I Like Plastic

The seven inch single is officially sixty years old this month, and that news set me thinking about early record purchases.

Way back in about 1973, my parents gave me a Dansette for Xmas - allegedly a portable record player, although I recall it weighed a ton (all those valves!) - covered in fetching pink and white vinyl. How trendy. I thought it was fab at the time, and you could stack all your records up to play in turn (and scratch the surface of each).



As well as the inevitable Top of the Pops albums (1974's [pictured above] came complete with free calendar of some tart in a leopardskin bikini), they bought us kids such gems as Thank You Very Much for the Aintree Iron by Pinky & Perky, and O'Malley the Alley Cat from Disney's Aristocats cartoon.

But I was determined to buy my own music with my pocket money. And what was the first single I bought? This...

Donny Osmond - The Twelfth of Never

Good grief. However, at the time I was in love with Donny - the teeth, the hair, the velvet jackets. I was only ten years old, so I have the perfect excuse, honest, guv!