Back in 1988.

1988 was a year to remember.

I’ve been listening to the Depeche Mode 101 live album recently on my Google Play. It was such an awesome concert, I would have loved to have seen them live. The beat and the atmosphere sounded incredible. It is definitely an album that has to be turned up loud. To think Depeche Mode recorded that concert at the Pasadena Rose Bowl on the 18 June 1988. That is a long time ago.

I was 16 years old in 1988 and had three years left of school and no idea what I was going to be doing with my life. My days were spent at school, learning stuff, doing cadets, singing war cries for the rugby team, playing sport, riding my bike and discovering new music. I remember going to a friend’s house and hearing this Depeche Mode 101 album for the first time on a cassette tape. I somehow remember the day, it was hot and we were lying next to pool and this album was playing. Those were the days.

Back in 1988 Hi-Fi systems were all the rage, my Dad had a Technics with an amplifier, two cassette tape decks and a record player. We had 4 huge speakers in the lounge and a couple in the kitchen. It produced great sound.

I remember another friend of mine, his dad had a Hi-Fi which had a CD tray that could hold 6 CDs at the same time. I remember how it was state of the art 😉 It was just the most amazing thing ever to be able to have six discs playing randomly. We use to watch it change like it was magic.

In 1988 TV was something of a novelty. There were only 3 or 4 channels on our Sony TV. There  was no such thing as satellite TV.  As young kids we didn’t watch much TV as we were always outside playing, although I do recall watching a few shows such as ‘The Wonder years’, ‘LA law’ and ‘The Cosby Show’. There was also ‘Who’s the boss’ and our parents favourite the ‘Golden girls’. They also watched Dallas, but all I can remember is the theme tune.

At the cinema Dirty Dancing was a huge hit although we had to be accompanied by our parents. 😉 That year A fish called Wanda with John Cleese was also on, so was Paul Hogan in another Crocodile Dundee and Bruce Willis excited us all with Die Hard, although I don’t think we actually watched it until a lot later because of all the swearing.

In 1988 at the Olympics in Seoul, Canadian Ben Johnson cheated his way to the fastest 100 metres ever, only to be disqualified for taking banned steroids. We didn’t see him again.

But it was the music I remember the most. Depeche Mode, U2, Giant, Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Bryan Adams, Guns & Roses were all starting to become big names… One or two of them are gone now, but it is great to play all that old stuff.