A year bedevilled by inconsistency, 1987 cruelly ruptured all the upheaval theories linking it to ’67 and ’77. Lots of brilliant singles and precious few (and few precious) albums. Belfast saw the best gig of many a year from The Triffids and well-up-to-scratch visits from Michelle Shocked. The Jesus And Mary Chain and Van Morrison – and I’ll scream if another person tells me how good Waits was in Dublin.

St. Vitus Dance bequested the city a wordy wonder in ‘Love Me Love My Dogma’ and six of the best singles came from the industrious A House and the Petrols – if only ‘Babble’s’ production had matched that on ‘Big Decision’, ‘Swamp/Dance Your Ass Off’ and ‘Genius Move’, it would have been Album of the Year. Notwithstanding, ‘Creeping To The Cross’ was all but track of the year.

Other post-punk excellence emanated from The Soup Dragons (their Buxxcocky ‘Head Gone Astray’ was 45 of ’87), Miaow, Edwyn Collins, the Cure, the Jesus And Mary Chain and The Smiths – who, sadly, snuffed it. Fabulous dance records came courtesy of M/A/R/R/S, mantronix (‘Scream’ should be lodged in the collective consciousness but doesn’t seem to be), Steve Silk Hurley, Prince and the rap record of the year – ‘Cabrini Green’ from Sugar Ray Dinke on Rhythm King. The rock machine proved it could still turn us on via singles from the Cult and Beasties and there were different voices from The Proclaimers and Throwing Muses – ignore their ‘The Fat Skier’ and check ‘Snailhead’ and ‘Cry Baby Cry’ and 4AD’s ‘Chains Unchained’ EP. Inspirational!