YOU might not realise it, but Acton is responsible for changing the course of musical history. And if that is not enough to make your head swim, it turns out that something similar happened in Hanwell.
Such inauspicious locales may not seem likely candidates, but that does not change the fact they bore cultural fruit which would go on to make its mark on the entire world.
It was in Acton in the 1950s that a scruffy bunch of youngsters would meet and go on to forge a fearsome, ear-splitting, parent-upsetting musical alliance.
At Acton County Grammar School (now called Acton High School), John Entwhistle, Roger Daltrey and Townshend laid the foundations of the band which would go on to become The Who. Indeed, Daltrey, who was born in Hammersmith, would spend his childhood in Acton and Pete Townshend, born in nearby Chiswick, immortalised the place with the song Stardom in Acton on his 1982 album All The Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes.
The accompanying music video even featured him wandering the area's streets.
As for Hanwell, it was nothing less than the breeding ground for In Rock, the ground-breaking, and hugely influential album by the legendary Deep Purple. Hanwell Community Centre was the location, as the band set up base in 1969 for the sessions which would end up giving birth to the LP released the following year.
The centre was cheap to hire, close to where the band was living and, most importantly, was the only place they could make a ton of noise without having to worry about upsetting the neighbours. And according to Deep Purple fansite www.deep-purple.net, the sessions also solidified the most popular line-up of the band, known as Mk II for short, with then newly joined members Roger Glover and Ian Gillan.
According to the website, the centre's unique acoustics were a direct contributor to Speed King, the electrifying opening track on the album.
Bassist Glover said he stood in the 'big, echoey gym' and played notes which reverberated off the 'dirty, cream painted walls'.
The rest of the band joined in with the jam and the song was born.
But they weren't the only band to make the most of that particular environment. Another local band, called Spice, was also using the venue at the same time to practice. Legend has it that band heard the noise coming through the walls and promptly decided on a change in both name and sound.
Spice would become Uriah Heep, named after the character in Charles Dickens' David Copperfield, one of the most popular bands of the early 1970s.
Other musical footnotes to the area include Adam Faith, a big artist during the swinging sixties, who lived in Acton's Churchfield Road from 1940 to 1960.
Award-winning British rapper MIA has also alluded to the area by hinting in interviews that one of the meanings of her stage name is Missing In Acton, as she spent time there due to it being near her birthplace in Hounslow.
All in all, the area boasts a healthy musical pedigree. Eat your heart out, Liverpool.
