4. ØJays

When I was becoming of age, I became more politically and emotionally aware, back at a time when Britain was a very racist place. But the music I was listening to was very reflective of that and spoke to me – and one of those tunes would have been ‘Back Stabbers’ by the O’Jays. "They smile in your face, all the time they want to take your place."

But back then, homegrown acts were protected, so many black records went under the radar, particularly the social commentary ones such as ‘Say It Loud – I’m Black and I’m Proud’ or ‘A Change Is Gonna Come’ and so on. The British government at the time suppressed those records for fear of them leading to incitement. At that time I was also listening to Curtis Mayfield, Sly & The Family Stone. I’m talking about the more obvious stuff at this point because I wasn’t buying imports at that time.