Proper stereo system for Mr Neil Young

1980 I could afford a proper stereo system!

It was an Aiwa Music Centre. Record deck, cassette recorder and radio in one with separate speakers, cannot remember the brand, but they were respectable. It was a big step up in music enjoyment. And Neil Young's Live Rust album needed such a stage. Crosby, Stills and Nash had faded into oblivion, but Neil was setting new rock standards, introducing a sound which would later be known as 'grunge'.

I remember hearing this track a few years later, way behind the Iron Curtain in Moravia, beaming in on an Austrian station, and taking me by surprise that such music wasn't being jammed

1980 City of Radio

I was off to The States for the first time, to shoot a TV ad in LA. It was an atmospheric and comfortable introduction to California, and I was instantly amazed by the variety of radio stations including several dedicated entirely to rock music. KLOS became my station of choice for those few days of sunshine, delicious big breakfasts and glamorous exotic dinners. At the end I made time to visit Tower Records and buy LPs for half the price I'd pay in the UK. From the KLOS playlist, I particularly remember this anti-nuclear blast from Dan Fogelberg

I already was familiar with Dan Fogelberg but Christopher Cross was a complete newcomer. It turned out that he was newcomer to the US audience too, but he had produced an album which I picked up in Tower, and which turned out to be a timeless gem. The following year he came to London to play, stayed in the White House Hotel, and Karen got him to autograph my copy of his album