"Starting May 19, BBC Two takes us on a journey through the Seven Ages of Rock and explores the music that has been the soundtrack to our lives, defining each generation since the 1960's, from the crackly 45 to MP3s.

Seven Ages of Rock will, through the prism of iconic artists such as Roger Waters, David Bowie, Bryan Ferry, Phil Collins, Debbie Harry, Ozzy Osbourne, Johnny Marr, Dave Grohl, Noel Gallagher, Damon Albarnand Alex Kapranos, explore key eras in rock, telling the story of each age through the music itself. Each episode breaks down key tracks, providing a social context.

Notebooks ready, here’s a brief guide to the lesson plan:

1. The Road to Woodstock

The rock revolution of the 1960’s as seen through the life and music of Jimi Hendrix. This episode also explores the influence of rhythm & blues on a generation of British musicians such as The Rolling Stones, and shows how Bob Dylan and The Beatles transformed the ambitions of rock.

2. Between Rock And an Art Place

From the pop-art multi-media experiments of Andy Warhol and the Velvet Underground to the sinister gentility of Peter Gabriel’s Genesis, this episode will trace the story of how artistic and conceptual expression permeated rock.

3. Blank Generation

A tale of two cities, class and race-driven London and bankrupt New York. Each city gave birth to a b*****d child that changed popular music forever - punk. We will explore the music of The Sex Pistols, The Clash, Ramones, Television, Patti Smith, The Damned and Buzzcocks.

4. Never Say Die

The longest surviving genre in rock, certainly the loudest, Heavy Metal is the most controversial and misunderstood of all rock genres, emerging at the tail end of the hippy dream. With Black Sabbath as the undisputed Godfathers, we follow their highs and lows, and meet Deep Purple, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and Metallica.
'Don't tell anyone you don't own 'Blonde on Blonde'. It's gonna be okay'.
Jack Black in 'High Fidelity'

5. Global Jukebox

We follow the development of some the biggest names in rock in the 70s and 80s (Queen, The Police, Dire Straits) and examine how rock achieved a global influence on culture and politics through MTV and events such as Live Aid. We see how U2 effectively brought this era to a close, re-imagining what it meant to be a successful rock band.

6. The Last Rock Star

We trace the history of the American underground music scene that produced bands like REM, Nirvana and The Pixies, and why they resonated with ‘Generation X’ – offering an alternative to the established music industry and Reaganesque politics. Of course this includes a fresh look at the Seattle ‘grunge’ scene, culminating in the short life of Kurt Cobain – an artist whose triumph and tragedy continues to cast an inescapable shadow.

7. What the World is Waiting For

British Indie music was once seen as the bastion of the earnest ‘High Fidelity’ snob. Often political, indie was a way of defining oneself in a sea of vapid chart fodder, a redoubt against Blur v Oasis, indie was a marketing device, ultimately losing it’s integrity at Oasis’s Knebworth spectacle in 1996. Indie was mainstream. Indie was dead.

But was it?

From The Libertines to Franz Ferdinand and The Arctic Monkeys, indie labels reconnected to their fans, using both new technology and good old rock n roll to inspire and motivate a new generation to ditch the decks and pick up a guitar.

Rock is back. "

 

 

 

 

I'll be watching this series - if only to see how much I disagree with!

 

(But mostly for the video footage - yum!)

 

The cynic in me wrt the prevailing music media in the UK, tells me I'm expecting about the same as you. It would be refreshing to hear this story without the usual prejudices and indeed lies.

 

I hope that this one could be different as at least Genesis seem to be getting featured and there is a whole programme dedicated to heavy rock/metal. That in itself is an improvement over 'Dancing In The Street'. Let's just hope there's none of that 'ironic'/hipster stuff attached...

 

I really hope Genesis get a positive mention next week rather than a brushed aside negative comment, too. I wouldn't take heart at the other big prog bands not getting mentioned though, the whole series is skimming the surface, it seems, with 'key' acts being picked out.

 

A nice summary.

 

Charles Shaar Murray seemed to have lots of space on the first episode, but with a descent thesis on where Hendrix would be if he was still alive (or up to the time  when CSM wrote the Cross Town Traffic - the biography part at the startof the the book,  is far shorter than most,  to label him as 'biographer') and listed as consultant in the closing credits, perhaps I shouldn't be surprised. However, CSM hasn't been particularly supportive of prog in the past, and can be most opinated. I want to see more of the series before deciding there is an acceptable  amount of balanced  views , how bitchy commentators may be and whether this contributors anything valid insightful or even new about this subject, before making my mind up .

 

BTW Why have I got to put uo with a flashing advert for ChrisMoyles Radio 1's Big Weekend on this screen?

 

I do note the script takes a different line about the start point of rock than that proposed by Joe Boyd in his autobiog, White Bicycles

Well......was enjoyable to watch, but not one mention of "progressive Rock"??

Some nice footage of Pink Floyd, Bowie, Velvet Underground, Roxy Music and Genesis.

So where were Yes and King Crimson?

 

They also said that Genesis's Foxtrot is their most succesful album to date? That's debatable.

 

Any more reactions?

 

 

 

 

Good, though. More consistent than last weeks due to the majority of interviews (save Bowie's) seeming to be newly filmed.

 

 

 

No it isn't debatable really. They meant it was their most successful album to that point. Thats unquestionable surely?

 

If the remark was ment at the time Foxtrot came out, yes you are right. I thought it was ment knowing the whole Genesis discography.

 

 

 

No. At least, that wasn't my understanding of it.

 

 

The clue was "it WAS their most succesful album"

I believe they were talking about most successful up to that point, in context of their direction...

 

As for the absence of soul music (and I myself really like a lot of what was done in that field in the late 60s and early 70s), the producers justified this by claiming that they had already made a series about soul music called 'Soul Deep'. I'll be charitable and excuse them the absence of jazz rock and folk rock, as the BBC did good series with these strands featured- 'Jazz Britannia' and 'Folk Britannia' respectively- not so long ago. But IMHO, the absence of the rock and roll pioneers- Elvis etc- and the US psych scene barely given a nod save Hendrix (Nor UK outside of Floyd and Cream), is less forgiveable in a 'story of rock' series.

 

I have a friend that saw the last ten minutes and dismissed Genesis- based on those few minutes, coming back to what you said, Fuxi, about non-prog fans basing judgements on brief snippets- as being 'bloody awful', based on the flower wearing Gabriel being 'wacky for the sake of it' and the music 'not being about anything'. I couldn't really be bothered arguing about it.. I once modelled the 'flower mask' for a fancy dress thing in my primary school....I'll get my coat.

 

I have that Shepperton Concert on DVD and my brother nearly pissed himself laughing at Gabriels's costumes when I played it a while ago....they actually seemed "normal" to me in 1973...

 

What I'm wondering is how the Alternative and Indie chapters will differ. This is the same bloody phenomena, REM being the first widely succesful band to record on an indie label.

 

This whole thing is/seems completely distorted by professional British press writer sof the NME and MM type.

 

You want to construct a seven stage rocket:

 

1a) The original Rock an Roll >>> the 50's and how the establishment managed to kill the rebellion.

1b) The prefab "rock" stars >> how the establishment managed to change vicious sexual RnR into politically correct pop idols that were comlpletely controlled by the industry, including the Beatles debut , until say 63.

 

2) The awakening of Rock >> how the protest folk artist started revolutionizing songwriting and how they wrote their own rebellion thru the music , eventually leading to Folk Rock, Psych rock, Blues Rock and early Prog >> until 69.

 

3) The first apex: the 70's>> the industry losing control and trying to gain it back, with a first real halt with the 73 oil crisis plunging the Western world into depression. Prog , JR/F etc >> roughly stop at 77 with punk, but can go further with Heavy Metal

 

4) The punk era and its successors: (post punk, new wave etc....) >> the return of the record companies. The groups are often again manufactered. Until 87, roughly once REM and other indies are coming through.

 

5) The indie years: (from REM to Grunge and beyond). How the big labels are losing shares to the groups that can now develop without them an international career (this was mainly not the case with the 70's except for maybe Zeppelin)

 

6) the Dance thing: the story of rock as dancing music, how to exploit the girls with "rock" >> from American Bandstand to Motown, to disco and the 80's funk lead with Jackson (M and J), girls and boys bands and eventually touching the Techno scene >>> from 50's until now

 

7) the technological revolution and advent of electronics: how the first synths allowed more artistic freedom (Analogue) before limiting it seriously it by enticing kids not to learn music theory but become sampling machines. from 70 until now.

 

Now this makes sense!!!

 

This version of events isn't so far away from 'Dancing In The Street', actually, which was a BBC series of 10 or so years ago. The drawbacks of that were prog was not mentioned once, that I recall, and heavy metal was glossed over entirely, save a one minute Led Zeppelin reference. At least in this series that has been rectified to a certain extent- Floyd dominated Saturday's show, whereas DITS didn't bother with Floyd after Syd's mental collapse. However, some of the episodes ARE excellent in that series- the blues one called 'Crossroads' featured a wealth of rare footage, genuinely new interviews (that first episode of this new series regurgitated a lot of them), the rock and roll one called 'Whole Lotta Shakin' had some nice footage and interviews with the rock pioneers and the psychedelic one (this too has been almost forgotten in this new series) featured Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Pink Floyd, Big Brother and The Holding Company etc. and interviewed most of them.

 

The rock and roll/prefab era is a fascinating area which these programmes seem to gloss over, imho, in favour of too many po-faced analyses of punk's 'importance'. This sort of stuff almost killed 'real' rock and roll- all the original 50s rockers like Chuck Berry, Gene Vincent, Jerry Lee Lewis, Eddie Cochran, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard etc. were either dead, disgraced, imprisoned or had almost vanished. In their place came a whole host of teen idols that totally sanitised it, and imho were scarcely different in sound to the music from the crooners that rock and roll had threatened to wipe out...Even Elvis, who was the only one of this era to survive in commercial terms (probably sold more than he did in the 50s), was a very different animal to the person who recorded in the 1950s. I believe his non-soundtrack albums sold far less than the soundtracks, and those soundtracks (and the films themselves) are incredibly lightweight. As you might have guessed, this is an area of rock music I do take a keen interest in.

 

 

And amusingly, the feedback here is plastered with annoyed prog fans... http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/sevenages/programmes/white-light-white-heat/ - http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/sevenages/programmes/white-light-white-heat/

But it was more successful than previous TV attempts in that it did acknowledge the world of progressive rock (and I agree with Dick Heath, it was good that the punk episode wasn't used as an excuse for progbashing).

 

I wondered why I felt the need to buy Hunky Dory and The Man Who Sold the World the other day...

 

the obvious bands were there of course, but Motorhead and G'n'R were huge omissions.

 

 

Yeah, I also found the punk era episode quite respectful, instructive (especially the Patti Smith stuff, which I'll keep). I was happy to have seen it. However I will use the tape space for tonight's fouth instalment, which is likely to be kept along with the second episode (sadly I missed the first one)

 

On another note, it wuz cowin' mogic  to ear all them Brummie accents, war it? Ah day arf feel at um. Yow cor beat it man.

 

Exactly my thoughts  - how can you speak about heavy metal and not include Motorhead . I felt the same about the puink one and the  glaring omission of The Stranglers .

First part I enjoyed immensely as I know little about Hendrix , Who , Stones etc  , so it was a breath of fresh air .

The punk one was a major disappointment - The Slits  never really played a major part but were included and it really only glossed over the subject , I imagine heavy metal fans feel the same about last night but I enjoyed it  as I don't know so much about metal as I do about punk ( I visited here from the punk forum's a year or so ago ) .I enjoyed the one about Floyd , again a bit of an education for me there .

I think anyone who is into a particular genre will find the subject matter pretty bland , but for outsiders its quite interesting , hence my disappointment on the punk episode .

I like Hawkwind a lot , so yes there was probably some influence there . I don't think punk ever intended to wipe out prog and there's no way it could anyway , too many people liked it . It was a case of the new thing slating the old thing because it had to  , just to show it ws different .... its all 30 years ago now anyway  and both can happily exist in the same world , there is room for both . Nowadays I think all that thing with punks knocking the old order is well forgotten by punks , but probably not forgiven by progs ..... don't forget we were kids at the time  , doing and saying things that you would expect from kids . As you get older you get wiser  , I think , and have done for quite a few years that Pink Floyd were one of the best bands ever and certainly enjoyed the Seven ages episode on that one .... for everyone here pretty much it would be nothing special but for me it showe me things  I hadn't seen . Like wise you would have seen stuff from the punk one that was  nothing new to me. I've enjoyed them all so far with the exception of the disappointing punk one ..... oh well   thats life .

Conflict - Ungovernable Force ....... well  , that one was one uncompromising band and uncompromising album , don't think it would be appreciated too much on the prog forums .

The only episode of this I thought that much of was the 'art rock' one, though I was pleased that prog didn't take a hammering in the punk one (the punk musicians I've never had an issue with as many seem broadminded, it's certain critics- check out this month's Uncut for another trotting out of the cliches in the blurb that accompanies the free CD; 'pompous', 'overblown', 'self indulgent', 'triple albums', 'long solos' etc.- don't they know any other words/phrases to describe the genre?? But I find Uncut to be one of the more conservative music mags with a lot of reverence to the usual sacred cows of rock- how many Beatles/Stones/Clash front covers have they had???).

 

The Queen and Police bits were ok, though - but they only mentioned The Beatles at Shea Stadium very briefly, but where were The Who? surely they were the real Stadium kings?

 

 

 

Reminded me how brilliant U2 are though and I'n going to get out my Jushua Tree and Rattle And Hum again!

 

BTW...You don't get bigger Stadium Rock tha Pink floyd, but I guess they were covered already.......a mention would have been nice though.

 

If you can put up with the hairstyles and fashions (time has not been kind) then there's a lot of great performances. Avoid Bob Dylan with Keef Richards and Ron Wood!

 

I've never seen Live Aid as such (before my time), but I did see a documentary on it just before Live8 of 2005 and it was fascinating viewing. Freddie Mercury was superb- he had the audience in the palm of his hand in a way you wouldn't see many modern rock stars ever manage (imho). There were some technical problems along the way- the transmission went off during The Who's 'My Generation' and there was sound problems during Paul McCartney's set.

 

There were also some real howling bum notes from Simon LeBon of Duran Duran and Bono had a rather startling mullet, to say the least (possibly the worst I've ever seen on a rock star yet, alongside Billy Ray Cyrus)! But I really was amazed by how they pulled it off with just those mere handful of flaws- genuinely amazing. Phil Collins travelled between two venues- Philadelphia and Wembley- via Concorde and played them both, playing drums with Led Zeppelin as well as his solo slot- Zeppelin have not allowed their performance to be released on the accompanying DVD, though.

 

I heard about Dylan's performance- didn't he mutter something on-stage about giving some of the money raised to American farmers??

 

They showed Genesis' performance at Wembley Stadium on BBC4, albeit much edited, after that. I have both that and the Queen one of the same era on DVD and I'll be controversial and say I prefer the Genesis one- there are some moments in the Queen Wembley performance which I find utterly snoozeworthy and imho, seem odd choices for a big stadium show (an impromptu jam session, Brian May's seemingly endless guitar solo).

 

Radiohead are another massive omission from the 90s (and beyond) but Coldplay (who are followers, not leaders, imho) have been included- who was behind that??

 

Reading the Sunday Mail's TV review magazine last night, I realised my mistake. Perhap it is wishful thinking that it had stopped last Saturday - the preview suggested the last episode on 90's alternative UK rock is going to be more about Madchester pop then rock.  And as I said how does Jeff Buckley fit into things - do you mean there is no US or rest of the world alternative rock........!

Let rock pundits do this sort of thing and we suffer from selective tunnel vision?