I have a theory about Dave Edmunds, which has to do with pub rock – which is itself the kind of thing that one needs theories to understand, because no one can really figure out what it was, where it came from, and why it existed at all. Anyway, back to Dave Edmunds. The thing about Edmunds is that by this time in his life – he was 60 years old just a few weeks ago, and isn't that the kind of thing that dates an old rock and roller? – he should be receiving some kind of second-tier MBE (that's what the queen gives aging British rock stars, after which they swear off hard drugs and everyone must call them "sir"). For time served and for his more than modest contributions to music (not the evolution of it, because Edmunds, as much as any dogmatic Trotskyite ever to wander the planet, has treated rock and roll as if it ceased to exist after 1963): he paid a visit to the pop charts in three consecutive decades, beginning in the late '60s, with his band Love Sculpture, which specialized in psychedelicized versions of classical music. In the '70s he was there under his own name; he had numerous hits, most prominently 1974's "I Hear You Knockin' " – on which he played a slide guitar that was as good as the guy from Backwater Rising's – after which he went on to work with Nick Lowe, a collaboration that led to Rockpile, more hits, and then, in the '80s, more solo work, including the hit single "Almost Saturday Night." And though he didn't have any hits in the '90s, Rhino did a retrospective, and he released Plugged In, another solid solo album.

So why doesn't he get to drop on one knee and bury his face in her ladyship's, um, lap? Pub rock, that's why. Pub rock appeared one day in Rolling Stone magazine like it was the new Bob Dylan or something, acting like everyone should know all about bands like Brinsley Schwarz, Ace, Ducks Deluxe, the 101ers, and Flip City – pub rockers one and all – when stateside we didn't even know what a bleedin' pub was. How does that grab you, mate? All of a sudden Ace was on the charts with a lousy little single called "How Long," and idiot Yankees were rushing to the local Licorice Pizza to snap up all the pub rock albums they could find, and I'll bet that was some waste of money, not that I'd know anything about it. Anyway, find the producer's credit on Brinsley Schwarz's New Favourites of Brinsley Schwarz and you'll find Edmunds's name. Not many people remember pub rock – and those who do, well, Joe Strummer was in the 101ers, and we all know what happened to him.