Grateful thanks to Aimee Spanier, Managing Editor of Addicted to Noise, for her kind permission to use extracts from Music News Of The World in this resource.

As you can see, they had some problems trying to pin down the date...

Music News Of The World, 9th September 1995 - Andy's Birthday,

(Simon's note : No it isn't, and this article seems, to me, remarklably similar in places to the Q "Heroes Of Punk" extract included elsewhere.)

Today is the birthday of XTC guitarist and vocalist Andy Partridge, born in Malta in 1953. Partridge, along with Colin Moulding (bass) and Terry Chambers (drums) were all former members of the Swindon, Wiltshire based Star Park rock band, when they changed their name at the height of the punk boom to the Helium Kidz, hiring King Crimson keyboardist Barry Andrews to round out there sound. Another name change to XTC, and the quartet signed to Virgin Records and released an EP titled 3D.

In 1978 they recorded their first album, White Music in a week, and claimed their place as the spiritual inheritors of mid-to-late '60s psychedelic pop (think Revolver and Pet Sounds) The LP charted at #38. Their follow-up, Go2 was even further out, and more menacing; stomping on rock conventions as they sang their nervous, hyperactive songs. XTC songs tread into deep waters, addressing such mature subject matter as parenting, religion, and class-structure, with an alternating views of wonder and skepticism.

On Drums And Wires, the band proved they could make commercial-sounding music without sacrificing their considerable intelligence. Barry Andrews left, replaced by guitarist Dave Gregory. Drummer Chambers exited in 1982 and they continued along as a trio, releasing The Big Express , in which the band lamented about life in the big city, and celebrated the alternative ("The Everyday Story Of Smalltown"). But that's not to say XTC was bucolic and soft--rather they expressed their wry sentiments accompanied by full-blasting rock. Todd Rundgren produced Skylarking to mixed reviews.

They've since produced three more albums, continuing to transfix fans with their durable pop and intelligent lyrics. Some go so far as to call them the best purveyors of pop rock of the '80s and early '90s. It is also the birthday of Cris Dreja (Yardbirds), and Jesse Colin Young.

Music News Of The World, 11th December 1995 - Andy's Birthday,

(Simon's note : No, still wrong)

Today is "Ball And Chain" birthday. Taking age before beauty, the first stop Willie Mae Thornton, born on December 11, 1926. On the road from the time she was fifteen, Big Mama Thornton was an imposing presence on the blues and R&B charts in the '40s, '50s and '60s. She is best remembered by contemporary audiences for her original recording of Leiber and Stoller "Hound Dog," later picked up by Elvis Presley, and her own composition "Ball And Chain," which became Janis Joplin's signature tune in her days with Big Brother and the Holding Company.

"Ball and Chain" also happens to be the title of one of the many fine singles by XTC, the pride of Swindon, England whose leader Andy Partridge was born on the same day twenty-seven years after Big Mama Thornton. Unlike Road Animal Thornton, however, Partridge is possessed of more delicate sensibilities, which caused him to retire from touring in 1982. Since then he has devoted himself to XTC's wonderfully witty and sophisticated studio recordings, producing records for other artists, and settling a protracted law suit with XTC's former management.

It's also the birthday of Ilene Sutter (Reprise Records), McCoy Tyner, Booker T. Jones (Booker T. and the MGs), Jermaine Jackson, David Gates (Bread), Nikki Sixx (Motley Crue) and Brenda Lee.

Music News Of The World, 11th November 1995 - Andy's Birthday,

(Simon's note : Yay!)

Today is the birthday of Andy Partridge, vocalist for XTC, born this day 1953. In 1977 the band signed to Virgin Records, and were off and running, quickly becoming vanguards of the burgeoning British new wave movement. The following year they released their debut, White Music, which was recorded in a week. They next embarked on a tour to promote their album, and toured extensively throughout the following years. Touring pressures were so great, in fact, that Partridge collapsed on-stage in Paris, France, in 1982, and collapsed again, one month later, from a stomach ulcer, and announced that the band would never tour again. With all this sudden free time on their hands, XTC decided to form a second band, and released The Dukes Of Stratosphere: 25 O'Clock in 1985, billing themselves as the Dukes of Stratosphere. The next year they released an XTC album, Skylarking, produced by Todd Rundgren, as well as a second Dukes project.

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