Episode 3: 22:00, Fri 18 Jan 2008
For the last 30 years British pop has been locked in a constant struggle between the forces of art and commerce. That struggle has both fuelled and crippled our pop artists.
Read about Episode 1
Read about Episode 2
Two Tribes
At the dawn of the 80s, a generation of punk-inspired art students invented bands like The Human League, ABC and Dexy's Midnight Runners and took British pop round the world again via MTV.
This British pop had a fascination with style and image, a flair for gender provocation and a restless ambition. Spandau Ballet, Duran Duran and Culture Club took the blueprint and quickly turned into international act that, by Live Aid in 1984 were suddenly starting to act remarkably similarly to old guard acts like Queen with whom they shared the Wembley stage.
A new mainstream was emerging and Stock, Aitken and Waterman re-modelled the Motown approach for Thatcher's Britain while Pet Shop Boys looked wanly on. The 90s belonged to the starmakers who put together the likes of Take That and Boyzone and Cool Britannia, a brief art school coup by the indie kids lead by Blur and Oasis. 10 years on, the likes of Franz Ferdinand and Kaiser Chiefs have taken up the Cool Britannia challenge while Girls Aloud and Sugababes prove that good production-line pop is a matter of character and producer.
Produced by Ben Whalley
