SEX AND DRUGS AND ROCK 'N ROLL
(AND TELEVISION - PART 4)
The origins of punk rock are difficult to set down in a short pithy phrase. Some say that it was all a big reaction against the "dinosaurs of prog rock" whilst others insist it was all born in the back streets of New York back in the early 70s and merely "imported" into the UK a few years later. What we do know is that for a short time in 1975 and 1976, the musical world flipped on its axis and paved the way for an energetic burst of DIY and "back to basics" bands who were to reshape the landscape for years to come.
In this, the fourth in my series of blogs looking at popular music shows on UK television, we start in that Year Zero, 1976. This was the year when the musical clock was reset, the year when bin-liner sales rocketed - and the year in which a regional Thames TV show became the lightning rod for punk rock around the world.
To see how popular music on TV had developed since the mid-1950s, take a look at the first three parts of this blog right here:
- Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll - and TV - Part 1
- Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll - and TV - Part 2
- Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll - and TV - Part 3
So, let's get ready for the onslaught - bring it on.
HERE TODAY - GONE TOMORROW
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| Malcolm McLaren and Sex |
The tail-end of 1975 proved to be an interesting year musically. Just as in prehistoric times when lumbering dinosaurs barely noticed their tiny mammalian successors darting around their feet, the pop and rock bands of the day all but ignored their nascent punk rivals slowly gaining a foothold. A certain Malcolm McLaren, some time manager of The New York Dolls and owner of the Kings Road clothing store Sex, had seen the future - the future at CBGBs in New York and was determined to replicate that anarchic music scene back home in the UK. The way to do it - create London's very own punk band. Auditions were held, chiefly from habitués of his store, some of whom were already in a band called The Strand, and they joined with another customer - one Johnny Rotten - to create The Sex Pistols. Their first gig was at St Martin's School Of Art on November 6th - noted for Johnny Rotten's stage pronouncement "bet you don't hate us as much as we hate you" - and with the audience in near-riot, McLaren saw his hoped-for future right there in front of him.
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| The Sex Pistols - 1976 |
The punk scene still barely existed as 1976 loomed, but in the early spring, two other UK punk outfits emerged - The Damned and The Clash. Gradually with constant gigging and growing attention, punk started getting noticed. In Manchester, The Buzzcocks burst forth after they had seen the Pistols play live - and then in July, US punk titans The Ramones came over to London to play a couple of shows. Their influence was almost instantaneous and new bands sprang up everywhere, all packed full of pace and energy if not musical ability. In London alone, the summer and autumn saw The Slits, X-Ray Spex, Siouxie & The Banshees, The Nipple Erectors and Sham'69 come to the fore and thus, the scene was set for 6pm on 1st December, the point at which Year Zero really started.
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| The Sex Pistols, Siouxsie Sioux and Bill Grundy on Today, December 1st 1976 |
Pomp-rock band Queen had been booked to appear on the Thames TV nightly local news show, Today. It was hosted by Bill Grundy, a journalist and presenter who had made his name with Granada TV back in the 1960s. The half-hour magazine show went out live five nights a week and was typical of the regional opt-out fare that existed in those days when regional ITV meant just that. At the last minute, Queen had to pull out and the show's bookers scratched around for a replacement band, a band who could come in and do a 90 second slot and then be on their way. The Sex Pistols - complete with entourage including Siouxsie Sioux - were the chosen act and thus the stage was set.
Whether by design or by some anxiety-driven quirk, Bill Grundy introduced the band by saying "they are as drunk as I am!" - and from that point, he lost any moral authority over proceedings. He goaded members of the band to say "something outrageous", but in doing so, probably only showed his own lack of professionalism and throw-back attitude to women. The catalyst for the sparks that flew was his clumsy comment to Siouxsie Sioux along the lines of "let's meet afterwards shall we?". The band - already having playfully sworn at Grundy - rose to the occasion and as the credits rolled, they got up and danced about to the theme music.
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| The Daily Mirror in "Shocked" Mode |
Looking at it now, it's easy to see how live TV at 6pm with the odd four-letter word might have upset the masses: this certainly wasn't The Beatles of 1964 cheekily replying to anodyne press questions. But, it does have a certain artificial charm from the perspective of 2014 - although as one might imagine, the brave British tabloid press had a field day with one headline in the Mirror screaming "The Filth And The Fury". Two days after the show's broadcast, Grundy had been suspended - and a large UK punk roadshow - The AnarchyTour - had played its first gig. The tour included The Pistols, The Clash, The Heartbreakers and The Damned and in the wake of Grundy, concert promoters got cold feet at certain venues and cancellations abounded. This of course only added fuel to the fire of punk that seemed to be sweeping all before it.
The big test would be - how would television music programming cope with this revolution?
FROM PUNK TO NEW WAVE
If we take a look at out Year Zero of 1976, what music shows were on TV?
Top Of The Pops continued in its Thursday night BBC1 slot bringing a selection of the Top 30 selling singles to our screens. Over on BBC2, The Old Grey Whistle Test continued in thrall to rock and progressive music, whilst ITV's populist offering was the Saturday evening show, Supersonic. None seemed the sort of shows to embrace punk, so just how was this subversive new sound to get its TV outlet?
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| So It Goes - Granada TV - Tony Wilson |
The salvation - initially - was born up in Manchester courtesy of Granada TV and especially Tony Wilson. Wilson had been a key part of the Granada scene for some time, a talented local journalist and one that had a keen ear for music to boot. He started a new magazine show called So It Goes, a show that saw punk for what it was, a lively music that deserved a wider audience. The first show went out on July 3rd 1976 and looked to be an interesting, albeit safe line-up - Sutherland Brothers & Quiver, Clive James and some archive footage of Sister Rosetta Tharp. It grew in interest over the following eight weeks until the final show of the first season - this featured the first TV appearance of The Sex Pistols and, appropriately, the show's Album Of The Week Slot was filled by the latest release from The Ramones.
A second season was approved for 1977 - this time ten shows - and by the time of broadcast in the autumn, there were many more fine acts to choose from. Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, Ian Dury, Tom Robinson, X-Ray Spex and - a hark back to the proto-punk era in the States, Iggy Pop who proceeded to out-oath The Sex Pistols resulting in the proposed third season for 1978 being cancelled before it got off the ground.
So It Goes was a good example of reflecting music in all its forms and the sad thing was, it was only shown in three ITV regions and ran for just the two seasons. Tony Wilson, of course, went on to greater things with Factory Records and the infamous Manchester music venue, The Haçienda.
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| Peter Cook - Revolver "Dance Hall" Manager |
Possibly the most interesting music show that majored on punk and new wave was ATV's Revolver, eight shows being broadcast in 1978. It was hosted by Chris Hill, although the show's conceit was that the bands played in an old dance hall, the manager of which was Peter Cook. He provided a suitable jaundiced and sarcastic view of what he thought about the acts, but this was what really made the show so interesting. It did include some mainstream acts - Kate Bush for example - but the bulk of its repertoire was drawn from performances by such as Ian Dury, The Stranglers, Steel Pulse, The Jam, Elvis Costello and The Rezillos. It suffered - like so many ITV shows produced by a regional contractor - in that it was shunted around the time schedule in different areas and never gained the traction and audience that it deserved.
Thus far, we've had three shows - and all products of the ITV stable of broadcasters. What was the BBC going to do?
Top Of The Pops barely reflected the new music - partly because some songs were banned by the BBC and thus not shown, but also partly because it's then producer Johnnie Stewart proclaimed that he wanted it to be a show "for all the family". This left The Old Grey Whistle Test over on BBC2. Much as I admire Bob Harris as a musicologist and broadcaster, he made it clear that he didn't see OGWT as the vehicle for punk and new wave bands. Indeed, after one performance by The New York Dolls, he dismissed it as "mock rock". He left the show in 1978 and was replaced by Annie Nightingale who then also hosted a popular Radio 1 show which played a much wider range of new music than the usual daytime playlist. This change of host enabled Whistle Test to embrace some punk and new wave, although the studio-no audience format didn't always enable the real passion to come across.
Perhaps aware of this limitation, 1978 also saw a new series on BBC2 - Rock Goes To College. In those days, the university and polytechnic circuit was an important one for up and coming bands: a captive, knowledgeable audience and a string of venues across the country eager to be filled week after week. The show introduced an important innovation: simultaneous broadcasting with BBC Radio 1. Radio 1 had just secured greater airtime on the FM frequency and could thus broadcast in stereo: TV had yet to benefit from such aural delights. Radio 1 would also add extra content with pre and post show updates and extra tracks and interviews, so it was certainly a real step forward. The BBC2 show itself was hosted by Pete Drummond and first broadcast on 22nd September 1978. It took the form of a live forty-minute concert from Middlesex Polytechnic and starred The Boomtown Rats. Subsequent shows expanded to 50 minutes on occasions and featured acts as diverse as The Stranglers, AC/DC, The Rich Kids, John Martyn, Ian Dury and Be Bop Deluxe.
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| The Stranglers - Rock Goes To College performance released as a CD |
The format worked well - if a straight live concert was what you wanted. It was renewed for three more seasons, coming to an end in March 1981. Fortunately, most of the shows survive on videotape and have been subject to release on video and DVD across the years, often as bootlegs but sometimes as legitimate professional productions.
Over at ITV, Tyne Tees television started exercising their musical muscles a bit and in 1979, launched a new weekly magazine show Alright Now, named after the early 70s hit by Free. It was aimed at established bands as well as newcomers, albeit it tried to have a North East flavour. It featured (naturally) The Police, Dire Straits and also devoted a whole show to Lindisfarne who had made a successful comeback in 1978. The show only ran for one season, but it sowed the seeds in the Tyne Tees hierarchy that they were onto something.
GOING UNDERGROUND
Just as the arrival of the UK's third TV channel BBC2 in 1964 had done, the launch of the fourth - Channel 4 - in 1982 proved to be a real catalyst for music on television.
Although Channel 4 had a remit for a degree of public service broadcasting, it was aimed at being a little more anarchic and left field than the ITV network. It was a commercial company with government support and unlike BBC2, had national coverage from its launch night. It opened for business on the afternoon of November 2nd, the first show being the word quiz Countdown, a show which still runs today all these years later. Three days after launch, it's first specialist music show went out.
It was The Tube.
There hadn't been anything quite like The Tube before. It was made by Tyne Tees and broadcast from Newcastle. It was hosted by some-time Squeeze musician Jools Holland and, initially, a selection of TV newcomers only one of whom - Muriel Gray - survived beyond the first season. The Tube was live - a whole hour - and featured proper live performances from three or four acts each week thus allowing them to play more than just the current "hit single". Ostensibly a magazine format, there were other slots - the odd interview, location film reports and slots given over to comedy and fashion. It was a bit hit and miss, but the hits far outweighed the misses. The presentation style was a lot looser and less scripted than other programmes and viewers no doubt felt that almost anything could - and would - happen. The show also spawned a number of specials and for its first five years was often seen as essential viewing.
The roster of bands that appeared on The Tube is impressive. Whether It was The Cramps or The Cure, Voice Of The Beehive or Tom Waits, U2 or ZZ Top, it provided a proper platform for all manner of musical genres.
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| Jools Holland no longer on The Tube |
Jools Holland's time with the show came to an end in 1987 following a live promo for the show which went out early one evening: unfortunately the lessons of Bill Grundy had yet to be learnt as our Jools implored viewers to tune in by saying "be there or be ungroovy fuckers". Apparently, this was not the first time he had accidentally sworn within the context of the show and he was asked to stand down. It turned out that internal politicking within the The Tube's makers took a turn for the worse after this incident and the proposed sixth series was never commissioned.
Paula Yates - by then the principal co-host with Jools Holland - found a berth on The Big Breakfast whilst Jools went off and in 1989, hosted several episode of the BBC's revived 1960s show, Juke Box Jury. We'll return to him in part five of this series of blogs.
ALSO RANS?
Whilst The Tube was sweeping all before it on Channel 4 and the newly-renamed Whistle Test was holding its own on BBC2, what else was happening?
Musically, the early 80s saw new wave, two-tone, post-punk and the new romantics - quite a diverse set of genres to cater for. Just as punk had lit a fire under the perceived ways of making music, so the recognition of "youth TV" did the same for broadcasting. "Youth TV" encompassed a wide range of tropes, but often it was a freer, less scripted and more DIY format. It encouraged the involvement of non-TV professionals as well as "youth" presenters themselves. The first toe in the water was probably Something Else, a magazine show broadcast on Saturday nights on BBC2. First aired in 1978 it ran through to 1982 and is noted for being the vehicle by which the last TV performance of Joy Division was seen prior to the sad death of front man Ian Curtis. The approach it took followed through into a BBC series aired from their studios in Manchester - this was The Oxford Road Show, another pop music magazine show which ran for five seasons through to 1985. It had some decent acts on board - The Cure, The Smiths, Spandau Ballet and Simple Minds, for example and had a mixture of Radio 1 DJs (Janice Long, Peter Powell) and new, young presenters as the hosts.
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| The Cure on The Oxford Road Show |
Channel 4, as the new kid on the block, grabbed the whole concept of youth programming and established Network 7, a show that might only have run for two seasons, but proved to be very influential. It was conceived by Janet Street-Porter and Jane Hewland and was broadcast live each Sunday between noon and 2pm. The format was very much a "channel within a channel" and its strapline was "News Is Entertainment - Entertainment Is News". With a frenetic pace and sometimes shambolic approach, its focus was clearly on the teen market. It had regular filmed inserts, a "serial", interviews and all manner of one-off strands. Musical content was mainly to accompany the pieces, but the approach the show took was very "pop".
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| Janet Street Porter - from Network 7 to DEF II |
Network 7 came to an end in 1988 and Janet Street Porter left Channel 4 for the BBC. Her remit there was to promote "youth programming" and in 1989, she created DEF II. It too adopted a magazine format, was broadcast twice a week on Mondays and Wednesdays on BBC2 and in amongst the features, pop culture and so forth, it included regular episodes of other TV shows such as Ren & Stimpy and Wayne's World. It ran for six years through to 1994 by which time, the TV market had fragmented somewhat with the expansion of satellite and cable TV in the UK.
DEATH AND BIRTH?
By the late 1980s, the musical landscape had completely re-set itself.
Top Of The Pops was the one steady fixture, still going out weekly on a Thursday night, although not the force that it once was. The Tube had come and gone. The Whistle Test came to an end in December 1987. There were few, if any, shows aimed at the more "serious" end of the market and "youth" magazine shows proliferated.
Music videos could be seen in all manner of entertainment shows and the early cable and satellite TV networks (British Satellite Broadcasting and Sky Television) became available in the late 80s and offered up the dedicated music television channel, MTV.
But, despite all this digital progress, the music fan seemed poorly served and although the grim economic strictures of the early 80s had given way to the yuppy boom of the late 80s, there didn't seem to be much on the horizon to sate the musical appetites of UK TV viewers.
Join me next time as we dive into the 1990s and bring the story right up to date.
Alan Dorey
7th February 2014
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