How Dare You by 10cc

Wow! What's this? I hadn't heard anything like Donna, either before or since 10cc's debut LP came out in 1973. It was in the charts. It was so different. Then came Rubber Bullets, which got to No. 1. And for some inexplicable reason my heart leapt every time I heard it.

Actually, I know the reason why. It was because I was in love with Lesley Welch from school, although she never knew it. And I was being driven in my dad's car and we were going past where I thought Lesley lived, and Rubber Bullets was on the radio. I thought I saw her walking along the street. In my mind I urgently instructed Dad: "Stop the car, Dad! NOW! I have to tell Lesley that I love her!"

It wasn't actually her, and it didn't really matter because the following week I started going out with Gwen and became madly in love with her instead.

I came of age too. Not with anything to do with Lesley or Gwen, but by going to see 10cc, my first gig, at Hammersmith Odeon.

Anyway, I digress. Lol, Kevin, Graham and Eric produced, in my humble opinion, four incredible LPs, one after the other. Their forth, How Dare You, was the best. It was clever too, and spawned the hit I'm Mandy, Fly Me, a real classic, and well worth checking out the LP, on which there is not a single duff track.

But for me, Rubber Bullets will always hold a special place in my heart, representing those golden years of music and unrequited love.