Reasons to be thankful:

Being handed a cassette in 1992(3?) that had Generation Terrorists on it.
I was the optimum age to be indoctrinated and they have been my wing-men ever since.

"You've got the looks, but I've got the scars"

Albums tangled up with memory:
Generation Terrorists handed over on cassette. Mishearing the lyrics to Motorcycle Emptiness; "I'm not beyond loneliness/Motorcycle Emptiness"

Gold Against The Soul: Getting pissed on champagne in Newcastle listening to Roses in the Hospital with Joanne Ghallager & Louise Richardson. A taste for booze.

The Holy Bible: Where to begin? Not a great period. Inextricably bound up with an awful period for the band, for me, but important. An earthquake.

Everything Must Go: Renewal. Rebirth. Glorious that they sold millions. Played loud in the car with Dad. Punched in the face the day I went to buy it following sports day at school.

This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours: 1998. Working for Marks & Sparks...buying the singles from HMV and poring over them in the staff canteen, unable to listen until I got home. Their most accomplished album and my favourite.

Know Your Enemy: University. Car clamped the day I bought it, meaning it cost me £100. Great period. Utter madness.

Lifeblood: Unemployed. Down and out. Drifting Listless. Blissful pop sheen. Massively underrated.

Send Away The Tigers: 2007. New home. Self-employed. Upward trajectory. What could possibly go wrong?

Journal for Plague Lovers: 2008. Financial crash. nervous breakdown. The beginning of a long slide down. Great record. Better than The Holy Bible?

Postcards From A Young Man/Rewind The Film/Futurology/Resistance Is Futile: The soundtrack to contented parenthood.
"I don't want my children to grow up like me/It's too soul-destroying/It's a fucking disease"