Just as in 1997, there were some seismic events in 1998 none more so than the signing of The Good Friday Agreement that put an end to most of the violence of the Troubles in Northern Ireland that had blighted the country since the 60s. Meanwhile, in technology, the DVD format was released into the UK market for the first time. It was seen as revolutionary which it was compared to the good old *VHS tape that we’d all been making do with for years. Funny to think that even that format is pretty much now redundant.

*Remember having to set the timer for a few minutes before and a few minutes after the programme you wanted to record to make sure you got all of it?!

Whilst peace was on the agenda in Northern Ireland, it seemed that violence and bad behaviour was dominating the headlines in the music world. Chumbawamba’s Danbert Nobacon poured a bucket of ice over Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott at the 1998 BRIT Awards in February whilst in March, in the space of a week, Liam Gallagher was charged with assault for breaking a fan’s nose in Australia before he was banned from Cathay Pacific airline for allegedly abusing passengers on the flight home to the UK. Also in March, Mark Morrison was sentenced to jail for paying a lookalike to do his community service. The following month, The Fall’s Mark E. Smith got into a fight with band mates whilst performing a gig in New York and he was arrested and charged with assaulting band member Julia Nagle the next day. Within 24 hours, George Michael was arrested after being caught in a “lewd act” by an undercover officer in a sting operation. The incident would lead to Michael coming out re: his sexuality within days of the event. Finally, in October, Ian Brown of the Stone Roses was jailed for threatening behaviour towards a stewardess on a British Airways flight. He served two months of a four month sentence in Strangeways prison, Manchester leaving to a graffiti campaign proclaiming ‘Ian Brown is innocent’.

Meanwhile, on a mad day in May, two huge news stories broke. Geri Halliwell announced she was leaving the Spice Girls whilst Paul ‘Gazza’ Gascoigne was left out of the England World Cup squad. 1998 saw a number of bands split up including Menswear, Salad and Sleeper (Britpop really was over!) but those still going strong were All Saints with three No 1 singles and the Spice Girls who would record their third consecutive Christmas No 1. Also boarding the all female success train were sibling trio Cleopatra and Irish lassies B*Witched who matched All Saints tally of three chart toppers. Perhaps the biggest female star of them all also returned this year when Madonna released her “Ray Of Light” album. As for the boys, Robbie Williams went from strength to strength having saved his career with “Angels” whilst Boyzone were still churning out the hits with two No 1s and Five scored themselves a No 1 album.

As for me, I was still working for Our Price in the Stockport branch but things were starting to go south with my mental health and I would end up finishing the year in a different place geographically and mentally. This year might just be the toughest I’ve had to review so far.