BeebRock II - Music Shows on BBC Four, Sky Arts and everywhere else

I didn't think David Cassidy was still hitting the charts in 1985

Nice to see half of Zaphod Beeblebrox having success after their split

Hello, here is your regular look at the upcoming music programmes on television this weekend. BBC Four aren't really bothering at the moment (they are giving up time to the Winter Olympics) but there's plenty of variety on the other channels. Everything from Patsy Cline to Iron Maiden, with more Reggae than you would usually get of a weekend.
Quick trivia question - which American President was once interviewed on The Old Grey Whistle Test? The answer is below ...




Thursday
10.30am Video Killed The Radio Star: Guns N Roses (Sky Arts)

12pm Trailblazers: Glam Rock (Sky Arts)

3.30pm Video Killed The Radio Star: Metallica (Sky Arts)

5pm Trailblazers: Two Tone (Sky Arts)

9pm When Patsy Cline was Crazy (Sky Arts)
Rosanne Cash narrates a documentary about the life, career and legacy of the American country music singer, with contributions by LeAnn Rimes, Kacey Musgraves and Reba McEntire

9.50pm Belladrum 2017: The Pretenders (BBC Alba)
Fiona MacKenzie and Niall Iain MacDonald introduce a set by rock band the Pretenders, headed up by the phenomenally talented singer, songwriter and musician Chrissie Hynde

Midnight Freddie Mercury: The Great Pretender (Sky Arts)
Profile of the Queen frontman, exploring his time away from the band - including a collaboration with Michael Jackson and the triumphant Barcelona duet with Montserrat Caballe. The programme also examines his life as a gay man who was not yet publicly out. Featuring archive footage and interviews with bandmates Brian May and Roger Taylor, as well as friends and admirers including Paul Gambaccini, Montserrat Caballe and Matt Lucas

1am Top Of The Pops 1982: January 28th (BBC4)
Simon Bates introduces performances by Tight Fit, Stiff Little Fingers, Elkie Brooks, Alton Edwards, Haircut 100, Olivia Newton-John, Stranglers and Shakin' Stevens
https://www.thetvdb.com/?tab=episode&seriesid=78332&seasonid=653323&id=5506450&lid=7

1.40am Top Of The Pops 1982: February 4th (BBC4)
John Peel hosts the February 4 edition, featuring music by OMD, the Jets, Soft Cell, XTC, Christopher Cross, Kraftwerk and Theatre of Hate https://www.thetvdb.com/?tab=episode&seriesid=78332&seasonid=653323&id=5506451&lid=7

1.40am Video Killed The Radio Star: Queen (Sky Arts)

2.10am Heartworn Highways Revisited (Sky Arts)
Sequel to the 1981 documentary focusing on the next generation of country musicians whose lives and music were influenced by the likes of Townes Van Zandt and Steve Earle



Friday
10.30am Video Killed The Radio Star: Metallica (Sky Arts)

11am Too Young To Die: Kurt Cobain (Sky Arts)
A look at the successful yet troubled life of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, who committed suicide at his Seattle home in 1994

12pm Trailblazers: Two Tone (Sky Arts)

5pm Trailblazers: Funk (Sky Arts)

7pm When Patsy Kline Was Crazy (Sky Arts)

7.30pm & 12.15am Top Of The Pops 1985: April 11th
John Peel and Janice Long introduce performances by Tears for Fears, the Rah Band, Dance Academy, King, and Philip Bailey and Phil Collins. First shown April 11, 1985 https://www.thetvdb.com/?tab=episode&seriesid=78332&seasonid=655748&id=5857958&lid=7

8pm Meat Loaf With The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (Sky Arts)

9pm & 12.50am The Story Of Skinhead With Don Letts (BBC4)
The director and 6Music presenter offers a first-hand account of the skinhead movement, tracing its origins in the 1960s as a `harmonious subgroup' through to its evolution throughout the 1970s and 1980s into a `threatening and bigoted subculture steeped in far-right politics and violence'. Don reflects on the movement's social impact across music, style and culture, its modern-day legacy, and its associated stigma associated by exploring white power nationalists in the US, fascist revivalists in Italy and Neo-Nazis in Germany. Contributors include singer Pauline Black


10pm & 1.50am TOTP2: Boogie Fever (BBC4)
Steve Wright presents performances of disco classics from the BBC archives, featuring George McCrae, Chic, Gloria Gaynor, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Edwin Starr, the Weather Girls, Liquid Gold, Heatwave, the Bee Gees, Earth Wind & Fire, Tina Charles, the JALN Band, Hi-Tension, Sylvester, the Village People, Boney M, Linx, Yazz, Infernal, the Three Degrees, Blondie, the Gibson Brothers and Rick Dees and His Cast of Idiots

10pm Classic Albums: Iron Maiden - Number Of The Beast (Sky Arts)
Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson, Adrian Smith, Steve Harris, Dave Murray and Clive Burr reflect on the production of their 1982 album The Number of the Beast, and discuss how they became reviled in certain quarters for their supposedly Satanist leanings

11pm Iron Maiden: Flight 666 (Sky Arts)
Documentary chronicling heavy-metal band Iron Maiden's 2008 Somewhere Back in Time world tour, which took them on a 50,000-mile journey across five continents, staging 23 concerts in just 45 days. Featuring performance footage of classic tracks including Aces High and Wasted Years, along with behind-the-scenes interviews with the band


11.30pm Bruno Mars: Live in Harlem (BBC4)
The singer presents a TV special recorded at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem, New York, in which he and his band perform songs including Uptown Funk and 24k Magic. They also take to the streets to entertain the locals and even perform on the rooftop of the Apollo building

11.45pm Belladrum 2016: Bwani Junction (BBC Alba)
Fiona MacKenzie and Niall Iain MacDonald present highlights from the set by Bwani Junction at Tartan Heart Festival at Belladrum

1.10am Breaking A Monster (Sky Arts)
Documentary charting the rise of New York heavy metal band Unlocking the Truth, from 12-year-old street performers to signing a multimillion-dollar record deal

2.20am Mumford & Sons: We Wrote This Yesterday (Sky Arts)
Documentary following the collaborative processes during the band's 2016 tour of South Africa, as they team up with an esteemed collection of musical partners



Sunday Saturday
7pm Jimi Hendrix: Electric Church (Sky Arts)
Documentary follows Jimi Hendrix's seminal performance at the 1970 Atlanta Pop Festival, where he played in front of 300,000 people. Featuring interviews with Hendrix and fellow musicians, including Paul McCartney and Mitch Mitchell

7pm Boom Bang a Bang: 50 Years of Eurovision (Yesterday)
Terry Wogan looks back on the best and worst of the music competition, in a programme originally broadcast to coincide with the 50th anniversary in 2007. Tracing its history back to the UK's first entry in 1957, he considers the politics behind the voting, and reveals the effect of changes in television technology over the years.

8pm Disco At The BBC (Yesterday)
Archive performances of disco classics by acts including Chic, Rose Royce, Labelle, Gladys Knight and Village People, from shows such as Top of the Pops, The Old Grey Whistle Test and Later with Jools Holland

9pm & 2.20am Bob Marley: The Making Of A Legend (Sky Arts)
Esther Anderson's documentary based on film shot in the early 1970s in Jamaica, charting the reggae musician's career before he shot to worldwide fame. Trailer


9pm Prog At The BBC (Yesterday)
Footage from the BBC studios of some of Britain's most popular progressive rock bands dating back to the early 1970s. Including performances by Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Yes, Genesis, Caravan, Gentle Giant, Family and Atomic Rooster

10pm Guitar Heroes At The BBC (Yesterday)
Archive performances of the most iconic artists and bands from the 1960s and 1970s, featuring Pictures of Matchstick Men by Status Quo, the Who's single Long Live Rock, Tunnel of Love by Dire Straits and Lynyrd Skynyrd's classic Sweet Home Alabama. Plus, rare clips of George Benson, Leo Kottke, Link Wray and Tom Petty

10.35pm Top Of The Pops 1985: April 11th

10.35pm-10.45pm Belladrum 2016: Gruff Rhys (BBC Alba)
A set by Welsh singer-songwriter Gruff Rhys, recorded in August 2016, featuring acoustic versions of Cryndod Yn Dy Lais, Ymaelodi A'r Ymylon and Nythod Cacwn

10.50pm Toots & The Maytals: From The Roots (Sky Arts)
The story of Jamaican musician Frederick `Toots' Hibbert, who helped define reggae and ska with his band the Maytals. Featuring performance and backstage footage of the group

11.10pm & 1.40am The Joy Of The Bee Gees (BBC4)
A profile of the pop group, following their journey from child stars on the Australian variety circuit to UK pop chart competitors of the Beatles in the late 1960s. The documentary analyses the highlights of the three Gibb brothers' careers, including the success of the Saturday Night Fever album, the creation of their `medallion man' trademark look, their triumphant 1987 comeback, and their work with famed fellow performers such as Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton, Barbra Streisand and Diana Ross. Featuring interviews with Barry Gibb, John Lydon, Guy Chambers, Mykaell Riley, Alexis Petridis and Ana Matronic

12.10am Southern Rock at the BBC (BBC4)
Archive performances by classic Southern rock acts on shows including The Old Grey Whistle Test, In Concert and Wogan. Featuring Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Charlie Daniels Band, the Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Delaney & Bonnie with Eric Clapton, Dickey Betts, formerly of the Allman Brothers Band, the Marshall Tucker Band, Black Oak Arkansas, Greg Allman with Cher, and Edgar Winter

12.20am UB40 Live at Montreux Pop Festival 2002 (Sky Arts)

1.10am Sings Neil Diamond (BBC4)
An archive collection of performances from artists covering tracks by Neil Diamond. Including Red Red Wine by UB40, Urge Overkill's version of Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon, Robert Wyatt's take on I'm a Believer and Lulu singing Boat That I Row



Sunday
9pm & 2.05am Toots and The Maytals: Reggae Got Soul (Sky Arts)
A profile of Toots Hibbert, featuring an interview with the reggae musician and archive footage of his performances. The film traces his career from his early days as a singer in a Jamaican church to becoming a Grammy award-winning artist, and features contributions by Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Jimmy Cliff, Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson, Marcia Griffiths and Paolo Nutini

10.15pm Bob Marley : The Making Of A Legend (Sky Arts)
As Saturday

11pm Ar Stáitse: Smokie (TG4)
The band in concert at the Cork Opera House in 1988. performing hits If You Think You Know How to Love Me, Don't Play Your Rock 'n' Roll to Me and Living Next Door to Alice

12.05am The Making of Marc Bolan (Sky Arts)
Documentary telling the story of how East End boy Mark Feld became a glam rock superstar as the frontman of T. Rex. Featuring contributions from friends, family and well-known fans



Monday
10.35pm Dolores (RTE1)
A tribute to the Cranberries singer Dolores O'Riordan, who died last month at the age of 46. Dave Fanning introduces archive interviews, performances and musical clips of Dolores.




... and the answer to the trivia question is Jimmy Carter. There he is with his OGWT badge. There's an extended OGWT special with Bob coming up in a few weeks, I'm not sure if Jimmy will make a return but you never know

http://bobharris.org/pages/gallerypics.php?artist=OGWT%20Jimmy%20Carter




There appears to be two different Toots and the Maytals docs on Sky Arts, maybe they are one and the same but a random recommendation from a blog here says it/one of them might be worth a look

I’d really recommend a terrific Sky Arts documentary, Toots and the Maytals: From the Roots, about reggae’s beginnings and the intertwined career of “Toots” Hibbert. Beautifully made, it contrasts excellent interviews and documentary footage with his current band performing his greatest songs

https://fivethingsseenandheard.com/tag/toots-and-the-maytals-from-the-roots/


Finally, the most unlikely Dexys Midnight Runners performance featuring Kevin Rowland being brought back to life of the week might be this version of Let's make this Precious from Big Train (GOLD, Saturday Night 3am)

BandMember wrote: »

Fantastic work as always SkidX!

Even though you listed Sunday twice while completely omitting Saturday, I managed to crack the code....

Whoops, well spotted BandMember, thanks

Life in a Northern Town is a tune

Say what you like about Dario G but he knew how to source a good sample.

That singer out of King packed it in and was on MTV for most of the nineties.

Chris Morris improved this on The Day Today

(2 minutes in, Uzi Lover)

That Dolores tribute is on Monday at 10.35pm

https://twitter.com/fanningrte/status/965298651752009728

https://twitter.com/fanningrte/status/965308345845501952



Also, the Old Grey Whistle Test three hour special is on this Friday, followed by an old Doc about the show and another show featuring classic performances. Lovely stuff.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09scfnb

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0074t7r


Full details later in the week, as usual

"Sorry, I'll have to put you on hold, there's a call coming in for Sylvia's Mother on the other line ..."

Almost none of the USA for Africa singers took time out of their busy schedules a few months later for Live Aid.