I was in the new first year intake of a brand new sixth form college - Lancashire had gone comprehensive, and a big thing for us was a tiny room with a turntable that we could use at dinner time. We were pretty much split into two groups fighting to use it (music was tribal in the 1970s): Zappa, Beefheart and Blues enthusiasts vs David Bowie fans (i.e. "Zappa? How can you take seriously someone pictured sat on a bog?" vs "Bowie? He was shit in Davy Jones and the King Bees and he's still shit.") I was in the former category. Still am, I suppose, although my view of Bowie has changed.

Anyway, one day someone brought in the LP "Age of Atlantic" and put on the penultimate track on side two: Sam Stone. Total silence. Someone picked up the arm and replayed it. It blew everyone away.

The man was an extraordinary musician and song-writer.