Tim Robson

Writing, ranting, drinking and dating. Ancient Rome. Whatever I damn well feel is good to write about.

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My programme from the 1987 World Tour - Brighton Centre

Meat Loaf, Tony Mills, Shy, Brian Greenhoff. Rochdale Memories.

January 29, 2022 by Tim Robson in Obituary, Rochdale

Some Rambling Thoughts on the Death of Meatloaf, Tony Mills of Shy and Brian Greenhoff of Manchester Utd

Late 1981 - Driving in the car with my parents and sister listening to Noel Edmonds on Radio 1. Edmonds played Dead Ringer For Love. This was the first time I’d heard it as the single had just been released to the world. Wow! A real swinging rock tune - the drama, the back and forth between him and Cher, the doo-wop coda. Remember; this was the time of synthesisers and New Romantics and so an unabashed rock ‘n’ roll wall of sound of guitars and brass - just blew us all away. It so was good, Noel Edmonds played it again which was practically unheard of on Radio 1.

Mid 80’s - Sixth form. Two LPs dominated the music we played in breaks and lunchtimes - Queen Greatest Hits (there was no volume 1 or 2 in those days, only the original LP up to, but not including, Under Pressure) and Bat Out of Hell. We knew all the words of both albums through ceaseless repetition.

Bat Out of Hell bears repeated plays. Occasionally I remember it and play the familiar tracks for a couple of days and fondly reminisce. Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad, Paradise by the Dashboard Light, You Took the Words Right Out of my Mouth. The title track, of course. I don’t need to tell you how good the LP is. Play it.

Feb 1987 - I saw Meat Loaf at the Brighton Centre as part of his 20/20 World Tour. Great concert, lots of familiar songs, high camp on stage. He was big, he was sweating, his band kicked ass. Meat Loaf was as much an actor as a singer - he always threw himself into performances and Brighton was no different.

He was supported at the Brighton gig by British big haired metallers Shy. Not bad songs but kind of ignored whilst waiting for the main act to come on.

Back at home in Rochdale, I tended bar in the Norden Chimney restaurant bar (called The Highwayman). Not many people would come in - just me, my mates, other members of staff, a karaoke singer at the weekend for entertainment and, bizarrely, ex Man Utd and England footballer Brian Greenhoff. Nights of lager and Limes. Silks Cuts. I played the Yardbirds or REO Speedwagon on the stereo. And into this scene one day walked an exotic Brummie - Tony Mills - lead singer of Shy. He’d moved in with his girlfriend and her parents two doors down to my parents and was looking for a local.

How can I describe Tony? Platinum spiked big hair as was common with rockers in the 80’s. Tight jeans, embroided jacket. Tall, but his hair made him seem bigger. It was as if an ambassador from Planet Rock had just walked in. “Pint of Lowenbrow, Tim” he’d say and have a quiet drink, sometimes with his girlfriend, sometimes not. I recognised him immediately and would prompt him for stories about the rock world and Meat Loaf in particular. Apparently Loaf used to keep an oxygen mask off stage in case he took a turn for the worse out on stage. Tony also said he’d be invited up on the stage to sing Johnny B Goode in the rock n roll medley Meat Loaf finished his set with. Problem was, Tony didn’t know the words!

Tony was in between tours and resting up (in Rochdale of all places). The album they were promoting when supporting Meat Loaf - Excess all Areas (featuring Break Down the Walls and, my favourite, Young Heart) was probably the peak of Shy’s fame. It was a good time.

Into this cosy scene let me introduce Andy, the karaoke ‘singer’ who would, on Friday and Saturday nights, be perched on a bar stool the opposite end of the bar to Greenhoff and entertain the punters with his renditions of Lionel Richie or Diana Ross. He could hold a tune but not much more. He wore a double breasted flecked suit that was, as per the time, somewhat shiny. A few drinks to the worse he’d bemoan his fate: “Rick Astley; talentless fucker! I taught him all he fucking knows. Which isn’t much!” Apparently they were contemporaries on the Northern working men’s circuit. One had a huge hit and the other drank huge Bicardi’s and Cokes from the other side of my bar.

Some good natured banter used to fly around after a few drinks between Andy and Tony. Andy, mike in hand, would challenge the heavy rocker - who apparently was a fucking ‘singer’ - to a sing off. Tony would always demur and stick quietly to his Lowenbrow. He didn’t need to show off.

Not one night though…

I don’t know what it was but Andy’s barbs finally got through to Tony and it was decided that they’d do a karaoke challenge to Lionel Richie’s ballad ‘Hello’ which - in terms of Shy’s output - was pretty incongruous if you come to think about it. I always had a sense of humour! Andy started it off:

“I’ve been alone with you in my mind,” he began “And in my dreams I’ve kissed your lips a thousand times.” He sang the next line and, self satisfied, passed the mike to Tony confident he’d raised the bar too high for this girlie man to compete.

“HELLO, IS IT ME YOU”RE LOOKING FOR?” belted out Tony in full concert voice taking the song and the room to a new level. With just those few words, we were in a presence of rock n roll royalty. I knew it. The room knew it. Greenhoff knew it. Andy knew it. A different class. As the backing track continued, Andy got up off his stool and went and sat at a table among the punters. Rick Astley this wasn’t. He had the humility to realise the difference between an amateur and professional. This being Rochdale, this being the 1980s and this being my story, they made up later and duetted together on some MOR classic.

I’ve seen class up close only a few times but two of them were in Rochdale. Lisa Stansfield in my school musical. And Tony Mills, blowing all away in the late 80’s.

Happy Days.

R.I.P Meat Loaf

R.I.P. Brian Greenhoff

And, sadly, too young, R.I.P. Tony Mills - slayer of mediocre singers, drinker of Lowenbrow and unlikely Lionel Richie interpreter.

January 29, 2022 /Tim Robson
Meat Loaf, Tony Mills Shy, Brian Greenhoff, Norden Chimney
Obituary, Rochdale
2 Comments
Naden reservoir - Rochdale

Naden reservoir - Rochdale

Rochdale - God's own town.

quench
July 15, 2016 by Tim Robson in Rochdale

I come from Rochdale. Technically I was born in Yorkshire, but from the age of two, my home town, and where I still call home, is Rochdale.*

For those that don't know, Rochdale, despite it's dour Northern and - in recent years - somewhat unsavoury reputation, is often quite beautiful. My parents still live there and I love going back. I've always been proud to come from Rochdale.

I have the eyes of returnee now. Everyone in Rochdale is proud of their town, to me, with my Southern perspective, I can see why.

I see wonder in the Moors that surround the valley of the river Roch, the urban parks, the splendour and bracing walks around Hollingworth Lake. Sentimentally, I see beauty in the rows of terrace houses, the indomitable spirit of the inhabitants who - lest we forget - took on the boss class in the worse excesses of Victorian factory exploitation and invented the co-operative movement in 1844.

A muscular and unapologetic working class culture - patriotic and self-supporting. You get off the M62 at Rochdale and are met by the sign - "Rochdale - Home of Cooperation"**. Not many towns have a boast that spans the world.

The people.. Funny. Friendly. Don't take any shit.

Rochdale Town Centre

Rochdale Town Centre

The town centre, a triumph of Victorian ambition, urban planning and architecture, was always impressive. The wide open feel of the town centre was created by a bridge that enclosed the River Roch;  one of the largest bridges in the world. The Grade 1 listed town hall, a gorgeous Gothic building, represented civic pride and the local centre of democracy for so many years. Opposite the town hall the Grade 1 listed war memorial - like the more famous one in Whitehall - designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens from public donations - sits in a peaceful garden flanked by the Grade 2 ex Post Office building.***

Stupid, ignorant, local counsellors have conspired to rip the heart out of one of the most beautiful Northern town centres by digging up the bridge, building inappropriate modern buildings all over the place and fatuous, empty shopping centres, side-lining a wondrous natural town shopping street (Yorkshire Street). The venality and short sightedness of local politicians never ceases to amaze me. Brighton suffered from them to in the inter war years and - with the Green Council - did recently.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that Rochdale - despite recent scandals and being resolutely working class - can, and always did, hold its head up high. To quote JFK:-

Two thousand years ago, the proudest boast was civis romanus sum ["I am a Roman citizen"]. Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is "I am from Rochdale." Therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words "Ich bin ein Rochdalian!"

He's right. Hold your head up Rochdale. There is no finer place in the world.

Tim (Ich bin ein Rochdalian - really!)

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* I also claim dual citizenship with Brighton & Hove

** Farcically - orginally the council put up - "Rochdale - home of the Coop" 

*** This war memorial was where I first saw tramps / drunks / beggars. I remember them from the 70's

July 15, 2016 /Tim Robson
Rochdale, Rochdale Town Hall
Rochdale

Didn't know I could edit this!