BeebRock - The BBC4/BBC3/BBC2/BBC1 Music Programmes thread

Hello, nothing happening on BBC Four unless you stay up very late, so lets have a more detailed look at Sky Arts than usual.

Plenty to look at there, it tends to get repeated quite a lot so if you miss anything it'll be coming around again (although maybe not quite as frequently as BBC Four do the repeats ...) Shame it's not on Freesat but for anyone who does have it ...



Thursday
6.45pm (Sky Arts) Queen The Magic Years
Documentary about the rock group's rise to fame and eventual superstardom, including profiles of Freddie Mercury, Brian May, John Deacon and Roger Taylor


2.30am (BBC 4) - Sounds of The Sixties
1967-68 - The Pop Boom Music from the Top of the Pops archives, featuring performances by acts including the Foundations, Procol Harum, the Bee Gees, the Rolling Stones, and Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich



Friday
8pm (Sky Arts) Classic Albums: Duran Duran - Rio
Documentary exploring the success of Duran Duran's album Rio, which propelled the band into the limelight during the 1980s with its optimistic feel against a backdrop of mass unemployment and the Falklands War. Featuring interviews with original members of the band including Simon Le Bon and Nick Rhodes, as well as contributions by Bob Geldof and Anthony Price


9pm (Sky Arts) Trailblazers: New Romantics
Ep 16/20 Toyah Willcox and Billy Bragg are among those examining key moments in the development of the New Romantic genre, from the Human League and Adam Ant, to David Bowie and Ultravox


10pm (Sky Arts) Soundbreaking
Ep 8/8 How We Listen A look at the development and evolution of different formats for listening to music, from vinyl records and cassette tapes to CDs and MP3s


11pm (Sky Arts) Guitar Star
A look back at the best moments from the competition,, from the first auditions all the way to the winner's performance on the main stage at Latitude Festival. Last in the series


Midnight (Sky Arts) Lost Songs: The Basement Tapes continued
Documentary observing songwriters as they make new music based on long-lost, but now rediscovered lyrics from Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes sessions. T Bone Burnett brings Elvis Costello, Rhiannon Gddens, Taylor Goldsmith, Jim James and Marcus Mumford together in a two-week studio session in the basement of Capitol Records. Featuring a contribution by Bob Dylan


2.30am (BBC 4) - Sounds of The Sixties
1968-69 - The Swinging Sixties Music from the flower power era, featuring bands including Herman's Hermits, the Crazy World of Arthur Brown, the Alan Price Set, Manfred Mann and the Rolling Stones


3am (BBC 4) California comes to the Whistle Test
A compilation of performances on seminal 1970s series The Old Grey Whistle Test by artists who lived and worked in the US state. Featuring Jackson Browne, Little Feat, Ry Cooder, Judee Sill, Bonnie Raitt and a duet by James Taylor and Carly Simon


3.10am (Sky Arts) REM by MTV
Documentary, charting the 30-year history of Georgia-formed US rock band REM, as recorded by MTV since the channel was launched back in 1981. Making use of archive interviews, performances and previously unused footage of Mike Stipe and company, the film explores how one of America's most popular musical exports developed alongside the `MTV generation'



Saturday
6.45pm (Sky Arts) Paul McCartney: A Musicares Tribute
Eddie Izzard hosts the 2012 MusiCares Person of the Year dinner and tribute concert at the Los Angeles Convention Centre, with guest of honour Paul McCartney kicking off proceedings. Artists including Alicia Keys, Tony Bennett, Norah Jones, Foo Fighters, Coldplay, Katy Perry, Neil Young and James Taylor then perform songs from the former Beatle's back catalogue, including Blackbird, Here,There and Everywhere, Oh! Darling, Jet, We Can Work it Out, Hey Jude, I Saw Her Standing There and Yesterday, before McCartney returns to the stage for the finale


9pm (Sky Arts) Soundstage: Robert Plant and The Strange Sensation
The veteran singer and his backing band perform solo tracks and Led Zeppelin classics, including No Quarter, Black Dog, Freedom Fries, Hey Joe and Whole Lotta Love


10pm (Sky Arts) Led Zeppelin: Celebration Day
The band's one-off reunion performance at London's O2 in 2007 as part of a benefit concert to commemorate the life of Atlantic Records co-founder Ahmet Ertegun. Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones were joined by former member John Bonham's son Jason on drums as the group played a selection of songs from their back catalogue, including Whole Lotta Love, Kashmir, Dazed and Confused and Black Dog


1.45am (Sky Arts) David Bowie - A Reality Tour
The musician performs at Dublin's Point Theatre in 2003 as part of a worldwide tour in support of his Reality album. The set list includes tracks spanning Bowie's career, including The Man Who Sold the World, Five Years, and Hang on to Yourself, which he hadn't played live in more than 20 years


2.30am (BBC 4) Sounds of The Sixties
The Singer and the Song Archive clips featuring solo artists, including music by performers as diverse as Sandie Shaw, Dusty Springfield, Long John Baldry and Tom Jones


3am (BBC 4) The Joy of Disco
Why one of the most frequently derided forms of pop music provided the soundtrack to some of the most important social changes of the 1970s, including gay liberation and female empowerment. The programme also explores how the New York disco scene laid the foundations for modern club culture, tells the tale of how acts including Chic, Sister Sledge and George McCrae broke into the mainstream on both sides of the Atlantic, and explores the importance of the film Saturday Night Fever in shaping the image of disco music around the world. Featuring contributions by Chic's Nile Rodgers, Robin Gibb, Kathy Sledge of Sister Sledge, songwriter Kenny Gamble and the Trammps' Earl Young


3am (Sky Arts) Gary Numan: Reinvention: The Electric Warrior
Documentary profiling the Hammersmith-born singer, who was propelled to fame when his band Tubeway Army topped the charts with the single Are Friends Electric? in 1979. Since then, Numan has gone on to experiment with multiple musical styles, been cited as an influence by acts including Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson and Afrika Bambaataa, and learned he has a mild form of Asperger's Syndrome - a condition some believe may have helped rather than hindered his career



Sunday
1pm (True Movies 1) Birth of The Beatles (1979)
Pop biopic charting the Beatles' early days in Germany with original members Pete Best and Stu Sutcliffe, and their first stab at chart success with Ringo Starr and producer George Martin. Starring Stephen Mackenna, John Altman, Rod Culbertson, Ray Ashcroft and Nigel Havers


5pm (True Movies 1) Meat Loaf: To Hell and Back
Biopic charting the rocker's early years and how he overcame his bullying father and a lifelong weight problem to achieve international fame. W Earl Brown, Dedee Pfeiffer and Zachary Throne star


7pm (True Movies 1) In His Life: The John Lennon Story
Biopic of the singer who formed one half of the most successful and celebrated songwriting partnership of modern times. The film charts the musician's youth in Liverpool and his rise to fame with the Beatles, a group which redefined popular music during the 1960s, before recalling his solo career and tragic death outside his home in Manhattan. Starring Philip McQuillan, Blair Brown, Daniel McGowan and Jamie Glover


9pm (True Movies 1) Hendrix
Biopic of the legendary guitarist who changed the face of music during the 1960s. Starring Wood Harris, Vivica A Fox, Dorian Harewood and Billy Zane


9.15pm (Sky Arts) David Bowie: Serious Moonlight
The singer in concert from 1983, filmed in Vancouver, Canada, during the Serious Moonlight Tour - his longest and most successful series of performances to date. Songs include Heroes, Fashion, Let's Dance, Rebel Rebel, Ashes to Ashes, Space Oddity, Young Americans, Fame and Life on Mars?


1.15am (Sky Arts) Video Killed The Radio Star
Ep 11/13 The Synth Years Leading recording artists and video directors from the electronic music scene of the early 1980s look back on their influence on the music video boom. Russell Mulcahy talks about his promo for Ultravox's Vienna, Nick Rhodes and Simon Le Bon discuss getting Mulcahy on board for the Duran Duran single Planet Earth, and OMD's Andy McCluskey and director Steve Barron reflect on the video for Maid of Orleans. Writer Robert Elms, director Tim Pope, musician Herbie Hancock, the Human League's Phil Oakey and Spandau Ballet's Gary Kemp also comment on the videos that ushered in the MTV era


2.30am (BBC Four) Sounds of The Sixties
Hip to the Trip Celebration of the decade's psychedelic music, featuring counter-culture classics by the Who, Pink Floyd, Joe Cocker, the Nice and the Jimi Hendrix Experience




Obviously the headline news there is that Birth of The Beatles is on again, so all is OK in the World!

Here's a clip from that Meat Loaf film, where he meets Jim Steinman. A good day for both of them. Lets have more of this kind of film on Television!

UsedToWait wrote: »

Love following this thread, and thanks for doing the homework for us lazy types Skid et al...

Figured you erudite folks might have an opinion on this:

Greatest concert movies and Greatest music biopics of all time?

I've been trying to add to my library of the above..

For concert movies, I've got the likes of Woodstock, The Last Waltz, Gimme Shelter, Stop Making Sense etc - more recently Reflektor

For biopics, pretty scarce - The Doors, Backbeat...

Would appreciate some inspiration

Fair play UsedToWait, that's an interesting question, it would be good to hear what people recommend.

I'll need to have a think about it - I'll be back tomorrow or Friday with some thoughts!

Welsh Megaman wrote: »

Oh, and the Dave Clark Five documentary featuring Dave Clark starring Dave Clark - produced, written, directed and edited by Dave Clark

Just in case anyone missed that pile of dung when it was on the BBC, WM is taking the piss there!

That Dave Clark Five documentary was a rotten piece of self praising propaganda. <<shudder>>