BBC celebrates Rock ‘n’ Roll America with season of special programmes
The BBC will celebrate all things rock ‘n’ roll this summer with a dedicated series of programming across TV and radio as part of its Rock ‘n’ Roll America season.
Published: 19 June 2015
In the decade between 1954 and 1964 so much changed in America – musically and culturally [...] Now seemed like the perfect moment to celebrate that magical decade, to examine it journalistically and to try and give a sense of what it felt like to be young and alive and inventing something as new and wild and alive as rock ‘n’ roll.
BBC Four, BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 6 Music will all broadcast programmes celebrating this era including a new TV documentary series examining perhaps the most important period in the history of popular music – the birth of rock ‘n’ roll - as well as rock-themed radio shows and specials celebrating the best music the genre has to offer.
BBC Four will broadcast a special three-part documentary series, Rock ‘n’ Roll America, exploring the roots of rock music in the USA, its subsequent explosion around the world and how the first wave of rock stars opened the door for modern pop in the decade between 1954 and 1964.
Commissioned by Jan Younghusband, Head of Commissioning, Music, the hour-long programmes will air on Fridays on 3, 10 and 17 July from 9pm to 10pm.
Part one, Sweet Little Sixteen, focuses on the origins of the sound in 1950s America - a rhythm-driven mix of blues, boogie woogie and vocal harmony championed by young music pioneers such as Fats Domino and Little Richard – which was nurtured by small independent record labels and, pre-Civil Rights Act, drew young white and black kids together. This episode also discusses the start of Elvis Presley’s career as a local singer in Memphis and examines the impact the film industry had on the movement. In particular, bad boy heartthrob Marlon Brando’s iconic performance in 1953’s The Wild One as the biker that ignited a rebellious spirit and style in teens across America, and 1955’s Blackboard Jungle, which featured Bill Haley & His Comets’ Rock Around The Clock, which went on to become the first rock ‘n’ roll number one and an anthem for the country’s disaffected youth.
In episode two, Whole Lotta Shakin’, the rock ‘n’ roll story continues with the boom in the sound across America and its move into mainstream culture thanks to seminal TV appearances from Elvis, who made his small-screen debut with a rendition of Heartbreak Hotel before his notoriously sexualised performance of Hound Dog that caused shockwaves across conservative America. The programme explores the media’s failed attempts to suppress the genre before wholesome Buddy Holly calmed the waters, converting geeky looks into chart success, before scandal again in 1958 with Elvis’s conscription to the army and Jerry Lee Lewis’s career suicide when he married his 13-year-old cousin.
The TV series concludes with Be My Baby, which reflects on the evolution of rock ‘n’ roll music and its impact in America, including Buddy Holly’s tragic death in a plane crash in 1959 at the age of 22, the game-changing arrival of The Beatles in America in 1964, and everything in between.
The series, which is narrated by actor David Morrissey, features exclusive interviews with a host of iconic music names including Ben E King, Chubby Checker, Ronnie Spector, Tom Jones, Pat Boone, Don Everly (pictured), Wanda Jackson, Joe Boyd, Jerry Lee Lewis and The Crickets’ Jerry Allison.
Cassian Harrison, Editor of BBC Four, says: “BBC Four is the television home of music and our Friday night music documentaries are an important and much-loved part of our schedule. I’m delighted we are celebrating the birth of rock ‘n’ roll and discovering how it set the musical world ablaze in the 1950s.”
Mark Cooper, BBC Head of Music Television and the series’ executive producer, says: “In the decade between 1954 and 1964 so much changed in America – musically and culturally. So many of the greats who helped define and kick-start that era are getting to the end of their lives. Now seemed like the perfect moment to celebrate that magical decade, to examine it journalistically and to try and give a sense of what it felt like to be young and alive and inventing something as new and wild and alive as rock ‘n’ roll.”
BBC Radio will also be getting into the 1950s spirit. On Monday 8 June (10pm-11pm), BBC Radio 2 launched Sounds Of The 50s, a new weekly 10-part series hosted by musician, producer and broadcaster Leo Green. The series pays tribute to the decade’s rock ‘n’ roll pantheon, with Leo sharing the stories behind the era’s best songs, performers and writers. He will also look at how the singers and songwriters who defined the Fifties continue to influence the music scene of today with interviews with Van Morrison, Petula Clark, Gregory Porter and Rebecca Ferguson. The shows will feature music by rock ‘n’ roll legends such as Frankie Lymon And The Teenagers, Little Richard, Eddie Cochran, Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Buddy Holly And The Crickets.
Leo says: “I’m incredibly excited and honoured to be hosting Sounds Of The 50s on Radio 2. It’s the decade that featured so many of the original icons and legends, and I’m really looking forward to sharing the best music and the stories from the most exciting era in musical history!"
Lewis Carnie, Head of Programming for Radio 2, says: “Following in the footsteps of Sounds Of The 60s, 70s, and 80s, the Sounds Of The 50s series is a welcome addition to the summer schedule on Radio 2. I’m sure listeners will love listening to the tracks and artists that paved the way for the music superstars of today.”
In a further celebration of the season on Radio 2, The Art Of Artists, 11pm on Monday 6 July, sees Russell Davies interview legendary rocker Marty Wilde. One of the leading British rock ‘n’ roll singers of the Fifties, Marty will discuss his early years as a performer on the club circuit before he scored his first hit in 1958 with Endless Sleep. He’ll also talk to Russell about the impact of British music during this time, his role in the movement that became a global phenomenon and how it influenced his children’s music careers, in particular his daughter Kim.
Meanwhile, on BBC Radio 6 Music, a host of archive documentary specials will be broadcast in the network’s overnight slots. These include You Shake My Nerves - The Jerry Lee Lewis Story (5 July, 5am), which is a retrospective on the colourful life of one of the pioneers of rock ‘n’ roll music; a Little Richard Sunday Special (5 July 1pm), presented by Huey Morgan looking back at the career of the rock music originator to celebrate 60 years since the release of his classic hit, Tutti Frutti; Eddie Cochran: Somethin’ Else (6 July, 4am), a tribute programme presented by Joe Brown; Race With The Devil – The Gene Vincent Story (7 July 1am), where The Who frontman Roger Daltrey assesses the impact of the American musician.
Roger also presents Hey! Bo Diddley (7, 8 and 9 July 2am), a three-part series about the life and career of the Mississippi-born maverick who blended rock ‘n’ roll with blues. Other programmes include Maria Elena Holly – My Life With Buddy (8 July 1am), where Maria talks candidly to Don McLean about her whirlwind romance and marriage to rocker Buddy Holly; and The Chess Records Story (9 and 10 July, 1am), a two-part series tracing the story of the influential record label and its contribution to rock ‘n’ roll music.
The network will also select classic rock-themed Albums of the Day to be played throughout the day in the lead-up to the transmission of the BBC Four documentaries on 3, 10 and 17 July; and a treat of a rock ‘n’ roll playlist will air for Sunday Special (26 July, 1pm-2pm).
Steve Lamacq will celebrate a piece of rock ‘n’ roll iconography, the jukebox, as part of a week of specials on his show (27 July-30 July, 4pm-7pm). In his Monday programme, Steve will talk to jukebox historian Adrian Horn about the record machine’s place in rock music’s hall of fame, he will chat to a jukebox dealer on Wednesday and then round-off the week with a Friday show jam-packed with jukebox rock ‘n’ roll hits as chosen by listeners.
What’s more, Radio 6 Music presenter Lauren Laverne will host an all-star debate next month at London’s 100 Club with a panel of special guests to discuss what rock ‘n’ roll music means today. An hour-long programme on the debate will air on BBC Four on Friday 24 July at 10pm. Lauren will be joined by punk icon John Cooper Clarke and Savages frontwoman Jehnny Beth, and the show will feature original contributions from a host of music stars including Noel Gallagher, Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl, Alex Kapranos and Sleaford Mods, plus music from last year’s Mercury Prize winners Young Fathers and Matthew E White.
Notes to Editors
Photo caption: Don Everly, last of the Everly Brothers. Photographed in Nashville.
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