Stick that up your Gary Glitter

I’m always quite curious as to how Amazon and other online shopping websites come up with their purchasing suggestions. Some of these are based on previous items that have been bought and others are based upon browsing history. I actually find this quite a useful facility but occasionally the suggestions that are thrown up can be bizarre. Often this will be due to looking up items out of curiosity or sometimes the search engine just getting the wrong end of the stick on certain words (for example, when I tried to find if the 1980s Scottish comedy series Naked Video was available on DVD). However, I was rather taken aback on Friday when Amazon suggested that I may be interested in Gary Glitter's Greatest Hits.

Now, I do have a confession to make about this. I did actually go to a Gary Glitter concert in Cardiff in 1987. This was back in the days when he was an amusing has-been entertainer and not the British media’s kiddie-fiddler-in-chief. I wasn’t a fan but I did have a couple of old Glitter songs knocking about on compilation albums. At that time, Glitter was one of the favourite novelty acts of the student concert circuit and it was at the student union buildings where I saw him.

This was actually a great venue and the attached bar often allowed the performers to mix with their audience – a bonus both for up-and-coming bands and more established acts who fancied something a bit more informal. I once tried to chat up one of the backing singers from The Cross (the side project of Roger Taylor from Queen). I didn’t get very far but I did get a back stage pass. I do remember that I said something a bit crass to Mr Taylor about his set list (I was a big fan of his first solo album) but he seemed perfectly good natured – it was that kind of venue. I did see Glitter briefly before his show but he was arrogantly telling a couple of students to **** off out of the way. The show itself was OK but I decided then that Gary Glitter wasn’t a very nice man.

Anyway, I had a look at some recent purchases and I think I’ve worked out what was behind the suggestion. I was offered a Motörhead compilation which is probably because I had recently bought an album by the German industrial rock act Oomph! I was also offered a Shane McGowan album which was probably because I’d bought a CD by Scottish folk-rock duo The Proclaimers. The Gary Glitter suggestion, I think, was because I bought an album by Slade. It’s a pity that they get lumped together as Slade wrote some fantastic songs. Maybe they should tell Amazon to use the Gary Glitter CD as an enema?