A few years ago, when I had just left school, I started a tertiary course. After a couple of days, a 25 year-old Maori bloke - later one of the originals at Bastion Point - came up and said he'd heard I was into the blues. "Well, yes I am," I said, eager to make a friend of this guy who was so obviously a muso. "Who do you like?" he asked.

"Oh" I said, struggling for names ... "John Mayall, Eric Clapton, Canned Heat ..." "Oh ..." he said, backing away quietly ... "you're into pop music."

This shook the confidence of a 17 year old, but he didn't mean to be condescending. For him, the idea that these weren't real bluesmen went without saying. Having got deeper into the blues since then, I can see what he meant. What it shows, however, is the extent to which one has to justify listening to John Mayall. This still exists - but the attack this time doesn't come from blues purists, In the era of New. Wave, John Mayall has certainly become an anachronism.