Dust off those D90s

Going through those old Pulse reviews reminded me of a recent conversation with Euro Correspondent chief Stephen Gardner. He was telling me how he came across a website dedicated to an ultra obscure British 80s indie outfit, The Clockwork Earwig Project. The site included extracts from a tape recording of a gig in Cheltenham in 1986 that Stephen attended. That got me thinking how many other unknown, unsigned and essentially unsuccessful bands of the past are having their exploits rediscovered through the Net? And how many D90s of half-baked school bands, bedroom malcontents and general arsing about on instruments are lurking still in cupboards and attics around the world, waiting for their moment in the sun? "Anyone can do it," said the punks. And we did. Of course, before the advent of the www, only one and half men and a horse's head (to borrow a Dutch expresion) could hear what most of us were doing. Now, anyone with the inclination can convert the sole surviving tape of a gig played at a friend's 18th birthday party in Prestatyn in 1989 to a CD and MP3 and shove it out there for all to download.
Maybe the next wave is a wave of the past. As the mainstream remains dominated by TV talent shows, maybe it is time for a scene that excavates music never intended for mass consumption, made by people who never had a hope in Hell of getting a record contract (who never even thought it was possible). They just wanted to make some music and put it down on tape, with whatever primitive means were at their disposal. Will anyone be listening this time?