Although it’ll probably be remembered in the annals as the year when we all packed up our troubles in our old kit-bags (neatly doubling as expansive and ultra-trendy flares … wait’ll you see those photos in a few years, kids!) and danced away to Messrs. Oakenfold, Farley, weatherall and their puppets – far more pernicious and dishonest than anything those much-maligned bogeymen SAW ever foisted on the public – for me ’90 was one of those rare years when the bulk of the records which hogged my turntable were of Irish origin. Not out of any spurious notion of patriotism – nothing could be further from my mind – but simply because they were of a quality and diversity I found irresistible.

Leading the way were Something Happens with ‘Stuck Together With God’s Glue’, their second Virgin album and one which displayed such quantum leap in the band’s songwriting that it’s still being aired three or for times a week after all these months. Great melodies and more lyrical twists and turns than a George Best dribble, ‘God’s Glue’ is one of the best Irish rock rock albums ever made. Also featuring strongly on the dansette this year were That Petrol Emotion (‘Chemicrazy’), serious dark horses into Paradise (‘Under The Water’), the ranging and howling Fatima Mansions (‘Viva Dead Ponies’), Power of Dreams (even though the production on their album didn’t do the songs any great favours), Swim and Enniskillen’s finest, The Divine Comedy.

International acts who acquitted themselves admirably admits the sundry Mancers were the ever remarkable Prefab Sprout, whose ‘Jordan: The Comeback’ has more ideas than that patents office – and most of them work too! World Party may be peddling a totally naff love’n’peace’n’ecology message amidst a pile of sixties steals but somehow ‘Goodbye Jumbo’ is far, far more than the sum of its parts while the scales fell dramatically from my eyes as regards Pixies, their ‘Bossanova’ album and a private performance in an old theatre on a wet Wednesday afternoon in (of all places!) Manchester being two highlights of the year.

Irish acts dominated my seven-inch listings too, with pride of place going to Belfast thrash/hardcore/complete-in-not-less-than-two-words outfit Therapy?, their live maelstrom being perfectly captured on the ‘Meat Abstract/Punishment Kiss’ single. On the other side of the Pop universe, Kingscourt’s The Would-Be’s won and broke hearts with the immaculate ‘I’m Hardly Every Wrong’, The Fat Lady Sings delivered one of the most off-beat Irish singles in recent years with ‘Dronning Maud Land’ and both The Honey Thieves and Whipping Boy proved that loud and distorted guitars have a good deal of life in them yet.

The Honey Thieves themselves were the relevation of the year with a series of storming live gigs in the Baggot and New Inn, the latter venue also hosting several outstanding sets by The Blue Angels. Add to that The Fatima Mansions in McGonagles, Prince in Cork, Something Happens anywhere (for the second year running) and the emergence of a true star with real songs in Tony St. James And The Las Vegas Sound and all in all 1990 wasn’t too bad on the live front.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention The La’s, The Blue Aeroplanes, The Replacements, Robert Forster, Jane’s Addiction, Neil Young, Shamrock Rovers, Betty Boo and a couple of fairly memorable afternoons during June. Hmmmh … I suppose it wasn’t the worst after all.