The Long Ryders win by a short nose in close race to the finishing post – makes no sense? Read on.
This is the last in the series ‘Clint’s Classic Clips’ – but fear not, your weekly dose of nostalgia, brilliance and dodgy picture quality will continue. The series name is being truncated to plain old ‘Classic Clips’ but there will be nothing plain about the content as a procession of my AUK colleagues line up to bring you a veritable feast of auditory and visual stimulation from the vaults.
So, back to the headline. This being my last chance for now, to stroke your collective ears and to hopefully reduce you to a state of delighted purring, I knew I had to come up with something special. In the end I narrowed it down to three clips and in an extremely tight contest this clip of the Long Ryders on The Old Grey Whistle Test in 1985 narrowly pipped the others. When the band first appeared in the 80s I was at once smitten and became a massive fan. Sometimes looking back at past infatuations can be disappointing, or worse still simply reveal what a pretentious little twat your younger self must have been – and I have plenty of compelling evidence that points that way. However, watching this clip elicits a self-satisfied smug grin, one that recognises that this smart arse was right then and still is now; The Long Ryders were a phenomenal band.
