The Captain and Me (23/6/13)

I hadn't been working for HMV that long (my shop may still have been Revolver Records, there are probably 3 of us that remember that chain) so we're probably talking late 86/early 87 and I was working on the floor but heading back toward the counter as a queue was starting to from and help was needed.

There was this guy near the singles section browsing through the cheap singles; tallish, wearing a blazer, a pair of John Lennon style 'pebble' sunglasses, a beret, bleached blonde hair poking out from under it.

'Jesus' I thought 'who's that knob that thinks he's Captain Sensible?'

Remember Captain Sensible? Ex of The (quite wonderful) Damned, the first punk band to actually get a single out, the glorious 'New Rose', the first punk band to get an album out. Probably now remembered as the cartoon goths that covered Eloise in the eighties. And the good Captain himself, now remembered (if at all) as the one hit wonder that gained an unlikely number one single with a version of 'Happy Talk' from the musical 'South Pacific'

There were other singles in the wake of his flirtation with the mainstream, notably 'Wot' and the heavily underrated 'Glad It's All Over' but even by this time he was an almost forgotten figure. Why would anybody feel the need to dress as him?

You can see what's coming can't you?

I got to the counter and served the actual, real, one and only Captain Sensible. I was ridiculously chuffed at this state of affairs. We chatted briefly.

"How come my single's so cheap?" He asked.

I explained at some length about how the record company reps would leave free copies so that we could put them out cheap and boost the record's chances of chart success. It appeared that he was unaware of this practice, maybe all artists were, maybe the record companies (back when they still really existed) didn't give their artists the details of the techniques they used to perpetuate their stardom, perhaps they wanted them to feel as though their success was dictated purely by their own artistic endeavours.

The Captain's response to this discovery that art could be cheapened for the long term needs of commerce?

 "Brilliant! I'll have three then!"