Musical Chairs

#4 When The Waterboys met Coronation Street

A few weeks ago I was at a Q&A/signing for the launch of the new 1985 box set reissue of This is the Sea by The Waterboys.

As the venerable Mike Scott signed my copy, I took the opportunity to ask him if he remembered who introduced the band at their gig at Salford University in 1986. Not just to be weird but because it's one of my top three gigs of all time.

He peered up at me like Professor Yaffle from Bagpuss and amiably said: "Was it you?"

When I'd stopped laughing it was my privilege to tell him that the person who welcomed his band to the stage that night was none other than Coronation Street's bubble-permed toothy lothario Chris Quentin - that's Brian Tilsley to you.

This bizarre pairing made me think of other unlikely combinations in music so I decided to do some digging. My exec summary would be that there were some very strange things going on in 1978.

American rock titans Blue Oyster Cult did a full UK tour - supported by, wait for it...Japan. No, I'm not making that up! If the YouTube gods could find the evidence, the world would be forever in their debt. But that's not all 1978 had to offer. How about Toto - supported by the Ramones? Hey! Ho! Oh No!

And there's more. This was also the year that Def Leppard shared the stage with The Human League - perhaps not that surprising given they were both starting out in Sheffield at a similar time. But strange all the same. And in 1979 the mighty Led Zeppelin headlined Knebworth to 200,000 and loitering near the bottom of the bill were cheeky Cockney chappies Chas and Dave. Sadly, I only ever got to see one of these artists.

Based on the above, I think it's fair to say that rock bands over-index when it comes to quirky bedfellows. I mean even Spinal Tap were at it, famously supporting a Puppet Show in the classic 1984 film. Years later, it was still going on - 2012 saw Van Halen choose their support act as Kool & the Gang.

I still can't quite believe that Midge Ure was in Thin Lizzy and Ultravox at the same time (1979/80) but perhaps oddest of all is the one that got away. Following the successive departures of Ozzy Osbourne and Ronnie James Dio, 1983 found Black Sabbath looking for a new singer. Amongst the people who auditioned was one MICHAEL BOLTON. Yes, him. Apparently, he sung three songs, one of which was War Pigs. Imagine that - or maybe don't.

As history tells us, this unlikely union never actually came to pass but the fact he was in the room in the first place is still hard to believe. Which kind of brings us back to where we started with Brian Tilsley.