I was 21 as the year began and, since leaving school, had been buying music like crazy. That made compiling the soundtrack for the last 4 or 5 episodes very easy. But by 1988, the growth of my record collection had definitely slowed. I don't know if that's because the quality of music dipped. There was certainly a marked increase in manufactured pop in the charts.
But I also suspect a personal shift in focus; spending more time involved in drugs and alcohol than in music. Amphetamine sulphate (or speed) was my drug of choice and I saw it as bringing me out of my shell, making more of what I wanted to be. In hindsight, it probably made more of what I wasn't.
It's the start of a period of my life that I'm not particularly proud of but it certainly had a formative impact on me and where I ended up. So I refuse to be ashamed either.
As a result, some of my memories for this episode are a bit of a blur. So welcome to the hazy days of 1988.
