I used to be punk rock

Seems a long time ago now.

Party night was in the bar the other evening. It was a 30th birthday party. Now in my time I have played a few party events. Usually I work out the year when the group would have been about 17/18 and play the songs from that time. So for my birthday party I would expect the songs from 1976 onwards to be played. You can play the cheesy pop stuff from a few years before too.

Again for my age group you can spin pop tunes from 1973 onwards and rockier stuff from 76 through until 1984. It is a fair bet that the punter's interest in music will wane in their late 20's as mortgages and toddlers kick in.

In 1977 I discovered punk. To be accurate many others had stumbled upon it first but in sleepy Galashiels it first reared it's pretty head in the Jubilee year. I had just finished my first year as a student. The soundtrack to this had been 'Born to Run'. The summer of '77 was lived to the beat of The Ramones, The Clash and Talking Head's debuts.  It is music that still lives with me now. Chuck in Blondie, Costello and the MC5 and you can see how influential this music was and how easy it is for a dj to play in 2011. Even if it all originated 35 years past.

Now if you are out celebrating your 30th birthday you were 17 in 1994. That was just yesterday.  You have missed punk, post punk, Smiths type indie, acid house, Nirvana, Primal Scream and the Roses.You came along after rave, after early hip hop but in time for the Spice Girls and Natalie Imbruglia.

If you are 30 then you can call Britpop your own. Most folk would gladly hand it to you anyway. Then scenes split and becime indistinct as everyone gets hold of an ipod and disappears into their own white inner ear universe. So what music binds the 30 years old together at parties? You can't just play Oasis and Blur all evening. Suggestions welcome in the comment box, thanks.

As it was there were two other party groups in that evening so I was able to disguise my out of depthness but if it happens again I'll have that haunted look of someone trying to remember what a Cast song sounded like.