MODERN MUSIC:
Was the best guitar shop in Dudley, right opposite the Zoo,
just before the sad penguin compound painted pastel blue.
After selling my Futurama to a local kid for twenty five
quid (who took off the top two strings in the misguided belief
it would transform it into a bass!- who was I to dissuade him?)
I went straight to Modern Music where they had two deep red & black
Hofner Galaxy’s for exactly the amount he’d payed me. The Galaxy
is a bells n whistles guitar, fashioned after a Fender Stratocaster,
but with none of the finesse & five times the switches. It weighed
a ton, had a neck like a tree trunk & a little damper pad device you
could press up against the strings if you weren’t capable of damping
them with your hand. I loved that guitar, it came in a shaped case
made of pressed card with velveteen lining & leather straps – proper
pro.
Years later I saw Dave Hill’s ‘Super Yob’ raygun guitar for sale in
the Shop, custom built for him by John Birch when Slade were at
their peak & permanently resident on Top Of The Pops. We were grateful
to Slade, partly for keeping the Midlands in the top of the charts,
(& by default making us less of a joke to the rest of the country) but
mostly for giving us material we didn’t mind covering, perpetuating
the myth that we were a band aware of current trends & therefore
‘one to book’ for your working men’s club Saturday Night out or your
obligatory village hall fist fight.
It saddened me to see ‘Super Yob’ up for sale & I never forgot that
feeling. There was a beautiful Zamaitis in the window next to it with
that signature intricate engraving on the metal facia that I later
remember seeing Ronnie Wood play with The Faces on Top Of The Pops.
Maybe Modern Music was the back door into the charts? – I kept my
Hofner polished & ready.
(K)
Karl Hyde 
Dudley zoo, many happy memories for me in the early70s.