summer of '94. I'm 17 years old. Word is out that there is a party in some blokes house down the road. I rob a bottle of vodka from my parents liqour cabinet. I go to the party and scoff the vodka in an hour and wash it down with a couple of cans of Linden Village. I go to the toilet but smash the whole toilet bowl (I'm still not sure how) and it floods the entire floor of the house. The cops are called and everyone flees. Some cop shines a flashlight in my face and I kick it out of his hand. He punches me to the ground and then he asks my name. I say "Mise Eire". He takes me down to my parents house and my parents put me to bed. I jump out my bedroom window (two stories up and I have a scar in the side of my arse too) and run up the village looking for a botle of vodka I've already drank wearing a baseball cap, a string vest and a pair of y-fronts. I thump the door of the house screaming "WHERES MY VODKA!!" at the top of my voice until my brother comes to my rescue. The day after I watched Oasis on Top of The Pops play "Live Forever" and I thought it was amazing. I'd seen them on The Word a week before play "Shakermaker" and I thought it was a bit shit. Got the album on a shopping trip with my mum a few days earlier and it became the soundtrack to that fortnight that I was grounded. Still holds up, definitely (maybe) their best

summer of '94. I'm 17 years old. Word is out that there is a party in some blokes house down the road. I rob a bottle of vodka from my parents liqour cabinet. I go to the party and scoff the vodka in an hour and wash it down with a couple of cans of Linden Village. I go to the toilet but smash the whole toilet bowl (I'm still not sure how) and it floods the entire floor of the house. The cops are called and everyone flees. Some cop shines a flashlight in my face and I kick it out of his hand. He punches me to the ground and then he asks my name. I say "Mise Eire". He takes me down to my parents house and my parents put me to bed. I jump out my bedroom window (two stories up and I have a scar in the side of my arse too) and run up the village looking for a botle of vodka I've already drank wearing a baseball cap, a string vest and a pair of y-fronts. I thump the door of the house screaming "WHERES MY VODKA!!" at the top of my voice until my brother comes to my rescue. The day after I watched Oasis on Top of The Pops play "Live Forever" and I thought it was amazing. I'd seen them on The Word a week before play "Shakermaker" and I thought it was a bit shit. Got the album on a shopping trip with my mum a few days earlier and it became the soundtrack to that fortnight that I was grounded. Still holds up, definitely (maybe) their best

I used to have this on tape but I never really liked it at the time. 20 years or so on, I quite like this rictus grin dark glam cabaret. I still don't like Ezrin's glossy production which seems at odds with the dark subject matter. I still can't really find a narrative in the songs but it doesn't matter tbh.

A pretty solid album that has one foot in rock n'roll history and another in the punk revolution to come. The 1-2 opener of raggedy hoedown "Rockin' around (with you)" with the sleek "Breakdown" are superb but most of the album is serviceable but not amazing. A lot of songs or styles here that Petty and co. would perfect on later albums. It does close with "American Girl" though, an absolute 24 carat gold power pop classic.