Robyn Hitchcock

1952 Conceived in Stockholm.

1953 Born in Paddington, London.

1956 Lennon meets McCartney in Liverpool.

1958 Elvis’ sideburns are shaved off upon his conscription into the army.

1961 Yuri Gagarin is the first man to survive in space.

1963 Everything speeds up. Dylan & The Beatles lift off.

1966 I buy my first LP, Highway 61 Revisited. Dylan breaks up.

1967 I acquire my first guitar. Play along to Bert Jansch LP. Brian Wilson breaks up. Brian Eno organizes a concrete music event in a basement at my school. He is wearing blue sunglasses.

1968 Learn how to tune my guitar. Syd Barrett breaks up. I buy a pair of blue sunglasses.

1969 My first attempt at songwriting. Humans land on the moon. The Beatles break up.

1970 I co-write a song with my friend Martin (had lunch with him last year: he seems fine). Jimi Hendrix dies. Lou Reed leaves the Velvet Underground.Things slow down.

1971 I write a song all by myself. Jim Morrison dies.

1972 I play my first rock gig at the City & Guilds Art School Christmas party. The tree falls over. We play songs by the Doors, the Byrds, VelvetUnderground, Syd Barrett and the Beatles.

1973 Funky denim wilderness. “One And One Is One” is a hit for Medicine Head. I decide to stay in the ’60s. Things stop.

1973-1974 New Year’s Eve My band plays its last gig, at the British Councilin London. Also on the bill are Chilli Willi & The Red Hot Peppers, whose drummer, Pete Thomas, would later play with Elvis Costello.

1974 I move up to Cambridge and burrow into the folk clubs.

1975 Sex Pistols play their first gig in London (St. Martins Art School).

1976 Soft Boys start in Cambridge. Line up is: Morris Windsor, drums; Andy Metcalfe, bass; Alan “Wang Bo” Davies, guitar; and myself on other guitar and songwriting.

1977 The clouds break. Punk sweeps Britain. Unemployment rises and the ’60s are finally over. First Soft Boys record: “Wading Through A Ventilator.” We open for Elvis Costello at the Nashville rooms in West London.

1978 Soft Boys second single “Anglepoise Lamp” released through WEA-offshoot, Radar. Although our material is “arguably as nihilistic as anything punk produced” (Thank You, David Cavanagh) our attitude doesn’t endear us to the punk/new wave crowd. We are too middle-class and ’60s-based, especially for those journalists who want to believe that music started with Iggy and the Velvets. Combining this alienation with my own self-fulfilling mistrust of the music business, we are soon in limbo. We represent a way that music might have gone, but didn’t. Brian Eno produces the second Talking Heads album.

1979 “Are Friends Electric?” by Gary Numan is #1. Roxy Music reform. A Can Of Bees, the first Soft Boys album, is butchered by the press (to be fair, it is pretty unlistenable). I drink heavily and read a lot of J. G. Ballard. Margaret Thatcher elected.

1980 John Lennon is murdered. Ronald Reagan elected. Elvis Costello releases Get Happy. Soft Boys record Underwater Moonlight which becomes a U.S. college radio favorite over the next few years. Our New York shows are well received, but…

1981 The Soft Boys disintegrate. I release Black Snake Diamond Role, my first solo album and promote it by doing nothing. “Tainted Love” by Soft Cell is #1.

1982 Second solo album Groovy Decay. Do even less. Drink heavily and listen to Avalon by Roxy Music in the wet Sussex twilight. Write lyrics for Captain Sensible.

1983 Thatcher re-elects herself. “Sign Of The Times” by The Belle Stars reaches #3. ’60s music has become somewhat re-legitimized by Teardrop Explodes, Echo & The Bunnymen, the Psychedelic Furs and others. R.E.M. re-invent folk-rock, citing the Soft Boys as an influence. Things bottom out.

1984 Recharged by two years of nothing, I record I Often Dream Of Trains solo and Fegmania with the Egyptians (who include old Soft Boys, Morris Windsor and Andy Metcalfe). “Relax” by Frankie Goes To Hollywood is #1.

1985 Live Aid. Gotta Let This Hen Out recorded live with the Egyptians. Begin touring the U.S. Things speed up again. First visit to Minneapolis.

1986 Element Of Light with The Egyptians. Top college airplay charts for 6 weeks on independent label (Relativity) with only one radio promotion person. Apex of cool.

1987 Sign to A&M.

1988 Globe of Frogs spawns “Balloon Man” (originally written for the Bangles) Apex of airplay. Things fly out the window. “Charlotte Anne” by Julian Cope in U.K. Top 20.

1989 Queen Elvis, again with The Egyptians, plus Peter Buck on guitar. Open for R.E.M. on “Green Tour.” Fifth visit to Minneapolis.

1990 Eye solo record released through Twin/Tone. Play 65-date solo tour of U.S. with my girlfriend, a guitar, and a kettle.

1991 Perspex Island with The Egyptians is knocked off the alternative charts by Nirvana’s Nevermind. The ’70s are back. Out of Time by R.E.M. is #1 worldwide.

1992 Respect is the last album for A&M. Move to Washington, DC.

1993 I move back from D.C. Twilight of The Egyptians. “Feed The Tree” by Belly, a smash on alternative chart.

1994 End of The Egyptians. I begin recording Moss Elixir.

1995 Rhino release nine-album retrospective. K-Records in Olympia, Washington, releases three-song vinyl EP (“I Something You”) recorded in Calvin Johnson’s basement. More recording for Moss Elixir. Tenth visit to Minneapolis. Meet Brian Eno at a party in London he remembers the event in 1967, but no longer has the blue sunglasses.

1996 Sign worldwide to Warner Brothers. Moss Elixir finished, due out in August. I buy another pair of blue sunglasses. As an aperitif, Warner Bros. releases Mossy Liquor outtakes and prototypes in July, limited edition vinyl companion piece to Moss Elixir (with completely different tracks). Toured the US with Billy Bragg. In December began filming Jonathan Demme’s Storefront Hitchcock.

1997 An exciting year. I did two US tours and started work on my next record, Jewels For Sophia. Recorded in Seattle, Los Angeles and London, this is the ultimate late 20th Century rock ‘n’ roll album. It features lots of men standing on their hind legs playing guitar, including Kimberley Rew, Peter Buck, Grant Lee Phillips, Tim Keegan, and the Young Fresh Fellows. It’s due for release in the spring of 1999 on Waner Brothers. Also during this year Jonathan Demme edited Storefont Hitchcockfor release in 1998. At the same time, Orion Pictures, who financed the movie, were bought by MGM, who are uncertain as to what to do with it. So if you want to see the movie, write to MGM.