0:00:02 > 0:00:09# Your baby doesn't love you any more... #
0:00:09 > 0:00:12This programme contains some strong language.
0:00:13 > 0:00:18There is a magic in big classic singles that you can't pinpoint.
0:00:18 > 0:00:21It's something that gets into the psyche.
0:00:26 > 0:00:31All the great singles just have, from whatever period they are, constantly a great sound.
0:00:36 > 0:00:38It was mysterious, somehow.
0:00:38 > 0:00:42The black shininess of it all
0:00:42 > 0:00:43and how did it work?
0:00:47 > 0:00:52For two or three minutes, time just seemed to stand still.
0:00:52 > 0:00:55Just hovering and listening to the music.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01Everybody, every publisher, every record company,
0:01:01 > 0:01:05every artist is looking for the single. Yeah, always.
0:01:05 > 0:01:09I had 45,000 singles and 2,000 albums. What does that tell you?
0:01:09 > 0:01:10HE LAUGHS
0:01:10 > 0:01:14The 7" single is classic and beautiful and romantic enough
0:01:14 > 0:01:17that we'll never let it go.
0:01:20 > 0:01:24The single is like the sort of your, your ace card.
0:01:24 > 0:01:26It's a thing that you lead with.
0:01:27 > 0:01:28Your best idea.
0:01:31 > 0:01:34It's the one that's usually the shortest and the most catchy.
0:01:34 > 0:01:35HE LAUGHS
0:01:35 > 0:01:36Call me old-fashioned.
0:01:44 > 0:01:48In 1949, American company RCA Victor
0:01:48 > 0:01:53introduced the 7" vinyl 45 rpm record -
0:01:53 > 0:01:56a small, perfectly conceived object
0:01:56 > 0:02:01that would miraculously condense all the hopes, fears and experiences
0:02:01 > 0:02:06of succeeding rock and roll generations on its shiny black surface.
0:02:06 > 0:02:09Many of these small canvases were mini masterpieces,
0:02:09 > 0:02:15so memorable that those who love them still remember the very first one they ever owned.
0:02:17 > 0:02:19Blue Moon, by the Marcels.
0:02:19 > 0:02:24I remember it because it was such a, you know, novelty
0:02:24 > 0:02:27to have a 7" vinyl, 45 record.
0:02:27 > 0:02:30I remember very well the first single I ever bought,
0:02:30 > 0:02:34which was Cathy's Clown, by The Everly Brothers.
0:02:34 > 0:02:41# Don't want your love any more... #
0:02:41 > 0:02:45I played it to death, I wore it out.
0:02:45 > 0:02:46I've still got it.
0:02:46 > 0:02:52# ..That's for sure... #
0:02:52 > 0:02:54And, if I hear it now,
0:02:54 > 0:02:56I get the same feeling that I had
0:02:56 > 0:02:59when I first bought it, when I was a teenager.
0:02:59 > 0:03:07# Here he comes That's Cathy's clown. #
0:03:07 > 0:03:11I remember buying Island Of Dreams, by The Springfields,
0:03:11 > 0:03:13that was my very first record.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16I remember exactly where I was and when it was.
0:03:16 > 0:03:20It was at Whitwams, in Winchester, where I was at school.
0:03:20 > 0:03:23The first single I bought was by T Rex.
0:03:23 > 0:03:24It was Ride A White Swan.
0:03:24 > 0:03:26And it was in Neil and Hardy's,
0:03:26 > 0:03:29in Stockport's Merseyway shopping centre.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32I walked all the way up Piggy Lane, to Mill Lane,
0:03:32 > 0:03:36to an independent record store.
0:03:36 > 0:03:39I was after Hey, Hey, We're The Monkees.
0:03:39 > 0:03:45But the man behind the counter didn't have Hey, Hey, We're The Monkees,
0:03:45 > 0:03:51and managed to sell me Blackberry Way, by The Move.
0:03:51 > 0:03:55Which I went home with a bit unsure
0:03:55 > 0:03:57until I put it onto the Dansette,
0:03:57 > 0:04:01and there it was, you know, Blackberry Way.
0:04:01 > 0:04:06# Goodbye, Blackberry Way
0:04:06 > 0:04:11# I can't see you, I don't need you
0:04:11 > 0:04:15# Goodbye, Blackberry Way
0:04:15 > 0:04:20# Sure to want me back another day...#
0:04:20 > 0:04:26The first record that I owned was Devil Gate Drive, by Suzi Quatro.
0:04:26 > 0:04:29And...I've still got it, probably somewhere over there.
0:04:29 > 0:04:32- Suzi Quatro, Devil Gate Drive. Shall we play this?- Yeah!
0:04:32 > 0:04:35Cos this...
0:04:35 > 0:04:38This still sounds as crunchy and spunky and exciting
0:04:38 > 0:04:43for a 13-year-old going to a disco.
0:04:43 > 0:04:45'You all want to go down to Devil Gate Drive?'
0:04:45 > 0:04:46ALL: Yes!
0:04:46 > 0:04:48Well, come on!
0:04:55 > 0:04:58Welcome to The Dive!
0:04:58 > 0:05:02ALL: One, two, one, two, three!
0:05:03 > 0:05:04ALL: Yeah!
0:05:04 > 0:05:06ALL: Yeah!
0:05:06 > 0:05:08My first one that I actually asked my dad for some money for
0:05:08 > 0:05:12was Bobby Darin, You Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby.
0:05:12 > 0:05:14That song will imprint itself on your memory,
0:05:14 > 0:05:16which is quite amazing. I mean, we all do that.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19You could remember, as soon as you hear a single that you love,
0:05:19 > 0:05:21you know where you were, what you were doing.
0:05:21 > 0:05:26Probably one of the first things you really own that is yours, apart from toys.
0:05:26 > 0:05:29So that's a dramatic move.
0:05:29 > 0:05:32You're suddenly entering the world of art and poetry, music,
0:05:32 > 0:05:35things that are just so wonderful and can be yours.
0:05:35 > 0:05:38And you're entering...you're entering the door, you're falling down the rabbit hole,
0:05:38 > 0:05:41going through the mirror, the looking glass.
0:05:41 > 0:05:43You're doing all of that in one go with this object.
0:05:46 > 0:05:48Even if you lived in the middle of nowhere,
0:05:48 > 0:05:51not only could you find that object,
0:05:51 > 0:05:53it had the power to change your life.
0:05:58 > 0:06:00When I was a kid back in Oklahoma,
0:06:00 > 0:06:02I was listening to singles,
0:06:02 > 0:06:06and one day I heard this record come on
0:06:06 > 0:06:07by a kid named Glen Campbell
0:06:07 > 0:06:11and the song was Turn Around, Look At Me.
0:06:15 > 0:06:17And it went... # There is someone
0:06:17 > 0:06:22# Walking behind you
0:06:22 > 0:06:25# Turn around
0:06:28 > 0:06:30# Look at me... #
0:06:30 > 0:06:34I can remember going back to my father.
0:06:34 > 0:06:39He eventually did let me use the family car
0:06:39 > 0:06:42to drive down to the record store and buy this single.
0:06:42 > 0:06:48And I wore that thing completely out in three or four days.
0:06:48 > 0:06:50I must have played it 500 times.
0:06:52 > 0:06:57And I would get down on my knees beside my bed out there
0:06:57 > 0:07:04in that great dome of stars that was the Midwest of the United States,
0:07:04 > 0:07:07and I'd pray and I'd say, "Dear God, please, one of these days,
0:07:07 > 0:07:13"let me meet...let me write a song like Turn Around, Look At Me.
0:07:13 > 0:07:17"And let me meet Glen Campbell."
0:07:17 > 0:07:21# And I need you more than want you
0:07:23 > 0:07:26# And I want you for all time... #
0:07:26 > 0:07:30How was I to know that Glen and I had a future together?
0:07:30 > 0:07:36# ..And the Wichita Lineman
0:07:36 > 0:07:39# Is still on the line. #
0:07:39 > 0:07:43And there's where I rest my case for the existence of God.
0:07:46 > 0:07:48APPLAUSE
0:07:51 > 0:07:54If the power of the single could make you a believer,
0:07:54 > 0:07:58the place to worship at the altar of the 7" was your local record shop -
0:07:58 > 0:08:02crammed with new releases, undiscovered treasures, and fellow travellers,
0:08:02 > 0:08:07all on a quest to find the next tiny vinyl miracle.
0:08:09 > 0:08:14The real thing that I loved was going out to a shop
0:08:14 > 0:08:16to be part of a community
0:08:16 > 0:08:20and you take that out,
0:08:20 > 0:08:22um...it doesn't work.
0:08:22 > 0:08:25You'd get on the bus, go into town, maybe with your mates,
0:08:25 > 0:08:29go into the, you know, the record store and, of course,
0:08:29 > 0:08:31you go in to buy a particular thing, maybe.
0:08:31 > 0:08:34But like going into a bookshop, you know,
0:08:34 > 0:08:38you always see something else and would stop and browse.
0:08:40 > 0:08:43The single didn't really come into my life
0:08:43 > 0:08:45until I sort of smelt one in a record shop
0:08:45 > 0:08:49and picked it up and, you know, wanted it.
0:08:51 > 0:08:57And you... There's a smell to vinyl, which... It's just because it's...
0:08:57 > 0:09:00Well, I mean, it smells of vinyl.
0:09:00 > 0:09:03You might have to have to save up money, it became a thing of value.
0:09:03 > 0:09:07You valued it more because... there was a little effort involved.
0:09:07 > 0:09:08Music is about you want it.
0:09:08 > 0:09:10And if you want it, you buy it.
0:09:10 > 0:09:13You know, I hadn't got a pot to piss in.
0:09:13 > 0:09:17But I spent every penny that I had on the music I loved.
0:09:17 > 0:09:22When I got to save, my pocket money allowed to buy one single a week.
0:09:22 > 0:09:26I would be there on Saturday and I would spend all Saturday morning deciding what single I would buy,
0:09:26 > 0:09:28talking to other people.
0:09:28 > 0:09:31And our local record shop was a big social gathering
0:09:31 > 0:09:33on a Saturday morning.
0:09:33 > 0:09:36# Load up, load up, load up
0:09:36 > 0:09:40# With rubber bullets... #
0:09:40 > 0:09:43The person serving you was like your granddad.
0:09:43 > 0:09:47Now, in truth, he was probably 30 years old,
0:09:47 > 0:09:48but he always looked about 65.
0:09:48 > 0:09:53But he knew every single piece of music he sold you.
0:09:53 > 0:09:55And you go into a booth to listen to the record.
0:09:59 > 0:10:02So everybody would go in their own little booth.
0:10:02 > 0:10:04You'd cram in with two or three of you, in a tiny booth.
0:10:04 > 0:10:06You're all crammed together.
0:10:08 > 0:10:12And everybody's, it's like phone boxes, everybody's trying to drag people out
0:10:12 > 0:10:14to have their turn to play singles.
0:10:17 > 0:10:19You took it home and you looked at it.
0:10:19 > 0:10:22All the way home, you'd go on the bus going home
0:10:22 > 0:10:25and couldn't wait to put it on the record deck and listen to it,
0:10:25 > 0:10:28how it sounded. And it just gave you a thrill.
0:10:28 > 0:10:32But the religion of the record shop could be threatening,
0:10:32 > 0:10:35particularly to the uninitiated.
0:10:35 > 0:10:38# I want you
0:10:38 > 0:10:42# And I need you... #
0:10:42 > 0:10:43You know, I was a teenage girl.
0:10:43 > 0:10:46A decent record shop would have seemed too intimidating to me.
0:10:46 > 0:10:49You know, you must know what you want and why
0:10:49 > 0:10:52and have the ability to analyse why something was good.
0:10:52 > 0:10:54I didn't really have that, you know, I liked...
0:10:54 > 0:10:58Mandy, by Barry Manilow, and I liked The Smiths.
0:10:58 > 0:11:02But what I would do is go to the local Woolworths
0:11:02 > 0:11:05and go to bargain bins and stuff like that.
0:11:09 > 0:11:11I kind of collected a few things that way
0:11:11 > 0:11:15until I really decided that there were some tracks that I wanted to own.
0:11:17 > 0:11:21And then, I thought, right, I'm going to go to Woolworths on Saturday
0:11:21 > 0:11:23"and I'm going to buy this one," you know.
0:11:23 > 0:11:26And I bought Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick.
0:11:26 > 0:11:29# Hit me with your rhythm stick
0:11:29 > 0:11:30# Hit me, hit me
0:11:30 > 0:11:33# Das ist gut! C'est fantastique
0:11:33 > 0:11:35# Hit me, hit me, hit me
0:11:35 > 0:11:38# Hit me with your rhythm stick
0:11:38 > 0:11:40# It's nice to be a lunatic
0:11:40 > 0:11:43# Hit me, hit me, hit me... #
0:11:43 > 0:11:45It's a real kids' track, actually.
0:11:45 > 0:11:47I've got it, it's great, it's really...
0:11:47 > 0:11:50It looks really good. I was quite surprised. Look at that.
0:11:50 > 0:11:52Isn't that a brilliant cover?
0:11:52 > 0:11:55And it also was really exciting cos it's got a rude word.
0:11:55 > 0:11:58On the bottom... So this side is Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick,
0:11:58 > 0:12:01and this side is There Ain't Half Been Some Clever Bastards.
0:12:01 > 0:12:04It says "bastards" at the bottom, so I was really excited about it.
0:12:04 > 0:12:08There was something about the logos of the record labels,
0:12:08 > 0:12:11the colour scheme... They were branding, but they were doing it in a magical way,
0:12:11 > 0:12:14cos it got mixed up with the unbelievable music,
0:12:14 > 0:12:18so it became more evocative and more exciting than it should have been, really.
0:12:18 > 0:12:21In the mid '60s, when I was only two or three,
0:12:21 > 0:12:25my parents bought a couple of pop singles which they never played,
0:12:25 > 0:12:27so I discovered them for myself and played them.
0:12:27 > 0:12:31And I could still see them. I think I thought of them as toys,
0:12:31 > 0:12:34so there was one which was orange and yellow and black,
0:12:34 > 0:12:39and there was one which was black and silver. And that's, that's how I think of them.
0:12:39 > 0:12:41The idea of the label was very important.
0:12:41 > 0:12:44And the Parlophone label, with The Beatles, I know it was just,
0:12:44 > 0:12:47you couldn't imagine it being on any other label, cos that's what they were.
0:12:47 > 0:12:51It's like what they wore, it was part of them.
0:12:51 > 0:12:54And the label that they were on was part of them.
0:12:54 > 0:12:58You still remember it. I remember today the sleeve.
0:12:58 > 0:13:01I remember the colour of the sleeve for each of those labels.
0:13:01 > 0:13:04I remember the label, the colour of the label,
0:13:04 > 0:13:06and how it was written and the logo,
0:13:06 > 0:13:09because it was something that stuck in your psyche.
0:13:10 > 0:13:12Cos on that label, it told you everything.
0:13:12 > 0:13:16It told you who the writers were, who the producers were,
0:13:16 > 0:13:18who the publishers were,
0:13:18 > 0:13:20who the artist was but, more importantly,
0:13:20 > 0:13:21it told you where it came from.
0:13:26 > 0:13:29You would then find out that what you'd bought was an American record
0:13:29 > 0:13:32and, in the very early '50s, that made you very trendy.
0:13:34 > 0:13:38That stood you out from all the other kids in your class.
0:13:50 > 0:13:54Just the sheer thrill that you were responding to something that was a design...
0:13:56 > 0:13:59..that was a piece of engineering, that was a piece of science
0:13:59 > 0:14:02as much as it was art and sex and beauty and glamour.
0:14:02 > 0:14:04And it was all mixed up together.
0:14:07 > 0:14:09I used to take a pen
0:14:09 > 0:14:14and scratch out the name of the artist and the writer
0:14:14 > 0:14:21and put Neil Sedaka in black ink to see how it might be
0:14:21 > 0:14:23if I had a recording myself.
0:14:23 > 0:14:27Is that visualisation or what?
0:14:27 > 0:14:30Writing your name on the label was often the only chance you had
0:14:30 > 0:14:35of getting your singles back at the end of an old-fashioned night out.
0:14:37 > 0:14:38We used to go to youth clubs as well,
0:14:38 > 0:14:42and we'd have a little record player in the corner of the youth club.
0:14:42 > 0:14:45And everybody'd bring their favourite records along.
0:14:45 > 0:14:48And they'd play them off and everybody would have a jive and have a dance to them.
0:14:51 > 0:14:54# She can't help it The girl can't help it
0:14:54 > 0:14:57# She can't help it The girl can't help it
0:14:57 > 0:15:00# If she walks by the menfolks get engrossed... #
0:15:00 > 0:15:03The last couple of songs of the night would have to be a ballad,
0:15:03 > 0:15:07it would generally be an Everly Brothers, or it might be a Roy Orbison,
0:15:07 > 0:15:10might be a slow Elvis one.
0:15:10 > 0:15:11And you got the girls hooked then,
0:15:11 > 0:15:14because then, you could dance close to the girls.
0:15:14 > 0:15:18You could hold them tight, you could feel their body against you.
0:15:18 > 0:15:20# I feel so bad
0:15:20 > 0:15:23# I've got a worried mind
0:15:23 > 0:15:27# I'm so lonesome all the time
0:15:27 > 0:15:31# Since I left my baby behind
0:15:31 > 0:15:34# On Blue Bayou... #
0:15:34 > 0:15:36Your blood was rising, the sap was rising
0:15:36 > 0:15:39when you had a little close dance at the end of the night.
0:15:47 > 0:15:50To truly appreciate the sound of the classic 7" vinyl single,
0:15:50 > 0:15:57you had to hear it playing from within the guts of its most sympathetic, custom-built home -
0:15:57 > 0:15:59the juke box.
0:16:07 > 0:16:11Singles in a juke box really made things comparative for popular music
0:16:11 > 0:16:14and I'm certain that, like, Little Richard's singles,
0:16:14 > 0:16:18the way they were recorded and how hot they were cut to vinyl
0:16:18 > 0:16:22was to penetrate through the bar and be louder than everybody else's.
0:16:24 > 0:16:28They sounded fabulous through a juke box, because there's this big, massive speaker
0:16:28 > 0:16:32that boomed out and people were jiving in the coffee bar.
0:16:32 > 0:16:34# Lucille
0:16:34 > 0:16:38# You won't do your sister's will
0:16:38 > 0:16:40# Lucille
0:16:40 > 0:16:43# You won't do your sister's will... #
0:16:43 > 0:16:48My late grandfather, at the top of his road, there was a cafe
0:16:48 > 0:16:49and they had a juke box.
0:16:49 > 0:16:53And when For Your Love came out, by The Yardbirds, in 1965, which I wrote.
0:16:53 > 0:16:55He used to go up to the cafe,
0:16:55 > 0:16:57you know, and I think he probably made
0:16:57 > 0:16:59a rather incongruous figure there.
0:16:59 > 0:17:01But he'd be feeding the juke box
0:17:01 > 0:17:04and just playing it over and over.
0:17:04 > 0:17:05Cos it gave him pleasure.
0:17:05 > 0:17:10# For your love. #
0:17:10 > 0:17:14In the early '60s, when bands were releasing singles every few months
0:17:14 > 0:17:16like postcards from the front,
0:17:16 > 0:17:18a teenage Graham Gouldman penned classics
0:17:18 > 0:17:22for Herman's Hermits, The Yardbirds and The Hollies.
0:17:22 > 0:17:24# Look through any window, yeah
0:17:24 > 0:17:28# What do you see?
0:17:28 > 0:17:31# Smiling faces all around
0:17:31 > 0:17:34# Rushing through the busy towns...#
0:17:34 > 0:17:38Look Through The Window was written and it was given to a publisher
0:17:38 > 0:17:40and he took it to The Hollies.
0:17:40 > 0:17:42And then The Hollies said to me,
0:17:42 > 0:17:45"We'd like you to write another song for us."
0:17:52 > 0:17:55# Bus stop, wet day She's there, I say
0:17:55 > 0:17:59# Please share my umbrella... #
0:17:59 > 0:18:02I wrote Bus Stop quite quickly after being asked.
0:18:02 > 0:18:04I already had the idea but, as soon as I finished it,
0:18:04 > 0:18:06I thought, "This is perfect."
0:18:06 > 0:18:10# ..All that summer We enjoyed it... #
0:18:10 > 0:18:13In the mid '60s, things happened very quickly.
0:18:13 > 0:18:18They heard it, I think they recorded it within about three or four weeks
0:18:18 > 0:18:21and it was released within three or four weeks after that.
0:18:21 > 0:18:26# ..Every morning I would see her Waiting at the stop... #
0:18:26 > 0:18:30But then, to receive the single
0:18:30 > 0:18:34and it's got - Bus Stop, The Hollies, Gouldman.
0:18:37 > 0:18:39It's like, wow!
0:18:40 > 0:18:43- We haven't even talked about B-sides yet.- No!
0:18:43 > 0:18:46- B-sides, can we get on to B-sides? - Yeah, OK.
0:18:46 > 0:18:47This is my mood board,
0:18:47 > 0:18:52which is things to stare at when you've got no inspiration in the studio.
0:18:52 > 0:18:55A Northern South badge saying, "Try The Flip Side."
0:18:55 > 0:18:57THEY CHUCKLE
0:18:57 > 0:19:00The B-side is often more interesting than the A-side, kids.
0:19:00 > 0:19:02You don't know what they are. HE CHUCKLES
0:19:02 > 0:19:07Yeah, the dark, kind of magical world of the B-side.
0:19:07 > 0:19:10Sometimes, they were shit, you know, and it was a kind of...
0:19:10 > 0:19:15But sometimes, they were an excuse for an artist to become self-indulgent as well,
0:19:15 > 0:19:19so you kind of get a chance to experiment as well with a B-side, I reckon.
0:19:19 > 0:19:21I always loved it with Sweet, for instance,
0:19:21 > 0:19:25where the A-side would be a Chinn and Chapman piece of tinsel
0:19:25 > 0:19:28and on the B-side... I used to love confounding my friends at school
0:19:28 > 0:19:30in the early '70s with Sweet B-sides,
0:19:30 > 0:19:33cos I'd play at them, and they would go, "Black Sabbath? Led Zep?"
0:19:33 > 0:19:35"No, Sweet. Ha, ha, got you!"
0:19:35 > 0:19:37This a B-side.
0:19:37 > 0:19:41This is by Little Walter. This is called Up The Line.
0:19:41 > 0:19:44He plays a chromatic harmonica on this.
0:19:44 > 0:19:47And he was just like the Charlie Parker of blues, you know.
0:19:47 > 0:19:48MUSIC STARTS PLAYING
0:19:48 > 0:19:50Baritone sax in there.
0:19:50 > 0:19:52# You used to love me.. #
0:19:52 > 0:19:53And a great singer.
0:19:53 > 0:19:56# ..You said I was your desire... #
0:19:56 > 0:20:00Most people collected to B-sides as much as they did the A-sides.
0:20:00 > 0:20:02# ..Out, baby.
0:20:02 > 0:20:05# Girl, I'm going back Up the line... #
0:20:05 > 0:20:08A B-side was always a liberating experience
0:20:08 > 0:20:11to go and record, very often in a day.
0:20:11 > 0:20:15# ..Drive me out of my mind. #
0:20:15 > 0:20:18You had your favourite B-sides,
0:20:18 > 0:20:20and it was great to think you were in a little clique
0:20:20 > 0:20:24that liked a B-side and your mate might have hated it.
0:20:24 > 0:20:26But you had a few mates that did like the B-side.
0:20:26 > 0:20:29# ..Out, baby
0:20:29 > 0:20:31# Girl, I'm going back up the line. #
0:20:31 > 0:20:35They were the throwaway thing with no pressure
0:20:35 > 0:20:38that only had to exist because records have two sides
0:20:38 > 0:20:40and you wanted something else.
0:20:40 > 0:20:42HE HUMS
0:20:46 > 0:20:48The B-side, certainly on Beatles records,
0:20:48 > 0:20:50was as important as the A-sides.
0:20:50 > 0:20:54Because the B-sides never appeared on any albums,
0:20:54 > 0:20:57so if you were a real collector, it was the B-side that you wanted
0:20:57 > 0:20:59as much as the A-side.
0:21:12 > 0:21:15# How does it feel to be
0:21:15 > 0:21:17# One of the beautiful people? #
0:21:17 > 0:21:19Beatles were the first real group
0:21:19 > 0:21:22that I wanted more than their singles,
0:21:22 > 0:21:25because I'd bought into the ethos of The Beatles.
0:21:25 > 0:21:28And I guess it was the B-sides that actually got me into that.
0:21:33 > 0:21:36The classic single was like a fairground ride -
0:21:36 > 0:21:40cheap, thrilling and over far too soon.
0:21:40 > 0:21:43They were short - sometimes very short.
0:21:43 > 0:21:47But the pain of them being over so quickly was part of their joy.
0:21:52 > 0:21:58The single in its perfection was a kind of capsulised presentation
0:21:58 > 0:22:02of an artist's whole zeitgeist.
0:22:02 > 0:22:04# Well, since my baby left me
0:22:04 > 0:22:07# Well, I found a new place to dwell... #
0:22:07 > 0:22:11This is Elvis Presley in a gelcap.
0:22:11 > 0:22:13# ..At Heartbreak Hotel... #
0:22:13 > 0:22:15It settled down to this shape in the early '50s,
0:22:15 > 0:22:1845rpm was the best shape to put one song on.
0:22:18 > 0:22:20And therefore, that was your canvas
0:22:20 > 0:22:22and then, you did everything within it.
0:22:22 > 0:22:28I loved the idea of having something so condensed and pure
0:22:28 > 0:22:30that every second counts.
0:22:30 > 0:22:36Phil Spector's records used to be one minute 21. You got this thing, it had to be an specific length.
0:22:38 > 0:22:42# Oh, oh Oh, oh, oh, oh... #
0:22:42 > 0:22:46The perfect pop song is so cruel in a way,
0:22:46 > 0:22:49because it gives you just a little bit, like, you know what I mean?
0:22:49 > 0:22:55It makes you put it on again and again and again and again and again and again...
0:22:55 > 0:22:58Most art, I think, that's any good operates within quite tight confines
0:22:58 > 0:23:00and then, you express yourself within that.
0:23:00 > 0:23:04And I think the single, obviously, gives you quite tight confines, really.
0:23:04 > 0:23:07The perfect single is something of a tease
0:23:07 > 0:23:11in that it catches your attention immediately,
0:23:11 > 0:23:14pulls you towards it, but it doesn't quite give you what you want.
0:23:16 > 0:23:19# Have I ever told you
0:23:19 > 0:23:22# How good it feels To hold you...? #
0:23:22 > 0:23:25Some of Elvis's especially, were 1.59, they're just...
0:23:25 > 0:23:29It was down to radio play, that's why they made them so short.
0:23:29 > 0:23:31There was an art to it.
0:23:31 > 0:23:34Howie and I would write a song from beginning to end
0:23:34 > 0:23:36that would tell a whole story -
0:23:36 > 0:23:41Happy Birthday, Sweet Sixteen, Breaking Up Is Hard To Do, Calendar Girl.
0:23:41 > 0:23:45Tied and wrapped in a ribbon and there you are,
0:23:45 > 0:23:49from beginning to end, no more than two and a half minutes.
0:23:49 > 0:23:53The radio stations wouldn't play anything that was longer.
0:23:53 > 0:23:5820 and a half minutes before noon, let's take a look at the local weather forecast,
0:23:58 > 0:23:59partly clouded...
0:23:59 > 0:24:02MUSIC STARTS PLAYING
0:24:02 > 0:24:06The sound quality of the 7" vinyl single was made for radio -
0:24:06 > 0:24:09able to punch through the atmosphere wherever you were,
0:24:09 > 0:24:10whatever the weather.
0:24:10 > 0:24:15You know you can keep your home looking nice by having your drapes and slipcovers professionally cleaned
0:24:15 > 0:24:18by New Method Laundry And Dry Cleaners at 321 South...
0:24:21 > 0:24:27The endless stream of sponsors' messages, jingles and ads on local American stations
0:24:27 > 0:24:30peppered right across a vast nation,
0:24:30 > 0:24:34making the single the perfect partner for the medium of commercial radio.
0:24:36 > 0:24:39Short and sweet enough to keep you tuned in.
0:24:42 > 0:24:44Hello? Squirrel Cage.
0:24:46 > 0:24:51Uh, go ahead, operator. Sea overseas operator again.
0:24:56 > 0:24:59In Britain, radio's love affair with the pop single
0:24:59 > 0:25:04reached new heights in 1967 with the arrival of pirate stations.
0:25:04 > 0:25:08DJs were free to play whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted.
0:25:08 > 0:25:11And why not? They were three miles out at sea.
0:25:11 > 0:25:13They weren't going anywhere.
0:25:13 > 0:25:16This is Radio Caroline on 199...
0:25:16 > 0:25:20But in 1968, Jimmy Webb's MacArthur Park liberated the DJ.
0:25:20 > 0:25:25Its musical ambition refused to be confined by the three-minute format,
0:25:25 > 0:25:30expanding its running time to an unprecedented seven minutes and 20 seconds.
0:25:30 > 0:25:34Suddenly, radio DJs everywhere had time to kill.
0:25:34 > 0:25:38# Spring was never waiting for us, girl
0:25:38 > 0:25:40# It ran one step ahead
0:25:40 > 0:25:44# As we followed in the dance... #
0:25:51 > 0:25:54DJs did all sorts of interesting things
0:25:54 > 0:25:57while they were playing MacArthur Park,
0:25:57 > 0:26:02which I'm not going to go into, because this is a family programme.
0:26:02 > 0:26:05CHUCKLING But, uh...
0:26:05 > 0:26:11All sorts of things were accomplished while MacArthur Park was playing.
0:26:16 > 0:26:19CHURCH BELLS RING
0:26:22 > 0:26:29I heard of DJs driving home, feeding their dog and driving back.
0:26:29 > 0:26:31I mean, really crazy things.
0:26:57 > 0:27:00And so, as the clock is standing at nearly midnight,
0:27:00 > 0:27:04we bring to a close another day of broadcasting for Cowboy Radio.
0:27:09 > 0:27:12By the late '60s, it was all about the concept.
0:27:12 > 0:27:17News from the underground was that the album was now where it was at -
0:27:17 > 0:27:20where pop and rock's true artists could best express themselves.
0:27:20 > 0:27:2512" of 12 songs, not one of them a single, was the new joy.
0:27:25 > 0:27:29Albums, yeah, albums.
0:27:29 > 0:27:33I remember that phrase as clear as day,
0:27:33 > 0:27:35"You don't need a single to sell an album."
0:27:36 > 0:27:40I think it might have been the beginning of something
0:27:40 > 0:27:43really bad and really...insidious.
0:27:48 > 0:27:53It may have been the beginning of just that little bit of rot
0:27:53 > 0:27:56that sort of got in the gunnels,
0:27:56 > 0:28:00you know, of the ship of rock and roll.
0:28:03 > 0:28:07If you sit down to listen to a record, you don't want to get up after two or three minutes,
0:28:07 > 0:28:10switch over to another record... And also, your mood changes with the single.
0:28:10 > 0:28:13The mood changes with each single, naturally, you see.
0:28:13 > 0:28:15An LP has a theme.
0:28:15 > 0:28:19A lot of LPs nowadays of pop groups are concentrating on a particular theme.
0:28:23 > 0:28:26You know, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd wouldn't make singles.
0:28:26 > 0:28:29To see Deep Purple on Top Of The Pops was a forbidden thrill,
0:28:29 > 0:28:32because it was so odd to see the underground,
0:28:32 > 0:28:35and I really believed there was an underground, where these people lived.
0:28:35 > 0:28:38Jethro Tull next door to Deep Purple, next door to Black Sabbath
0:28:38 > 0:28:41in the underground, and they came up for light occasionally.
0:28:45 > 0:28:49To see them on Top Of The Pops was extraordinary, because there was this division.
0:28:51 > 0:28:53If the Underground had abandoned the single,
0:28:53 > 0:28:57the Overground of the early '70s was back in 7" overdrive.
0:28:57 > 0:29:00I think it was so singly-orientated,
0:29:00 > 0:29:02We'd make about four singles
0:29:02 > 0:29:05and all of a sudden discover we haven't got an album.
0:29:07 > 0:29:10You never thought of albums, albums were the process
0:29:10 > 0:29:13that came along after you'd had two or three hit singles.
0:29:13 > 0:29:17And then, you know, the record company let you make an album.
0:29:17 > 0:29:21You didn't cut an album and then start taking singles off the album.
0:29:21 > 0:29:24The record business didn't work like that in those days.
0:29:24 > 0:29:28The albums were an afterthought, really.
0:29:28 > 0:29:31In one year, we had five singles out, in one year.
0:29:31 > 0:29:34# That's right, that's right That's right, that's right
0:29:34 > 0:29:36# I really love Your tiger light... #
0:29:36 > 0:29:41Studio costs were expensive then, so we'd get a single done in a day.
0:29:43 > 0:29:46The Glam Rock years were dominated by songs
0:29:46 > 0:29:49which seemed to knowingly evoke the glory years
0:29:49 > 0:29:51of the rock and roll single -
0:29:51 > 0:29:54many of them from the pen of Mike Chapman.
0:29:54 > 0:29:57Mike Chapman would have a little demo of a song
0:29:57 > 0:30:02that he'd done all himself, with acoustic guitars and tambourines and vocals that he'd done himself.
0:30:02 > 0:30:06He'd play it to us and he almost became the fifth member of the band.
0:30:06 > 0:30:09# That's neat, that's neat That's neat , that's neat
0:30:09 > 0:30:11# I really love your tiger feet... #
0:30:11 > 0:30:15I remember Mike was quoted in a newspaper article saying,
0:30:15 > 0:30:18"I wish I could wake up one morning and not write a hit."
0:30:18 > 0:30:23And, as awful as that sounds, at that time, it was true.
0:30:26 > 0:30:31Trailblazing Detroit rocker Suzi Quatro chose Britain and producer Micky Most
0:30:31 > 0:30:33for her campaign on the singles chart,
0:30:33 > 0:30:38made possible by the writing team of Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn.
0:30:38 > 0:30:42# Well, you call your mama Tiger And we all know you are lying... #
0:30:42 > 0:30:45They were just able to put it all into three minutes.
0:30:45 > 0:30:49# ..And your boyfriend's name is Eagle and he lives up in the sky... #
0:30:49 > 0:30:51They could take an idea and go whoo...
0:30:51 > 0:30:52# ..Can the can
0:30:54 > 0:30:56# Can the can
0:30:58 > 0:31:00# If you can
0:31:02 > 0:31:03# Well, can the can. #
0:31:03 > 0:31:07There's singles and there's album tracks and you know it as you're doing it.
0:31:07 > 0:31:09And you can't make a single out of an album track
0:31:09 > 0:31:13and you can't make an album track out of single. They are two different animals.
0:31:16 > 0:31:18Before they discovered their own writing talents,
0:31:18 > 0:31:23Slade's act was simply a medley of their all-time favourite singles.
0:31:23 > 0:31:26We could be playing a Motown song one minute,
0:31:26 > 0:31:30we could be playing a Mothers Of Invention, a Frank Zappa song the next minute,
0:31:30 > 0:31:32we could be playing a Moody Blues song the next minute.
0:31:34 > 0:31:36We had a huge, huge repertoire.
0:31:38 > 0:31:41But it was all singles, it was all based on singles,
0:31:41 > 0:31:43singles that we loved ourselves.
0:31:43 > 0:31:46# Cum on, feel the noize
0:31:46 > 0:31:49# Girls, grab the boys
0:31:49 > 0:31:50# We get wild... #
0:31:50 > 0:31:55Slade's love of the 7" would help make them THE singles band of the '70s -
0:31:55 > 0:32:00a decade which saw them chart again and again and again.
0:32:00 > 0:32:04We had 18 on the trot and most of them were top three,
0:32:04 > 0:32:05six of them were number one,
0:32:05 > 0:32:09three of them went to number one first day they were released.
0:32:09 > 0:32:12Nobody had done that, not even The Beatles had done that.
0:32:12 > 0:32:14# Metal guru, is it you?
0:32:14 > 0:32:19# All alone without a telephone
0:32:19 > 0:32:22# Metal guru, could it be?
0:32:22 > 0:32:25# You're gonna bring my baby to me... #
0:32:25 > 0:32:28The division between the album and the single
0:32:28 > 0:32:30had also been drawn along gender lines -
0:32:30 > 0:32:33albums were for boys and singles were for girls.
0:32:37 > 0:32:40I'm pretty much a single's girl, you know, I am.
0:32:40 > 0:32:42I like the idea of Desert Island Discs,
0:32:42 > 0:32:44I like the idea of making a tape for people.
0:32:44 > 0:32:47You're not meant to say this, it's heresy.
0:32:47 > 0:32:52I quite like the idea of unbundling albums and picking out the good tracks.
0:32:52 > 0:32:53Because, to be honest,
0:32:53 > 0:32:56there's not many really, really, really brilliant albums.
0:32:56 > 0:32:58The perfect singles,
0:32:58 > 0:33:00the ones for me that have been the biggest, have always been...
0:33:00 > 0:33:04You know, when it's gone to number one, like Bright Eyes.
0:33:04 > 0:33:09When the guy asked me to write that song for the movie, Watership Down,
0:33:09 > 0:33:12he said, "Write me a song about death."
0:33:12 > 0:33:16So I went home and I thought for ages, like this is the most difficult thing ever.
0:33:16 > 0:33:19And I thought, "Hang on, it's the easiest thing.
0:33:19 > 0:33:22"Because this is the biggest question in everyone's life."
0:33:22 > 0:33:26I remembered my granny and how twinkly her eyes were...
0:33:26 > 0:33:30How can they not be twinkly any more? Cos she's dead.
0:33:30 > 0:33:32# Bright eyes
0:33:32 > 0:33:36# Burning like fire
0:33:38 > 0:33:41# Bright eyes
0:33:41 > 0:33:44# How can you close and fail? #
0:33:44 > 0:33:46When you're writing the song,
0:33:46 > 0:33:49if you start to feel emotional and you're holding it back a bit,
0:33:49 > 0:33:53you know, you're...filling up, I think, is the expression.
0:33:53 > 0:33:57Then you know that it's likely to have a mirror effect.
0:33:59 > 0:34:01# Dream
0:34:01 > 0:34:03# Dream, dream, dream... #
0:34:03 > 0:34:07For the rock and roll generation, the single has always been there.
0:34:07 > 0:34:11And along the way, somewhere, somehow,
0:34:11 > 0:34:14it helps us to remember, not only the joy,
0:34:14 > 0:34:19but also the pain, of growing up.
0:34:19 > 0:34:22# ..Whenever I want you All I have to do is dream... #
0:34:22 > 0:34:26A really important thing happened, you know, with the single,
0:34:26 > 0:34:28cos many people, at very important moments of their life
0:34:28 > 0:34:31the most important thing in their life became the single.
0:34:33 > 0:34:37I remember very clearly walking into the record shop
0:34:37 > 0:34:41to buy the new Joy Division single, Transmission
0:34:41 > 0:34:44and my sort of boyfriend stepping forward
0:34:44 > 0:34:46and saying quite formally,
0:34:46 > 0:34:48"I would like to buy this for you."
0:34:48 > 0:34:52And the man behind the desk officiating
0:34:52 > 0:34:57over this and taking two pounds from my boyfriend,
0:34:57 > 0:35:00who then, handed it to me, and it felt as good as a ring.
0:35:02 > 0:35:06It's not about remembering your youth, it isn't that, actually.
0:35:06 > 0:35:07It's about remembering that record.
0:35:07 > 0:35:11# Johnny, remember me... #
0:35:11 > 0:35:13When you heard a single,
0:35:13 > 0:35:15you knew exactly where you were when you heard it.
0:35:15 > 0:35:17I mean, I can remember where I was
0:35:17 > 0:35:21the day I heard Carole King's, It Might As Well Rain Until September,
0:35:21 > 0:35:23Locomotion, by Little Eva,
0:35:23 > 0:35:26Johnny, Remember Me.
0:35:33 > 0:35:37I remember exactly where I was and the minute I heard it.
0:35:37 > 0:35:42I remember, when I was 15, I was a bit of a late developer.
0:35:42 > 0:35:44My first proper "girlfriend",
0:35:44 > 0:35:49I remember waiting for her on the steps of the Theatre Royal, in Winchester,
0:35:49 > 0:35:52and...she didn't show up.
0:35:52 > 0:35:56And um...I got jilted.
0:35:56 > 0:36:01# Your baby doesn't love you any more...#
0:36:01 > 0:36:05The next day, I went and bought Roy Orbison's It's Over.
0:36:05 > 0:36:06CHUCKLING
0:36:06 > 0:36:10And I took it and I played it in my bedroom over and over and over
0:36:10 > 0:36:14until it was completely worn out, feeling desperately sorry for myself.
0:36:14 > 0:36:18But, I mean, "Golden days before the end, whisper secrets to the wind,
0:36:18 > 0:36:20"your baby doesn't love you any more."
0:36:20 > 0:36:23And you're going, "Oh, my God, yeah. I feel just like him."
0:36:23 > 0:36:28# Golden days before the end
0:36:28 > 0:36:31# Whisper secrets to the wind... #
0:36:31 > 0:36:35People like the Everly Brothers and Roy Orbison made it cool
0:36:35 > 0:36:38for a guy to be able to cry over a record.
0:36:38 > 0:36:43# ..Doesn't love you any more... #
0:36:43 > 0:36:47The emotions that are described are quite often stronger emotions than you maybe have experienced yourself
0:36:47 > 0:36:49or they spoke to you about things
0:36:49 > 0:36:52that were wider than your immediate environment,
0:36:52 > 0:36:56they invited you out into that big world.
0:36:56 > 0:36:59MUSIC: "I'm Not In Love" by 10CC
0:37:01 > 0:37:05But, by the '70s, some male emotions on the single
0:37:05 > 0:37:07were a little more in check.
0:37:07 > 0:37:11WHISPERING: Be quiet. Big boys don't cry. Big boys don't cry.
0:37:11 > 0:37:14Big boys don't cry...
0:37:14 > 0:37:18# I'm not in love
0:37:18 > 0:37:22# So don't forget it
0:37:22 > 0:37:26# It's just a silly phase I'm going through... #
0:37:28 > 0:37:30None of us realised the commercial potential of it.
0:37:30 > 0:37:32We just thought it was a great track.
0:37:32 > 0:37:34# And just because I call you up... #
0:37:34 > 0:37:39We developed this way of doing these 250 odd voices
0:37:39 > 0:37:43that became one of the main hallmarks of the record.
0:37:43 > 0:37:47# I'm not in love, no, no
0:37:49 > 0:37:51# It's because... #
0:37:51 > 0:37:54Of course, also, we knew when to stop.
0:37:54 > 0:37:58Part of the art is in saying, "It's done."
0:37:59 > 0:38:01Walk away from the tape machine, sir.
0:38:01 > 0:38:05# Ooh, you'll wait a long time for me
0:38:07 > 0:38:11# Ooh, you'll wait a long time. #
0:38:15 > 0:38:18I used to number them.
0:38:18 > 0:38:20So this is the 20th record that I ever bought,
0:38:20 > 0:38:22Monochrome Set, He's Frank.
0:38:22 > 0:38:25- Do you want to hear it?- Yeah, yeah.
0:38:25 > 0:38:30MUSIC PLAYS
0:38:30 > 0:38:36In 1976, when things got angry, it was the single, and not the album,
0:38:36 > 0:38:40that best expressed the blank generation's rage and frustration.
0:38:40 > 0:38:43Everything becomes short and sharp.
0:38:43 > 0:38:47And so, the single is the absolutely ideal form for punk.
0:38:50 > 0:38:53It's a blurt or a shout.
0:38:58 > 0:39:01It felt like just the right form
0:39:01 > 0:39:07for this new scale and speed of life.
0:39:13 > 0:39:16I mean, I kind of came of age during punk rock
0:39:16 > 0:39:21and that was a great time for the 7" single, and for vinyl junkies and for picture sleeves,
0:39:21 > 0:39:23and for independent record labels.
0:39:23 > 0:39:26It was all about the single.
0:39:26 > 0:39:27Albums were for hippies
0:39:27 > 0:39:30who want to sit around and smoke weed and talk about it.
0:39:30 > 0:39:34The 7" single, you put it on, dance to it, pogo to it and put another one on.
0:39:43 > 0:39:45# White riot I wanna riot
0:39:45 > 0:39:47# White riot A riot of my own
0:39:47 > 0:39:49# White riot I wanna riot
0:39:49 > 0:39:51# White riot A riot of my own... #
0:39:51 > 0:39:54Part of the joy of the single has always been the primitive ritual
0:39:54 > 0:39:58of putting it on - an ancient physical activity far removed
0:39:58 > 0:40:02from the quick click of the download, or the iPod Shuffle.
0:40:02 > 0:40:06There is something exciting about holding that 45
0:40:06 > 0:40:11and putting the needle,
0:40:11 > 0:40:14diamond, of course, a diamond needle on the recording.
0:40:14 > 0:40:19It was, it was a tangible, exciting feeling.
0:40:19 > 0:40:21The arm with the needle.
0:40:23 > 0:40:27# Listen to the rhythm of the falling rain
0:40:27 > 0:40:30# Telling me just what a fool I've been... #
0:40:30 > 0:40:32Dropping the needle on,
0:40:32 > 0:40:34making sure you hit the right place so you didn't go too late,
0:40:34 > 0:40:36you know, flipping it over,
0:40:36 > 0:40:39miming to it in your bedroom.
0:40:39 > 0:40:41If filled your head.
0:40:45 > 0:40:47I'd sit in my bedroom with piles of singles
0:40:47 > 0:40:51and just learn them, and putting the needle on and off the record, learning the chords,
0:40:51 > 0:40:55trying to write down the lyrics off the record. It was the only way
0:40:55 > 0:40:57you could get the lyrics, off the record.
0:40:57 > 0:41:02You could stuck seven singles up on the Dansette record player
0:41:02 > 0:41:06and one would drop down and play
0:41:06 > 0:41:08and then, the next one would drop down and play
0:41:08 > 0:41:11and there was something amazing about that,
0:41:11 > 0:41:13something mechanical, yet magical.
0:41:13 > 0:41:15I like the mechanics of it,
0:41:15 > 0:41:18that you actually watch something going around a bit, you know.
0:41:18 > 0:41:21I must be just simple or something like that, I think.
0:41:21 > 0:41:24But it's... I quite like the fact
0:41:24 > 0:41:27that you can physically watch something going round
0:41:27 > 0:41:28from where music is coming out.
0:41:28 > 0:41:30I've had enough of that.
0:41:32 > 0:41:36It always sounds like old codgers are being nostalgic about, but it's a historical fact.
0:41:36 > 0:41:37That's how you got your music -
0:41:37 > 0:41:40you dropped a crappy little needle on a record
0:41:40 > 0:41:41that was already a little wobbly,
0:41:41 > 0:41:44and it went boo-boo, boo-boo, and you'd go on.
0:41:44 > 0:41:47This is a tune.
0:41:47 > 0:41:50To be able to put a single down on a turntable and drop the needle,
0:41:50 > 0:41:53this is a beautiful thing, you know. I always...
0:41:53 > 0:41:56I think parents really need to have that moment with their children
0:41:56 > 0:41:59and show them how to do that. It's too beautiful to pass.
0:41:59 > 0:42:02It's almost like saying I never took my kids to a movie theatre.
0:42:02 > 0:42:05I like the idea of the record nerd.
0:42:05 > 0:42:08We are going to play some, spin some discs tonight, children.
0:42:08 > 0:42:09Come on, kids.
0:42:09 > 0:42:13And then going, "Oh! I remember this, this is fantastic!"
0:42:13 > 0:42:15Not a lot of people...you know.
0:42:15 > 0:42:19And there's record covers and things all over the shop.
0:42:19 > 0:42:21My kids still play them.
0:42:21 > 0:42:24A lot of their friends come round and they're freaked out
0:42:24 > 0:42:27when they see a record on a turntable.
0:42:27 > 0:42:28They say, "What the hell is that?"
0:42:32 > 0:42:33I mean, the funny thing is, you know,
0:42:33 > 0:42:36some of the happiest moments of my entire life on this planet
0:42:36 > 0:42:39have been spent finding, looking through records
0:42:39 > 0:42:42and eventually going, "Ah! I've have got it!"
0:42:42 > 0:42:44You know, that kind of eureka moment.
0:42:44 > 0:42:46Ah...
0:42:46 > 0:42:48Sad, I know, but...
0:42:48 > 0:42:51- HE LAUGHS - But it's true, you know.
0:42:52 > 0:42:54I mean, part of the charm was,
0:42:54 > 0:42:56I even liked the scratchiness on the 45s.
0:42:56 > 0:42:58Gggrrrr!
0:42:58 > 0:43:01And the needle. It's like foreplay, you know,
0:43:01 > 0:43:05you hear the noise, "Gggrrr," and you know something good is coming.
0:43:05 > 0:43:07# Don't ever lose your temper
0:43:07 > 0:43:10# When you've been out all night drinking booze... #
0:43:10 > 0:43:12Good advice - "Don't ever lose your temper
0:43:12 > 0:43:15"when you've been out all night drinking booze."
0:43:15 > 0:43:18- HE LAUGHS - I'll remember that one.
0:43:18 > 0:43:22I mean, I hear a tune, I'd play that tune 25 times.
0:43:22 > 0:43:25I mean, everybody walks out of the room, I'm still like that kid in my bedroom
0:43:25 > 0:43:28that gets a record and just plays it and plays it and plays it.
0:43:28 > 0:43:34We had a box gramophone and I sort of camped out beside it.
0:43:34 > 0:43:38I just remember spending as much time beside it as I possibly could
0:43:38 > 0:43:41and then, as soon as I could, because no-one else seemed interested,
0:43:41 > 0:43:44lugging it off to my bedroom.
0:43:45 > 0:43:497" to me is, you know, really involved...
0:43:49 > 0:43:51On an album, you can put an album on,
0:43:51 > 0:43:56drop the needle, have a cup of tea, walk around, talk a little bit.
0:43:56 > 0:43:59A 45, I always picture it you sort of like, you know,
0:43:59 > 0:44:01kneel down on a carpet
0:44:01 > 0:44:04and you put it on and you're listening to just that song,
0:44:04 > 0:44:06which is very reverential.
0:44:06 > 0:44:08Singles, to be really effective,
0:44:08 > 0:44:13do have to have a little bit of sort of cultural impact, you know.
0:44:13 > 0:44:18Somehow, they resonate with people at that particular point in time.
0:44:21 > 0:44:27Few singles are as timely as that of one-hit-wonders The Buggles.
0:44:28 > 0:44:32In 79, you could feel that a lot of things were about to change,
0:44:32 > 0:44:33and I could feel that.
0:44:33 > 0:44:37# I heard you on the wireless back in '52
0:44:37 > 0:44:41# Lying awake intent at tuning in on you
0:44:41 > 0:44:45# If I was young, it didn't stop you coming through... #
0:44:45 > 0:44:49When Video Killed The Radio Star was going to be released,
0:44:49 > 0:44:52they weren't going to make a video and then, suddenly, they were.
0:44:56 > 0:45:00# Video killed the radio star
0:45:00 > 0:45:02# In my mind and in my car... #
0:45:02 > 0:45:03I loved the start of it.
0:45:03 > 0:45:07I thought the whole start was quite iconic. I hated the rest of it
0:45:07 > 0:45:11and still do to this day, kind of. Cos I think I look like a dick.
0:45:11 > 0:45:17# ..Put the blame on VTR. #
0:45:22 > 0:45:267" vinyl supremacy was now under threat,
0:45:26 > 0:45:30both from future systems and from a new consumer lifestyle
0:45:30 > 0:45:33that preached the politics of plenty,
0:45:33 > 0:45:36far removed from the scarcity of the early '50s.
0:45:36 > 0:45:39Singles weren't just 45s any more.
0:45:39 > 0:45:42Now, we had pop promos, in-car music systems,
0:45:42 > 0:45:45cassettes and something called The Walkman.
0:45:47 > 0:45:49The brand name Walkman.
0:45:49 > 0:45:51HE LAUGHS
0:45:51 > 0:45:54You know, that was fantastic, you know - the headphones
0:45:54 > 0:45:57and getting killed crossing the road
0:45:57 > 0:45:59because you couldn't hear what was going on.
0:45:59 > 0:46:04Yeah, what an amazing development for mankind(!)
0:46:07 > 0:46:10But The Walkman's ultimate achievement was to send everyone
0:46:10 > 0:46:12back to their favourite singles,
0:46:12 > 0:46:15so they could be with them anytime, anywhere.
0:46:15 > 0:46:19Walkmans were quite a big part of our lives, really.
0:46:19 > 0:46:23There were quite a big deal. The fact that you could take, you know, take all these records,
0:46:23 > 0:46:27put them on a tape, illegally, and then put them in your Walkman
0:46:27 > 0:46:30and go off and listen to them on the bus was big deal.
0:46:31 > 0:46:34Cassettes were nice to love
0:46:34 > 0:46:38if it was a mixed tape that somebody else had made you.
0:46:38 > 0:46:40If you're going out with someone,
0:46:40 > 0:46:42the first thing you do is you make a mixed tape for them.
0:46:42 > 0:46:46And then you'd find out a lot about them because of their taste in music.
0:46:50 > 0:46:53I, being a record collector, could always impress the girls with my mixed tapes.
0:46:53 > 0:46:56The idea always was that you did a seduction tape.
0:46:56 > 0:46:58So you started off with something quite dancy,
0:46:58 > 0:47:00and then, you slowed it down to the end.
0:47:00 > 0:47:03And then, maybe, maybe go a bit jiggy.
0:47:08 > 0:47:12By 1984, the opportunities for the single seemed limitless.
0:47:18 > 0:47:23But for Holly Johnson, it was still THE defining form.
0:47:23 > 0:47:25I thought it was important
0:47:25 > 0:47:30to disregard every other single that had ever been made.
0:47:32 > 0:47:36Forget The Beatles, forget David Bowie, this is going to be it.
0:47:36 > 0:47:40There is an aspect of that, although you admire those people that love them.
0:47:40 > 0:47:43As soon as you go to make a single,
0:47:43 > 0:47:48you're putting yourself on the same ladder as them, you know.
0:47:48 > 0:47:51And this ladder stretches all the way to heaven.
0:47:51 > 0:47:56# Relax, don't do it When you want to go to it
0:47:56 > 0:48:00# Relax, don't do it When you want to come
0:48:00 > 0:48:04# Relax, don't do it When you want to suck, do it
0:48:04 > 0:48:06# Relax, don't do it... #
0:48:06 > 0:48:09Paul Morley and Trevor Horn at ZTT Records
0:48:09 > 0:48:12also had big '80s plans for the single.
0:48:12 > 0:48:14Multiple remixes...
0:48:14 > 0:48:16of the same song.
0:48:16 > 0:48:19I like the idea that you could take a song, a single,
0:48:19 > 0:48:23and for a while it could become a whole sort of superstructure, in a way.
0:48:23 > 0:48:24HE CHUCKLES
0:48:24 > 0:48:28Oh, look, it's got the same picture on either side, that's interesting.
0:48:28 > 0:48:31So there's the 7" with a great picture sleeve.
0:48:31 > 0:48:33There's this ludicrous 12" version of it,
0:48:33 > 0:48:35that is almost like a kind of uncut version.
0:48:44 > 0:48:47Some of the sound effects on the 12", on the sex mix, were quite vulgar,
0:48:47 > 0:48:51because I'd been using vegetables and a bottle of water.
0:48:51 > 0:48:56I don't know what was in my head at the time. Well, I do, but I'm not going to tell you.
0:48:59 > 0:49:03The guy that was running Island kept ringing me up and saying, "Can you do me another mix?
0:49:03 > 0:49:07"I'd like to keep it at number one for another week, you now."
0:49:07 > 0:49:13People would go into record shops, they'd buy two 12" and a single
0:49:13 > 0:49:16and a cassette, you know, and they'd all be of the same record.
0:49:19 > 0:49:21So what had the single become?
0:49:21 > 0:49:25The single is just a receptacle for the song, really.
0:49:25 > 0:49:31And that's why I think it's so intense and important
0:49:31 > 0:49:38that it's your essence as an artist instilled into that one thing.
0:49:41 > 0:49:43With Frankie's follow-up Two Tribes,
0:49:43 > 0:49:47ZTT produced so many versions of the single
0:49:47 > 0:49:49that the industry was forced to step into the ring
0:49:49 > 0:49:53to create some new rules to protect the number one position.
0:49:53 > 0:49:54# When two tribes go to war
0:49:54 > 0:49:58# A point is all that you can score
0:49:58 > 0:50:00# Score no more, score no more
0:50:00 > 0:50:02# When two tribes go to war
0:50:02 > 0:50:05# A point is all that you can score
0:50:05 > 0:50:07# Working for the bad guys
0:50:07 > 0:50:08# Cowboy number one... #
0:50:08 > 0:50:11We did like seven mixes,
0:50:11 > 0:50:14which kept us at number one for nine weeks
0:50:14 > 0:50:17cos every week you went out and you bought a new version of Two Tribes.
0:50:20 > 0:50:24The boys in the backroom were cobbling together,
0:50:24 > 0:50:30yet another 12" mix to extend the life of the record.
0:50:33 > 0:50:35# When two tribes go to war... #
0:50:35 > 0:50:39I think we've got up to 75 minutes or something, if you put all the Two Tribes together.
0:50:39 > 0:50:40# Score no more, score no more
0:50:40 > 0:50:43# When two tribes go to war A point is all that you can... #
0:50:43 > 0:50:49But we still clung really faithfully to the idea of the excitement of the single.
0:50:53 > 0:50:55# Respectable
0:50:56 > 0:50:59# Respectable, respectable
0:50:59 > 0:51:01# Respectable
0:51:01 > 0:51:04# Tay, tay, tay, tay... #
0:51:04 > 0:51:07Pete Waterman's passion for the single prompted him
0:51:07 > 0:51:08to set-up an '80s-style hit factory
0:51:08 > 0:51:15to corner a market that the mainstream record industry thought, even then, was in its death throes.
0:51:15 > 0:51:18- Oh!- Another one.- Oh, oh!
0:51:18 > 0:51:20No, no, wait a minute, you just...
0:51:20 > 0:51:24I mean, the point is absolutely spot on.
0:51:24 > 0:51:28If you are a singles and the single is the thing that drives you
0:51:28 > 0:51:30by Christ, have you given yourself a task.
0:51:32 > 0:51:37Back in '84, '85, everybody told me the single's dead.
0:51:41 > 0:51:43Everybody. I mean all my mates thought I was nuts.
0:51:46 > 0:51:49I went, "Nah! The record industry don't want it, I'll have it."
0:51:49 > 0:51:52# It's easier than learning your ABCs
0:51:52 > 0:51:56# So come on, come on Do the locomotion
0:51:56 > 0:52:00# Come on, come on Do the locomotion
0:52:00 > 0:52:04# Come on, come on Do the locomotion with me... #
0:52:04 > 0:52:07I've had fights like you can't believe with artists,
0:52:07 > 0:52:10You go, "This is your next single", they go, "I don't like it."
0:52:10 > 0:52:13I don't care what you like.
0:52:13 > 0:52:17We're in the record industry here, you know, the fans want this.
0:52:17 > 0:52:23But, by 1987, the record industry had been invaded by small shiny things.
0:52:23 > 0:52:26CDs, they were just a little bit insipid.
0:52:26 > 0:52:30They were kind of, there were just all shine and no substance.
0:52:33 > 0:52:36They claimed to be indestructible
0:52:36 > 0:52:38and they patently weren't.
0:52:40 > 0:52:43This should be it, let's see how it sounds.
0:52:43 > 0:52:47SCRATCHY SOUND
0:52:51 > 0:52:55The CD, I just pick it up, chuck it in, you know...
0:52:55 > 0:52:57it gets swallowed into a machine,
0:52:57 > 0:52:59you don't get to see it going round.
0:52:59 > 0:53:04Yeah, it's....kind of, it becomes more impersonal.
0:53:04 > 0:53:07Forget the CD single, Norman. You need something much bigger.
0:53:12 > 0:53:14By the '90s, it was the 12" vinyl single
0:53:14 > 0:53:18that was the darling of the dance floor and the DJ.
0:53:18 > 0:53:20You put your hand in like that,
0:53:20 > 0:53:22you take it out without touching, only touching the label.
0:53:22 > 0:53:25Then, if you're looking at it, you hold the edge and you spin it like that.
0:53:25 > 0:53:29And you kind of... This bit is sacred, the grooves are sacred.
0:53:29 > 0:53:34You couldn't even scratch with a 7" single. Or could you?
0:53:34 > 0:53:36Interestingly enough,
0:53:36 > 0:53:39here is a 7" single that I wanted to scratch,
0:53:39 > 0:53:44you glue it onto a 12" that you don't like very much
0:53:44 > 0:53:46and you still control the edge of it.
0:53:51 > 0:53:54The 12" would simply be all the elements that were in the single,
0:53:54 > 0:54:00so, you know, the piano and a kind of beat and maybe a bit of guitar and vocals,
0:54:00 > 0:54:02which will arrive all at once in the single.
0:54:02 > 0:54:05It would start over here and then 12 bars later, in would come the next bit.
0:54:05 > 0:54:08And I kind of think, "Well, that's just rubbish. I may as well have the single, really."
0:54:08 > 0:54:13For younger generations oblivious to the power of the single,
0:54:13 > 0:54:16its ability to define a career, even in the 21st century,
0:54:16 > 0:54:18can come as a surprise.
0:54:18 > 0:54:24# I waited till I saw the sun
0:54:24 > 0:54:30# I don't know why I didn't come
0:54:30 > 0:54:34# I left you by the house of fun... #
0:54:34 > 0:54:36I don't know, I'm not the greatest person
0:54:36 > 0:54:40for a singles interview, probably, cos I don't listen to singles.
0:54:40 > 0:54:42I don't listen to the radio because there's not, you know,
0:54:42 > 0:54:46stuff on it that I want to hear all the time.
0:54:46 > 0:54:50# ..When I saw the break of day... #
0:54:50 > 0:54:55The fact that Don't Know Why became a big single was kind of crazy for me,
0:54:55 > 0:54:58because I didn't grow up buying singles the way some people did.
0:54:59 > 0:55:02I remember getting kind of sick of playing it and thinking,
0:55:02 > 0:55:04"Why can't we do another song on this TV show?
0:55:04 > 0:55:06"Why don't they want to hear something else?"
0:55:06 > 0:55:10And so, the concept kind of took a while to sink in for me,
0:55:10 > 0:55:12of having a single.
0:55:12 > 0:55:15# I don't know why
0:55:15 > 0:55:19# I didn't come. #
0:55:20 > 0:55:23I think nowadays people still buy individual songs,
0:55:23 > 0:55:26but they don't necessarily buy only the single.
0:55:26 > 0:55:30They can have access to the whole album and buy whatever songs they want to buy.
0:55:30 > 0:55:36So I guess that's the biggest difference about today versus when people used to buy the 7" inch.
0:55:36 > 0:55:38Cos that's all that was available at the time.
0:55:38 > 0:55:43MUSIC PLAYS
0:55:44 > 0:55:46You're in straight away.
0:55:48 > 0:55:51When you offer people the choice,
0:55:51 > 0:55:54of just downloading a single track, you know what they do?
0:55:54 > 0:55:57They take the single track for 40p.
0:55:57 > 0:56:02Because that's what we all are, we're all single buyers in truth.
0:56:02 > 0:56:05I'd quite happily pay a few quid for that, you know what I mean?
0:56:05 > 0:56:08Fair exchange is not robbery, you know.
0:56:10 > 0:56:12I mean, it's definitely my age,
0:56:12 > 0:56:14but I'm just not daft enough to just pay over money
0:56:14 > 0:56:16for something that don't physically exists.
0:56:16 > 0:56:21You know what I mean? It just seems to be...like you're a muppet, a right mug.
0:56:26 > 0:56:33Not having a tangible item that you can touch, just having it virally.
0:56:36 > 0:56:39It's not the same. It's not the same
0:56:39 > 0:56:42as owning it, touching it,
0:56:42 > 0:56:44putting it on the turntable.
0:56:44 > 0:56:46That's it.
0:56:49 > 0:56:52Downloading songs has helped to retain
0:56:52 > 0:56:56something of the idea of the single, but nothing of its physical reality.
0:56:56 > 0:57:02The 7" vinyl 45 as an object is now an expensive relic.
0:57:02 > 0:57:05And the yearning and the nostalgia for the single
0:57:05 > 0:57:08is part of an overall, deep nostalgic sickness.
0:57:08 > 0:57:12The physical states and objects are disappearing,
0:57:12 > 0:57:14and being replaced with other things.
0:57:18 > 0:57:21At first, when that happened,
0:57:21 > 0:57:25I would wake up at night worried about where the record was.
0:57:25 > 0:57:27Where is it?
0:57:30 > 0:57:33You know, I've done all this work on it. Where does it exist?
0:57:36 > 0:57:38Out of a kind of a fear,
0:57:38 > 0:57:41we're clinging even though the 7" doesn't exist any more
0:57:41 > 0:57:43to 7" shapes and lengths and the same with the album.
0:57:43 > 0:57:46People still release album-sized collection of songs,
0:57:46 > 0:57:49even though the thing itself is gone.
0:57:53 > 0:57:57There's no point in really owning music
0:57:57 > 0:58:00and investing in something like this,
0:58:00 > 0:58:03because all of this would now fit on a memory stick this big.
0:58:05 > 0:58:09But a memory stick isn't able to hold real memories,
0:58:09 > 0:58:13memories that the vinyl 45 has captured
0:58:13 > 0:58:16and fixed in our minds for ever.
0:58:16 > 0:58:17Everybody remembers their first record.
0:58:17 > 0:58:21Everybody remembers their first kiss to their first record.
0:58:21 > 0:58:23Everybody has these memories.
0:58:23 > 0:58:26They're ingrained in us all,
0:58:26 > 0:58:28everybody knows what was the first one they went out
0:58:28 > 0:58:31and bought with their first pocket money or whatever.
0:58:31 > 0:58:34There's lots of reasons why you remember certain records,
0:58:34 > 0:58:36they're snapshots.
0:58:36 > 0:58:39Instead of photographs of time, they're snapshots of time.
0:58:45 > 0:58:48These great songs that were singles, they float off into the universe
0:58:48 > 0:58:51and they become the history of this planet, so that when we die out,
0:58:51 > 0:58:54if anybody wants to know what happened to our civilisation,
0:58:54 > 0:58:58they just listen to great singles and they'll be able to piece it all together.
0:58:58 > 0:59:01You're going to kick me out now, aren't you? THEY LAUGH
0:59:04 > 0:59:10# I see a red door and I want to paint it black
0:59:10 > 0:59:15# No colours any more I want them to turn black... #
0:59:15 > 0:59:18Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd