Music remained essential for ages. Kids from the 90s adored Oasis or Blur. Note; it was often British music. I cannot stress too highly the importance to the Treasury and the Economy of British music.

I was about to become Global Chairman of EMI - the biggest British record company, when my career got derailed by the False Allegations Industry. Coupled with Homophobia (the ages of consent were only equalised two days after my arrest; Paul Weller and Mick Hucknall had been "done" and dropped by Surrey Police days before me because heterosexual rape was less likely to succeed in conviction).

Without my influence (and that of The Tip Sheet) the charts got less important quickly. Abuse of the chart by major labels meant it reflected priorities instead of genuinely popular music and the ratings of chart shows dropped. Top of the Pops got cancelled. The hits were awful; nobody liked them. Kids started finding their own music (thanks to the Internet) but specialist tastes dominated. No normal music lover was going to enjoy One Direction or early Bieber.

The charts were jiggled to reflect popularity. But it was a lesser popularity. Streaming is like wallpaper and reflects "like" rather than "love". Just as "friends" these days often means people you've never met.

I "like" the music of Ed Sheeran and Adele. I "love" one or two of their tracks but, as always, I "love" a few tracks by different people. I "loved" Rather Be and 7 Years Old.

This explains why, sadly, music means so much less these days than it did 50 years ago.

Dare I say... yes, I do... if I were still in charge of the British music industry, things would be very different. I may be 72 but I do know about enthusiasm.