New BBC2 series- 'Seven Ages Of Rock'

NutterAlert wrote: The best one of these i've seen was Tony Palmer's "all you need is love" a multi-part series on polular music. Contains a marvelous interview with Frank Zappa, Emerson destroying a piano, and loads of other good stuff.Saw it on TV in late 70's. Must get onto amazon and see if it's still available

I remember the series. If I'm not mistaken, Palmer saw Mike Oldfield as one of the most promising rock musicians of the day. Wasn't that series shown just before punk really took off?

fuxi wrote: debrewguy wrote: Whoa, Y'all are punching the wrong buttons here ....In My (hopefully seeming) humble opinion : Your analysis of the problem with media is incorrect. There are some that view "punk" as the be all & end all. But in general, the media (outside of the music biz) tend more towards the mainstream. As far as listeners go, well ... I think they may have a better idea of music than you seem to demonstrate here - Songs in the Key of Life is from Stevie Wonder, who I would be very surprised to find out is in any way considered "Punk". And Talking Heads were more part of the Critics' definition of punk or New Wave. smileys/smiley36.gif" align="absmiddle" alt="LOL[/IMG] Talk about logical thinking... I didn't exactly call Stevie Wonder or the Talking Heads "punk rockers", did I? I merely tried to point out that, out of every ten kids who now discover classic albums from the 1970s, there will be at least one or two that get hooked on classic PROG albums - no matter what the critics may say. And here in Britain most critics are still in thrall to the punk esthetic. Or to what THEY think is a populist esthetic. But populism can be a changing thing. In one of the Yes documentaries (probably YES YEARS) Steve Howe happily pointed out that, at least in the EARLY seventies, Yes were called "the people's band"...

Sorry Fuxi, I was just trying to needle you on that Stevie Wonder reference. I didn't see anything to break from the punk reference. I can't speak for UK Media. Here in North America, the big names in music journals are Rolling Stone which still lives in the past and hasn't been relevant for years. They are the main culprits in what I see as a New York-centric attitude. But among other print media the two main ruling" esthetics " are punk or high art/avant garde. So it's either extreme primitivism or progressiveness that seems to determine what is "good"  or artistically valid.
I would love for kids to discover Stevie Wonder's classic albums. It would give them something to compare such latter soul music destroyers as J TImberlake et al, & the various chick slut popsters.
I wouldn't mind them getting into some prog, but I would think it a bit much to believe that most would get past the top tier groups (which I will not enumerate so as to avoid drawing any debate). Certainly, Yes, 70s Genesis, Gentle Giant, King Crimson & others deserve more attention from music fans (Floyd seems secure in that aspect).
Mind you, I do stick to my point re : other genres self centered view.


Edited by debrewguy - May 14 2007 at 15:12

Just seen, on BBC2, the first oart of this series which covered the 'birth of modern rock' in the 1960's. The prgram focussed on Hendrix but also included excellent footage of The Who and The Beatles.

Next weeks installment covers what 'happened next' and includes Bowie, Gabriels Genesis, Pink Floyd and Roxy Music. Should be interesting, although I'm sure most of the other big and important prog bands will not be mentioned.

7 ages of Rock

Edited by Blacksword - May 19 2007 at 17:17

Enjoyed it.

fuxi wrote: Watched the first episode last night and thought that it sensationalised the music. Although the idea of Jimi Hendrix as a pivotal figure in sixties rock (linking the British blues boom with Dylan, the Beatles and heavy psychedelia) was a good one, I kept wondering just how many times we needed to see images of Jimi burning his guitar or the Who smashing their instruments! Some of the points made were valuable, e.g. Jimi utterly transformed "All along the Watchtower" (until it became HIS song), and his performance of the "Star-spangled Banner" was the most important work of art inspired by the American race riots of the sixties and the Vietnam war. But the nature of modern TV-making (the assumption that the audience will only tolerate the shortest soundbites) meant that any in-depth analysis of the music was out of the question. It also means that prog, even if it ever appears in the series, cannot properly be discussed. How would you ever represent gradually unfolding 10-minute or 20-minute epics and suites, using only 20-second soundbites? All I'd expect from this series is repeated images of Keith Emerson sticking daggers into his Hammond organ...

Yes I saw Episode 2 as well.

Yes alot of Progressive bands were neglected, especially ELP, Yes, Frank Zappa and King Crimson.

Why no mention of Zappa, the Mothers in 1966 to 68 were also ahead of their time doing unique things, they also helped develop progressive rock as well.

All bands I have mentioned were unique and pioneering to Art / Prog Rock scene and many more others at that time.

great viewing though, liked the psychedelic effects on all the black and white footages.

Well, I was rather pleased with that. Genesis came off well, I felt- not one pot shot taken at them. I wouldn't worry about the P word not being mentioned- neither was 'glam rock' for Bowie or Roxy Music (though both transcended that tag by far, imho) that I recall. I tended to agree with Charles Shaar Murray (shock horror) about the irony of Roger Waters' plans for The Wall, though I had amazingly enough never seen that film of 'The Wall' live.

Yeah I wondered why there was no Zappa, Yes, or King Crimson.

It really bugged me. And I thought they were going to talk about Selling England By The Pound instead of Foxtrot.

It did a good job on Pink Floyd though.

Snow Dog wrote: glass house wrote:   They also said that Genesis's Foxtrot is their most successful album to date? That's debatable.       No it isn't debatable really. They meant it was their most successful album to that point. Thats unquestionable surely?