I really think you've got to allow for the fact that the music we're inclined to dismiss as crap had a lot of value at the time. I mean - I sit in TERROR watching those old TOTP episodes which goes from the sublime (Bob Marley) to the ridiculous (Brotherhood of Man) in the blink of eye - BUT - someone must have loved this stuff. On another level, I think we must be thankful for it. Without such MOR Schlager there'd have been nothing the underground to kick against - this was (I think) as true in the UK as it was in Germany. Number One the day I was born was You Don't Know by Helen Shapiro; recorded that same year - John Coltrane at The Village Vanguard and The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra.

It takes all sorts...