At the recent West End run of the play about Wilko Johnson, the guitarist and co-founder of 70s rockers Dr Feelgood, one exchange always got a big laugh. It was part of an argument between Lee Brilleaux, the band’s singer, and Wilko himself.

Lee: We were more popular after you left. We had our biggest hits after we kicked you out of the band. I mean, do you know how many Dr Feelgood tribute bands there are now in Spain? Wilko: I dunno. And I don’t care. Lee: Twenty-seven.

Lee: We were more popular after you left. We had our biggest hits after we kicked you out of the band. I mean, do you know how many Dr Feelgood tribute bands there are now in Spain?

Wilko: I dunno. And I don’t care.

It is a peculiar phenomenon, this: there may be plenty of 70s bands still going strong, but most are way more successful than Dr Feelgood in terms of what used to be called record sales. Spotify, for example, currently lists approximately 30 million monthly listeners for the Rolling Stones. That’s roughly 174 times more than Dr Feelgood’s 171,000.

Dr Feelgood were only properly big for about ten minutes

Dr Feelgood were only properly big for about ten minutes

Dr Feelgood were only properly big for about ten minutes. Almost exactly 50 years ago, at the tail end of the glorious summer of 1976, their live album Stupidity hit number one. The band’s fans included Elton John, John Lydon, Paul Weller, Joe Strummer and, it is said, a young Diana Spencer.

But that date is key. 1976 was the age of the monoculture. There were just three TV channels and only one national radio station, Radio 1, that played pop and rock.........

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