THIS IS A JOURNEY INTO SOUND

As i'm currently giving away my late Dad's record player - one of those Crosley briefcase-types that i bought him as a Christmas gift a couple of years ago - i've also got the record box that i bought him with it. Inside is a collection of mainly used albums and 45's i got him every so often, things that he had in his collection as a young man: Status Quo, 10CC, The Who, some Country music, glam rock and 70's pop. I'm currently spinning some of them, nursing a beer and raising a toast to the man who unwittingly provided the match that lit my burning passion for music. Here's to you, Dad 🍺

For a few years now it has seemed as if guitar music is irrelevant, as major radio stations and music media fall over themselves to kiss the arse of the latest grime/rap/urban/electronica/pop sensations, with rock and indie bands considered old hat. The only exceptions to this have been sensitive acoustic singer-songwriter types such as the ginger busker Ed Sheeran, whose baffling success only serves to further the myth that he is any good, or the continued worship of Coldplay. Radio 1's playlists are dominated by "urban" artists or chart pop drivel, with nary a guitar in earshot. Even 6music tends towards electronic music these days, although not overwhelmingly so. Young, angry VITAL rock 'n' roll bands with some real edge and balls seem to be thin on the ground the last few years, and those that do exist are far from any mainstream success, occupying what seems to an increasingly niche genre. Most teenagers are oblivious to the charms of such music. Rock 'n&