ABSTRACT
In the United Kingdom, television at the turn of the millennium has
become obsessed with nostalgia programming. We’ve had series cele-
brating the 1970s and 1980s, plus a plethora of ‘Best Of ’ and ‘Top Ten’
programmes, all of which feature music at their centre. One of the
interesting things that these programmes show is just how significant
music is in our day to day lives. Perhaps this isn’t a particularly surpris-
ing thought. After all, most of us will be familiar with the sense in
which music seems to mark the passage of time. For example, play
10cc’s I’m Not In Love, and a whole generation of forty-somethings will
be transported back to the slow dances of the school discos of their
youth. Or, put on a copy of Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas?
