The first gig I ever attended was a Kershaw Gig. Back at the Hammersmith Apollo in 1982 (at the mere age of 14) I went to see him play live, and was slightly bemused by the fact that I appeared to be the only male in my entire row of the sweaty but throbbing place, if not the only male in the entire place other than Nik and his band.
It wasn't just his music, and let's get this out there, he is without a doubt one of the unsung heroes of 80s pop - achieving some mainstream success but still irritatingly missed out whenever anyone does one of those tedious "Top 100 80s albums of all time" lists, and misses his entire 80s output entirely. It was his look, his seemingly razor sharp wit, and that amazing hair.
I wasn't a fan from the very beginning despite loving the heck out of "Wouldn't it be Good" as a single. "Human Racing" wasn't an early album purchase, in fact I didn't actually buy a Kershaw album until "The Riddle" and was totally hooked on his music from thereon in and very quickly picked up its predecessor.
Mooching around the neighbourhood with a cheap Aiwa personal stereo clamped to my head (I swear that thing was probably as much responsible for my early hair loss as all the product I slapped on my hair trying to emulate Kershaw's hair styles, I mean wearing something with a metal band rubbing away at your hairline all day can't be good for you, right? None of this 'in your ear' earbud stuff back then!), I would listen to "The Riddle" on a loop. I later picked up Human Racing, Radio Musicola (which is just SUCH A GREAT ALBUM AND I WILL FIGHT YOU IF YOU DISAGREE), The Works and...that's it. Nothing more.
Because like all teen crushes, my adoration was fleeting and I moved onto other obsessions. I could never get into Kershaw's later stuff. Thanks to the mighty Spotify I've hoovered up latter albums and they're not really my cup of tea but those first four albums were listened to so much that I literally wore my copy of "The Riddle" out, the tape snapping unceremoniously half way through "Save the Whale"
The sheer bonkers videos for songs like "The Riddle" (how did DC comics not sue?), Don Quixote (starring Mrs Kershaw no less!) and Radio Musicola (which is dark and twisted in all the right ways) are so 80s it hurts but nothing will ever eclipse the ethereal weirdness of "Wouldn't it be Good" - that glowing suit, Goonhilly Downs, and all manner of crazy noir-ish scene setting. Oh and that bleachy mullet of course.
I remember regularly nicking my stepdad's clothes as he was a bit of a fashionista in the 80s and had lots of cool stuff that 'fit' the right 80s model, before I started to get into clothes properly and would swan around in a vast multicoloured woollen greatcoat. I'm just pleased to report that I was a teen who shied away from the camera at every opportunity so thankfully no photographs of my ridiculous mullet or clothes exist (please, PLEASE tell me that they don't exist!)
They say you should never ever meet your idols. I did actually meet Mr K just after a gig he did up in Birmingham as part of his "The Works" tour and he was one of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet, with as sharp a sense of humour as you'd expect. There was an edge to him even then though, a cat-like aloofness that made you feel like you were a pool of primordial slime compared to his bizarre high-level alien intelligence.
Nearly 40 years on I still can't stop listening to his music from time to time, driving my wife and daughter absolutely crackers if I dare to try and croak along with any of his songs. He was (and I guess still is) a musical genius, an 80s icon and a man crush par excellence.
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