Ten Great Albums of 1980

1. Remain in Light - Talking Heads
2. Boy - U2
3. Crocodiles - Echo and the Bunnymen
4. Empires and Dance - Simple Minds
5. Strange Boutique - The Monochrome Set
6. Get Happy - Elvis Costello
7. Closer - Joy Division
8. Metamatic - John Foxx
9. Psychedelic Furs - Psychedelic Furs
10. Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables - The Dead Kennedys

Dodgy Photos

Well it was a great turn out on Friday, the only obvious
absentee was Phil G'day Sorah and he had a legitimate excuse. We'll expect to see you next year Phil. I only managed to take a few pics on Friday, I don't think they do full justice to the day's events.

Can't quite remember Neil's 'graphical' comment, but did remember that Pete has an obsession with A**l Cream Pie! I won't include the link, I think you can guess anyway......

OU` EST LA MAISON DE FROMAGE?

To celebrate The Open Neck Shirt, the bard of Salford, John Cooper Clarke has re-issued his 1978 classic album, Ou` est la maison de fromage? More info at: http://www.amazon.co.uk

Well it's 27 years in an Open Neck Shirt on Friday 25th November 2005.
Kick off is 1pm in the Sevenoaks.
Look forward to seeing you all.

Ten Great Albums of 1979

1. Dragnet - The Fall
2. Entertainment! - Gang of Four
3. London Calling - The Clash
4. Unknown Pleasures - Joy Division
5. Three Imaginary Boys - The Cure
6. Reproduction - The Human League
7. B52's - B52's
8. Armed Forces - Elvis Costello
9. Fear of Music - Talking Heads
10. Inflammable Material - Stiff Little Fingers

Only Two Weeks To Go

Only two weeks to go to 'The Open Neck Shirt 2005'.

The key questions to be asked.....

• Will Phil fly in from Australia?
• Will Pete find a new football team to support?
• Will Neil apologise for all that he has done?
• Will Harry show restraint?
• Will Ken stay longer than 5pm?
• Will Stan still like Maggie Thatcher?
• Will Gary, Graham, Jon and Ian all show up?
• Ou` est la Maison de fromage?

These and many other questions will be answered on the 25th November.

See You There.

Ten Great Albums of 1978

1. Another Music In A Different Kitchen - The Buzzcocks
2. Real Life - Magazine
3. The Man Machine - Kraftwerk
4. Stage (Live) - David Bowie
5. More Songs About Buildings & Food - Talking Heads
6. Give 'Em Enough Rope - The Clash
7. This Year's Model - Elvis Costello
8. Chairs Missing - Wire
9. Who Are You - The Who
10. Parallel Lines - Blondie

Student Life in 1978

Some Memories of Student Life in 1978

• People with strange and unusual names: Julian Bickerton; Ramy Zack; Nicholas Bodicombe; Peter Sebastian Younger ……and ‘Neil Smith’.
  
• In the first week being moved from Royal Ford Hall of Residence to Cavendish Halls because we had no water supply.
  
• Early Cavendish Gigs – Gruppo Sportivo, Joe Jackson, The Fall, Stiff Little Fingers.
  
• Skirmishes at Didsbury Union with the Rugby team. Nick Broad threatening to take on all the Rugby Team in a fight.
  
• Bizarrely being attacked by young kids in Didsbury and repelling them all too easily.
  
• Aytoun Street Coffee Bar and the Table Football games.
  
• Beers in front of the Old Cock Pub in hot weather.
  
• Nick ‘Bodysnatcher’ Bodicombe smoothing himself around the girls.
  
• Peter stealing Adele’s underwear.
  
• Dislocating my finger playing cricket at Royal Ford – Smudger put it back into the socket.
  
• Wire at ‘The Factory’, Russell Club in Hulme
  
• Wigan’s first season in the Football League.
  
• Jimmy ‘Mr Aston Villa’ Williams – where are you now Jimmy?
  
• The Plaza – Curries for the criminally drunk, the ‘Hot’, the ‘Killer’, and the ‘Suicide’.
  
• The Toyota 1000 – Did I really ‘only’ charge 50p a ride?
  
  I look forward to your memories of 1978.

The Gang of Three

Welcome

Welcome to 'The Open Neck Shirt - A Blog for Our Times.'

This is an online forum for a group of disparate students and some Manchester based friends, who started at Manchester Polytechnic in 1978. Ian Harry Aspinall, Neil Aloysius Smith, Peter Sebastian Younger, Phil G'day Sorah, Kenneth Albert Thorpe, Ian Stan Shaw, Gary Vicary, Ian Clark, Graham Sutherland, Jon Marshall and various other occasional guests.

It's only taken 27 years to get this forum started.
But now it has finally begun, let's start with a rant about .... 'What's Currently Annoying With The World'.

Rant No 1- The Rage of Age
1. Stupid ringtones and loud f**kers - Have some manners.
2. Is the Premiership boring argument - No it isn't.
3. Loyalty Cards and Points - Just give us the money off.
4. Takeaway rubbish littering the streets - You Chavs put it in the bin.
5. Stupid hairstyles for men - Get a grip on yourselves boys.
6. Clone Towns - We don't want the same shops and shopping centres in every small town.
7. Fern Cotton, Top of the Pops - Get rid of this woman with the ridiculously pretentious voice.
8. ID Cards - Potential cost 5.8bn, they are having a laarf.
9. Bernard Ingham - Yorkshire pratt extraordinaire.
10. Dog shit on my front lawn - Just clean it up.

Future topics include: More Rants; the Annual Get Together; Neil's 'former' sex life; Where we will go on the 25th November this year?
Other important topics include: Football (Yes, aren't Wigan doing well); Beer (does that include Lager?); Good Music (but don't mention Chris de Burgh); Culture and Politics (that covers just about everything then).

Please feel free to add your comments/ideas below and don't forget to send any embarrassing electronic photographs to me so that they can be published on this blog.