My Musical Road

“The meaning of life is to find your gift.

The purpose of life is to give it away”

Pablo Picasso

Early in 2021 I embarked on a project…

…which took me musically through my first 50 years starting exactly 50 weeks before the big day arrived.

And I gave it a title:

“My Musical Road To 50”.

One thing which had followed me through the past (almost) 50 years had been songs and music.

You see, some people flick through photo albums.

Instead, I thought of putting a bit of a spin (pardon the obvious pun) on the idea of looking back over my life.

For me, those moments had a musical soundtrack to accompany that time…

So to count it down to the weekend of my birthday, where I would find out what would be the No.1 (single and album), I decided to take each of the next 50 weekends and, starting from the day I was born, run through each and every No.1 single and album from each subsequent year, and finally arrive at the Number One on my 50th Birthday.

It was a bit of a task, and I wasn’t quite aware how much I’d taken on.

And , because of the rush I did to complete it, I since found after that initial blast that I was out of sync by a week on the historical charts. Something I’ve now put right.

In between those weeks in that first run, I also put up songs or album tracks which stood out for me from that time. Some I may have bought, some I played over and over. Some may have been friends or relatives songs which they had bought. These were my musical memories.

Now, due to lifting away the time constraints…

…I initially gave to myself, I will be able to go further than I did before. I can take it easier, go more in-depth and open up the content a bit.

One such factor will be that it’s sometimes difficult to grab a feeling of how the musical landscape was at the time when the music originally charted.

For this, I have decided to cover the full UK Chart rundown for every year around my Birthday.

And when I say full, I mean I’ve compiled as much of a complete run as I can get.

Now, this comes with a couple of side effects.

This means that there will be songs included which were banned from having airplay (and there were quite a few, beginning with the 2nd single in my first ever chart rundown).

The other (and in some cases, this will tie in with the former) reason is that this will include songs and artists which have attracted controversy, whether that’s from the time of the release, or from future scrutiny since then.

Some of you may come across pieces of music or performers that you may find upsetting.

I can only apologise in advance, however it is put there only to give as much of a complete snapshot of those times as possible.

So what about all those songs and eras I’ve missed..?

The 60’s?

The 50’s?

It may seem I’d missed out on two of the biggest era’s in music history.

Well, due to a few factors in the way the charts at certain points in my lifetime were compiled, there will be visits from past artists such as The Beatles, Elvis Presley, and also the likes of Buddy Holly and a host of Motown legends amongst others.

The project turned out to be a fascinating journey…

…enough for someone to suggest I should write a book.

The problem with a book though is the lack of the most important factor in this project, the music itself.

So after a little thought, the option most obvious to me was to create this interactive retrospection.

The timing felt right too.

Ok, so the main thought behind it initially was that I was reaching my half century.

However, I don’t think this project could really have been possible until now.

With the advent of so much accessibility to music than ever before, I could now go back through almost every musical moment in my entire life with just a click or two. Something that was still quite tricky even ten years ago.

So it feels right to write it now.

And, for the vast majority of the whole project and I know it’s looking through the haze of time, but one thought kept (and still keeps) coming back over again.

Just how great the music is.