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Rhymes, Rock and Revolution: The Story of Performance Poetry

How the edges between performance poetry and popular music have become blurred, a cross-pollination that began in 1965 when Allen Ginsberg stormed the Royal Albert Hall stage.

Is poetry the new rock 'n' roll - or is rock 'n' roll the new poetry? This documentary explores how the edges between performance poetry and popular music have become blurred - a radical cross-pollination that began 50 years ago when Allen Ginsberg stormed the stage of the Royal Albert Hall. In the year when the Beats met The Beatles, the event turned a young generation on to verse - a revolution that shows no sign of slowing down in today's urban music and slam poetry scenes.

1 hour

Last on

Mon 17 May 202123:10

Music Played

  • Casiokids

    Fot I Hose

  • Gil Scott‐Heron

    Johannesburg

  • Patti Smith

    Horses

  • Suede

    Beautiful Loser

  • Graham de Wilde

    Echoes of Empire

  • Tav Falco’s Panther Burns

    The Bourgeois Blues

  • Sex Pistols

    Anarchy in the UK

  • James Clarke

    Blow Up A Go Go

  • UK Subs

    Confrontation

  • Small Faces

    Almost Grown

  • Chappell

    Lord John

  • Sham 69

    If the Kids are United

  • John Cooper Clarke

    Beasley Street

  • Fatboy Slim

    Everybody Needs a 303

  • Leonard Cohen

    Famous Blue Raincoat

  • Buzzcocks

    Fast Cars

  • Siouxsie and the Banshees

    Israel

  • The Liverpool Scene

    Batpoem

  • Public Enemy

    Fight the Power

  • Roots Manuva

    First Growth

  • X‐Ray Spex

    I am a Poseur

  • Gil Scott‐Heron

    The Revolution will not be Televised

  • The Scaffold

    LIly the Pink

  • Leonard Cohen

    The Stranger Song

  • Grasscut

    Lights

  • Television

    Marquee Moon

  • The Velvet Underground

    The Murder Mystery

  • The Equals

    Police on My Back

  • Leonard Cohen

    Famous Blue Raincoat

  • Gil Scott‐Heron

    The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

  • The Clash

    White Riot

  • Sex Pistols

    Anarchy In The U.K.

  • Kae Tempest

    Lonely Daze

Credits

RoleContributor
PresenterJohn Cooper Clarke
PresenterHollie McNish
PresenterPhill Jupitus
ProducerKemi Majekodunmi
DirectorKemi Majekodunmi
Executive ProducerPauline Law

Broadcasts

Featured in...

Contains Strong Language

Contains Strong Language

A season of poets and poetry, centred around National Poetry Day on 8 October 2015.