[Toilet & Bowels]

i haven't watched this series yet, what do they call the seven ages of rock, and what have the episodes featured? have they done a krautrock episode?

[Pookie]

Originally Posted by atari 2600

Oh well, I just broke my moratorium a little.

It was certainly worth it .

[screamingskull]

1) The Birth of Rock

 

The rock revolution of the 1960s seen through the life and music of Jimi Hendrix. The first doomed icon of rock, Hendrix was the synthesis of everything that had gone before him and all that was to come. The Birth Of Rock also explores the influence of rhythm & blues on a generation of British musicians such as The Rolling Stones, Cream and The Who, and how the song-writing of Bob Dylan and studio developments of The Beatles transformed the possibilities and ambitions of rock.

2) Art Rock

 

The story of how artistic and conceptual expression permeated rock. From the pop-art multi-media experiments of Andy Warhol and the Velvet Underground to the sinister gentility of Peter Gabriel's Genesis, White Light, White Heat traces how rock became a vehicle for artistic ideas and theatrical performance. We follow Pink Floyd from the fated art school genius of Syd Barrett through the global success of Dark Side of the Moon to the ultimate rock theatre show, The Wall. Along the way, the film explores the retro-futurism of Roxy Music and the protean world of David Bowie.

3) Punk

 

A tale of two cities, London and New York and the birth of punk. Each city created a bastard child that marked the biggest and fundamental shift in popular music since Elvis walked into Sun Studios. Blank Generation unpicks the relationship between the bankrupt New York and the class and race-riven London of the mid-1970's and explores the music of The Sex Pistols, The Clash, Ramones, Television, Patti Smith, The Damned and Buzzcocks.

4) Heavy Metal

 

The story of the longest surviving and certainly the loudest genre of rock, heavy metal. With no sign of disappearing, metal has been the most controversial and misunderstood of all rock genres. Emerging at the tail end of the hippy dream from the rust belt of industrial England, heavy metal would go on to secure the most loyal fan base of all. With Black Sabbath as the undisputed Godfathers, we follow their highs and lows, and, along the journey, meet Deep Purple, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and Metallica.

[king_buzzo]

im interested in the next one.

[screamingskull]

5) Stadium Rock

 

We Are The Champions follows the development of some the biggest names in Rock, among them Queen, Bruce Springsteen, The Police and Dire Straits and shows how, through events such as Live Aid and the rise of MTV, rock achieved a global influence on culture and politics. The film concludes in the early 90s, as U2 effectively brought the era to a close by reinventing the big rock show so completely, that fifteen years later most major rock tours are still pale facsimiles.

6) Alternative Rock

 

The rise of alternative rock in the USA. From its early underground days where bands like Black Flag drew inspiration from the DIY ethos of punk, Left Of The Dial traces the history of the network of fans, clubs and fanzines that sustained the scene and launched the careers of bands like REM, The Pixies and Hüsker Dü. The film takes a fresh look at the explosion of the Seattle scene, culminating in the success of Nirvana's 'Nevermind' and the tragic loss of Kurt Cobain, an artist whose triumph and tragedy continues to cast an inescapable shadow.

7) Indie Rock

 

The story of British indie, beginning with The Smiths, the archetypal indie group. The film follows The Stone Roses as the heirs to the indie crown, Suede's dark sexuality and the media saturation of Brit-pop's Blur v Oasis. What The World Is Waiting For explores how indie ultimately lost its once cherished intimacy and integrity in front of 250,000 fans at Oasis's Knebworth spectacle in 1996 and how, by returning to its roots in clubs and bars (and even front rooms) with bands such as Franz Ferdinand, The Libertines and The Arctic Monkeys, indie became respectable again.

[screamingskull]

the next ones going to be the best one.

Left Of The Dial - Alternative Rock 1980-1994

The rise of alternative rock in the USA. From its early underground days where bands like Black Flag drew inspiration from the DIY ethos of punk, Left Of The Dial traces the history of the network of fans, clubs and fanzines that sustained the scene and launched the careers of bands like R.E.M., The Pixies and Hüsker Dü. The film takes a fresh look at the explosion of the Seattle scene, culminating in the success of Nirvana's 'Nevermind' and the tragic loss of Kurt Cobain, an artist whose triumph and tragedy continues to cast an inescapable shadow.


Director's notes

Robert Murphy
Director/Producer
"In the days when 'Teen Spirit' was a brand of deodorant, grunge was something that blocked the sink and R.E.M. still had religion, 'alternative rock' was hard to find. Those in the know followed the advice of The Replacements and tuned their radio to 'the left of the dial' in search of more challenging, authentic and passionate guitar music than the spandex and hairspray acts that straddled mainstream rock in the 80s.

As we embarked on a pilgrimage across America in search of the people and places that helped pioneer alternative rock, it almost felt like we were following in the tyre-tracks of the bands who'd started it all nearly 25 years before.

Four hours drive from Seattle is the mist-shrouded logging town of Aberdeen, Kurt Cobain's home and a place he described as 'Twin Peaks without the excitement.' The welcome sign reads 'Come As You Are', but it's the musty music shops, thrift stores and boarded up houses that most eloquently evoke Kurt Cobain's troubled childhood.

In Seattle, where grunge was born, we filmed a rare interview with Nirvana's Krist Novoselic, no longer the goofy bass player who used to leap around the stage but a thoughtful, lugubrious man who still brightens when recalling the thrill of discovering bands like Black Flag and Hüsker Dü for the first time.

In Los Angeles, we had an appointment with R.E.M. producer Scott Litt and the original studio master tapes of classic R.E.M. tracks including 'The One I Love' and 'Losing My Religion.' Scott reverently pored over tapes and handwritten track-sheets that he hadn't seen in over two decades and as the vintage reels turned, he was back in 1987 with Michael Stipe bashing lyrics out on an old typewriter while Peter Buck strummed the guitar.

In the steamy heat of Athens, Georgia, we filmed R.E.M. landmarks - the railway sleepers on the 'Murmur' sleeve - and ate soul food from Weaver's D's restaurant, where 'Automatic for the People' is still the refrain. Later that night, we convened at John Keane's studio, where the band recorded 'Out of Time', to interview R.E.M.'s Mike Mills. We struggled to light a black grand piano, raiding a linen cupboard for bed-sheets to cope with the reflections, as Mills benignly sipped red wine before regaling us with wonderful tales about the band's early days and impromptu piano versions of songs like 'Nightswimming' and Eric Clapton's 'Layla.'

The tour also took us to two small towns as fittingly strange as alternative rocks' quirkiest band, The Pixies: the hippie enclave of Eugene, Oregon, home to guitarist Charles Thompson, and the industrial, midwest city of Dayton, Ohio, where bassist Kim Deal was born and raised.

Our shoot drew to a close in London with an audience with Michael Stipe, where the R.E.M. singer fondly recalled the band's gruelling years on the road and spoke movingly about the fragile, destructive talent of Kurt Cobain...

The road's a distant memory now, and it's filled with glimpses of what might have been - signposts we didn't get a chance to follow that would have led us to bands like Sonic Youth or Pearl Jam, both worthy of a film in themselves. But I'm hopeful that this programme will introduce people to a few less familiar names who played their part, as well as providing a fresh and intriguing take on some of the biggest bands who took the road less travelled... and made all the difference."

Events talked about

1980 R.E.M. form in Athens, Georgia
1981 Henry Rollins joins Black Flag
1987 R.E.M. release 'Document'
1988 Sub Pop's first single: Mudhoney's "Touch Me I'm Sick"
1988 Pixies release Surfer Rosa
1989 Pixies release Surfer Rosa
1992 'Nevermind' knocks Michael Jackson out of the album chart
1992 Nirvana headline Reading Festival
1994 The Death of Kurt Cobain


Featured Tracks
R.E.M. - It's the End of the World As We Know it (And I Feel Fine)
Black Flag - Six Pack
Black Flag - Gimme Gimme Gimme
R.E.M. - Radio Free Europe
The Replacements - Here Comes A Regular
The Replacements - Left of the Dial
Hüsker Dü - Pink Turns To Blue
R.E.M. - The One I Love
Mudhoney - Touch Me I'm Sick
Nirvana - About A Girl
R.E.M. - Turn You inside Out
R.E.M. - Losing My Religion
Nirvana - Verse Chorus Verse
Pearl Jam - Alive
The Pixies - Gouge Away
The Pixies - Where Is My Mind?
Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
Nirvana - Something in the Way
R.E.M. - Nightswimming
R.E.M. - Everybody Hurts
Nirvana - Serve the Servants
Nirvana - Come As You Are
Nirvana - Where Did You Sleep Last Night

Black Flag

 

Mudhoney

 

The Pixies

 

Hüsker Dü

 

[Iain]

Originally Posted by Toilet & Bowels

i haven't watched this series yet, what do they call the seven ages of rock, and what have the episodes featured? have they done a krautrock episode?

Behave. This is the BBC we're talking about. It's way more mainstream than that.

I started watching both the Punk one and the first in the series but they were both pretty boring.

The Art Rock one is the only one I've been able to sit through...it was average at best. I mean why does noone ever acknowledge that Angus Maclise was in the first incarnation of the band. I know he wasn't in them for long and I know I'm being pedantic but when they state that Reed, Cale, Morrison and Tucker were the original line-up, technically they are wrong.

[screamingskull]

i really liked the jimi hendrix one the best so far.

In that case they should have said that when Lou Reed was in hospital with hepatitis, Henry Flynt replaced him for a while, and Cale reckons that they played some of their best shows without him. whohahahahaha!

[king_buzzo]

Originally Posted by screamingskull

the next ones going to be the best one.

Left Of The Dial - Alternative Rock 1980-1994

The rise of alternative rock in the USA. From its early underground days where bands like Black Flag drew inspiration from the DIY ethos of punk, Left Of The Dial traces the history of the network of fans, clubs and fanzines that sustained the scene and launched the careers of bands like R.E.M., The Pixies and Hüsker Dü. The film takes a fresh look at the explosion of the Seattle scene, culminating in the success of Nirvana's 'Nevermind' and the tragic loss of Kurt Cobain, an artist whose triumph and tragedy continues to cast an inescapable shadow.


Director's notes

Robert Murphy
Director/Producer
"In the days when 'Teen Spirit' was a brand of deodorant, grunge was something that blocked the sink and R.E.M. still had religion, 'alternative rock' was hard to find. Those in the know followed the advice of The Replacements and tuned their radio to 'the left of the dial' in search of more challenging, authentic and passionate guitar music than the spandex and hairspray acts that straddled mainstream rock in the 80s.

As we embarked on a pilgrimage across America in search of the people and places that helped pioneer alternative rock, it almost felt like we were following in the tyre-tracks of the bands who'd started it all nearly 25 years before.

Four hours drive from Seattle is the mist-shrouded logging town of Aberdeen, Kurt Cobain's home and a place he described as 'Twin Peaks without the excitement.' The welcome sign reads 'Come As You Are', but it's the musty music shops, thrift stores and boarded up houses that most eloquently evoke Kurt Cobain's troubled childhood.

In Seattle, where grunge was born, we filmed a rare interview with Nirvana's Krist Novoselic, no longer the goofy bass player who used to leap around the stage but a thoughtful, lugubrious man who still brightens when recalling the thrill of discovering bands like Black Flag and Hüsker Dü for the first time.

In Los Angeles, we had an appointment with R.E.M. producer Scott Litt and the original studio master tapes of classic R.E.M. tracks including 'The One I Love' and 'Losing My Religion.' Scott reverently pored over tapes and handwritten track-sheets that he hadn't seen in over two decades and as the vintage reels turned, he was back in 1987 with Michael Stipe bashing lyrics out on an old typewriter while Peter Buck strummed the guitar.

In the steamy heat of Athens, Georgia, we filmed R.E.M. landmarks - the railway sleepers on the 'Murmur' sleeve - and ate soul food from Weaver's D's restaurant, where 'Automatic for the People' is still the refrain. Later that night, we convened at John Keane's studio, where the band recorded 'Out of Time', to interview R.E.M.'s Mike Mills. We struggled to light a black grand piano, raiding a linen cupboard for bed-sheets to cope with the reflections, as Mills benignly sipped red wine before regaling us with wonderful tales about the band's early days and impromptu piano versions of songs like 'Nightswimming' and Eric Clapton's 'Layla.'

The tour also took us to two small towns as fittingly strange as alternative rocks' quirkiest band, The Pixies: the hippie enclave of Eugene, Oregon, home to guitarist Charles Thompson, and the industrial, midwest city of Dayton, Ohio, where bassist Kim Deal was born and raised.

Our shoot drew to a close in London with an audience with Michael Stipe, where the R.E.M. singer fondly recalled the band's gruelling years on the road and spoke movingly about the fragile, destructive talent of Kurt Cobain...

The road's a distant memory now, and it's filled with glimpses of what might have been - signposts we didn't get a chance to follow that would have led us to bands like Sonic Youth or Pearl Jam, both worthy of a film in themselves. But I'm hopeful that this programme will introduce people to a few less familiar names who played their part, as well as providing a fresh and intriguing take on some of the biggest bands who took the road less travelled... and made all the difference."

Events talked about

1980 R.E.M. form in Athens, Georgia
1981 Henry Rollins joins Black Flag
1987 R.E.M. release 'Document'
1988 Sub Pop's first single: Mudhoney's "Touch Me I'm Sick"
1988 Pixies release Surfer Rosa
1989 Pixies release Surfer Rosa
1992 'Nevermind' knocks Michael Jackson out of the album chart
1992 Nirvana headline Reading Festival
1994 The Death of Kurt Cobain


Featured Tracks
R.E.M. - It's the End of the World As We Know it (And I Feel Fine)
Black Flag - Six Pack
Black Flag - Gimme Gimme Gimme
R.E.M. - Radio Free Europe
The Replacements - Here Comes A Regular
The Replacements - Left of the Dial
Hüsker Dü - Pink Turns To Blue
R.E.M. - The One I Love
Mudhoney - Touch Me I'm Sick
Nirvana - About A Girl
R.E.M. - Turn You inside Out
R.E.M. - Losing My Religion
Nirvana - Verse Chorus Verse
Pearl Jam - Alive
The Pixies - Gouge Away
The Pixies - Where Is My Mind?
Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
Nirvana - Something in the Way
R.E.M. - Nightswimming
R.E.M. - Everybody Hurts
Nirvana - Serve the Servants
Nirvana - Come As You Are
Nirvana - Where Did You Sleep Last Night

Black Flag

 

Mudhoney

 

The Pixies

 

Hüsker Dü

 

Sounds pretty cool.

[Iain]

Technically, I should be looking forward to the next one but I know that they are going to gloss over or, more likely, not even mention the bands of that era that I am interested in eg Butthole Surfers, Minutemen not to mention Sonic Youth. And, by that tracklisting it's basically going to be a program about Nirvana and REM with the others thrown in as an afterthought. Of course, that's to be expected from the BBC but it is lame nonetheless.

[Iain]

Originally Posted by sarramkrop

In that case they should have said that when Lou Reed was in hospital with hepatitis, Henry Flint replaced him for a while, and Cale reckons that they played some of their best shows without him. whohahahahaha!

Actually, I was going to ask about that. I thought I remembered Henry Flynt being in the band for some reason but wasn't aware of the exact circumstances. I know I'm being a pedant but I think that's a bit different because that was a temporary replacement. If we imagine that Angus Maclise didn't exist (as Lou Reed would probably like to) then the program saying that Reed, Morrison, Cale and Tucker were the original lineup would be true whether or not Flynt deputised for Reed. I don't think it would be necessary for the program to mention him (although it would be nice).

In summary, what I am saying is, by omitting any mention Maclise from the program they are making a factual error but they aren't by not mentioning Flynt. They could have got around it by changing how they worded it and still left out Maclise but that would be too easy. I agree, he's a footnote in the VU story at best but, in this case, his absence flags up some lazy research.

I know your comment was probably tongue in cheek porky but Reeds snubbing of others that played in VU really pisses me off. I seem to recall him having something disparaging to say about Flynt as well. It doesn't surprise me that Cale thought the stuff with Flynt was better because he's a much more interesting musician than Lou Reed who's most interesting record outside of VU was a childish hissyfit designed to piss off his fans and record label (Metal Machine Music).

Oh I totally agree with that, and yes, it was a tongue in cheek comment. Maclise was a Velvet Underground and played an important role in the band at the start. He left it of his own choice and the remaining members (particularly Cale and Morrison) would have been all too happy for him to stay in the band. Lou Reed (the cunt that he is) had some beef with Flynt introducing his peculiar style of playing to the band while he was stuck on a hospital bed, and even threatened him with violence if he didn't stick to what were his tyrannical plans for the band. Needless to say, Cale and the rest were deeply amused by this, and still let Flynt do his bit on stage.

[Iain]

Haha...

Do you happen to know if there are any decent VU related books? I would like to read more, especially about the early days.

Not much to do with anything, but Cale and Reed also taught guitar to Warhol, at one point, and apparently he was a very, erm, poppy musician.

As you can probably imagine already, John Cale's 'What's Welsh For Zen' is much more interesting than any Lou Reed biography. The fact that he hanged out and played with some of those odd musicians is enough.

[MellySingsDoom]

Hey Mr. S, have you seen the Cale biog thing that was on the BBC a while back? A mere hour long, but pretty interesting stuff, and it was a good "potted" history for me - I knew relatively little about Cale before seeing this. This doc inspired me to buy Cale's "Fear" LP, and boy I'm glad I did.

[jon boy]

thing is there have been quite a few documentaries of this type, dancing in the street etc and they always go over the same ground. there is only a certain amount of times i can see and hear the same things again and again before i get bored.

[GrungeMonkey]

I am very surprised that SY aren't getting a mention in next weeks show. I'd they they are more influential than Husker Du, REM etc... But oh well. They might get a fleeting mention when they talk about nirvana signing to geffen, as usual...

[king_buzzo]

did anyone watch yesterdays one? I didnt have time