coming to a close, there are many story lines that, although unknown at the time, were the start of bigger things to come; stories that would define the next 4 or 5 years. Battle lines are drawn between adversaries that will become nemeses.

I mentioned last time that I wasn't really enjoying my job. I felt too old to mix it up with the youngsters at a New York technology start-up. But after a few years of job hunting, I finally landed a “proper job” with a manufacturing company in Pennsylvania. It was a 1-hour drive each way, but that meant 2 hours listening to new music in the car every day. I was listening to some pretty crazy stuff, a lot of home-recordings from experimental artists. To save your ears and sanity, most of the music in this episode is more accessible tunes discovered later. Elsewhere, more important events are afoot. While the Black Lives Matter hashtag was already in use with the 2012 death of Trayvon Martin, the deaths of Eric Garner in New York and Michael Brown in Ferguson bring it to main-stream attention. The world grapples with events in Ukraine and Crimea and, as the new year begins, a new presence in the middle east that nobody's heard of. Is it ISIS or ISIL? This and other questions will completely fail to be answered. Welcome to 2014.

This is a period when I was lost in the music I was listening to. I couldn't really complain about my job but I wasn't enjoying it and was spending time searching for a new one. That likely sucked the life out of me and the joy of discovering new music. As a result, I was only recording 1 or 2 podcast episodes a year. I often think about the greatest periods for new music and they always seem to coincide with when I'm enjoying listening to it the most; in the early eighties listening to the John Peel Radio Show, in the mid 2000s when I started broadcasting my own show and there's another one on the horizon as I rediscover my love for hunting out the new and wonderful. Is that just coincidence? I find that it to believe but I'm too close to tell. So welcome to a musical placeholder. Welcome to 2013.

In America, the economy continues its slow recovery; too slow for several big name brands and retailers that didn't sufficiently prepare for a digital economy. Will economic recovery be fast enough to secure Barack Obama a second term as president? Meanwhile, across the pond, the UK prepares to celebrate 60 years of Queen Elizabeth's reign. There's also the small matter of the summer Olympics coming to town.

I started a new job in 2010 after spending the best part of a year out of work. I was working for a start-up company in New York and 2011 saw me working on an assignment on Wall Street in the city. That meant 4 hours on Amtrak and 2 hours on the New York subway each day. On the world stage, a horrifying event went almost unnoticed in Tunisia but it was the starting point for revolution there, Egypt, Libya, Syria and elsewhere that became known as the Arab Spring. Some resolved themselves relatively quickly while others continued to run for 13 years.

The year started with me doing contract work for corporate America. That's not the same as regular employment so when one of my clients offered me a full-time position, I took it. I was earning half of what I was before the financial crash but it put us in a better place than many others. My first assignment for my new employer was in New York State which meant a long drive up the New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway on a Sunday night, back again Friday and start all over again after too brief a weekend. It was exhausting and I must admit that I wasn't the best father and husband as the stress took it's toll.

After living in our new house in Pennsylvania for a year, we corrected our mistake of not selling our old house first, by finally off-loading it for far less than we'd planned. That was obviously not great but things got worse in March when, with a wife and two very young children to support, I was laid off from work. A lot of other people around the world suffered the same fate that year. We were more fortunate than others. Welcome to the real world. Welcome to 2009.

Does any day, week, month or year feel like the end of something as it's happening? It's only in hindsight that, usually as the result of a new beginning, you see the previous end for what it was. Even then, it's most likely a gradual evolution, not a sudden end. But in looking back, 2004 is an ending. There's personal sadness that goes with it which, while devastating at the time, gains clarity later as the necessary metamorphosis into something new and glorious. We were trying for a family and, as for many others, it wasn't as easy as one thinks it will be. There were some heartbreaking moments along the way. In retrospect, with two normal, healthy, annoying, teenage sons, the pain of 2004 seems worthwhile. It wasn't just a year of personal sadness. Many families had a far worse year than we did. That probably helped to lessen our pain, putting into a wider context. In this episode, you'll hear about the loss of a national (and personal) hero and musical legend in October and the loss of many more lives in December. The musical metamorphosis starts in 2004 with the shedding of musical skin, made more necessary by the shock in October. This really was a year when I didn't like the songs I liked; one song in particular. See if you can spot which one it is.

The year started with America still coming to terms with a new world after September 11th the year before. Everybody was getting used to new security restrictions, myself included, as I continued to work in California, traveling from New Jersey once a month. If I was lucky enough to get an upgrade, I now had to eat my deluxe airline meal with a plastic knife and fork! Oh the humanity... But we all learnt to cope like adults. We ain't babies no more.

I started my new job in January and began a new routine; 1 week in the office in California and the rest of each month working from home in New Jersey. That suited me, greatly reducing the amount of time spent in airports and on airplanes. There was still a 12-hour round-trip once a month and it's hard to imagine now that was pre portable MP3 players and smart phones so I read a lot. The 3-hour time difference usually meant that, by the time I got home on a Friday night, I couldn't sleep so took to catching new music on late-night MTV. Music on MTV was still a thing back then. There were many people heading from east coast to west coast on September 11th that didn't come back home to their families. This episode does get a little intense at times but I hope you stick with it. You can handle it.