Do you remember what you were doing on this day in 2012?
Here in the UK we were preparing for the London Olympics by grumbling about how much money it was going to cost and how we’d probably mess it up. The state of shock across the nation that we did a decent opening ceremony can still be felt today.
2012 was another notable year for music. B*Witched, Atomic Kitten and The Spice Girls all reformed and performed to nostalgic fans. Gary Barlow was awarded a CBE for services to the tax evasion industry. Ed Sheeran and One Direction won Brit Awards and Jon Lord of Deep Purple passed away, in what was probably an unrelated situation, but you can never be too sure.
Less newsworthy than all these things however, is that on this day three years ago Every Record Tells A Story first graced the world, or if you prefer, first reared its ugly head.
A lot has happened since then. An early TV appearance on the back of an article written about the charts seems a long time ago now. Getting a handful of things printed in Classic Rock Magazine / online was fun. There have been a good number of gigs – including a first trip to Glastonbury. The record collection has swelled somewhat, raising eyebrows in the ERTAS household. I’m waiting for the “one in-one out” discussion any day now…
The blog began as a story of the music that I listened to as I was growing up, but soon morphed into, well….. I’m not quite sure. I just carried on writing about music, or if I am being honest, I just carried on trying to write jokes under the pretence of writing a music blog. The only rule I have had is to always write about the music I like, rather than the music I don’t. I have also taken a Hippocratic musical pledge: “First, Do No Harm”. With the possible exception of Gary Barlow and sundry radio 1 DJs, I don’t want to be negative about things. I’d rather just not talk about them…
So, three years after I first began, what would I say Every Record Tells A Story is about?
I wasn’t sure, until I read a description on a wiser blog than mine – the one written by Pete Paphides called “Lost In Music” at www.hiddentracks.org.
I was proud to be mentioned in Pete’s select list of “Places”. But it was Pete’s description of Every Record Tells A Story that I liked more. He described it thus:
“Funny, enthusiastic and enlightening blog written by Steve about all the surprisingly disparate records that make him happy.”
Until I read that, I wasn’t certain I knew what ERTAS was about, but I think that description just about nails it.
At least, it does for now….
Most of all, I have found that I enjoy and appreciate the interaction with like-minded souls across the world who stumble across the blog and find joy in the music they listen to. We all like different stuff, but there’s a tolerant and open minded group of souls here that put their two-pennorth worth in on Twitter, Facebook, WordPress, Instagram, or simply mutter under their breath to themselves.
To everyone who has read, commented, retweeted, “liked” a post or asked me a question at some point, I’d just like to say, sincerely, “Thank you”.
Well, that’s enough sincerity. It doesn’t suit me….
Normal sarcasm levels will be resumed on the next post…
Every record tells a story 
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