I've had to put my original choice on the back burner because of djpekingman's too similar selection, so I've gone with this instead.
It's a cover of a Tower of Power track, I think, by a band you've probably never heard of. I only know them because I went to school with one of them.
Back then he had just begun to teach himself how to play electric guitar, hoping to emulate his hero Paul Weller by fronting his own band. It seemed a ridiculously hopeless dream for a scrawny 12 year old to have, so 12 year old me gifted him my Jam LPs to help make it feel a little bit better.
A few years later, while in 6th form, he did have a band, who played at a Live Aid-esque gig he organised single-handedly. He copped a bit of banter for that- other lads calling him 'Saint Gav' - but I was too busy ogling the bass player to give him the applause he probably deserved.
So we moved on. I moved on to become a single parent at the age of 22, he moved on to TOTP; touring with Jamiroquai; session musician work and forming Samuel Purdey (amongst other things.) He soon repaid the Jam LPs with a tour jacket and bottle vodka on a fleeting visit back to Brighton. Nursing a massive hangover the next day, I realised I no longer felt sorry for him and his impossible dream because he'd already achieved it, I felt sorry for myself instead.
So, every time I'm tempted to annihilate a piece of music just because it's not my cup of tea, I think of Gav. Like him, someone has had enough talent and enough tenacity to have their childhood dream become real, and that's more than I've ever done. Hopefully, some of you will like this and some of you may even dig around into his latest musical venture -Mighty Mezz - I hope so. I'm really proud of what he's achieved over the last 44 years so, this one's for you Gav xx