Ain't Nothin' But A Good Time?

As you know, I muse on many things which are tangentally connected to my gaming life over the last 42 years, and this post is no exception.

As I work, I listen to audiobooks, as well as reading when in the bath or one of those rare times I am sat down in an armchair. I confess that I very rarely now, touch military history titles, because I know all I need to know about the periods I game, and there's only so much you cn say about this battle or the other.

So, although I tend to read the odd sci-fi story, I read a lot of popular culture histories, particularly those which tie the culture into the politics of the decades I have witnessed.

This week, I've spent 40 hours alone, listening to the autobiography of 'Punk' poet, John Cooper Clarke and Nothin' But A Good Time' - a history of the the L.A 'Hair Metal' scene.

Both are truly brilliant. Mr Clarke is frank and honest, with a wry sense of humour. You get to understand what his fall into drug dependancy did for his career, but not in a depressing way. You get just enough darkness to provide a contrast to the brilliant light of the anecdotes about looking after a monkey in Amsterdam, or getting actor Bert Kwok to pull Kung-Fu moves at the end of a poetry set.

 

The second title is made up of interviews with all of those in the bands (or behind them) who brought the world the 'Glam' or 'Hair' Metal craze in the 80s. The snowflake generation will no doubt cring in horror or claim to be mentally harmed if they read it, but fuck 'em. As self confessed 'Prog Rock' fan, I am not a natural lover of the genre, but this really is a fantastic look at what drove those who carved out an empire of excess, often taking too large a portion and dying well before their time.

I also suggest watching 'The Decline Of Western Civilization - Part 2' as referenced in 'Nothin' But A Good Time', made in 1988 and available on YouTube:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-p2HNDZqFdI

I'm currently also reading 'Denim And Leather - The Rise And Fall Of The New Wave Of British Heavy Metal' which, as the title suggests, is a similar look at the rock scene on this side of the Atlantic. It's a bit of an eye opener.

 

More interestingly to me, is the memories these books stir, and those memories invariably link to my life and gaming. Those of you who may not know me personally, probably won't believe that I have lived a life in gaming (sometimes with detrimental effects) but I have. Everything I have done, has had gaming linked into it. 

Denim & Leather has a lot of interviews with 'Tygers Of Pan Tang', and if you have followed me here or read the book, you will recal that I was heading to the Sheffield branch of Virgin Records with Alan 'Stan' Staniforth so that he could buy their latest single (on 12 inch picture disc) the day we both discovered Games Workshop was planning to open in Sheffield, and change my life forever, accelerating my decline immeasurably .

In the 90s I owned a game store which was based on the 'vibe' the original Sheffield Games Workshop had when it opened in 1982. Indeed, when I eventualy reconnected with the late and unappreciated Pete 'Greblord' Armstrong, it was when he walked into my store after more than a decade, and then complimented how the store looked and felt. At that point I'd ticked off a life achievement. Yes, my life achievements may seem petty, but they are important to me. You don't agree? Well that's fine and you can fuck off...

I have a good marriage with a wife I've been with since 1988. She was a serious catch and well out of my league at the time.

We raised a child

We beat near bankruptcy (caused by gaming and my proud, arrogant refusal to walk away from it - like a dick) in the 90s and have earned every penny that we have ploughed into a comfortable home, with an outbuilding containing a gaming table which many would envy.

I wrote a book about it all - well most of it, and still get some briliant emails and messages about how people realised the similarities between gamers the world over, how they laughed out loud, somtimes cringed, and sometimes shed a tear. OK, I won't get on the NYT best sellers list, but I have done it and am pleased that I've connected with others.

I work hard and that translates into not being wealthy in cash terms, but I am comfortable and the true wealth comes in being able to pretty much eat, drink and sleep, wargaming.

I finally have a nicely sized wargames table, my terrain is all 'of the quality' and the real, real pleasure of that, is that I can share it with friends.

I no longer have to deal with 'club politics' or the culture of conformity and silence. There are many people I still respect and miss in that world, but if they can't simply and formally say 'we're sorry' then I'm not interested. It's an odd sensation because Sheffield Wargames Society was my first organised club experience and I learned a lot of the things a youth needs to know from the older gamers there. As I said, 'club politics' are something I just don't care for.

I'm all about creating the 'top end' experience my peers and I who could see beyond the 1000pt competition game, craved as kids.

It's amazing. when I walk into the games room and look at the terrain, I hear a different soundtrack, to when I look at my ECW, or indeed my Medieval and so on. But invariably I hear the music I was into when I first became aware of or invested myself in a period or facet of gaming.

If I see a copy of the 'Ringworld' RPG, I am transported to a late summer afternoon, stretched out on my bed, with the 'Fugazi' album by Marillion, playing on my first proper stereo, in particular the track 'Incubus', imagining in my minds eye the vastness of space and the spinning Ringworld of the title.

I was tempted to listen to 'Two Steps From The Move' by 'Hanoi Rocks' yesterday as the Memsahib and I stole a day away from work (after putting in serious overtime on my part, I would add for the record) and I had to turn it off. I suddenly realised that I have not listened to it since 1985 and then it hit me why. I subconciously connect it to a truly nightmarish part of my youth, which my wife of course was aware of but which I'd compartmentalised. It then hurled me forward 8 months and the first figures I was painting after that awful time, namely 25mm Wargames Foundry and Corvus ECW and the Citadel set RR7 Bowmen Of Oreon. All that from hearing three tracks from an album almost 40 years old.

I rallied a few minutes later, but given that I began writing this post yesterday morning at 6AM, to actually experience the very state of mind and emotion I'd been writing about, was interesting.

Next week, I'm off to see Adam Ant - still a consumate performer - whose music I was 'getting out' of as I began gaming, but who nevertheles, I connect with my first Heritage plastic fantasy figures, as I transitioned to a lifelong love of rock, via that sordid few years dressing in black and wearing white makeup, convincing myself that this was a better life than simply talking to the real friends I'd left behind. To be fair I did make a couple of friends during that time who, I am still close to and who also game. The gaming was the enduring connection and root for those friendships.

I will probably always be delving into all of the ways that gaming has interwoven into the very fabric of who I am, for better or in many instances worse. It changed my fundamentally in may ways and not always positively in my teen years, but I have survived and learned from those experiences, even though one or two people in the hundreds I have connected with over the years still perpetuate some truly erroneous 'facts' about me - often to cover their own far darker little bahavioural nooks and crannies.

I can smile about that aged 54, but I could not have said the same at age 40. They say that with age comes wisdom, but I think the honest reason is you simply stop giving a shit.

I'd love to reconnect with a few people, but you know, I have to say, I'm relatively satisfied with who and where I am, neither rich nor poor, but comfortable in my skin, my head and where I am.

"And what about the gaming this week?" I hear you say...

Well, I managed to get the banners on the Swiss and Burgundian Men At Aerms, and this morning I am going to begin adding flags to the Swiss infantry. I also replaced the cast lances with suitably lethal pins - someone may hurt themselves? Their problem. They handle them with care or not at all!

Well, I better clear off and get on with cutting and sticking paper flags...

TTFN