Gothic Theatre
Robyn Hitchcock
1952
Conceived in Stockholm.
1953
Born in London.
1956
I see a dead chicken.
1957
John Lennon meets Paul McCartney in Liverpool.
1959
I get my first plastic dinosaur.
1962
Bay Of Pigs & The Cuban Missile Crisis. Kennedy faces off Kruschev. I start collecting beetles.
1963
The Beatles have four number one hits. I try unsuccessfully to compose an instrumental in my head. Kennedy shot dead. First Dr. Who episode transmitted.
1965
Discover H.G. Wells. Try unsuccessfully to build a time-machine.
1966
Discover Bob Dylan and give up time machines.
1967
The Year Zero
February: Get my first guitar. October: Learn to tune it.
1969
In July, Neil Armstrong is the first man in recorded history to stand on the moon. Trout Mask Replica by Captain Beefheart is released the following month.
1970
The Beatles dissolve. I write my first song , “Baby,” with my school friend Martin, who is now a lawyer in Buenos Aires.
1972
Martin and I play the City and Guilds Art School Dance with our beat group, “The Beatles.” Somehow the name doesn’t catch on, and we play our last gig on December 31st 1973 at the British Council. Topping the bill are Chilli Willi And The Red Hot Peppers,whose drummer Pete Thomas goes on to play with Elvis Costello.
1974
Nixon impeached. I move up to Cambridge looking for musicians, and play the folk-clubs.
1975
Margaret Thatcher becomes head of the Conservative party. I keep playing the folk clubs.
1976
The Sex Pistols release “Anarchy In The UK.” I write “It’s Not Just The Size Of A Walnut.” It goes down okay in the folk clubs, but I’m still looking for the right musicians.
1977
I find the right musicians, AKA The Soft Boys, and we release “Wading Through A Ventilator” in November. Doesn’t quite connect with the Year Zero of Punk.
1978
The Soft Boys support Elvis Costello and nearly get a major record deal. Kimberley Rew joins the Soft Boys.
1979
A Can Of Bees released on our own Two Crabs label. Universal thumbs-down from the music press, although Julian Cope later describes it as a “red-hot poker up the arse of pop music.” Thatcher elected as Prime Minister. I read alot of J.G. Ballard.
1980
Underwater Moonlight, the second Soft Boys LP is released on the Armageddon label. We get as far as New York, but we have lasted too long in the wrong environment and dissolve the following February. John Lennon shot dead in New York. Ronald Reagan elected.
1981
I release Black Snake Diamond Role and promote it by doing nothing. Inner city riots throughout Britain. Spandau Ballet are huge.
1982
My second solo album, Groovy Decoy. Promote it by doing even less, except legendary tour of Norwegian fallout shelters, playing to AC/DC fans. Falklands War guarantees Thatcher a second term. I drink heavily and listen to Bryan Ferry.
1983
Write lyrics for Captain Sensible. Sleep a lot. Thatcher re-elected. Unbeknownst to me, US college radio stations are now massively playing our old records.
1984
Better than I had expected. REM and other new US bands cite The Soft Boys and myself as influences. Meet Peter Buck at Highgate Cat Protection League. Record first totally solo record I Often Dream Of Trains. Play first live show in two years at The Hope & Anchor, Islington.
1985
Start touring US with backing group The Egyptians, featuring former Soft Boys Morris Windsor and Andy Metcalfe. Booked to support REM but caterpillar-shaped growth in my abdomen requires surgery and aborts tour. Fegmania!, the first Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians LP is released. Fifteen-minute standing ovation after our New York show at the Irving Plaza. Similarly at our first Canadian show, in the converted brothel Larry’s Hideaway. “Walking On Sunshine” is a global smash hit for Kimberley Rew’s band Katrina And The Waves.
1986-1992
We sign to A&M records in the US. Element Of Light, Globe Of Frogs, Queen Elvis and Perspex Island all top the Rolling Stone Alternative chart.
1989
Finally open for REM on their Green tour. I play my first solo US tour in the autumn.
1991
The Year Punk Broke, again. Nirvana chases us off the chart and the musical climate changes.
1993
Respect is my last album with Egyptians. In Britain the Tories are in for a fourth term, despite the deposing of Margaret Thatcher. Great debut albums from Grant-Lee Buffalo and Belly.
1994
I am now a solo act.
1995
Jonathan Demme appears in the dressing room between sets at my show near his home just outside New York. He identifies himself and offers to film me in concert.
1996
Storefront Hitchcock, featuring myself with accompaniment from violinist Deni Bonet and guitarist Tim Keegan playing in a shop window on 14th Street in New York, is directed by Jonathan Demme. Moss Elixir is released on Warner Brothers.
1997
Labour returns to power after 18 years — or does it? Phil Collins moves to Switzerland.
1998
Storefront Hitchcock opens at the Film Forum in NYC. Jonathan & Joanne Demme, Laurie Anderson, Lou Reed, Michael Stipe and Peter Buck attend. Peter and I busk outside afterwards and collect over $13.
1999
Third album for Warners, Jewels For Sophia. Tour the US as part of the “Revue Against Brain Degeneration” with The Flaming Lips, Sebadoh, Sonic Boom and Cornelius. War in the former Yugoslavia. Western planes bomb Belgrade. I introduce Storefront at film festivals in Australia, Sweden, Britain and the US. The busiest year of my life so far.
2000
Tour in the US as a double act with Grant Lee Phillips,doing the Grant Lee Hitchcock show. A Star For Bram (companion disc to Jewels For Sophia) is the first release on my label, editionsPAF!
2001
George W. Bush takes office. Deep breath. World Trade Centre in New York demolished by hijacked passenger planes. The Soft Boys reform to promote the 21st anniversary re-release of Underwater Moonlight, tour the US and record an album of new material. George Harrison dies at 58.
2002
Festering hatred between Israel and the Palestinians escalates into undeclared war. The Soft Boys album NextDoorLand is released by Matador. India and Pakistan make nuclear war more likely than it has been at any time since the Bay Of Pigs in 1962. I have a cameo appearance as a sleazy rock grandad in TV adaptation of Tony Parsons’ book, Man And Boy. NASA plans manned landing on Mars within the next twenty years; Subterranean beds of frozen water “may make it habitable long-term.” Robyn Sings, a 2CD set of Bob Dylan covers is released on editionsPAF!
2003
My 50th birthday party show in March at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London is sold out. Guest musicians include Peter Blegvad and John Paul Jones, Morris and Kimberley from the Soft Boys, and Deni and Keegan from Storefront. Luxor is pressed up to give away to the audience, then released on PAF! in Britain and the US.
US and Britain invade Iraq, on the pretext of nullifying the threat from Iraqi missiles. No missiles have yet been found. We now claim the invasion was for the benefit of the Iraqis. Tyranny is replaced with anarchy.
Jonathan Demme’s remake of The Manchurian Candidate, featuring Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep and Liev Schrieber, is filmed over the winter in New York. I play the part of Laurent Tokar, a sinister operative.
