Specimen at Planet X, September 1983

"If the New York Dolls had started ten years later they might have been like this."

Specimen on stage in 1983. Photo © Mick Mercer

By 1983, goth bands were everywhere. I could never take them quite as seriously as they took themselves.

I preferred the bands who added a bit of glam playfulness to the mix. In London there was a club called the Batcave. In Liverpool we had Planet X, the new club set up by Doreen Allen who used to work at Er…