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This programme contains very strong language | 0:00:02 | 0:00:05 | |
Post-Woodstock, at the dawn of the '70s, American rock stopped | 0:00:05 | 0:00:08 | |
looking for a revolution and started looking for a good time. | 0:00:08 | 0:00:10 | |
Enter the classic American rock anthem. | 0:00:10 | 0:00:13 | |
I love deep cuts and B-sides, | 0:00:13 | 0:00:15 | |
but, shit, give me a huge anthem any day. | 0:00:15 | 0:00:17 | |
Big drums, | 0:00:18 | 0:00:19 | |
a soaring guitar, | 0:00:19 | 0:00:21 | |
a huge chorus and screaming solos. | 0:00:21 | 0:00:23 | |
MUSIC: I Love Rock 'N' Roll by Joan Jett & The Blackhearts | 0:00:23 | 0:00:26 | |
During the glory years of classic rock, | 0:00:26 | 0:00:28 | |
America bossed the world while the kids held their arms aloft | 0:00:28 | 0:00:31 | |
and sang along. | 0:00:31 | 0:00:32 | |
# Ohhhh Livin' on a prayer... # | 0:00:32 | 0:00:35 | |
From School's Out to Smells Like Teen Spirit... | 0:00:35 | 0:00:38 | |
MUSIC: Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana | 0:00:38 | 0:00:40 | |
Welcome to our tour of classic American rock. | 0:00:40 | 0:00:43 | |
With lighters at the ready, | 0:00:43 | 0:00:45 | |
we tune it up and take you inside some of the greatest rock anthems. | 0:00:45 | 0:00:48 | |
An American rock anthem has to have sort of an epic sound. | 0:00:57 | 0:01:01 | |
It has to be pretty big. | 0:01:01 | 0:01:03 | |
# So now I'm praying for the end of time | 0:01:03 | 0:01:06 | |
# To hurry up and arrive... # | 0:01:06 | 0:01:09 | |
We tend to be more upfront and in your face. | 0:01:09 | 0:01:12 | |
Whether it's as simple as pumping your fist... | 0:01:12 | 0:01:15 | |
or...you know, giving the finger to the world. | 0:01:15 | 0:01:18 | |
MUSIC: Eye Of The Tiger by Survivor | 0:01:18 | 0:01:22 | |
The witch's brew must contain certain elements. | 0:01:24 | 0:01:27 | |
Number one - and most important - | 0:01:27 | 0:01:29 | |
it must have a monster riff. | 0:01:29 | 0:01:32 | |
MUSIC: Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana | 0:01:32 | 0:01:35 | |
If you don't get them on the chorus, you don't have an anthem. | 0:01:37 | 0:01:40 | |
That's where the anthem lives and breathes. | 0:01:40 | 0:01:44 | |
MUSIC: Born To Be Wild by Steppenwolf | 0:01:44 | 0:01:46 | |
In 1968, America wanted freedom, rebellion and rock and roll. | 0:01:48 | 0:01:52 | |
Born To Be Wild was the blueprint for the '70s and beyond. | 0:01:52 | 0:01:56 | |
# Born to be wild... # | 0:01:58 | 0:02:01 | |
But perhaps the main inspiration for the American rock anthem | 0:02:01 | 0:02:04 | |
came from elsewhere, across the pond... | 0:02:04 | 0:02:07 | |
Britain, of all places. | 0:02:07 | 0:02:09 | |
And it's a first-time welcome for that top four with their top hit, | 0:02:09 | 0:02:13 | |
You Really Got Me Going - the Kinks! | 0:02:13 | 0:02:16 | |
# Girl, you really got me going | 0:02:18 | 0:02:20 | |
# You got me so I don't know what I'm doing... # | 0:02:20 | 0:02:23 | |
Throughout the mid-'60s, | 0:02:23 | 0:02:25 | |
the British invasion was arguably the major influence | 0:02:25 | 0:02:28 | |
on all upcoming bands across America. | 0:02:28 | 0:02:31 | |
The harder it got in Britain, | 0:02:31 | 0:02:33 | |
the better it got for us. | 0:02:33 | 0:02:35 | |
I'm driving along with the band, | 0:02:35 | 0:02:37 | |
then all of a sudden I heard... | 0:02:37 | 0:02:39 | |
HUMS OPENING RIFF | 0:02:39 | 0:02:42 | |
And I went... We stopped the car. | 0:02:42 | 0:02:44 | |
# Oh, yeah, you really got me now... # | 0:02:44 | 0:02:48 | |
I said, "What was that?" | 0:02:48 | 0:02:50 | |
The Kinks, you know... It was angry. | 0:02:50 | 0:02:54 | |
The guitar sounded like a dog barking. | 0:02:54 | 0:02:56 | |
You know? And I went, "What is THAT?!" | 0:02:56 | 0:02:59 | |
To me, that was the beginnings of, you know, | 0:02:59 | 0:03:02 | |
real hard rock, heavy metal. | 0:03:02 | 0:03:04 | |
And then The Who were doing all this... | 0:03:04 | 0:03:06 | |
destroying their instruments on stage. | 0:03:06 | 0:03:09 | |
So we learned attitude, I think, from The Who. | 0:03:09 | 0:03:12 | |
We learned creativity from the Yardbirds. | 0:03:12 | 0:03:16 | |
And all of us learned melody from the Beatles. | 0:03:16 | 0:03:18 | |
MUSIC: Here Comes The Sun by the Beatles | 0:03:18 | 0:03:22 | |
And maybe we learned our strut from Mick Jagger. | 0:03:24 | 0:03:27 | |
Inspired by the British invasion, | 0:03:29 | 0:03:31 | |
American rockers in the Midwest set out to snatch back rock and roll | 0:03:31 | 0:03:34 | |
and set it in their own landscape, | 0:03:34 | 0:03:36 | |
and in the hearts and minds of the kids in America. | 0:03:36 | 0:03:40 | |
MUSIC: School's Out by Alice Cooper | 0:03:40 | 0:03:43 | |
It was 1972 when Detroit's Alice Cooper | 0:03:43 | 0:03:45 | |
blended horror theatrics, a monster riff and a killer chorus | 0:03:45 | 0:03:49 | |
into a celebration of a key moment in every kid's life. | 0:03:49 | 0:03:53 | |
It was my anthem, | 0:03:53 | 0:03:55 | |
as it was so many of the kids that I knew. | 0:03:55 | 0:03:58 | |
I was a big fan, even though I didn't know what the hell it was, | 0:03:58 | 0:04:01 | |
in the very beginning. | 0:04:01 | 0:04:02 | |
We loved it from the opening # Der der-der... # | 0:04:02 | 0:04:04 | |
PLAYS OPENING RIFF | 0:04:04 | 0:04:06 | |
I don't care how big the audience is, | 0:04:08 | 0:04:10 | |
if it's a tiny audience, a gigantic audience. | 0:04:10 | 0:04:12 | |
You start up that riff, the place goes insane. | 0:04:12 | 0:04:15 | |
It's incendiary. | 0:04:15 | 0:04:16 | |
# We got no choice | 0:04:23 | 0:04:24 | |
# All you girls and boys | 0:04:26 | 0:04:28 | |
# Makin' all that noise... # | 0:04:29 | 0:04:31 | |
Alice Cooper was brilliant. | 0:04:31 | 0:04:32 | |
He was probably 30 years old when he was tapping into the psyche | 0:04:32 | 0:04:35 | |
of the American teen. | 0:04:35 | 0:04:37 | |
School's Out was like a shot of B12 in your butt. | 0:04:37 | 0:04:40 | |
# School's | 0:04:40 | 0:04:42 | |
# Out for summer | 0:04:42 | 0:04:44 | |
# School's | 0:04:46 | 0:04:48 | |
# Out for ever... # | 0:04:48 | 0:04:50 | |
We sat there and said, "What does everybody have in common?" | 0:04:52 | 0:04:55 | |
One thing - school. | 0:04:55 | 0:04:57 | |
What does 99% of people think about high school? | 0:04:57 | 0:05:00 | |
I hated school. | 0:05:01 | 0:05:03 | |
My mother | 0:05:03 | 0:05:04 | |
was a public school teacher. The most brilliant woman | 0:05:04 | 0:05:07 | |
I've ever met in my entire life. | 0:05:07 | 0:05:09 | |
She had to deal with assholes like me every day. | 0:05:09 | 0:05:12 | |
I said, "What's the best time about school?" | 0:05:12 | 0:05:15 | |
It was the last three minutes... | 0:05:15 | 0:05:17 | |
..before summer vacation. | 0:05:18 | 0:05:20 | |
You sat there and you looked at that clock and it was... | 0:05:21 | 0:05:24 | |
57 minutes to three! You know? | 0:05:24 | 0:05:27 | |
You got three more minutes | 0:05:27 | 0:05:28 | |
until you're going to have three months off. | 0:05:28 | 0:05:31 | |
Capture that three minutes. | 0:05:31 | 0:05:33 | |
I put it on before the alarm went off | 0:05:33 | 0:05:36 | |
and cranked it through the PA through the whole school. | 0:05:36 | 0:05:40 | |
I started walking down the corridor | 0:05:40 | 0:05:42 | |
and it came on, blasting through the speakers. | 0:05:42 | 0:05:44 | |
BELL RINGS | 0:05:44 | 0:05:46 | |
# School's out for summer... # | 0:05:46 | 0:05:48 | |
Aaargh! School's out, motherfucker! | 0:05:50 | 0:05:52 | |
# No more pencils | 0:05:57 | 0:06:00 | |
# No more books | 0:06:00 | 0:06:03 | |
# No more teachers' | 0:06:03 | 0:06:07 | |
# Dirty looks... # | 0:06:07 | 0:06:10 | |
It took the British to accept us | 0:06:10 | 0:06:13 | |
before the Americans would accept us. | 0:06:13 | 0:06:15 | |
We're sitting there going, | 0:06:15 | 0:06:17 | |
"We want to make the Stones look like choirboys." | 0:06:17 | 0:06:19 | |
Rock needs a villain. | 0:06:19 | 0:06:21 | |
Alice Cooper was such an alien to us. | 0:06:21 | 0:06:25 | |
We were teenagers | 0:06:25 | 0:06:27 | |
and his outfits and his lyrics | 0:06:27 | 0:06:29 | |
and the fact that his band was so dangerous... | 0:06:29 | 0:06:33 | |
And, you know, | 0:06:33 | 0:06:35 | |
danger is not a bad element to have in an anthem. | 0:06:35 | 0:06:39 | |
# School's out for ever... # | 0:06:40 | 0:06:44 | |
The funny thing was | 0:06:44 | 0:06:47 | |
I didn't have a problem with high school. | 0:06:47 | 0:06:49 | |
I was Ferris Bueller. | 0:06:49 | 0:06:51 | |
I mean, I ran my high school. It was great. | 0:06:51 | 0:06:54 | |
For me to write School's Out as an anthem | 0:06:54 | 0:06:56 | |
was me writing it for every other kid. | 0:06:56 | 0:06:58 | |
But I didn't have a problem with school! | 0:06:58 | 0:07:00 | |
# School's | 0:07:00 | 0:07:02 | |
# Been blown to pieces. # | 0:07:02 | 0:07:07 | |
BELL RINGS | 0:07:07 | 0:07:09 | |
CHEERING | 0:07:09 | 0:07:10 | |
If Alice shoved the Brits out of the way | 0:07:16 | 0:07:18 | |
by speaking directly to American teens, | 0:07:18 | 0:07:21 | |
in 1973, another Michigan band, Grand Funk Railroad, | 0:07:21 | 0:07:25 | |
gave their blue-collar fans something to believe in - | 0:07:25 | 0:07:27 | |
dreams of being in an American band. | 0:07:27 | 0:07:30 | |
MUSIC: We're An American Band by Grand Funk Railroad | 0:07:30 | 0:07:33 | |
Unusually, it was the band's drummer | 0:07:44 | 0:07:46 | |
who tapped into those teenage rock star dreams. | 0:07:46 | 0:07:48 | |
How do you define | 0:07:54 | 0:07:55 | |
this band compared to the British bands | 0:07:55 | 0:07:58 | |
and Led Zeppelin and all this other stuff going on? | 0:07:58 | 0:08:01 | |
Well, we're an American band. That's what it was. | 0:08:01 | 0:08:04 | |
Freedom...abandon... | 0:08:04 | 0:08:07 | |
debauchery... | 0:08:07 | 0:08:09 | |
rock and roll. That song had it all. | 0:08:09 | 0:08:11 | |
"They're coming to your town, they're going to party down." | 0:08:11 | 0:08:14 | |
And who can't relate to that? | 0:08:14 | 0:08:16 | |
You're a kid, sitting around. You look on the schedule. | 0:08:16 | 0:08:20 | |
Who's coming to the Coliseum next week? Grand Funk Railroad. | 0:08:20 | 0:08:23 | |
I'm going to the show. | 0:08:23 | 0:08:24 | |
And you're going to sit in the parking lot | 0:08:24 | 0:08:27 | |
and drink a six-pack of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer | 0:08:27 | 0:08:29 | |
and get your mojo going for when they walk on stage. | 0:08:29 | 0:08:33 | |
We're An American Band starts with all that fancy drums, | 0:08:33 | 0:08:36 | |
then comes in this fantastic line. | 0:08:36 | 0:08:38 | |
HE PLAYS RIFF from "We're An American Band" | 0:08:38 | 0:08:42 | |
That's almost like a trumpet saying, | 0:08:53 | 0:08:55 | |
"Here we are. We're coming to your town. Lock up the kids!" | 0:08:55 | 0:08:57 | |
# Out on the road for 40 days | 0:09:01 | 0:09:03 | |
# Last night in Little Rock put me in a haze... # | 0:09:05 | 0:09:08 | |
There was a hole | 0:09:08 | 0:09:09 | |
where an American... | 0:09:09 | 0:09:12 | |
rock anthem was going to fit in perfectly at the time. | 0:09:12 | 0:09:16 | |
And thank God we took advantage of that. | 0:09:16 | 0:09:19 | |
# We're coming to your town | 0:09:19 | 0:09:21 | |
# We'll help you party down | 0:09:21 | 0:09:23 | |
# We're an American band... # | 0:09:23 | 0:09:25 | |
Taking inspiration from life on the road, | 0:09:25 | 0:09:27 | |
Grand Funk littered the song | 0:09:27 | 0:09:29 | |
with stories of their rock and roll lifestyle. | 0:09:29 | 0:09:31 | |
It's telling a bunch of little stories | 0:09:31 | 0:09:34 | |
about the band when we were on tour. | 0:09:34 | 0:09:37 | |
I just took these little snippets from what was going on on the road | 0:09:37 | 0:09:41 | |
with Sweet Sweet Connie in Little Rock, the famous groupie. | 0:09:41 | 0:09:45 | |
# The hotel detective He was outta sight | 0:09:45 | 0:09:49 | |
# Now these fine ladies... # | 0:09:49 | 0:09:52 | |
Maybe that's the essence of the American rock anthem. | 0:09:52 | 0:09:56 | |
You sing about how glad you are | 0:09:56 | 0:09:58 | |
being an American in a rock and roll band! | 0:09:58 | 0:10:01 | |
And, uh... | 0:10:01 | 0:10:03 | |
it's pretty nice work if you can get it. | 0:10:03 | 0:10:06 | |
I didn't hear it as a hit | 0:10:06 | 0:10:09 | |
until the first time I heard it on the radio. | 0:10:09 | 0:10:12 | |
I was driving over to Mel's house | 0:10:12 | 0:10:14 | |
and it just blew me away. | 0:10:14 | 0:10:16 | |
I couldn't believe it, how great it sounded. | 0:10:16 | 0:10:19 | |
It was... Yeah, we knew it was a hit right then. | 0:10:19 | 0:10:22 | |
It just... | 0:10:22 | 0:10:24 | |
raced up the charts like a rabid dog | 0:10:24 | 0:10:27 | |
after a mangy cat! | 0:10:27 | 0:10:30 | |
# Come on dudes, let's get it on | 0:10:30 | 0:10:33 | |
# And we proceeded to tear that hotel down | 0:10:33 | 0:10:37 | |
# We're an American band... # | 0:10:37 | 0:10:40 | |
After finally capturing lightning in a bottle, | 0:10:40 | 0:10:42 | |
where could this all-American band go next? | 0:10:42 | 0:10:44 | |
Anything I wrote after that was just something I felt at the time | 0:10:44 | 0:10:48 | |
and so I wrote it. | 0:10:48 | 0:10:50 | |
If it wasn't a rock anthem, you know, so what? | 0:10:50 | 0:10:53 | |
I guess one rock anthem in one's life is enough. | 0:10:53 | 0:10:56 | |
How was that? | 0:11:02 | 0:11:04 | |
MUSIC: More Than A Feeling by Boston | 0:11:06 | 0:11:09 | |
But Grand Funk Railroad couldn't come to your town every week, | 0:11:12 | 0:11:15 | |
which gave rise to the growth of FM radio. | 0:11:15 | 0:11:18 | |
Now rock had its own radio stations. | 0:11:18 | 0:11:20 | |
Anthems became a mainstay of the new rock radio. | 0:11:20 | 0:11:24 | |
But anthems could be long, intricate and profound. | 0:11:24 | 0:11:27 | |
Sometimes all at once. | 0:11:27 | 0:11:30 | |
FM radio in the '70s was | 0:11:30 | 0:11:32 | |
so important to the pop culture. | 0:11:32 | 0:11:35 | |
We were smoking pot. | 0:11:35 | 0:11:38 | |
We were hearing the dimensions of the music. | 0:11:38 | 0:11:40 | |
We were home-spinning our vinyl. | 0:11:40 | 0:11:42 | |
FM radio was like your bedroom coming with you | 0:11:42 | 0:11:45 | |
in your car. | 0:11:45 | 0:11:47 | |
To me, the radio was like the lifeline to | 0:11:47 | 0:11:50 | |
what's going on in the rest of the world | 0:11:50 | 0:11:53 | |
and I couldn't wait every night | 0:11:53 | 0:11:56 | |
to get up and turn the radio on. | 0:11:56 | 0:11:58 | |
Some nights I wouldn't go to sleep | 0:11:58 | 0:11:59 | |
because I'd want to hear what the next song was. | 0:11:59 | 0:12:02 | |
MUSIC: (Don't Fear) The Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult | 0:12:02 | 0:12:05 | |
The longer it went into the night, | 0:12:05 | 0:12:07 | |
the weirder the songs got. | 0:12:07 | 0:12:08 | |
They would play all these long eight-minute tracks | 0:12:08 | 0:12:11 | |
by Blue Oyster Cult. | 0:12:11 | 0:12:12 | |
It was unusual to have a song like that | 0:12:15 | 0:12:19 | |
succeed at radio in 1976. | 0:12:19 | 0:12:22 | |
# Seasons don't fear the reaper | 0:12:25 | 0:12:27 | |
# Nor do the wind the sun or the rain | 0:12:27 | 0:12:30 | |
# We can be like they are | 0:12:30 | 0:12:32 | |
# Come on, baby Don't fear the reaper... # | 0:12:32 | 0:12:35 | |
The experimental nature of early FM radio | 0:12:35 | 0:12:38 | |
encouraged Blue Oyster Cult's Buck Dharma to get heavy, man. | 0:12:38 | 0:12:42 | |
He wrote The Reaper in his house. | 0:12:42 | 0:12:44 | |
-In the basement, I think. -Yeah, in the basement. | 0:12:44 | 0:12:47 | |
He was down there for nine days. | 0:12:47 | 0:12:49 | |
At the time, he had discovered that | 0:12:49 | 0:12:51 | |
he had this heart condition and was very upset. | 0:12:51 | 0:12:54 | |
He thought that he was going to die at any minute. | 0:12:54 | 0:12:57 | |
And this was a way to make himself feel better about it. | 0:12:57 | 0:13:02 | |
I heard it and I was like, "Wow!" | 0:13:02 | 0:13:05 | |
-The riff is good, but the song itself is great. -Yeah. | 0:13:05 | 0:13:08 | |
And then he was going to change the "las", put some words in there. | 0:13:08 | 0:13:12 | |
And...no, no, leave the las! | 0:13:12 | 0:13:14 | |
-Yeah, leave that. -Leave the las. | 0:13:14 | 0:13:17 | |
# La la la la la la | 0:13:17 | 0:13:21 | |
# La la la la la la... # | 0:13:24 | 0:13:26 | |
Through the conduit of experimental FM radio, | 0:13:26 | 0:13:29 | |
The Reaper appealed to the dark side of the audience's imagination. | 0:13:29 | 0:13:33 | |
It's almost like you're running from your own death. | 0:13:34 | 0:13:37 | |
It's like you're running from your own death to try and get into light. | 0:13:37 | 0:13:40 | |
I always thought I was running and the darkness is coming after me, | 0:13:40 | 0:13:43 | |
but if I can just stay in the sunlight, I'll make it. | 0:13:43 | 0:13:47 | |
# Baby, take my hand | 0:13:47 | 0:13:48 | |
# Don't fear the reaper | 0:13:48 | 0:13:50 | |
# We'll be able to fly | 0:13:50 | 0:13:52 | |
# Don't fear the reaper... # | 0:13:52 | 0:13:54 | |
And when it came to the killer solo, | 0:13:54 | 0:13:57 | |
this baby was epic | 0:13:57 | 0:13:58 | |
and it encouraged folks everywhere to take it to the bridge. | 0:13:58 | 0:14:02 | |
People were controlled by that very strange, very angular solo. | 0:14:02 | 0:14:07 | |
Rock and roll bands | 0:14:12 | 0:14:13 | |
are designed, created for concerts. | 0:14:13 | 0:14:16 | |
With fireworks and lasers and energy. | 0:14:16 | 0:14:19 | |
The solo's job is to give a taste of that. | 0:14:19 | 0:14:24 | |
To me, the guitar was just sex. | 0:14:39 | 0:14:41 | |
It was the primal element, | 0:14:41 | 0:14:43 | |
the thing that no other kind of music has. | 0:14:43 | 0:14:46 | |
There was another element that finished the track. | 0:14:54 | 0:14:56 | |
Cowbell. | 0:14:58 | 0:15:00 | |
One of David Lucas's suggestions was to add a cowbell, | 0:15:03 | 0:15:08 | |
which kind of like... | 0:15:08 | 0:15:10 | |
Everybody, like, looked at David and said, "Are you out of your mind?!" | 0:15:10 | 0:15:15 | |
"Really?! A cowbell?!" | 0:15:15 | 0:15:17 | |
I just felt it needed... | 0:15:17 | 0:15:19 | |
four on the floor. | 0:15:19 | 0:15:21 | |
It needed a linear...drive. | 0:15:21 | 0:15:25 | |
That's it. | 0:15:27 | 0:15:28 | |
In April 2000, the cowbell gave the song an afterlife, | 0:15:28 | 0:15:32 | |
when Saturday Night Live spoofed The Reaper. | 0:15:32 | 0:15:35 | |
A whole other generation has been exposed to that song, | 0:15:35 | 0:15:39 | |
which is great for us. | 0:15:39 | 0:15:41 | |
In the new millennium, | 0:15:41 | 0:15:42 | |
"more cowbell" is the stuff of legend. | 0:15:42 | 0:15:44 | |
It's definitely taken on a philosophical reference. | 0:15:46 | 0:15:49 | |
Rising above your problems. | 0:15:49 | 0:15:50 | |
Like, you have a problem and you resolve it... | 0:15:50 | 0:15:52 | |
-Just put more cowbell. -More cowbell. | 0:15:52 | 0:15:55 | |
It means that you overcome your problems. | 0:15:55 | 0:15:57 | |
So I'm like, "Wow! That's cool." | 0:15:57 | 0:15:59 | |
For all my achievements, | 0:15:59 | 0:16:01 | |
the cowbell seems to be what I'm known for! | 0:16:01 | 0:16:04 | |
It's really annoying. | 0:16:04 | 0:16:06 | |
CROWD CHEERS | 0:16:10 | 0:16:12 | |
# FM | 0:16:14 | 0:16:17 | |
# No static at all... # | 0:16:17 | 0:16:19 | |
By 1978, rock radio was professionalising, | 0:16:22 | 0:16:25 | |
commercialising, | 0:16:25 | 0:16:26 | |
growing up. | 0:16:26 | 0:16:28 | |
Rock had another home on the corporate version of FM radio - AOR. | 0:16:28 | 0:16:32 | |
The letters AOR...that stands of course for album-oriented rock. | 0:16:32 | 0:16:36 | |
And that's when the suits came in and started programming everything. | 0:16:37 | 0:16:41 | |
We're not playing album cuts any more - | 0:16:41 | 0:16:43 | |
we're only playing the hit singles from those albums. | 0:16:43 | 0:16:46 | |
Tracks like Don't Fear The Reaper | 0:16:46 | 0:16:48 | |
were too long and heavy for the way radio was heading. | 0:16:48 | 0:16:50 | |
Now bands were writing a lot of concise rock songs | 0:16:50 | 0:16:54 | |
with a perfectly honed sound for radio. | 0:16:54 | 0:16:56 | |
The three minute and 30 second rule was one of those things. | 0:16:56 | 0:17:00 | |
A lot of the all-time great songs are long songs | 0:17:00 | 0:17:03 | |
and were never edited down to singles. | 0:17:03 | 0:17:06 | |
Hello, everybody. | 0:17:06 | 0:17:08 | |
Remember us? | 0:17:08 | 0:17:09 | |
By now the rock anthem was becoming more sophisticated and adult. | 0:17:09 | 0:17:13 | |
This was the perfect opportunity | 0:17:13 | 0:17:15 | |
for the hottest session musicians in town, | 0:17:15 | 0:17:18 | |
who penned radio-friendly tracks | 0:17:18 | 0:17:20 | |
for Boz Scaggs and Steely Dan, to step forward. | 0:17:20 | 0:17:22 | |
The session cats - Toto. | 0:17:22 | 0:17:25 | |
The myth about our band is | 0:17:28 | 0:17:29 | |
somebody put us together as session musicians. | 0:17:29 | 0:17:31 | |
We were high school guys who had studied music, could read music | 0:17:31 | 0:17:34 | |
and could interpret other people's music. | 0:17:34 | 0:17:36 | |
At the time, David Paich was our primary writer. | 0:17:36 | 0:17:39 | |
He'd already come off of writing all those great big hit songs for Boz | 0:17:39 | 0:17:43 | |
and other artists, so we all would look to him - "Dave, what you got?" | 0:17:43 | 0:17:47 | |
I got a little upright piano in my first apartment | 0:17:47 | 0:17:49 | |
and the first riff I played was... | 0:17:49 | 0:17:51 | |
HE PLAYS OPENING RIFF of "Hold The Line" | 0:17:51 | 0:17:54 | |
Talk about rock and roll anthems, | 0:17:59 | 0:18:00 | |
that was my shout of, "I'm free! I'm in my own place." | 0:18:00 | 0:18:03 | |
So I decided to write the rest of it | 0:18:03 | 0:18:05 | |
and that was the first song that I brought in | 0:18:05 | 0:18:08 | |
for the band to learn. | 0:18:08 | 0:18:10 | |
When he played that one and Jeff started playing the drum groove... | 0:18:13 | 0:18:16 | |
Jeff was a magical drummer. | 0:18:16 | 0:18:18 | |
And the two of them played together. | 0:18:18 | 0:18:20 | |
It was just like... It almost played itself. | 0:18:20 | 0:18:22 | |
Everyone was like, "I know what to do!" | 0:18:22 | 0:18:24 | |
It's Lukather's guitar that makes that song anthemic. | 0:18:24 | 0:18:27 | |
HE HUMS THE RIFF | 0:18:27 | 0:18:30 | |
RIFF PLAYS | 0:18:30 | 0:18:32 | |
It just had this infectious groove, | 0:18:34 | 0:18:36 | |
and the fact it had a little bit more rock thing to it, | 0:18:36 | 0:18:39 | |
made it interesting. It stuck out. | 0:18:39 | 0:18:41 | |
# It's not in the way you look | 0:18:41 | 0:18:43 | |
# Or the things that you say that you do | 0:18:43 | 0:18:45 | |
# Hold the line | 0:18:45 | 0:18:46 | |
# Love isn't always on time | 0:18:49 | 0:18:51 | |
# Oh, no, no... # | 0:18:52 | 0:18:54 | |
Certain chords appeal to me | 0:18:54 | 0:18:57 | |
and appeal to my ears and my heart, | 0:18:57 | 0:18:59 | |
that move me, and I can't describe what they are. | 0:18:59 | 0:19:01 | |
Elton John did one in Someone Saved My Life Tonight. | 0:19:01 | 0:19:05 | |
# Someone saved my life tonight | 0:19:06 | 0:19:08 | |
# Sugar bear... # | 0:19:08 | 0:19:11 | |
So when I wrote... | 0:19:11 | 0:19:12 | |
# It's not in the way you look | 0:19:12 | 0:19:14 | |
# Or the things that you say that you do # | 0:19:14 | 0:19:16 | |
..I put that chord in there, because when I hear that chord... | 0:19:16 | 0:19:19 | |
that grabs me, and that chord represents hope to me, | 0:19:19 | 0:19:23 | |
that I still have a chance with this girl. | 0:19:23 | 0:19:26 | |
# Hold the line | 0:19:26 | 0:19:27 | |
# Love isn't always on time | 0:19:30 | 0:19:32 | |
# Love isn't always Love isn't always on time | 0:19:32 | 0:19:36 | |
# Hold the line... # | 0:19:36 | 0:19:38 | |
Toto's professional sound was welcomed on the charts, | 0:19:39 | 0:19:42 | |
but the song failed to grab the critics. | 0:19:42 | 0:19:44 | |
Toto was never a critics' band. | 0:19:44 | 0:19:47 | |
In fact, they've been the butt of too many jokes over the decades - | 0:19:47 | 0:19:50 | |
but fans love them all around the world. | 0:19:50 | 0:19:53 | |
We got roasted. | 0:19:53 | 0:19:55 | |
We were eviscerated by the critics. | 0:19:55 | 0:19:58 | |
Despite being panned by the critics, | 0:19:59 | 0:20:02 | |
these session cats were pros | 0:20:02 | 0:20:03 | |
and there was no stopping them in the '80s | 0:20:03 | 0:20:05 | |
with the huge success from the Toto IV album. | 0:20:05 | 0:20:08 | |
# I bless the rains down in Africa | 0:20:08 | 0:20:12 | |
# I bless the rains down in Africa | 0:20:14 | 0:20:17 | |
# I bless the rains... # | 0:20:17 | 0:20:19 | |
Your fans are the ones who tell you what they like | 0:20:19 | 0:20:21 | |
and they're really honest and I really listen to them. | 0:20:21 | 0:20:23 | |
There's some really valid constructive criticism. | 0:20:23 | 0:20:26 | |
Just slagging us off - "Oh, those LA slicks..." | 0:20:26 | 0:20:28 | |
That's such a tired... Come on, man, look at what we've done. | 0:20:28 | 0:20:32 | |
Look, really look, at the contribution of what we've done. | 0:20:32 | 0:20:35 | |
You can't slag us off like you would some teen idol | 0:20:35 | 0:20:37 | |
that had one hit record in 1978. | 0:20:37 | 0:20:40 | |
# Love isn't always on time | 0:20:40 | 0:20:42 | |
# Oh, oh, oh. # | 0:20:44 | 0:20:46 | |
In the late '70s, AOR radio | 0:20:49 | 0:20:51 | |
may have favoured the three-and-a-half minute cut, | 0:20:51 | 0:20:54 | |
but they also liked a bit of theatre, something big and bombastic | 0:20:54 | 0:20:58 | |
and totally over the top. | 0:20:58 | 0:21:00 | |
They just didn't know it yet. | 0:21:00 | 0:21:01 | |
Would you offer your throat | 0:21:01 | 0:21:04 | |
to the wolf with the red roses? | 0:21:04 | 0:21:07 | |
Yes. | 0:21:07 | 0:21:08 | |
I bet you say that to all the boys. | 0:21:12 | 0:21:17 | |
In 1978, | 0:21:17 | 0:21:18 | |
composer Jim Steinman and actor Meat Loaf | 0:21:18 | 0:21:21 | |
embarked on a series of record label auditions. | 0:21:21 | 0:21:24 | |
But a rock-Goth odd couple | 0:21:24 | 0:21:26 | |
with a retro '50s fixation | 0:21:26 | 0:21:28 | |
wasn't most record execs' idea of the next big thing. | 0:21:28 | 0:21:31 | |
They had been to every label, | 0:21:31 | 0:21:33 | |
talked to every producer | 0:21:33 | 0:21:35 | |
and nobody really...got what it was they were trying to do. | 0:21:35 | 0:21:39 | |
People invented record labels to turn us down. | 0:21:39 | 0:21:44 | |
I was... | 0:21:44 | 0:21:46 | |
kind of a desperate last resort. | 0:21:46 | 0:21:48 | |
MUSIC: Paradise By The Dashboard Light | 0:21:48 | 0:21:51 | |
# Well, I remember every little thing | 0:21:56 | 0:21:59 | |
# As if it happened only yesterday | 0:21:59 | 0:22:01 | |
# Parking by the lake | 0:22:02 | 0:22:03 | |
# And there was not another car in sight... # | 0:22:03 | 0:22:06 | |
What popped into my head was, | 0:22:06 | 0:22:08 | |
this is a spoof of Bruce Springsteen. | 0:22:08 | 0:22:10 | |
They may not know it, | 0:22:10 | 0:22:12 | |
but in my mind, it's a spoof of Bruce Springsteen. | 0:22:12 | 0:22:14 | |
And somebody needs to do that. | 0:22:14 | 0:22:17 | |
Because they're taking Bruce Springsteen | 0:22:17 | 0:22:19 | |
too damn seriously at this point! | 0:22:19 | 0:22:21 | |
I'm thinking, "Wait a minute - this is so old!" | 0:22:21 | 0:22:24 | |
# Girls comb their hair in rear-view mirrors | 0:22:24 | 0:22:27 | |
# And the boys try to look so hard... # | 0:22:27 | 0:22:30 | |
So I saw Meat Loaf as a way to kind of... | 0:22:30 | 0:22:33 | |
..take the piss out of that! | 0:22:35 | 0:22:37 | |
# Though it's cold and lonely | 0:22:37 | 0:22:40 | |
# In the deep dark night | 0:22:40 | 0:22:43 | |
# I can see paradise | 0:22:45 | 0:22:47 | |
# By the dashboard light... # | 0:22:47 | 0:22:50 | |
Finally signed to Epic Records, | 0:22:50 | 0:22:53 | |
Jim Steinman could at last deliver a nostalgic rock anthem | 0:22:53 | 0:22:56 | |
for the baby boomers of the 1970s. | 0:22:56 | 0:22:58 | |
It's more of a song about the '50s, | 0:23:00 | 0:23:02 | |
when people had sex in cars. | 0:23:02 | 0:23:04 | |
And that's the only place that kids could get together. | 0:23:04 | 0:23:08 | |
There were things called lovers' lanes, | 0:23:08 | 0:23:10 | |
where kids went either to make out or have sex. | 0:23:10 | 0:23:14 | |
Jimmy's exact quote is he wanted to write "the ultimate sex car song". | 0:23:14 | 0:23:19 | |
# Paradise by the dashboard light. # | 0:23:19 | 0:23:25 | |
I used to go out with this girl. | 0:23:25 | 0:23:27 | |
We'd always do this heavy petting thing. | 0:23:27 | 0:23:30 | |
But every time, it was always, "Stop right there!" | 0:23:30 | 0:23:34 | |
You know? I mean, it's like...aargh! | 0:23:34 | 0:23:36 | |
I said, "Can you write a song like that?" | 0:23:36 | 0:23:39 | |
Jimmy's very witty, and he goes, "Well, we'll see." | 0:23:39 | 0:23:43 | |
Three or four weeks later, he came back with Paradise. | 0:23:43 | 0:23:46 | |
# We're going to go all the way tonight | 0:23:46 | 0:23:48 | |
# We're going to go all the way tonight, tonight | 0:23:48 | 0:23:50 | |
# We're going to go all the way tonight | 0:23:50 | 0:23:52 | |
# We're going to go all the way tonight, tonight... # | 0:23:52 | 0:23:54 | |
Rock was beginning to look back | 0:23:54 | 0:23:56 | |
and Paradise By The Dashboard Light | 0:23:56 | 0:23:58 | |
and its parent album, Bat Out Of Hell, | 0:23:58 | 0:23:59 | |
sold by the millions. | 0:23:59 | 0:24:01 | |
And then it was time for Meat to be served up to a British audience. | 0:24:04 | 0:24:08 | |
The guy who presented The Old Grey Whistle Test | 0:24:08 | 0:24:10 | |
was like so low-keyed and so underplayed. | 0:24:10 | 0:24:14 | |
The band has had such an impact during the first few months of 1978. | 0:24:14 | 0:24:18 | |
Meat Loaf and Paradise By The Dashboard Light. | 0:24:18 | 0:24:21 | |
Then all of a sudden we start and we're like... | 0:24:21 | 0:24:24 | |
like, you know... | 0:24:24 | 0:24:26 | |
18 chainsaws coming through your television screen. | 0:24:26 | 0:24:29 | |
I used to get to start the song every night. | 0:24:37 | 0:24:39 | |
Of course, it was nerve-racking when the camera zoomed in on me! | 0:24:39 | 0:24:42 | |
On British television, for millions to see! | 0:24:42 | 0:24:45 | |
I was well aware of The Old Grey Whistle Test | 0:24:45 | 0:24:48 | |
being like a place where bands broke. | 0:24:48 | 0:24:51 | |
# I remember every little thing | 0:24:52 | 0:24:54 | |
# As if it happened only yesterday | 0:24:54 | 0:24:55 | |
# Parking by the lake | 0:24:57 | 0:24:58 | |
# And there was not another car in sight... # | 0:24:58 | 0:25:00 | |
We certainly made an impact on the... | 0:25:00 | 0:25:03 | |
-LAUGHS: -..on the... | 0:25:03 | 0:25:05 | |
on the English public! | 0:25:05 | 0:25:06 | |
Because probably no-one had ever done | 0:25:06 | 0:25:08 | |
a make-out scene on TV like that in the middle of the song. | 0:25:08 | 0:25:12 | |
Still one of the best-selling albums of all time, | 0:25:16 | 0:25:19 | |
with 43 million sold to date, | 0:25:19 | 0:25:22 | |
perhaps because it continues to let fans relive their lives | 0:25:22 | 0:25:24 | |
through Steinman's stories. | 0:25:24 | 0:25:26 | |
Paradise allows people to remove me | 0:25:27 | 0:25:31 | |
from the song | 0:25:31 | 0:25:33 | |
and place themselves in my position. | 0:25:33 | 0:25:36 | |
What I love is that people tell me they go to weddings, | 0:25:36 | 0:25:40 | |
you know, bar mitzvahs, whatever, | 0:25:40 | 0:25:43 | |
and the girls are on one side of the room and the guys are on the other | 0:25:43 | 0:25:46 | |
and they act it out. | 0:25:46 | 0:25:48 | |
So, to be part of that, it's like... | 0:25:48 | 0:25:50 | |
Those girls are me! | 0:25:50 | 0:25:52 | |
After recording the album, | 0:25:52 | 0:25:54 | |
Ellen decided to concentrate on her solo career. | 0:25:54 | 0:25:57 | |
So it was Karla DeVito who ended up | 0:25:57 | 0:25:58 | |
lip-synching the vocal in performances. | 0:25:58 | 0:26:01 | |
So maybe a reunion is long overdue. | 0:26:01 | 0:26:03 | |
# Before we go any further Do you love me? | 0:26:03 | 0:26:07 | |
# And will you love me forever? # | 0:26:07 | 0:26:10 | |
Hey, Meat, if you're watching, which you probably are, | 0:26:10 | 0:26:13 | |
you should have me come and sing the song with you. | 0:26:13 | 0:26:16 | |
How great would that be? | 0:26:16 | 0:26:18 | |
# OHHHHHHH... # | 0:26:18 | 0:26:20 | |
MUSIC STOPS | 0:26:28 | 0:26:30 | |
MUSIC: I Love Rock 'N' Roll by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts | 0:26:31 | 0:26:35 | |
Joan Jett's homage to rock and roll | 0:26:36 | 0:26:37 | |
was a timely reassertion of old-school values | 0:26:37 | 0:26:40 | |
with a take-no-prisoners female front woman on the mic. | 0:26:40 | 0:26:43 | |
# I saw him dancing there by the record machine... # | 0:26:46 | 0:26:49 | |
There was still a thing happening in the '70s and early '80s | 0:26:50 | 0:26:53 | |
when Joan Jett was coming out. | 0:26:53 | 0:26:55 | |
The idea of saying "I love rock and roll" | 0:26:55 | 0:26:57 | |
was still an important thing, | 0:26:57 | 0:26:58 | |
especially for a woman to say it. | 0:26:58 | 0:27:00 | |
For a woman to say it was a big deal. | 0:27:00 | 0:27:02 | |
Just the term "rock and roll" was rebellious. | 0:27:03 | 0:27:05 | |
It was rebellious for me. | 0:27:05 | 0:27:07 | |
I mean, I grew up - | 0:27:07 | 0:27:08 | |
I started playing classical when I was four | 0:27:08 | 0:27:11 | |
and I absolutely loved it. | 0:27:11 | 0:27:12 | |
But when I discovered rock and roll, | 0:27:12 | 0:27:15 | |
that was a whole other ballgame. | 0:27:15 | 0:27:17 | |
I always loved Joan Jett. I just thought she was such a pioneer. | 0:27:17 | 0:27:21 | |
# ..Yeah, me | 0:27:21 | 0:27:22 | |
# Singing I love rock 'n' roll | 0:27:22 | 0:27:25 | |
# So put another dime in the juke box, baby... # | 0:27:25 | 0:27:27 | |
She was fighting for women - | 0:27:27 | 0:27:30 | |
this was back in the 1980s - | 0:27:30 | 0:27:32 | |
to, you know, not take shit | 0:27:32 | 0:27:34 | |
and be empowered, | 0:27:34 | 0:27:36 | |
stand up and face the enemy. | 0:27:36 | 0:27:38 | |
In your face! | 0:27:38 | 0:27:39 | |
# Singing I love rock 'n' roll | 0:27:39 | 0:27:42 | |
# So put another dime in the juke box, baby | 0:27:42 | 0:27:44 | |
# I love rock 'n' roll | 0:27:44 | 0:27:46 | |
# Come on take your time and dance with me... # | 0:27:46 | 0:27:49 | |
Keep in mind, y'all, I Love Rock 'N' Roll | 0:27:49 | 0:27:52 | |
was a cover of a 1975 song by the Arrows, | 0:27:52 | 0:27:54 | |
an Anglo-American outfit who achieved minor success in the UK | 0:27:54 | 0:27:58 | |
in the post-glam era. | 0:27:58 | 0:28:00 | |
# When I'm without you | 0:28:00 | 0:28:02 | |
# Without you | 0:28:02 | 0:28:04 | |
# With my dreams about you | 0:28:04 | 0:28:06 | |
# About you | 0:28:06 | 0:28:08 | |
# Will you still love me...? # | 0:28:08 | 0:28:09 | |
Arrows had had three singles out | 0:28:09 | 0:28:12 | |
and we did get Top Of The Tops. Boom! | 0:28:12 | 0:28:15 | |
We needed a fourth single. | 0:28:15 | 0:28:17 | |
# I love rock 'n' roll | 0:28:21 | 0:28:23 | |
# So put another dime in the juke box, baby... # | 0:28:23 | 0:28:26 | |
I was at a Top Rank ballroom | 0:28:26 | 0:28:29 | |
and I saw these kids by the juke box, | 0:28:29 | 0:28:32 | |
and they were meeting and walking off together into the night. | 0:28:32 | 0:28:35 | |
I thought, "This is really cool. | 0:28:35 | 0:28:37 | |
"Imagine this song coming out of the juke box." | 0:28:37 | 0:28:40 | |
I wrote it from the point of view of the guy who's 17 | 0:28:43 | 0:28:46 | |
and singing "I love rock 'n' roll". | 0:28:46 | 0:28:48 | |
I knew it was a hit chorus. | 0:28:48 | 0:28:50 | |
# Singing I love rock 'n' roll | 0:28:52 | 0:28:54 | |
# So put another dime in the juke box, baby | 0:28:54 | 0:28:57 | |
# I love rock 'n' roll | 0:28:57 | 0:28:59 | |
# Come on take your time and dance with me. # | 0:28:59 | 0:29:02 | |
Woo! | 0:29:04 | 0:29:05 | |
The chorus didn't score a hit for the Arrows. | 0:29:05 | 0:29:07 | |
It did, however, present them with new opportunities. | 0:29:07 | 0:29:10 | |
I Love Rock 'N' Roll served the Arrows very well, | 0:29:13 | 0:29:15 | |
in that it got us the television series in 1976. | 0:29:15 | 0:29:18 | |
# I saw her dancing there by the record machine | 0:29:18 | 0:29:22 | |
# I knew she must have been about 17 | 0:29:24 | 0:29:28 | |
# Mm... # | 0:29:28 | 0:29:30 | |
If we hadn't done the TV show, | 0:29:30 | 0:29:32 | |
Joan Jett would never have seen us do I Love Rock 'N' Roll. | 0:29:32 | 0:29:35 | |
# School days | 0:29:37 | 0:29:39 | |
# School days | 0:29:39 | 0:29:40 | |
# I'm older now What will I find... # | 0:29:40 | 0:29:43 | |
Joan Jett saw the potential of the song | 0:29:43 | 0:29:45 | |
when she toured the UK with her all-girl band, the Runaways. | 0:29:45 | 0:29:48 | |
Having not managed to secure a hit with the Runaways, | 0:29:48 | 0:29:51 | |
things needed to change. | 0:29:51 | 0:29:53 | |
In 1982, with her new band the Blackhearts, | 0:29:54 | 0:29:57 | |
and having joined forces with pop producer Kenny Laguna, | 0:29:57 | 0:30:00 | |
Joan finally managed to achieve a hit single. | 0:30:00 | 0:30:02 | |
# Singing I love rock 'n' roll | 0:30:02 | 0:30:05 | |
# So put another dime in the juke box, baby | 0:30:05 | 0:30:09 | |
# I love rock 'n' roll... # | 0:30:09 | 0:30:11 | |
Joan Jett's the reason why I Love Rock 'N' Roll is an anthem. | 0:30:11 | 0:30:15 | |
She pulled all the juice out of that track. | 0:30:15 | 0:30:18 | |
Gave it its monster beat, | 0:30:18 | 0:30:21 | |
its huge hook | 0:30:21 | 0:30:23 | |
and its anthemic chorus. | 0:30:23 | 0:30:26 | |
# So come on take your time and dance with me. # | 0:30:26 | 0:30:28 | |
Joan Jett wasn't the only long-serving rocker | 0:30:38 | 0:30:41 | |
to finally make it in the '80s. | 0:30:41 | 0:30:42 | |
Chicago's Survivor were exactly that - | 0:30:42 | 0:30:45 | |
rock and roll survivors who finally got signed to Atlantic in 1978. | 0:30:45 | 0:30:50 | |
Survivor... Every song that they ever wrote, | 0:30:50 | 0:30:54 | |
whether they were successful at it or not, | 0:30:54 | 0:30:56 | |
was designed to be an anthem. | 0:30:56 | 0:30:57 | |
HE PLAYS "Eye Of The Tiger" | 0:30:57 | 0:31:01 | |
It was a decade that saw America's movie star leader | 0:31:01 | 0:31:04 | |
playing out the biggest role of his life, | 0:31:04 | 0:31:07 | |
and the popularity of the American rock anthems | 0:31:07 | 0:31:09 | |
meant Hollywood wanted in on the act. | 0:31:09 | 0:31:12 | |
So when Rocky Balboa calls to ask you to write a rock anthem, | 0:31:12 | 0:31:15 | |
you do it. | 0:31:15 | 0:31:16 | |
I got a phone call out of the blue | 0:31:16 | 0:31:19 | |
on my answering machine. | 0:31:19 | 0:31:21 | |
"Hey, yo, Jim, give me a call. It's Sylvester Stallone." | 0:31:21 | 0:31:24 | |
And I go, "Yeah, right, whatever." | 0:31:24 | 0:31:26 | |
We called him back and he said, "Yeah, I love your band. | 0:31:26 | 0:31:28 | |
"I want a song for my movie Rocky III. I want something for the kids. | 0:31:28 | 0:31:33 | |
"Something with a pulse. Do you think you can help me out?" | 0:31:33 | 0:31:36 | |
Is the Pope a Catholic? Yeah! | 0:31:38 | 0:31:40 | |
I think we can do this. | 0:31:40 | 0:31:42 | |
We were waiting our whole life for a moment like this. | 0:31:42 | 0:31:44 | |
Stallone says, "I want you to write it | 0:31:44 | 0:31:46 | |
"for the montage at the beginning." | 0:31:46 | 0:31:48 | |
We play it and what do we hear | 0:31:48 | 0:31:50 | |
but Another One Bites The Dust by Queen. | 0:31:50 | 0:31:53 | |
We go, "Well, you already had a song." | 0:31:53 | 0:31:56 | |
He goes, "I can't get the publishing." | 0:31:56 | 0:31:58 | |
I said, "Frankie, how are we ever going to match or beat that song?" | 0:31:58 | 0:32:01 | |
And we decided, well, we've got to go for it, you know? | 0:32:01 | 0:32:04 | |
So we turned down the sound | 0:32:04 | 0:32:06 | |
and I just started going... | 0:32:06 | 0:32:08 | |
PLAYS INTRO | 0:32:08 | 0:32:10 | |
Just like that. | 0:32:10 | 0:32:12 | |
It feels pretty good. Then the punches are being thrown... | 0:32:14 | 0:32:17 | |
MUSIC: Eye Of The Tiger | 0:32:19 | 0:32:21 | |
That's when we got the story of the underdog rising up. | 0:32:27 | 0:32:30 | |
This trainer going, "Rocky, you've got to keep the eye of the tiger." | 0:32:30 | 0:32:35 | |
And that's where we got the title. | 0:32:35 | 0:32:37 | |
# Ooh, rising up | 0:32:37 | 0:32:39 | |
# Back on the street | 0:32:39 | 0:32:41 | |
# Did my time, took my chances | 0:32:43 | 0:32:46 | |
# Went the distance Now I'm back on my feet | 0:32:47 | 0:32:50 | |
# Just a man and his will to survive... # | 0:32:50 | 0:32:55 | |
# It's the eye of the tiger | 0:32:55 | 0:32:57 | |
# It's the thrill of the fight | 0:32:57 | 0:32:59 | |
# Rising up to the challenge of our rival | 0:32:59 | 0:33:03 | |
# And the last known survivor | 0:33:03 | 0:33:06 | |
# Stalks his prey in the night | 0:33:06 | 0:33:08 | |
# And he's watching us all with the eye | 0:33:08 | 0:33:12 | |
# Of the tiger... # | 0:33:12 | 0:33:15 | |
And we literally wrote this song in about an hour and a half. | 0:33:15 | 0:33:19 | |
Sent it to Stallone. He said, "You guys really did it." | 0:33:19 | 0:33:23 | |
# It's the eye of the tiger It's the thrill of the fight... # | 0:33:23 | 0:33:27 | |
Once it hit, there was no stopping the song's success, | 0:33:27 | 0:33:30 | |
as it clinched the double platinum title. | 0:33:30 | 0:33:32 | |
I remember back when it was on the radio | 0:33:32 | 0:33:35 | |
and we were performing it live, the people would scream... | 0:33:35 | 0:33:38 | |
deafening screaming. | 0:33:38 | 0:33:41 | |
We'd just look at each other like "Wow!" | 0:33:41 | 0:33:44 | |
# Eye of the tiger... # | 0:33:44 | 0:33:46 | |
What we didn't know is that it would be embraced for decades, | 0:33:48 | 0:33:52 | |
you know, where it's actually as big now or bigger | 0:33:52 | 0:33:55 | |
than it was in 1982 when we created it. | 0:33:55 | 0:33:59 | |
Oh, my God! | 0:33:59 | 0:34:01 | |
That was a good hour and a half. | 0:34:01 | 0:34:02 | |
I got to do that again! | 0:34:02 | 0:34:04 | |
# Eye of the tiger. # | 0:34:06 | 0:34:08 | |
# You're as cold as ice | 0:34:10 | 0:34:13 | |
# You're willing to sacrifice our love... # | 0:34:13 | 0:34:17 | |
When British songwriter Mick Jones | 0:34:18 | 0:34:20 | |
and soaring American vocalist Lou Gramm got together in 1976, | 0:34:20 | 0:34:23 | |
they wanted to create the ultimate global rock band. | 0:34:23 | 0:34:27 | |
We wanted to establish ourselves as a rock band. | 0:34:27 | 0:34:32 | |
Not necessarily a heavy, heavy rock band, but a rock band nonetheless. | 0:34:32 | 0:34:37 | |
The first album... | 0:34:37 | 0:34:38 | |
just blew away any expectations anybody had. | 0:34:38 | 0:34:42 | |
# But someday you'll pay... # | 0:34:44 | 0:34:48 | |
In the beginning, their songwriting was on an intuitive level | 0:34:51 | 0:34:54 | |
and Mick and Lou penned rock classics together. | 0:34:54 | 0:34:57 | |
Between the two writers, as you move along, | 0:34:57 | 0:35:01 | |
the excitement builds. | 0:35:01 | 0:35:02 | |
You can almost...you can almost feel the electricity. | 0:35:02 | 0:35:06 | |
He would pick up what I felt and he would bring it out. | 0:35:06 | 0:35:10 | |
We had a lot of ideas | 0:35:10 | 0:35:12 | |
that we felt didn't compromise at all who we were. | 0:35:12 | 0:35:16 | |
MUSIC: I Want To Know What Love Is | 0:35:16 | 0:35:19 | |
But Mick's new love was about to give a softer, soulful edge | 0:35:22 | 0:35:26 | |
to Foreigner's rock sound. | 0:35:26 | 0:35:27 | |
My wife, or who was to become my wife, | 0:35:29 | 0:35:31 | |
Anne... | 0:35:31 | 0:35:33 | |
..was asleep in the other room | 0:35:34 | 0:35:36 | |
and I had the beginning of this song and I had the chorus. | 0:35:36 | 0:35:39 | |
And I ran in there and woke her up. | 0:35:39 | 0:35:41 | |
I told her what the title was. She drowsily looked at me. | 0:35:41 | 0:35:45 | |
"What do you mean, you want to know what love is? | 0:35:45 | 0:35:48 | |
"Haven't you found it with me?" | 0:35:48 | 0:35:50 | |
# I want to know what love is | 0:35:51 | 0:35:54 | |
# I want you to show me... # | 0:35:57 | 0:36:00 | |
I remember standing next to him, listening to him sing it | 0:36:01 | 0:36:06 | |
and hearing the chords and stuff, and... | 0:36:06 | 0:36:09 | |
..the hairs just stood up on the back of my neck. | 0:36:10 | 0:36:13 | |
It was kind of clear that it was more than just a love song. | 0:36:13 | 0:36:16 | |
It was more of a... | 0:36:16 | 0:36:19 | |
of a spiritual nature. | 0:36:19 | 0:36:22 | |
I was out visiting a friend and I played him the rough of the song. | 0:36:22 | 0:36:27 | |
He said, "I think I've got an idea for that. | 0:36:27 | 0:36:30 | |
"I've got a great choir that I just signed." | 0:36:30 | 0:36:33 | |
So the choir came in and we were recording in New York. | 0:36:33 | 0:36:35 | |
They got in their positions around the microphone | 0:36:35 | 0:36:38 | |
and then they sang and it was... | 0:36:38 | 0:36:41 | |
It was like angels. | 0:36:41 | 0:36:43 | |
# I want to know what love is | 0:36:43 | 0:36:46 | |
# Love that you feel inside | 0:36:46 | 0:36:48 | |
# I want you to show me | 0:36:48 | 0:36:52 | |
# I'm feeling so much love | 0:36:52 | 0:36:54 | |
# I want to feel what love is... # | 0:36:54 | 0:36:56 | |
It was just an experience I'll never forget. | 0:36:56 | 0:36:58 | |
# You just can't hide | 0:36:58 | 0:37:01 | |
# I want you to show me... # | 0:37:01 | 0:37:06 | |
In 1984, the rock anthem was expanding. | 0:37:08 | 0:37:10 | |
And by scoring a Number 1 hit with the song, | 0:37:10 | 0:37:12 | |
arena band Foreigner proved that anthems now had heart AND soul. | 0:37:12 | 0:37:16 | |
I guess the line gets fuzzy between anthem and power ballad, maybe. | 0:37:16 | 0:37:21 | |
Because that may, to me, lean more into the power ballad area. | 0:37:21 | 0:37:25 | |
# Yeeeahhh... # | 0:37:27 | 0:37:29 | |
But when rock bands veer into ballad territory, | 0:37:29 | 0:37:32 | |
things can get emotional | 0:37:32 | 0:37:33 | |
and they risk losing their rock credibility. | 0:37:33 | 0:37:36 | |
After that certain point | 0:37:36 | 0:37:37 | |
with the success of I Want To Know What Love Is, | 0:37:37 | 0:37:40 | |
our rock songs that we wrote sounded like afterthoughts. | 0:37:40 | 0:37:45 | |
Radio programmers would skim over our rock songs | 0:37:45 | 0:37:48 | |
from that point forward | 0:37:48 | 0:37:50 | |
and only want the ballad. | 0:37:50 | 0:37:52 | |
It started to splinter in the... | 0:37:52 | 0:37:55 | |
mid-'80s, let's say. | 0:37:55 | 0:37:57 | |
We carried on. There were personal problems with Lou and I. | 0:37:57 | 0:38:02 | |
We could still tour reasonably and sell a fair amount of albums. | 0:38:02 | 0:38:06 | |
# Now this mountain I must climb | 0:38:06 | 0:38:09 | |
# Feels like a world upon my shoulders... # | 0:38:12 | 0:38:15 | |
Other members of the band were just thrilled with the success, | 0:38:15 | 0:38:20 | |
no matter what type of song it was. | 0:38:20 | 0:38:22 | |
To me, that was nails in the coffin. | 0:38:24 | 0:38:26 | |
# Ohhhhhhhhhh. # | 0:38:29 | 0:38:32 | |
CROWD CHEERS | 0:38:36 | 0:38:39 | |
Choosing between your rock roots | 0:38:43 | 0:38:45 | |
or commercialising your sound is tricky, | 0:38:45 | 0:38:47 | |
because this was the era of MTV | 0:38:47 | 0:38:49 | |
and record companies were marketing their bands on chart success | 0:38:49 | 0:38:52 | |
and image. | 0:38:52 | 0:38:54 | |
There's no way in the world me or anybody else | 0:38:54 | 0:38:57 | |
could have ever predicted | 0:38:57 | 0:38:59 | |
the impact that | 0:38:59 | 0:39:01 | |
this new cable channel would really go on to change the world. | 0:39:01 | 0:39:06 | |
'MTV. Music television.' | 0:39:06 | 0:39:09 | |
We've got the music here on MTV. You've also got me, Mark Goodman. | 0:39:09 | 0:39:12 | |
MTV became the place to go | 0:39:12 | 0:39:16 | |
for new music. We were doing things | 0:39:16 | 0:39:19 | |
that AOR radio was not doing. | 0:39:19 | 0:39:21 | |
If you had an anthem, it would be played over and over and over | 0:39:21 | 0:39:26 | |
and not only would the song become embedded in your consciousness, | 0:39:26 | 0:39:30 | |
but the image that the song left behind, | 0:39:30 | 0:39:33 | |
because of MTV. | 0:39:33 | 0:39:35 | |
MTV could now make or break a band nationally almost overnight. | 0:39:38 | 0:39:41 | |
With big hair and stadium rock ruling the scene, | 0:39:41 | 0:39:44 | |
these New Jersey rockers became MTV's sweethearts. | 0:39:44 | 0:39:47 | |
MUSIC: Livin' On A Prayer by Bon Jovi | 0:39:47 | 0:39:51 | |
Bon Jovi came along at a time that was absolutely perfect | 0:39:53 | 0:39:56 | |
for them, for MTV. | 0:39:56 | 0:39:58 | |
MTV had become pretty big by then. | 0:39:58 | 0:40:00 | |
They were really a great-looking - pardon me, Jonny - "hair band", | 0:40:00 | 0:40:04 | |
as one might be called back in those '80s, | 0:40:04 | 0:40:07 | |
that delivered songs that worked. | 0:40:07 | 0:40:10 | |
# Gina works the diner all day | 0:40:10 | 0:40:13 | |
# Working for her man She brings home her pay | 0:40:15 | 0:40:18 | |
# For love... # | 0:40:18 | 0:40:20 | |
If Foreigner had taken the anthem into spiritual territory, | 0:40:20 | 0:40:22 | |
Bon Jovi offered up a redemption song for a whole new generation. | 0:40:22 | 0:40:26 | |
Livin' On A Prayer was, for us at MTV, | 0:40:26 | 0:40:29 | |
just... | 0:40:29 | 0:40:31 | |
gigantic. It was just unstoppable. | 0:40:31 | 0:40:34 | |
I think the reason that Jon in particular worked | 0:40:34 | 0:40:38 | |
and why his band worked for video, | 0:40:38 | 0:40:40 | |
was that he was cute and he was comfortable. | 0:40:40 | 0:40:44 | |
We used to get slammed for that, | 0:40:44 | 0:40:45 | |
because Jon's a really good-looking guy. | 0:40:45 | 0:40:48 | |
Right? We'd get slammed for that. | 0:40:48 | 0:40:50 | |
I was like, "Dude, play that up!" | 0:40:50 | 0:40:52 | |
Awesome, you know? | 0:40:52 | 0:40:54 | |
You bring these crowds in because, you know, you have a certain look. | 0:40:54 | 0:40:57 | |
But then you have the substance. | 0:40:57 | 0:41:00 | |
After all these years, it's like... | 0:41:00 | 0:41:01 | |
Listen. You can't just be a pretty face. You have to have substance. | 0:41:01 | 0:41:05 | |
They may have been pretty boys, | 0:41:09 | 0:41:11 | |
but Bon Jovi's turbo-charged rewrite of the American Dream | 0:41:11 | 0:41:13 | |
didn't shy away from the economic downturn of the mid-'80s | 0:41:13 | 0:41:16 | |
so much as leap right over it. | 0:41:16 | 0:41:18 | |
# Tommy used to work on the docks | 0:41:18 | 0:41:21 | |
# The union were on strike | 0:41:22 | 0:41:24 | |
# He's down on his luck | 0:41:24 | 0:41:27 | |
# It's tough... # | 0:41:27 | 0:41:28 | |
They talk about the American Dream, but the American Dream | 0:41:28 | 0:41:32 | |
is actually really hard to get and out of reach for a lot of people. | 0:41:32 | 0:41:35 | |
When you need to have a reservoir of faith, | 0:41:36 | 0:41:39 | |
a lot of kids go to rock and roll. | 0:41:39 | 0:41:41 | |
And they hear their story. | 0:41:41 | 0:41:42 | |
When you really need faith and you need to turn to rock and roll, | 0:41:42 | 0:41:45 | |
you can turn to Livin' On A Prayer. | 0:41:45 | 0:41:47 | |
# What'd she say? | 0:41:47 | 0:41:48 | |
# She says we've got to hold on to what we've got | 0:41:48 | 0:41:53 | |
# It doesn't make a difference if we make it or not | 0:41:53 | 0:41:56 | |
# We've got each other and that's a lot | 0:41:56 | 0:42:00 | |
# For love... # | 0:42:00 | 0:42:02 | |
Livin' On A Prayer reflected the political climate | 0:42:02 | 0:42:04 | |
in that it was...we're going to get by, regardless of what you say. | 0:42:04 | 0:42:08 | |
We're going to make it happen. | 0:42:08 | 0:42:10 | |
We may be livin' on a prayer, | 0:42:10 | 0:42:11 | |
but that prayer will come true. It will be answered. | 0:42:11 | 0:42:14 | |
That sentiment is an American sentiment. | 0:42:14 | 0:42:17 | |
It's us against the world. We can do this. | 0:42:17 | 0:42:20 | |
When I heard Livin' On A Prayer, I said, "Dammit! | 0:42:20 | 0:42:23 | |
"They did it again." | 0:42:23 | 0:42:25 | |
I'm talking about not only Bon Jovi, | 0:42:25 | 0:42:26 | |
but Desmond Child. | 0:42:26 | 0:42:28 | |
He is pop. He is the king of the modulation, I call him. | 0:42:28 | 0:42:33 | |
We wrote Livin' On A Prayer in a little apartment | 0:42:33 | 0:42:36 | |
where I was staying | 0:42:36 | 0:42:37 | |
on the Upper East Side in New York. | 0:42:37 | 0:42:39 | |
It was a little railroad apartment. | 0:42:39 | 0:42:41 | |
My girlfriend at the time, Maria Vidal, | 0:42:41 | 0:42:44 | |
worked as a waitress | 0:42:44 | 0:42:46 | |
at a place called Once Upon A Stove. | 0:42:46 | 0:42:48 | |
And everybody there called her Gina. | 0:42:48 | 0:42:51 | |
because she reminded them of Gina Lollobrigida. | 0:42:51 | 0:42:54 | |
So we started telling the story of a rocker | 0:42:54 | 0:42:58 | |
who works on the docks | 0:42:58 | 0:43:00 | |
and had to give up his guitar so they could eat another day | 0:43:00 | 0:43:03 | |
and they had dreams. | 0:43:03 | 0:43:06 | |
# Ohhhhhh | 0:43:06 | 0:43:07 | |
# We're halfway there | 0:43:07 | 0:43:09 | |
# Ohhhhhh | 0:43:09 | 0:43:11 | |
# Livin' on a prayer | 0:43:11 | 0:43:13 | |
# Take my hand | 0:43:13 | 0:43:14 | |
# We'll make it, I swear | 0:43:14 | 0:43:17 | |
# Ohhhhhh | 0:43:17 | 0:43:18 | |
# Livin' on a prayer | 0:43:18 | 0:43:20 | |
# Livin' on a prayer... # | 0:43:20 | 0:43:24 | |
When it came to interpreting the lyric, | 0:43:24 | 0:43:27 | |
Jon Bon Jovi never fails to deliver to an audience. | 0:43:27 | 0:43:29 | |
As a lead singer, I think you have to not only be the entertainer, | 0:43:29 | 0:43:33 | |
but you also have to service the song. | 0:43:33 | 0:43:35 | |
The lyric of the song. | 0:43:35 | 0:43:37 | |
And make that audience | 0:43:37 | 0:43:39 | |
realise what that lyric actually holds | 0:43:39 | 0:43:42 | |
in their hearts. | 0:43:42 | 0:43:44 | |
A great singer will raise an anthem to another level. | 0:43:44 | 0:43:48 | |
The front man can't see you eye to eye, | 0:43:48 | 0:43:51 | |
but you have to feel that he's singing that song right to you. | 0:43:51 | 0:43:54 | |
One of my favourite moments at a Bon Jovi concert | 0:43:54 | 0:43:57 | |
is to stand there in the middle of the audience | 0:43:57 | 0:44:00 | |
when he's singing Livin' On A Prayer. | 0:44:00 | 0:44:02 | |
I never really look up on the stage. | 0:44:02 | 0:44:04 | |
I look up all around to the rafters. | 0:44:04 | 0:44:07 | |
Everybody's on their feet. | 0:44:07 | 0:44:09 | |
Everybody's screaming the song. | 0:44:09 | 0:44:11 | |
You can't even hear the band. | 0:44:11 | 0:44:13 | |
# Ohhhhhh | 0:44:13 | 0:44:15 | |
# We're halfway there | 0:44:15 | 0:44:17 | |
# Ohhhhhh | 0:44:17 | 0:44:19 | |
# Livin' on a prayer | 0:44:19 | 0:44:21 | |
# Take my hand | 0:44:21 | 0:44:23 | |
# We'll make it, I swear... # | 0:44:23 | 0:44:25 | |
In the early Reagan era, Bon Jovi had managed to pull off the trick | 0:44:25 | 0:44:28 | |
of reaffirming the American Dream. | 0:44:28 | 0:44:30 | |
But by the early 1990s, | 0:44:30 | 0:44:32 | |
things hadn't gotten better for the working-class kids | 0:44:32 | 0:44:35 | |
and suddenly the optimism and escapism | 0:44:35 | 0:44:37 | |
of the hair-band era seemed out of touch. | 0:44:37 | 0:44:39 | |
There were all these hair bands | 0:44:39 | 0:44:41 | |
and they have ruled the rock landscape for literally ten years. | 0:44:41 | 0:44:45 | |
In one stroke of Smells Like Teen Spirit, | 0:44:45 | 0:44:48 | |
it's like the sickle came and lopped all their heads off. | 0:44:48 | 0:44:51 | |
They became a style that had ended, almost immediately. | 0:44:51 | 0:44:54 | |
Personally, I couldn't relate to a dude wearing Spandex | 0:44:54 | 0:44:58 | |
and whose hair's this big, | 0:44:58 | 0:45:00 | |
in a limousine with a fucking stripper. | 0:45:00 | 0:45:02 | |
Because I was making minimum wage... | 0:45:02 | 0:45:06 | |
busting ass just to pay the rent | 0:45:06 | 0:45:09 | |
and playing punk rock, | 0:45:09 | 0:45:11 | |
because I was angry or empowered or inspired like...yeaahhhh! | 0:45:11 | 0:45:15 | |
I think there were a lot of people like me that were like, | 0:45:15 | 0:45:18 | |
"Godammit, I want something fucking real and noisy | 0:45:18 | 0:45:22 | |
"and I want someone to break their shit in front of me." | 0:45:22 | 0:45:25 | |
-I'm Krist. -And I'm Dave. -And I'm Kurt. | 0:45:25 | 0:45:28 | |
And we are... | 0:45:30 | 0:45:31 | |
Nirvana! | 0:45:33 | 0:45:34 | |
MUSIC: Smells Like Teen Spirit | 0:45:34 | 0:45:37 | |
When the music scene doesn't connect with a generation, | 0:45:41 | 0:45:43 | |
an anti-anthem anthem takes it back to the kids. | 0:45:43 | 0:45:47 | |
Teen Spirit is the black sheep of... | 0:45:47 | 0:45:50 | |
rock anthems. | 0:45:50 | 0:45:51 | |
First time I heard it, I went, "Huh! Why didn't I write that?" You know? | 0:45:51 | 0:45:56 | |
This is School's Out 20 years later. | 0:45:56 | 0:46:00 | |
But...WAY angrier. | 0:46:00 | 0:46:03 | |
# A mulatto | 0:46:03 | 0:46:04 | |
# An albino | 0:46:04 | 0:46:06 | |
# A mosquito | 0:46:06 | 0:46:09 | |
# My libido... # | 0:46:09 | 0:46:11 | |
When Kurt Cobain sings "A mosquito, my libido", | 0:46:12 | 0:46:14 | |
I always thought..."Oh, wow!" | 0:46:14 | 0:46:16 | |
What an amazing, poetic way to say... | 0:46:16 | 0:46:20 | |
to feel the frustration of being a young man in America at that time. | 0:46:20 | 0:46:23 | |
Speaking possibly as the voice of a generation, saying... | 0:46:23 | 0:46:28 | |
Hmm...what's happened to culture in the early '90s? | 0:46:28 | 0:46:31 | |
Where are we? | 0:46:31 | 0:46:33 | |
Why does the 18-year-old man feel impotent? | 0:46:33 | 0:46:36 | |
Hence mosquito-sized libido. | 0:46:36 | 0:46:39 | |
# Hello, hello, hello | 0:46:39 | 0:46:41 | |
# How low? # | 0:46:41 | 0:46:43 | |
Smells Like Teen Spirit came from a jam. | 0:46:43 | 0:46:46 | |
That's where that quiet verse and loud chorus came from. | 0:46:46 | 0:46:50 | |
We were just doing it by instinct. | 0:46:50 | 0:46:52 | |
It feels like it's going to explode right now! | 0:46:52 | 0:46:55 | |
And then you go on to the next part. | 0:46:55 | 0:46:57 | |
# Hello, hello | 0:46:57 | 0:46:59 | |
# With the lights out | 0:46:59 | 0:47:00 | |
# It's less dangerous | 0:47:00 | 0:47:02 | |
# Here we are now | 0:47:02 | 0:47:04 | |
# Entertain us... # | 0:47:04 | 0:47:06 | |
Nirvana sought out up-and-coming indie producer Butch Vig. | 0:47:06 | 0:47:10 | |
When we got into rehearsals, | 0:47:10 | 0:47:12 | |
Kurt started the guitar riff | 0:47:12 | 0:47:14 | |
and Dave hit that drum fill | 0:47:14 | 0:47:16 | |
and they kicked in and I was absolutely blown away. | 0:47:16 | 0:47:19 | |
And when they finished the song, | 0:47:19 | 0:47:21 | |
I sort of stood there and I got up and started pacing around. | 0:47:21 | 0:47:24 | |
I looked at all the other songs and I didn't know what to do. | 0:47:24 | 0:47:26 | |
I was like..."Play it again!" | 0:47:26 | 0:47:28 | |
Butch comes to the studio | 0:47:28 | 0:47:30 | |
and then he makes little suggestions | 0:47:30 | 0:47:32 | |
that are never overwhelming or intrusive. | 0:47:32 | 0:47:36 | |
And you record and then you come back and listen | 0:47:36 | 0:47:38 | |
and it's like, "Jesus, Butch, how did you do that?!" | 0:47:38 | 0:47:41 | |
Kurt still had this punk ethic | 0:47:41 | 0:47:43 | |
that he felt like he didn't want to cheat. | 0:47:43 | 0:47:45 | |
It had to kind of be live in the studio. | 0:47:45 | 0:47:47 | |
Even though I recorded the live vocal, | 0:47:47 | 0:47:49 | |
I liked going back and having a little more control. | 0:47:49 | 0:47:52 | |
He didn't like to do that, | 0:47:52 | 0:47:54 | |
so I'd have to push him | 0:47:54 | 0:47:56 | |
and using Beatles references was a good way. | 0:47:56 | 0:47:59 | |
When I wanted to double his voice and he said, "No, that's cheating", | 0:47:59 | 0:48:02 | |
I said, "Well, John Lennon did it on everything he sang". | 0:48:02 | 0:48:05 | |
Kurt would think about that for about ten seconds and he'd go, | 0:48:05 | 0:48:08 | |
"OK". | 0:48:08 | 0:48:09 | |
# Hello, hello, hello | 0:48:09 | 0:48:12 | |
# How low? | 0:48:12 | 0:48:14 | |
# Hello, hello, hello | 0:48:14 | 0:48:16 | |
# How low? # | 0:48:16 | 0:48:17 | |
The band decided to do a secret gig | 0:48:17 | 0:48:21 | |
at a tiny little club on Pico called Jabberjaw | 0:48:21 | 0:48:24 | |
and the word had got out on one of the local radio stations | 0:48:24 | 0:48:28 | |
and there was a huge line to get in. | 0:48:28 | 0:48:31 | |
Probably 500 or 600 people. | 0:48:31 | 0:48:32 | |
It was so cramped, and they started out with Teen Spirit. | 0:48:32 | 0:48:36 | |
Even though no-one there had ever heard this song, | 0:48:44 | 0:48:47 | |
people's jaws dropped. | 0:48:47 | 0:48:48 | |
They knew that they were | 0:48:48 | 0:48:50 | |
at ground zero to hearing... | 0:48:50 | 0:48:52 | |
Nirvana's music explode. | 0:48:52 | 0:48:55 | |
If you were into that song, | 0:48:55 | 0:48:58 | |
in those years, then you were a part of something. | 0:48:58 | 0:49:01 | |
# With the lights out | 0:49:01 | 0:49:03 | |
# It's less dangerous | 0:49:03 | 0:49:05 | |
# Here we are now | 0:49:05 | 0:49:07 | |
# Entertain us... # | 0:49:07 | 0:49:09 | |
It's hard for me to really, like, think of | 0:49:09 | 0:49:12 | |
that song or Nirvana in that way. | 0:49:12 | 0:49:14 | |
Cos, to me, it was like... | 0:49:14 | 0:49:16 | |
It was me and Krist and Kurt, you know? | 0:49:16 | 0:49:19 | |
And we were kids. | 0:49:19 | 0:49:21 | |
Whenever I think about the impact that album had or that song, | 0:49:22 | 0:49:27 | |
I just think about the impact it had on my life, you know? | 0:49:27 | 0:49:30 | |
All of a sudden I could pay the rent. | 0:49:30 | 0:49:32 | |
I don't have to work at the fucking furniture warehouse | 0:49:32 | 0:49:35 | |
any more, you know? It's like...cool! | 0:49:35 | 0:49:38 | |
I was going to go back to college, but fuck that! | 0:49:39 | 0:49:41 | |
# A denial | 0:49:43 | 0:49:45 | |
# A denial. # | 0:49:45 | 0:49:47 | |
CROWD CHEERS | 0:49:47 | 0:49:49 | |
MUSIC: School's Out by Alice Cooper | 0:49:50 | 0:49:52 | |
From teenage anthems to AOR anthems | 0:49:57 | 0:50:00 | |
to MTV anthems to anti-rock anthems, | 0:50:00 | 0:50:03 | |
these classics make up an American soundtrack | 0:50:03 | 0:50:05 | |
to 20 years of world domination. | 0:50:05 | 0:50:07 | |
And now, in the new millennium, | 0:50:09 | 0:50:10 | |
when America's no longer quite the leader of the world it once was, | 0:50:10 | 0:50:13 | |
the American rock anthem keeps it real, | 0:50:13 | 0:50:16 | |
drops the arrogance | 0:50:16 | 0:50:17 | |
and has become...well, less proudly American. | 0:50:17 | 0:50:20 | |
# Don't want to be an American idiot | 0:50:20 | 0:50:23 | |
# One nation controlled by the media | 0:50:23 | 0:50:25 | |
# Information age of hysteria... # Go! | 0:50:25 | 0:50:27 | |
CROWD: # It's calling out to idiot America | 0:50:27 | 0:50:30 | |
# Welcome to a new kind of tension... # | 0:50:30 | 0:50:33 | |
I think the American rock anthem is still very much alive today. | 0:50:33 | 0:50:36 | |
I think it's coloured in different hues and shades. | 0:50:36 | 0:50:39 | |
I think it's taken on a different texture. | 0:50:39 | 0:50:42 | |
I think it's a little grittier. | 0:50:42 | 0:50:44 | |
# Ohhhhh | 0:50:44 | 0:50:46 | |
# Your sex is on fire... # | 0:50:48 | 0:50:51 | |
I think most bands are trying to write that song. | 0:50:51 | 0:50:54 | |
Most bands are trying to write that one song | 0:50:54 | 0:50:57 | |
that is definitive to them. | 0:50:57 | 0:51:00 | |
Foo Fighters have written some great anthems, | 0:51:00 | 0:51:03 | |
great anthems. | 0:51:03 | 0:51:04 | |
In fact, when you go see them live, | 0:51:04 | 0:51:06 | |
they play an incredible song and you go... | 0:51:06 | 0:51:09 | |
"That is...a mind-bending powerful anthem." | 0:51:09 | 0:51:14 | |
CROWD: # Ohhhhhhhh | 0:51:14 | 0:51:17 | |
# Ohhhhhhhh... # | 0:51:19 | 0:51:21 | |
When you're on the lip of the stage | 0:51:21 | 0:51:24 | |
and you're conducting a stadium full of people | 0:51:24 | 0:51:27 | |
singing a lyric that you wrote... | 0:51:27 | 0:51:30 | |
on a fucking napkin, you know? | 0:51:30 | 0:51:32 | |
And it means something different to each one of those people, | 0:51:32 | 0:51:35 | |
that's really inspiring. | 0:51:35 | 0:51:38 | |
# Is someone getting the best the best, the best | 0:51:38 | 0:51:41 | |
# The best of you? # | 0:51:41 | 0:51:44 | |
These songs all kind of give us some thrill. | 0:51:44 | 0:51:46 | |
We're all feel-good junkies, aren't we? | 0:51:46 | 0:51:49 | |
And an anthem absolutely is a feel-good junkie's fix. | 0:51:49 | 0:51:53 | |
# You trust | 0:51:53 | 0:51:54 | |
# You must confess | 0:51:54 | 0:51:56 | |
# Getting the best, the best | 0:51:56 | 0:51:58 | |
# The best, the best of you. # | 0:51:58 | 0:52:02 | |
CROWD CHEERS | 0:52:18 | 0:52:20 |