I try and keep up to date with music, I listen to XFM, catch Jools Holland whenever possible, buy more CDs then I need and ‘buy’ more MP3s than I could ever afford. But despite this I still find myself drawn back to the early 70s when I was young and Glam was King. My saviour in this field is the underrated TOTP2, it keeps me in touch with how I felt about music back then.

I always watch TOTP2 with a little bit of apprehension. Will my memories stand the test of time? Was that classic performance in fact an embarrassment? Did my hero really wear a tank top? The other week I caught Mud performing ‘Tiger Feet’, complete with roadies, dance moves and the guitarist wearing the campest (and pinkest) flares I’ve ever seen.

Mud were the first group I remember dancing to at a disco. It was in the middle of the North Sea on a school trip to Scandinavia, the DJ played ‘Tiger Feet’ and I was up there with my mates copying all the moves we’d seen on TV. Our teachers cracked up to such an extent that one fell over and broke his arm (of course that had nothing to do with the Double Diamond he was drinking), but we didn’t care we knew we were the coolest kids on the planet.

Now of course watching TOTP2 I can see Mud with an added 30 years of perspective - and it hasn’t changed my views one bit. I still think the dancing looks cool and I still like to think that I was the coolest kid on the North Sea. And even if I wasn’t who cares? Having a selective memory and re-writing bits of personal history are one of the benefits of getting older!

Mud consisted of Les Grey on lead vocals, Dave Mount on drums, Ray Stiles on bass and Rob Davis on guitar and like many ‘overnight successes’ of the Glam era had a long apprenticeship before they hit the big time. Their roots can be traced back to the early 60s when Dave and Rob played together in a number of groups around the Surrey area, first it was The Apaches, then The Barracudas and finally Remainder. When Remainder needed a new bassist Ray Stiles joined; while this brought three quarters of Mud together they would only remain that way for a short time.

Les Grey meanwhile had his own successful band - the Mourners. Playing the same local circuit as Remainder they were their main rivals. The Mourners had started out as a trad jazz outfit but by the mid-60s they had moved onto rock and roll and when a vacancy came up for a lead guitarist Rob jumped ship and joined them. This setup, with Dave and Ray in one group and Les and Rob in another stayed in place until the Mourners poached Ray and renamed themselves Mud.