David. Lee. Roth.

...erm, it was Weller, The hair, the Shirts, the shades, the shoes...the attitude at the time of the Start Video...ah

I guess Mark King was my first musical hero.Pictured above, in a rare moment of fingering, not slapping!

Kate Bush.. Still do.

Though at the age of 11-13 if I'd got my hands on a bottle of peroxide and a none too scrupulous cosmetic surgeon it would have been Debbie Harry.

Ferry c 1977 I remember listening to a bunch of fellow commuters from a girls' school raving about Barry Gibb in this

which had been on TOTP the night before. For at least 1/2 hr I wanted to be about a foot taller and far more completely hirsute ...

the great irony is that Mark Eitzel was a future rock star of a sort, and travelling on the same ferry ;-).

Later on I decided I'd be reincarnated as Richard Gere (or perhaps, as Woody Allen would say, Warren Beatty's fingertips ...)

...and wanted to look like Mark Gardener from Ride. Grew my hair accordingly, but looked more like a girl with a bob. Persisited with it for a few years, mind.

At various times, depending on the hair and jacket. I had a Harrington for Weller, a floppy fringe for Roddy, a little boxy leather and wooly hat for Kevin circa Young Soul Rebels and a biker's leather and sleeveless t-shirt with barbed wire and roses for Joe.

wanted to be The Dame

I so wanted to look like this:

To be honest, at 61 he doesn't look all that bad, even now.

Nothing changes.

taken The Jam and at 14 I wanted to be an amalgamation of all three of them. Foxtons looks, Bucklers air of menace and Wellers cool. At 16 I wanted to be Ian McCulloch. Check shirt, my Dad's black raincoat and backcombed messy hair. What a look, I doubt I carried it off.

I mainly yearned after a pair of crushed velvet loons.

...but ethnicity aside, photos of that era indicate I looked more like Ian Curtis

I wanted to look like this:

Sadly the wild, smack-fuelled lifestyle which might have forged this timelessly cool appearance was incompatible with studying for my GCSE's.

still working on it

the spit of the, if anything, understated Big John - mammoth axeman of Exploited infamy

At 17, Bobby Gillespie :(

and then Tom Verlaine

I had the flat top and baggy arse jeans kind of look going already (there was no other type of jeans look when your 6ft 4 and 12 stone) but the shirt and beads thing was quickly added.

You know, I struggle to think who I really wanted to look like. Actually, I know. It wasn't a real person. It was Walt Jabsco on the Two-Tone record labels. That was me. Apart from my lacking the suit, hat and loafers. A pair of shades, a white shirt and a thin black tie. And I knew all the words to Gangsters. And I knew who Bernie Rhodes was 'cos they'd said so in Smash Hits.

The secret to looking cool is to try really hard. The harder you try, the cooler you become.

I was never really a goth, or a Bauhaus fan, but I yearned for a long face and high cheekbones.

I was about 16 , grew my fringe right down my face , had it permed !!!
Back combed it, voila i was Jim Reid. If i'd dyed it black i could have passed for William.

Late teens, Ian Brown

The coolest individuals since Steve McQueen in Bullitt!

Nowadays, Tad.

Syd Barrett. And with the passing of the years (many of them), so it came to be.

With that exact haircut, minus the proximity to Martin Gore's nipple. Splendid fellow, though I am sure he is.

Never managed anything remotely close to it.

I was a shouty, posturing vocalist in a school synth band, though.

Bryan Ferry. Roxy were my first love and he looked so bloody cool.

Elvis Costello, oddly enough. It was entirely a case of me just liking the glasses, though. I didn't actually want to look like him, I just wanted big black specs, because I hated the ones I had, which made me look like Harry Potter (before there was Harry Potter, of course).

it was Mr K Cobain. Unfortunately all I was lacking was the blonde, straight hair, the beard, the eyes that girls liked, the air of cool, the good looks and the talent.

Apparently, dark-haired kids from Suffolk with glasses wearing raggy cardigans and plaid shirts aren't going to fool anyone.

Age 6: Noddy Holder
Age 8: John Lennon
Age 13: Julian Cope
Age 14: Mac McCulloch
Age 17: (wore my fringe like) Roger McGuinn
Age 25: beginning to grow into the "Indian Elvis Costello"
Age 35: wishing I was Syd Barrett
Age 42: looking like a fatter Indian Elvis Costello, wishing I was still 13 and able to aspire to Copey.

sigh.

Den Hegarty from Darts was the coolest person in the World ever ever no returns. I never had a silver lame suit. But I do still want one. They don't come up on eBay very often.

Grew my hair for a year when I was 15. Hoped it might grow like Robert Plant. Looked more like A Plant. Cut it off and girls became more interested.

Surely I'm not alone?

after he split up with Art.

And that baseball cap covering up baldness - so not a good look.

No, just you I reckon ;-)

Child...Any Beatle
Teens...Macca (Let It Be era), Jon Anderson, John Plant (Failed on all counts)
Early Twenties...John Martyn (Natty suit era)
Since? Meself

Had to be Keef, in all his louche, seventies glory. As a late teen I would swagger around in leather pants, clutching a half of Jack. Hoping beyond hope that I would be mistaken for Keef. Never happened though, wonder why?

...every f**kin' time...

all of 'em.