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

A series looking at one of the most important periods in the history of Welsh popular music which put Wales on the music map of the world. We'll go on a journey from the start of the 1990s to the height of the 'Cool Cymru' at the turn of the millennium and the heyday of groups such as the Manic Street Preachers, Stereophonics, Super Furry Animals and Catatonia. This week we'll follow the early history of the Welsh-language bands that went from singing in the underground scene to signing huge record contracts. And we'll follow the development of Blackwood band, Manic Street Preachers.

Singing in your native tongue can often be a protest in itself. But in 1980s Wales, as English-owned holiday cottages were razed and English signposts defaced, the prevailing soundtrack of harps, choirs and traditional folk songs just wasn't enough for a new generation of militants.

Hence the emergence of Ankst, which fostered indie, dub, psychedelia, hip-hop, house and many other subgenres within Y Sin Tanddaearol (the alternative scene). Founded at Aberystwyth University in 1988, the label faced indifference and often hostility from the Welsh establishment for deviating from the conservative fare found at eisteddfodau (national festivals) broadcast by S4C (the Welsh-language channel). In fact, the broadcaster sent a stern letter to Ankst founder Emyr Glyn Williams after failing to see the funny side of a compilation titled S4C Makes Me Want to Smoke Crack.

Dave Fanning’s new ten-part series tells the story of Irish rock, from Dave’s unique perspective.

In the first part, he begins with the Big Three, the musicians he considers got the ball rolling. Van Morrison, Rory Gallagher and Phil Lynott.

As the Showbands tipped into proper home-grown rock, these men strode into the stage... and Irish music was never quite the same again.