0:00:02 > 0:00:04- Ah, the reasons for our popularity? - Er...
0:00:04 > 0:00:06Ooh. HE LAUGHS
0:00:06 > 0:00:10I think that's impossible to answer.
0:00:10 > 0:00:12Really impossible. Nobody really knows what the reasons are.
0:00:12 > 0:00:15# Feel the city breakin' and everybody shakin'
0:00:15 > 0:00:17# I'm a-stayin' alive, stayin' alive
0:00:17 > 0:00:20# Ah, ah, ah, ah, stayin' alive... #
0:00:20 > 0:00:23The Bee Gees. They're more than a flourish of falsettos.
0:00:23 > 0:00:26# Stayin' ali-i-i...
0:00:26 > 0:00:28# ..i-i-i...
0:00:28 > 0:00:32# ..i-i-i-ive... #
0:00:32 > 0:00:35They're not just teeth, tans and tight trousers.
0:00:35 > 0:00:39Why is it, do you think, that millions of people love your music?
0:00:39 > 0:00:43# Cos we're living in a world of fools... #
0:00:43 > 0:00:45There's so much more to the Bee Gees
0:00:45 > 0:00:48than Saturday Night Fever and office parties.
0:00:48 > 0:00:49That looks gay.
0:00:49 > 0:00:52You put them on at a party and everybody's dancing.
0:00:52 > 0:00:53It doesn't matter how old they are.
0:00:53 > 0:00:56# And it's me you need to show
0:00:56 > 0:00:59- # How deep is your love? - How deep is your love... #
0:00:59 > 0:01:03Look beyond the white suits and satin. The Bee Gees are pop royalty.
0:01:03 > 0:01:05I think the Bee Gees should be revered
0:01:05 > 0:01:07in the way the Beatles are revered. And they're not.
0:01:07 > 0:01:10Back in the '60s, they were pop balladeers.
0:01:10 > 0:01:12The Bee Gees were heartbreakers.
0:01:12 > 0:01:16# You don't know what it's like
0:01:17 > 0:01:22# Baby, you don't know what it's like
0:01:22 > 0:01:24# To love somebody... #
0:01:24 > 0:01:26These are some of the most moving,
0:01:26 > 0:01:29touching lyrics, I think, ever put to paper.
0:01:29 > 0:01:34These were geniuses at communicating emotion, in different ways,
0:01:34 > 0:01:37across different decades, to different generations.
0:01:38 > 0:01:40The brothers Gibb. They were all graft and craft,
0:01:40 > 0:01:42but when they united in song and harmony,
0:01:42 > 0:01:44the Bee Gees were pure class.
0:01:44 > 0:01:50# Nobody gets too much heaven no more... #
0:01:50 > 0:01:55Creating these melodies like spun gold out of the thin air.
0:01:55 > 0:01:57How did they do it? It is extraordinary.
0:01:57 > 0:02:01From pop to soul to disco, we walk the line between the naffness,
0:02:01 > 0:02:05the genius, and, yes, the joy of the Bee Gees.
0:02:05 > 0:02:08# I just got to get a message to you... #
0:02:08 > 0:02:11Some of our songs, I never really want to listen to.
0:02:11 > 0:02:14And some songs, I think, "Oh, boy, that was a good record.
0:02:14 > 0:02:16You know? "How did that happen?" HE LAUGHS
0:02:16 > 0:02:18# Ah-ah-ah
0:02:18 > 0:02:21# Ah-ah ah ah ah
0:02:21 > 0:02:24# Ah-ah ah ah ah ah-ah ahhh...
0:02:24 > 0:02:26# One hour
0:02:26 > 0:02:31# One more hour and my life will be through... #
0:02:33 > 0:02:36STACCATO PIANO MUSIC
0:02:39 > 0:02:43In the '50s, variety was king, with shows for all the family,
0:02:43 > 0:02:48complete with impersonators, dancing girls, and ventriloquists.
0:02:48 > 0:02:50Just look at this face, eh?
0:02:50 > 0:02:53A mean, melancholic misfit.
0:02:53 > 0:02:55LAUGHTER
0:02:55 > 0:02:56And this hotbed of talent
0:02:56 > 0:03:00is where the brothers Gibb cut their milk teeth.
0:03:00 > 0:03:03There is a side of the Bee Gees' music that, you know,
0:03:03 > 0:03:06you could say was destined for cabaret from the start.
0:03:06 > 0:03:08You can laugh at the fact they were performing in little suits
0:03:08 > 0:03:11when they were young kids, but they were in showbusiness
0:03:11 > 0:03:12right from the beginning,
0:03:12 > 0:03:14and showbusiness meant the whole business of show.
0:03:14 > 0:03:19From an early age, music was in their blood, and their dad Hugh,
0:03:19 > 0:03:23a band leader on the Mecca club circuit, was their mentor.
0:03:23 > 0:03:27Dad used to play the Russell Street club in Manchester,
0:03:27 > 0:03:30and he told everybody at this club that his three kids were singing
0:03:30 > 0:03:33and harmonising, and they said, "Well, bring them along to the club.
0:03:33 > 0:03:35"As long as you're with them, they'll be OK.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38"They're underage, but bring them anyway."
0:03:38 > 0:03:41And we were three kids, you know? Never work with kids and dogs.
0:03:41 > 0:03:43They'll steal everything.
0:03:43 > 0:03:46'Come over to the sunny side now.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49'Australia, a great place for families.
0:03:49 > 0:03:51'Opportunity for you.
0:03:51 > 0:03:54'Fine for your wife. Great for your children.'
0:03:54 > 0:03:57# Here comes summer
0:03:57 > 0:03:59# School is out... #
0:03:59 > 0:04:01The Gibb family took up the offer to become "Ten Pound Poms",
0:04:01 > 0:04:05and their trip to Oz would inform their songwriting for years to come.
0:04:05 > 0:04:08We went on this beautiful white ship called the Fairsea.
0:04:08 > 0:04:13We saw things like Egypt and India and the Suez Canal, and Sri Lanka.
0:04:13 > 0:04:15That's incredible for kids to experience that,
0:04:15 > 0:04:19and I've always felt that was really what kick-started the creativity,
0:04:19 > 0:04:23you know, seeing these different cultures at such a young age.
0:04:23 > 0:04:24The adventure had begun.
0:04:24 > 0:04:29# Let the sun shine bright on my happy summer home... #
0:04:29 > 0:04:32Encouraged by their dad, the brothers formed a band,
0:04:32 > 0:04:36and toured Queensland's holiday resorts and dives...
0:04:36 > 0:04:38# Come on and hear, come on and hear
0:04:38 > 0:04:40# It's the best band in the land... #
0:04:40 > 0:04:44We did the Sandgate Hotel, and it was a galvanised roof,
0:04:44 > 0:04:47and the water was pouring in onto the stage.
0:04:47 > 0:04:49Like, not just raining, pouring in.
0:04:49 > 0:04:52And we had to stand there, with water pouring,
0:04:52 > 0:04:55soaking and singing, and people sitting in front of us fighting.
0:04:55 > 0:04:59Not standing, but punching each other sitting down.
0:05:02 > 0:05:06..until the young brothers caught the eye of TV producers.
0:05:06 > 0:05:10Here are some of the boys I'm looking for. The Bee Gees.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13Barry here, the leader of the group. Come here.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16Barry Gibb, and your young brothers. Now, come on, who are you?
0:05:16 > 0:05:18Which is which? You're twins, eh?
0:05:18 > 0:05:21- I'm Robin.- Robin. - And Maurice.- And Maurice.
0:05:21 > 0:05:23Barry was tall, good-looking lad, you know.
0:05:23 > 0:05:25And then there was Robin and Maurice,
0:05:25 > 0:05:27who were these short little dudes, you know?
0:05:27 > 0:05:30And they played a guitar, and they had all little high voices.
0:05:30 > 0:05:31# Ah-ah-ah...
0:05:31 > 0:05:34# I'll speak long and sing long
0:05:34 > 0:05:37# Cos time is passing by
0:05:37 > 0:05:41# I'll drift along and breeze along just like a butterfly... #
0:05:41 > 0:05:45They were looked upon as more of a novelty act, you know, then?
0:05:45 > 0:05:48And people could... People realised their talent,
0:05:48 > 0:05:52but it just wasn't taken all that seriously.
0:05:52 > 0:05:53Growing up down under,
0:05:53 > 0:05:56their songs took inspiration from old school America.
0:05:58 > 0:05:59# Bye-bye, love
0:06:00 > 0:06:03# Bye-bye, happiness... #
0:06:03 > 0:06:05With their clean-cut looks and harmonies,
0:06:05 > 0:06:07they harked back to the '50s...
0:06:07 > 0:06:12# Wine and women and song will only make me sad
0:06:15 > 0:06:20# Love and kisses and hugs, the thing I never had... #
0:06:20 > 0:06:24..until they were inspired by only the biggest band in the world.
0:06:24 > 0:06:26What a day it was at Adelaide airport.
0:06:26 > 0:06:29Arriving to meet the citizens were John Lennon,
0:06:29 > 0:06:32two other Beatle regulars, and Jimmie Nicol.
0:06:32 > 0:06:33You've missed the ashtray!
0:06:33 > 0:06:36Paul, what do you expect to find here in Australia?
0:06:36 > 0:06:39Australians. THEY ALL LAUGH
0:06:41 > 0:06:45The feeling, the actual vibration that was going on in the culture,
0:06:45 > 0:06:50it changed everybody. You know, it changed hair, it changed clothes.
0:06:50 > 0:06:52Everything changed, and no-one knew why,
0:06:52 > 0:06:54but they all had to follow this thing.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57# Where is the sun
0:06:57 > 0:07:00# That shone on my head... #
0:07:00 > 0:07:02Spicks And Specks was the first record
0:07:02 > 0:07:04that went to number one in Perth.
0:07:04 > 0:07:08We thought, "Something's happening. Something's happening."
0:07:08 > 0:07:10# All of my life
0:07:10 > 0:07:14# I call yesterday
0:07:16 > 0:07:22# The spicks and the specks of my life gone away... #
0:07:22 > 0:07:25By 1967, they had released 11 singles in Australia,
0:07:25 > 0:07:28but for the Bee Gees, London was calling.
0:07:28 > 0:07:31We had to get to England. We had to be a part of it,
0:07:31 > 0:07:34and I remember my father and us having a really big argument
0:07:34 > 0:07:36with the executives at Festival Records,
0:07:36 > 0:07:38because we didn't want to stay.
0:07:38 > 0:07:40We had to make it internationally one way or another.
0:07:40 > 0:07:42We knew that in some way, that was our destiny.
0:07:42 > 0:07:44# Let me take you down
0:07:44 > 0:07:47# Cos I'm going to
0:07:47 > 0:07:51# Strawberry fields... #
0:07:51 > 0:07:55When we arrived in England was the week of release of Strawberry Fields,
0:07:55 > 0:07:58and that was a shock to the system, everybody's system, you know?
0:07:58 > 0:08:00And Penny Lane, and...
0:08:01 > 0:08:03That was the drive. "Oh, God," you know,
0:08:03 > 0:08:05"they've raised the bar again."
0:08:05 > 0:08:07You know? How do these boys, how do these guys do this, you know?
0:08:07 > 0:08:09And everybody's got to aspire to that now.
0:08:09 > 0:08:14# Penny Lane, there is a barber showing photographs... #
0:08:14 > 0:08:17Ever ambitious, the Bee Gees went straight to the top.
0:08:17 > 0:08:21Epstein, of course, at the time, was ruling the roost, you know,
0:08:21 > 0:08:25as far as all the bands were, the pop bands were concerned.
0:08:25 > 0:08:29And the Bee Gees were trying to make their way, and so was Robert.
0:08:34 > 0:08:37Epstein passed them on to his Aussie business partner,
0:08:37 > 0:08:39impresario Robert Stigwood.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42He heard them singing on the steps outside his office,
0:08:42 > 0:08:44and thought he'd found the new Beatles,
0:08:44 > 0:08:47and of course, people probably laughed, as they do.
0:08:48 > 0:08:51There we were. Going to names, being signed to names.
0:08:51 > 0:08:53Being signed to the Beatles' organisation.
0:08:53 > 0:08:57And being in those offices while the Beatles, one or the other,
0:08:57 > 0:08:59would walk through. It was just incredible.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02The Bee Gees are one of those bands that could,
0:09:02 > 0:09:07without Robert Stigwood, could have easily never been anything.
0:09:07 > 0:09:12In anybody else's hands, you may never have heard of them again.
0:09:14 > 0:09:16In 1967, the Beatles were it,
0:09:16 > 0:09:19and the charts were full of male beat groups.
0:09:19 > 0:09:23# Ya-ya ya ya ya ya ya-a-ay... #
0:09:23 > 0:09:26# No milk today, it wasn't always so
0:09:26 > 0:09:28# The company was gay... #
0:09:28 > 0:09:32With the Fab Four as his template, Stigwood wanted a four-piece band,
0:09:32 > 0:09:36so he roped in another Aussie with boyish good looks, Colin Peterson.
0:09:36 > 0:09:39But the brothers Gibb didn't stop at four.
0:09:39 > 0:09:41Maurice owed me 25 bucks,
0:09:41 > 0:09:43so he said, "No, we haven't got any money either, mate.
0:09:43 > 0:09:45"We just arrived and we're skint as well,
0:09:45 > 0:09:48"but we've just been signed up by this guy called Robert Stigwood,
0:09:48 > 0:09:51"and so why don't you come and play guitar?"
0:09:51 > 0:09:54I was really not wanted.
0:09:54 > 0:09:59It was only Barry that said to Robert,
0:09:59 > 0:10:03"We want Vince to be," you know, "a full member of the band."
0:10:03 > 0:10:06And, um, I became a Bee Gee.
0:10:06 > 0:10:11With all five Bee Gees in place, the boys now had to deliver the hits...
0:10:11 > 0:10:13That was the highest point of pressure in our lives.
0:10:13 > 0:10:16"How do we have a hit in England? How do we do that?"
0:10:16 > 0:10:19..and their first single chose an unlikely inspiration.
0:10:19 > 0:10:22Just after nine o'clock this morning,
0:10:22 > 0:10:24as prayers were ending at Pantglas Junior and Infant School,
0:10:24 > 0:10:27this mountain, a coal slag half a mile high,
0:10:27 > 0:10:30began to slide towards the little town of Aberfan.
0:10:30 > 0:10:34We went out and sat on the stairs where the elevator was
0:10:34 > 0:10:37and the power went off, and so in the dark,
0:10:37 > 0:10:39we sort of proceeded down that path,
0:10:39 > 0:10:42the idea that you could be in a mine and you could be isolated
0:10:42 > 0:10:44and not know what's going on outside.
0:10:46 > 0:10:50# In the event of something happening to me
0:10:52 > 0:10:56# There is something I would like you all to see
0:10:58 > 0:11:02# It's just a photograph of someone that I knew
0:11:04 > 0:11:08# Have you seen my wife, Mr Jones? #
0:11:08 > 0:11:12With their eyes on the US, Stigwood and the record company
0:11:12 > 0:11:17changed Have You Seen My Wife, Mr Jones? to New York Mining Disaster.
0:11:17 > 0:11:19At the time, I think they were,
0:11:19 > 0:11:23you know, "What's he's singing about? New York mining disaster?"
0:11:23 > 0:11:25"It's a strange subject for a song."
0:11:25 > 0:11:29The whole content of those lyrics were quite unusual.
0:11:29 > 0:11:33That's one of the main songs that will bring tears to my eyes.
0:11:33 > 0:11:36Their songwriting is absolutely from the heart.
0:11:36 > 0:11:38It's wide open and exposed
0:11:38 > 0:11:40and that's exactly why I love them.
0:11:40 > 0:11:43That's brave beyond belief.
0:11:43 > 0:11:47# Or have they given up and all gone home to bed
0:11:49 > 0:11:53# Thinking those who once existed must be dead?
0:11:54 > 0:11:58# Have you seen my wife, Mr Jones? #
0:11:58 > 0:12:00They'd proved they were original songwriters,
0:12:00 > 0:12:03but it didn't hurt to sound like the Beatles.
0:12:03 > 0:12:07When New York Mining Disaster came out in America,
0:12:07 > 0:12:09a lot of people thought it was the Beatles.
0:12:09 > 0:12:12I think they were always seen as arrivistes as well, the Bee Gees,
0:12:12 > 0:12:14the kind of people that are doing
0:12:14 > 0:12:17something that people view as sort of ersatz.
0:12:17 > 0:12:23Barry's a great sort of pasticher of John Lennon's songwriting style.
0:12:23 > 0:12:25It makes me think of Oasis
0:12:25 > 0:12:27because they're trying to do something similar,
0:12:27 > 0:12:32they're sort of copying that kind of way that Lennon wrote songs,
0:12:32 > 0:12:34but he does it incredibly well.
0:12:34 > 0:12:39# Don't go talking too loud, you'll cause a landslide
0:12:39 > 0:12:43# Mr Jones. #
0:12:48 > 0:12:50New York Mining Disaster and the Bee Gees
0:12:50 > 0:12:53didn't quite chime with the Summer of Love...
0:12:53 > 0:12:55- # Let's go - Let's go
0:12:55 > 0:13:00- # To San Francisco - Let's go to San Francisco... #
0:13:00 > 0:13:02..so the brothers sought solace in soul.
0:13:04 > 0:13:08Robin's favourite artist and my favourite artist was Otis Redding.
0:13:08 > 0:13:12# Got to, got to, got to try a little tenderness... #
0:13:12 > 0:13:14It was never outside of our system.
0:13:14 > 0:13:16It was always something we loved, anyway.
0:13:16 > 0:13:19Sam and Dave, Stax, was very deep inside us.
0:13:19 > 0:13:22We weren't getting the opportunity to bring those things out
0:13:22 > 0:13:26because of the whole psychedelic syndrome
0:13:26 > 0:13:29and the idea that we had to do what everyone else was doing,
0:13:29 > 0:13:32which was to be something like the Beatles, you know.
0:13:32 > 0:13:37That was the way out for us, to be influenced by American music.
0:13:37 > 0:13:39We sort of found something
0:13:39 > 0:13:42and that was the idea of the emotional ballad,
0:13:42 > 0:13:45the idea of that was really working for us.
0:13:45 > 0:13:49# Hey, baby, you don't know what it's like
0:13:50 > 0:13:53# Baby, you don't know what it's like
0:13:54 > 0:13:57# To love somebody
0:13:57 > 0:14:00# To love somebody
0:14:00 > 0:14:02# The way I love you. #
0:14:02 > 0:14:06This emotional ballad was originally intended for Otis Redding.
0:14:06 > 0:14:10They were approaching it thinking of a solo artist, but there's something
0:14:10 > 0:14:14about the Bee Gees' delivery which accesses that emotion
0:14:14 > 0:14:18but not the way a soul artist would do that.
0:14:18 > 0:14:20# I'm a man
0:14:21 > 0:14:23# Can't you see what I am?
0:14:25 > 0:14:28# I live and I breathe for you... #
0:14:28 > 0:14:34For example, Otis' approach to soul, it's very much a punch in the face.
0:14:34 > 0:14:40"This is soul, feel my experience, feel my emotional angst,
0:14:40 > 0:14:43"join me in this journey,"
0:14:43 > 0:14:46whereas the Bee Gees' is much more...
0:14:47 > 0:14:49..much more a tickle.
0:14:49 > 0:14:55"I'm in pain. Feel my pain, join me in this suffering."
0:14:55 > 0:14:59And it creeps up on you, and then it grabs you.
0:14:59 > 0:15:02# No, you don't know what it's like
0:15:04 > 0:15:07# Baby, you don't know what it's like
0:15:08 > 0:15:11# To love somebody
0:15:11 > 0:15:14# To love somebody
0:15:14 > 0:15:15# The way I love you. #
0:15:15 > 0:15:19Songs of experience, you know, they're kids writing these songs
0:15:19 > 0:15:21that sound like they were written
0:15:21 > 0:15:25by, you know, sort of middle-aged men. That's quite odd.
0:15:25 > 0:15:29So while the hip kids were being far out, the nation was
0:15:29 > 0:15:32listening to the Bee Gees, and by September 1967,
0:15:32 > 0:15:34they hit the top of the charts.
0:15:34 > 0:15:37It was really an anti-flower power song.
0:15:37 > 0:15:40You know, it was us sort of playing with that idea.
0:15:40 > 0:15:43Tonight, Massachusetts, from the Bee Gees.
0:15:43 > 0:15:45CHEERING
0:15:45 > 0:15:48Suddenly we're on Top Of The Pops and Massachusetts was number one.
0:15:48 > 0:15:55# And the lights all went down in Massachusetts
0:15:57 > 0:16:03# The day I left her standing on the road. #
0:16:03 > 0:16:06The Bee Gees' dream was to make it internationally
0:16:06 > 0:16:09and their American soul influences and gift for balladry
0:16:09 > 0:16:11helped propel them stateside.
0:16:11 > 0:16:14This is the first time they've appeared on television
0:16:14 > 0:16:17in the United States, so ladies and gentlemen, let's give a warm hand,
0:16:17 > 0:16:19very talented group of men, the Bee Gees.
0:16:19 > 0:16:20CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:16:20 > 0:16:25# Smile an everlasting smile
0:16:25 > 0:16:29# A smile can bring you near to me
0:16:31 > 0:16:37# Don't ever let me find you gone
0:16:37 > 0:16:41# Cos that would bring a tear to me. #
0:16:41 > 0:16:44The songs are very comforting. They're very comforting melodies.
0:16:44 > 0:16:46HE PLAYS: Words
0:16:52 > 0:16:55And then it does the same shape again,
0:16:55 > 0:16:57but it finishes differently, sort of...
0:16:57 > 0:17:01The harmonies are always moving and the melody is always moving,
0:17:01 > 0:17:04even though it's incredibly simple,
0:17:04 > 0:17:06but you're not bored by the simplicity
0:17:06 > 0:17:08because it's always changing.
0:17:08 > 0:17:12# It's only words
0:17:12 > 0:17:15# And words are all I have
0:17:15 > 0:17:18# To take your heart away. #
0:17:18 > 0:17:23It's the difference between that addictive quality within a melody
0:17:23 > 0:17:27and monotony, and they cut it just right,
0:17:27 > 0:17:31where you're just on the edge of, "Oh, I need a bit more of this."
0:17:31 > 0:17:36And before you can consider whether or not you've heard it too often,
0:17:36 > 0:17:39you're on the edge of wanting a bit more.
0:17:39 > 0:17:43# And words are all I have
0:17:43 > 0:17:49# To take your heart away. #
0:17:51 > 0:17:53The Bee Gees' ballads were emotional epics
0:17:53 > 0:17:58and while Barry made hearts flutter, Robin made the earth tremble.
0:17:58 > 0:18:01I really, really love Robin Gibbs' voice.
0:18:01 > 0:18:05I think he's sensational, one of the all-time greats.
0:18:05 > 0:18:08# I started a joke
0:18:09 > 0:18:13# Which started the whole world crying... #
0:18:15 > 0:18:22That heart and soul sliced open and rendered to a public, it's...
0:18:22 > 0:18:27..quite literally liver in a frying pan, isn't it? Delicious!
0:18:27 > 0:18:28# Oh, no
0:18:30 > 0:18:32# I started to cry
0:18:34 > 0:18:38# Which started the whole world laughing... #
0:18:38 > 0:18:40He sounds like he's about to cry.
0:18:40 > 0:18:43He sounds like he's about to burst into tears any moment.
0:18:43 > 0:18:48His mother said, "Whenever Robin sang, it made me feel cold."
0:18:48 > 0:18:50I think that's meant as a compliment.
0:18:50 > 0:18:55# I looked at the skies
0:18:55 > 0:19:03# Running my hands over my eyes
0:19:03 > 0:19:08# And I fell out of bed
0:19:08 > 0:19:11# Hurting my head
0:19:11 > 0:19:15# From things that I'd said. #
0:19:15 > 0:19:19He had this incredible, almost operatic type of voice,
0:19:19 > 0:19:25and it was unique for him, and so he loved the really unhappy songs
0:19:25 > 0:19:27because it lent itself to his way of singing.
0:19:27 > 0:19:31This very high voice with the vibrato,
0:19:31 > 0:19:32which nobody else was doing then.
0:19:32 > 0:19:39# Oh... #
0:19:39 > 0:19:42And when the voices of Robin, Barry and Maurice came together,
0:19:42 > 0:19:45it was a magical blend.
0:19:45 > 0:19:47What is unique about their vocal harmony?
0:19:47 > 0:19:50Something that only the Bee Gees, the Beach Boys,
0:19:50 > 0:19:53Everly Brothers - sibling harmonies. It's a very unique sound
0:19:53 > 0:19:57and it's almost impossible for any other act to achieve that sound.
0:19:57 > 0:20:01# I've just got to get a message to you
0:20:02 > 0:20:06# Hold on, hold on... #
0:20:06 > 0:20:10We'd hear them in the studio and take out the track and play back,
0:20:10 > 0:20:11you'd just hear those vocals
0:20:11 > 0:20:14and they would find something wrong with it and do it again
0:20:14 > 0:20:15but it was heavenly to me.
0:20:15 > 0:20:18# Hold on... #
0:20:18 > 0:20:22There is something so gorgeous to me about families singing together.
0:20:22 > 0:20:25Their voices sound so rich
0:20:25 > 0:20:29and full and beautiful and their ballads were
0:20:29 > 0:20:33such a great showcase for their songwriting and for their vocals.
0:20:33 > 0:20:37# I told him I'm in no hurry... #
0:20:38 > 0:20:40The brothers' voices may have mixed well,
0:20:40 > 0:20:43but the internal power struggles were less harmonious.
0:20:43 > 0:20:46Both Barry and Robin wanted to sing lead.
0:20:46 > 0:20:49Whilst on the plus side they have the sibling voices,
0:20:49 > 0:20:53sibling rivalry - that must be very difficult to deal with.
0:20:53 > 0:20:56It's a very complex dynamic being in a family,
0:20:56 > 0:21:01let alone trying to create with your siblings, and then have
0:21:01 > 0:21:06an elder sibling, which at some point would have been dictating the rules.
0:21:06 > 0:21:10Most of us, we grow up, move out of the house.
0:21:10 > 0:21:12They were stitched together at the hip
0:21:12 > 0:21:15because this was their business.
0:21:15 > 0:21:20Whilst aching for a distance, a gap, breathing space between each of them,
0:21:20 > 0:21:24they managed to translate that into a creative output, which is fragile.
0:21:24 > 0:21:26If they get it wrong, it breaks.
0:21:27 > 0:21:33# O-o-oh o-o-o-o-oh... #
0:21:33 > 0:21:35But for the moment, the brothers stayed united
0:21:35 > 0:21:40and they were unaware just how big the band had become in Europe.
0:21:40 > 0:21:42SCREAMING
0:21:44 > 0:21:48The Bee Gees, the most exciting sound in the world.
0:21:48 > 0:21:53It was the first time we'd ever seen 12,000 kids in one place.
0:21:53 > 0:21:55I remember that car. The car got crushed.
0:21:55 > 0:22:00We were lying on our backs pushing the roof up, so it was pretty hairy.
0:22:00 > 0:22:04But all we could think of was, "Wow, just like the Beatles!"
0:22:04 > 0:22:06The desire to top the Beatles spurred them on
0:22:06 > 0:22:11and the band's 1968 tour featured a 16-piece orchestra.
0:22:11 > 0:22:15They could show to the audience that they could do live
0:22:15 > 0:22:20what they could do on record, and believe me, they did do it live.
0:22:20 > 0:22:24It was as good, every bit as good as the actual record.
0:22:24 > 0:22:30# Talk about the life in Massachusetts... #
0:22:30 > 0:22:34First time we played with them on a tour, which was '68 in Germany,
0:22:34 > 0:22:40I was fascinated by the way the orchestra worked on stage, so I think
0:22:40 > 0:22:42I watched them every night.
0:22:42 > 0:22:47It was a bit of an introduction for me to that kind of performance.
0:22:47 > 0:22:51In fact, it inspired me to have a go at that myself a year later.
0:22:51 > 0:22:58# Upon the seventh seasick day
0:22:58 > 0:23:05# We made our port of call... #
0:23:07 > 0:23:11The Bee Gees had hit upon a winning formula, but their albums proved
0:23:11 > 0:23:13they were unafraid to experiment in the studio.
0:23:15 > 0:23:17The first few albums are filled with these songs,
0:23:17 > 0:23:20it's just, "I don't know where this is coming from."
0:23:20 > 0:23:24They're just really weird, inexplicable songs.
0:23:24 > 0:23:28They're the product of very inexplicable, unique imaginations.
0:23:30 > 0:23:32CHANTING IN LATIN
0:23:35 > 0:23:37They came right out of left field.
0:23:37 > 0:23:41Colin and I didn't know where they came from.
0:23:41 > 0:23:45They were writing at incredible pace.
0:23:45 > 0:23:48It was just flowing out of them because things were going well.
0:23:48 > 0:23:50If one of us had an idea,
0:23:50 > 0:23:54we would all jump in and stretch that out and make that work.
0:23:54 > 0:23:56The guys used to just come up with songs,
0:23:56 > 0:23:58like, pick them out of the air.
0:23:58 > 0:24:02It was a sense that we psychically knew where each other was going,
0:24:02 > 0:24:03because we knew each other,
0:24:03 > 0:24:06and the greatest thing about songwriters
0:24:06 > 0:24:10and why they don't last is because you have to be in the same zone.
0:24:10 > 0:24:12Nobody has the relationship,
0:24:12 > 0:24:15or has had the relationship that three brothers have.
0:24:15 > 0:24:22# Every Christian lion-hearted man will show you... #
0:24:23 > 0:24:27A few years back, I had a boring period doing not much,
0:24:27 > 0:24:30but I decided to write out their lyrics.
0:24:30 > 0:24:33I was really kind of enamoured by it.
0:24:33 > 0:24:35There's actual poetry in these,
0:24:35 > 0:24:39and the amount of work that went into the placing of the words,
0:24:39 > 0:24:41and they're not unnecessary words,
0:24:41 > 0:24:44it's not done just for vocal harmony or technique.
0:24:55 > 0:24:59# I'm not trying to make history
0:24:59 > 0:25:01# You could have been good to me... #
0:25:01 > 0:25:03It's very difficult to kind of pigeonhole them.
0:25:03 > 0:25:05They're sort of psychedelic but sort of not,
0:25:05 > 0:25:08they're sort of middle of the road but sort of not.
0:25:08 > 0:25:10They've just got a complete niche of their own.
0:25:10 > 0:25:13# Mother
0:25:14 > 0:25:18# I'm going to join the air force today... #
0:25:18 > 0:25:20The band had their unconventional moments in the studio
0:25:20 > 0:25:23while their image was also "different".
0:25:23 > 0:25:26It was a very curious band, wasn't it?
0:25:26 > 0:25:30I mean, you've got the Mr Handsome in the middle, you know,
0:25:30 > 0:25:33with his absolute beautifully placed teeth...
0:25:33 > 0:25:35Barry had the pin-up looks.
0:25:35 > 0:25:37It was Barry, it was always Barry.
0:25:37 > 0:25:40Maurice at one side...
0:25:40 > 0:25:44An aimless, pleasant chap of no note...
0:25:44 > 0:25:48Maurice didn't look very comfortable
0:25:48 > 0:25:51standing doing synchronised movements with the rest of them.
0:25:51 > 0:25:54He always looked much more comfortable with a guitar.
0:25:54 > 0:25:57And then you've got Robin on the other side
0:25:57 > 0:26:00with horses' gnashers, right,
0:26:00 > 0:26:02worst hairdo in the world,
0:26:02 > 0:26:06but incredible depth of character and soul.
0:26:07 > 0:26:10# Let there be love... #
0:26:10 > 0:26:14The brothers were pop stars and their lives became showbiz events.
0:26:15 > 0:26:18But the child stars were ill-prepared
0:26:18 > 0:26:21for the trappings of success and discovered that fame had a price.
0:26:21 > 0:26:25We wanted to be famous, but we didn't know what came with that.
0:26:26 > 0:26:28We never got into heavy drugs.
0:26:28 > 0:26:32It was either grass, for Maurice it was drink,
0:26:32 > 0:26:35and maybe to some extent for all of us it was amphetamines.
0:26:35 > 0:26:39# Let there be love. #
0:26:39 > 0:26:42In this whirlwind, the Bee Gees decided to embark on
0:26:42 > 0:26:45the recording of Odessa, their take on the concept album.
0:26:45 > 0:26:48As we get towards the end of the '60s,
0:26:48 > 0:26:51other bands start to have an influence on the charts,
0:26:51 > 0:26:53and most notably Pink Floyd now,
0:26:53 > 0:26:56and the early Pink Floyd was very, very experimental.
0:26:58 > 0:27:02# Float on a river for ever and ever
0:27:02 > 0:27:04# Emily, Emily
0:27:04 > 0:27:07# There is no other day... #
0:27:07 > 0:27:10Odessa, I would say,
0:27:10 > 0:27:14is probably their nod to a psychedelic Pink Floyd,
0:27:14 > 0:27:16just a nod in the right direction
0:27:16 > 0:27:19because they weren't a psychedelic band.
0:27:19 > 0:27:25# Who is the girl with the crying face
0:27:25 > 0:27:28# Looking at millions of signs? #
0:27:30 > 0:27:33Fame, ego and excess were now getting to the band
0:27:33 > 0:27:36and the Bee Gees seemed to be losing direction.
0:27:36 > 0:27:38Odessa is a very...
0:27:38 > 0:27:40It's a very difficult record to pigeonhole.
0:27:40 > 0:27:43It opens with the title track,
0:27:43 > 0:27:46written by Robin, and it's just insane.
0:27:46 > 0:27:53# Baa baa, black sheep, you haven't any wool
0:27:53 > 0:28:00# Captain Richardson left himself a lonely wife in Hull... #
0:28:00 > 0:28:03It was starting to crumble.
0:28:03 > 0:28:09Unfortunately, it was so sad, this beautiful thing was falling apart.
0:28:09 > 0:28:12Stigwood made a fateful decision on the next single
0:28:12 > 0:28:15and chose Barry's song as the A side,
0:28:15 > 0:28:18leaving Robin on the flip side, which was to tear the band apart.
0:28:18 > 0:28:21# When I was small
0:28:21 > 0:28:24# And Christmas trees were tall
0:28:26 > 0:28:31# We used to love while others used to play... #
0:28:31 > 0:28:34I didn't make the choices about what the A side or B side were.
0:28:34 > 0:28:37I used to hear these things third-hand, second-hand
0:28:37 > 0:28:41and go, "What's going on?" And that's what led to the split,
0:28:41 > 0:28:44really the obsession with Rob to be an individual.
0:28:44 > 0:28:48I sensed that it was all over and I said to Colin,
0:28:48 > 0:28:52I told Colin Peters, I said, "Mate, it's time to bail out."
0:28:53 > 0:28:57And Colin said, "No, no, no, it's fine, it's fine, it's all great."
0:28:57 > 0:28:59I said, "Well, see you later."
0:28:59 > 0:29:02Not long after that, Robin bailed.
0:29:03 > 0:29:05Then Colin bailed.
0:29:05 > 0:29:08And then it was Barry and Maurice.
0:29:08 > 0:29:10I figured at that point it was over,
0:29:10 > 0:29:14you know, as brothers and friends, it just was no longer happening.
0:29:14 > 0:29:16# But you and I
0:29:16 > 0:29:19# Our love will never die
0:29:21 > 0:29:26# But guess we'll cry come first of May. #
0:29:26 > 0:29:32Odessa was released in 1969 while the Bee Gees splintered in public.
0:29:32 > 0:29:38# Every single word has been spoken
0:29:41 > 0:29:47# It's much too late to change the ways... #
0:29:47 > 0:29:51There was a lot of music papers who always wanted you to say something
0:29:51 > 0:29:54and as it turned out, they were setting Robin against me
0:29:54 > 0:29:55and me against Robin
0:29:55 > 0:29:58and these were things we'd never experienced in our lives.
0:29:58 > 0:30:01I mean, you said things, but those things didn't have any meaning.
0:30:01 > 0:30:05You just said them because you wanted to see your name in the paper,
0:30:05 > 0:30:09you know. If that's ego, yeah. Yeah. And we were all doing that.
0:30:09 > 0:30:10That was not a good time,
0:30:10 > 0:30:13and so we separated for 15 months.
0:30:14 > 0:30:17In 1970, Stigwood made amends and reunited the brothers,
0:30:17 > 0:30:19this time as a trio.
0:30:19 > 0:30:22The songwriting magic was still there.
0:30:22 > 0:30:25Robin and Barry, who were the two that always
0:30:25 > 0:30:28historically have the problem with each other,
0:30:28 > 0:30:32meet, and set down and write, How Can You Mend A Broken Heart?
0:30:32 > 0:30:38# I could never see tomorrow
0:30:38 > 0:30:45# But I was never told about the sorrows
0:30:47 > 0:30:54# And how can you mend a broken heart?
0:30:56 > 0:31:01# How can you stop the rain from falling down?
0:31:02 > 0:31:08# How can you stop the sun from shining?
0:31:09 > 0:31:14# What makes the world go round? #
0:31:14 > 0:31:16Emotional content is not about
0:31:16 > 0:31:19relationships external to the group.
0:31:19 > 0:31:24It is actually about these three men
0:31:24 > 0:31:25that were boys...
0:31:27 > 0:31:30..and their existence together.
0:31:31 > 0:31:40# And how can you mend this broken man?
0:31:40 > 0:31:43# How can a loser ever win?
0:31:46 > 0:31:52# Please help me mend my broken heart
0:31:53 > 0:31:57# And let me live again. #
0:31:57 > 0:32:00But the comeback was short-lived
0:32:00 > 0:32:03because in the early '70s, it was less about ballads.
0:32:03 > 0:32:05MUSIC: Metal Guru by T Rex
0:32:05 > 0:32:08# Yeah, yeah... #
0:32:10 > 0:32:13Music now looked and sounded different...
0:32:13 > 0:32:15# Metal guru, is it you?
0:32:17 > 0:32:20# Metal guru, is it you? #
0:32:20 > 0:32:23..and for the Bee Gees, the hits dried up.
0:32:23 > 0:32:27By 1972, we were literally out the door, you know,
0:32:27 > 0:32:29nobody was really interested, and that's...
0:32:30 > 0:32:33..that's something that hits you very hard.
0:32:33 > 0:32:35"Wow, no-one is interested.
0:32:35 > 0:32:38"Nobody wants to play our record. What do we do?"
0:32:48 > 0:32:50They'd gone from stardom to supper clubs,
0:32:50 > 0:32:54but for the Bee Gees this was a variety homecoming of sorts.
0:32:54 > 0:32:56HE LAUGHS
0:32:56 > 0:32:59Northern English clubs, chicken in a basket, everybody drunk,
0:32:59 > 0:33:01pretty much like early Australian audiences,
0:33:01 > 0:33:03we didn't feel like we were out of sorts.
0:33:03 > 0:33:06We felt quite happy - "OK, we'll do this, make a bit of money,
0:33:06 > 0:33:08"put some food on the table."
0:33:08 > 0:33:11# Run to me
0:33:11 > 0:33:14# Whenever you're lonely... #
0:33:14 > 0:33:16But Stigwood still believed in the brothers
0:33:16 > 0:33:19and he saw their future in soul.
0:33:19 > 0:33:22# Daydreaming and I'm thinking of you
0:33:22 > 0:33:24# Daydreaming and I'm thinking of you... #
0:33:24 > 0:33:27Who better to take them there than Aretha Franklin's producer,
0:33:27 > 0:33:29Arif Mardin?
0:33:29 > 0:33:32What Arif brought to them
0:33:32 > 0:33:35was another approach to this emotional content.
0:33:35 > 0:33:38This is soul from an American perspective.
0:33:38 > 0:33:41We left the maudlin stuff, we left the romantic, heavy stuff behind,
0:33:41 > 0:33:45and we sort of locked into what was happening with the Delfonics,
0:33:45 > 0:33:49the falsetto singers, and we started to fall in love with that.
0:33:49 > 0:33:51# All of the wind
0:33:51 > 0:33:55# La-la-la-loving
0:33:55 > 0:33:58# I love you... #
0:33:58 > 0:34:01This is an American thing, this is a black thing.
0:34:01 > 0:34:06We've got this male falsetto singing a ballad and he's not a eunuch.
0:34:06 > 0:34:10This is a regular guy, albeit in tight trousers,
0:34:10 > 0:34:13delivering a song which is emotional.
0:34:13 > 0:34:14# Give
0:34:16 > 0:34:18# All that you have to give... #
0:34:18 > 0:34:22It's an accepted format - not amongst white bands,
0:34:22 > 0:34:27this is an American gospel/soul thing
0:34:27 > 0:34:30but Barry's discovered he has this capacity.
0:34:30 > 0:34:31Barry discovered his falsetto
0:34:31 > 0:34:35and he started writing for that kind of, for that genre.
0:34:35 > 0:34:37- # Blaming it all - Blaming it all
0:34:37 > 0:34:41- # On the nights on Broadway - Blaming on the nights of Broadway
0:34:41 > 0:34:42# Singing them love songs... #
0:34:42 > 0:34:45I thought, "OK, I don't mind making a fool of myself"
0:34:45 > 0:34:50so I went out and did that, and everyone went, "Oh, my goodness."
0:34:50 > 0:34:52That opened up the Pandora's box
0:34:52 > 0:34:56because suddenly there was a sound on there that was magnificent.
0:34:56 > 0:34:58It wasn't an attempt to deliver American black music.
0:34:58 > 0:35:03It was an attempt, I think, to be comfortable within this new space.
0:35:03 > 0:35:07Moving to America was all part of that narrative -
0:35:07 > 0:35:11absorb your surroundings, absorb the culture,
0:35:11 > 0:35:13absorb the sounds.
0:35:23 > 0:35:27Arif helped them define the elements of the new Bee Gees sound.
0:35:27 > 0:35:29During this time in the studio,
0:35:29 > 0:35:31Barry not only discovered his falsetto,
0:35:31 > 0:35:34but in 1975, the Bee Gees locked into their groove.
0:35:35 > 0:35:38When you looked at the charts at that time, you think,
0:35:38 > 0:35:41"Well, what are people really going for?"
0:35:41 > 0:35:43And people wanted to dance.
0:35:47 > 0:35:49There's this story that's told on the radio,
0:35:49 > 0:35:52they're driving on the railroad track...
0:35:53 > 0:35:56There's some legal requirement that every time one of the Bee Gees was interviewed,
0:35:56 > 0:35:59- they'd mention driving... - HE MIMICS TRAIN CHUGGING
0:36:01 > 0:36:03It would go click-de-click-de-click...
0:36:03 > 0:36:05And then it would stop.
0:36:05 > 0:36:08And every night, we'd go over this, and it started sticking in my head.
0:36:08 > 0:36:10That became in intro to Jive Talkin'.
0:36:10 > 0:36:12# J-J-J-Jive talkin'
0:36:12 > 0:36:15# Tellin' me lies
0:36:15 > 0:36:17# Jive talkin'
0:36:17 > 0:36:19# You wear a disguise... #
0:36:19 > 0:36:22I love that little keyboard riff in it.
0:36:22 > 0:36:24# Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo, doo-doo-doo... #
0:36:24 > 0:36:26HE PLAYS PIANO RIFF FROM JIVE TALKIN'
0:36:31 > 0:36:33# Doo-be-doo-be-doo Doo-be-doo-be-doo... #
0:36:35 > 0:36:37Little handclap.
0:36:37 > 0:36:39Doesn't get better than that.
0:36:39 > 0:36:42# Oh, you're jive talkin'
0:36:42 > 0:36:44# You're telling me lies, yeah
0:36:44 > 0:36:46# Jive talkin'... #
0:36:46 > 0:36:48That was a real breakthrough, Jive Talkin'.
0:36:48 > 0:36:52We put it out on RSO without the name of the Bee Gees on it,
0:36:52 > 0:36:55because by then, their stock had fallen so low
0:36:55 > 0:36:59with radio stations in America, they weren't playing Bee Gees records
0:36:59 > 0:37:02because of the two previous, sort of, flop albums.
0:37:02 > 0:37:05And within hours of the record landing at all the radio stations,
0:37:05 > 0:37:08they were calling saying "Who is this? This is amazing!"
0:37:08 > 0:37:10# Ba-be-ba-be-ba-be-da Ba-be-ba-be-ba-be-da. #
0:37:14 > 0:37:16The Bee Gees were back!
0:37:16 > 0:37:18They united in image and song
0:37:18 > 0:37:22and self-produced their next album Children Of The World.
0:37:26 > 0:37:29Meanwhile, in New York, the underground sound of the dance floor
0:37:29 > 0:37:32that was to become key to the Bee Gees' rebirth
0:37:32 > 0:37:34was seeping into the mainstream.
0:37:34 > 0:37:35Hello?
0:37:40 > 0:37:46Disco used to be the black, Hispanic and gay subculture -
0:37:46 > 0:37:50dancing at night, to cope with the daytime
0:37:50 > 0:37:52in a bankrupt and decaying New York.
0:37:52 > 0:37:56One of the things that makes disco music, a lot of disco, incredible,
0:37:56 > 0:38:01is that there's an ineffable melancholy of the centre of it.
0:38:01 > 0:38:05Obviously, the Bee Gees were perfect at that.
0:38:05 > 0:38:07They were big on melancholy ballads.
0:38:08 > 0:38:11There's something...
0:38:11 > 0:38:13Just that, sort of, ineffable sense of melancholy.
0:38:13 > 0:38:14They get it perfectly.
0:38:16 > 0:38:22You Should Be Dancing is the first point at which they start to discover the full-on disco sound.
0:38:22 > 0:38:24They started to do a song-writing session,
0:38:24 > 0:38:26of which that would form
0:38:26 > 0:38:31the basis of what became the Saturday Night Fever project.
0:38:31 > 0:38:32Mine was the little repeat echo.
0:38:32 > 0:38:34# What you doing on your back? #
0:38:34 > 0:38:38# What you doing on your back? Ah...
0:38:38 > 0:38:41# You should be dancing, yeah... #
0:38:41 > 0:38:44One of my best friends, Nik Cohn, wrote this article for New York
0:38:44 > 0:38:48magazine about what he called the return of Saturday night,
0:38:48 > 0:38:49which was back to the '50s sort of thing.
0:38:49 > 0:38:52Doing your hair and getting all dressed up and going one night
0:38:52 > 0:38:54and blowing it all on the dance floor.
0:38:54 > 0:38:58Stigwood saw the article - he promptly optioned it for a movie.
0:38:58 > 0:39:01So then the whole idea was that we need a soundtrack,
0:39:01 > 0:39:04and of course, the Bee Gees, since they were cresting a wave...
0:39:04 > 0:39:05They weren't known as disco,
0:39:05 > 0:39:07they were just really having a lot of hits.
0:39:07 > 0:39:10Three titles came into my head at that period,
0:39:10 > 0:39:12and one was Staying Alive.
0:39:12 > 0:39:14The other was More Than A Woman.
0:39:14 > 0:39:16And Night Fever.
0:39:16 > 0:39:18And Robert Stigwood called up and said,
0:39:18 > 0:39:20"Have you got any ideas for the title of the film?"
0:39:20 > 0:39:23So I said, "Strangely enough, I've got a title called Night Fever."
0:39:23 > 0:39:25And Robert Stigwood said,
0:39:25 > 0:39:29"Well, yeah, that's OK, but it sounds a bit pornographic." So...
0:39:29 > 0:39:32While Stigwood pondered over the pornographic connotations,
0:39:32 > 0:39:35the Bee Gees took inspiration from an easy listening classic -
0:39:35 > 0:39:37Theme From A Summer Place.
0:39:43 > 0:39:45Every time you hear that,
0:39:45 > 0:39:49instantly, you're in a warm place, you're by the sea,
0:39:49 > 0:39:52you're having a cool drink. And I always thought
0:39:52 > 0:39:54that was a great song to make into a disco track.
0:39:54 > 0:39:56When Barry heard me doing that,
0:39:56 > 0:39:59he said, "Oh, let's turn it round a little bit."
0:39:59 > 0:40:00He got me to change it.
0:40:00 > 0:40:04We inverted the chords, we put it around and we came up with this...
0:40:09 > 0:40:12We recorded the song and it was Night Fever.
0:40:12 > 0:40:13# Listen to the ground
0:40:13 > 0:40:15# There is movement all around
0:40:15 > 0:40:17# There is something goin' down
0:40:17 > 0:40:18# And I can feel it.
0:40:20 > 0:40:22# On the waves of the air
0:40:22 > 0:40:24# There is dancin' out there
0:40:24 > 0:40:26# If it's somethin' we can share
0:40:26 > 0:40:27# We can steal it. #
0:40:27 > 0:40:31Reimaged, the brothers united as a trio with hair primped
0:40:31 > 0:40:34and shirts undone, while Barry stepped forward as the front man.
0:40:34 > 0:40:38The sound was quite black, the clothes were often white.
0:40:38 > 0:40:43When we look at how the Bee Gees were re-presented, this was
0:40:43 > 0:40:49a new unit and suddenly we have a band where they all look the same,
0:40:49 > 0:40:52we have a band that look like something
0:40:52 > 0:40:54that comes out of the Bronx,
0:40:54 > 0:40:58something that is a combination of influences that might hark
0:40:58 > 0:41:00back to the film Superfly.
0:41:00 > 0:41:05And, in Superfly, there's a key character, Ron O'Neal.
0:41:05 > 0:41:07This is someone from the hood.
0:41:07 > 0:41:10This is a criminal and there's a certain amount of street cred
0:41:10 > 0:41:15that goes with this image, which is black America in the '70s.
0:41:15 > 0:41:17# Here I am
0:41:17 > 0:41:21# Prayin' for this moment to last
0:41:21 > 0:41:24# Livin' on the music so fine
0:41:24 > 0:41:27# Borne on the wind
0:41:27 > 0:41:32# Makin' it mine
0:41:32 > 0:41:35# Night fever, night fever
0:41:35 > 0:41:37# We know how to do it. #
0:41:37 > 0:41:41If you put it in context of the time, in the '70s we'd got
0:41:41 > 0:41:46The Professionals and The Sweeney rushing around, bashing people up.
0:41:46 > 0:41:48You pillock!
0:41:50 > 0:41:52One more word from you and I'll nick you.
0:41:52 > 0:41:57And then you go to these beautiful men in gold satin, singing about
0:41:57 > 0:42:02impossible love and broken hearts and...
0:42:02 > 0:42:04and looking wistful.
0:42:04 > 0:42:06# How deep is your love?
0:42:06 > 0:42:10# How deep is your love? How deep is your love?
0:42:10 > 0:42:13# I really need to learn. #
0:42:13 > 0:42:17When John Travolta strutted through the Bronx in Saturday Night Fever
0:42:17 > 0:42:20and the Bee Gees music was married with celluloid,
0:42:20 > 0:42:22the woman's man was born.
0:42:22 > 0:42:24# You can tell by the way I use my walk
0:42:24 > 0:42:27# I'm a woman's man, no time to talk
0:42:27 > 0:42:28# Music loud and women warm
0:42:28 > 0:42:31# I've been kicked around since I was born... #
0:42:31 > 0:42:34The bit at the beginning where John Travolta is
0:42:34 > 0:42:36walking down the street with his tight trousers
0:42:36 > 0:42:39and his shirt unbuttoned with a sort of macho swagger,
0:42:39 > 0:42:41it just caught...
0:42:41 > 0:42:45that moment and crystallised it.
0:42:45 > 0:42:47# Whether you're a brother or whether you're a mother
0:42:47 > 0:42:49# You're stayin' alive Stayin' alive
0:42:49 > 0:42:51# Feel the city breakin' and everybody shakin'
0:42:51 > 0:42:54# And we're stayin' alive Stayin' alive
0:42:54 > 0:42:56# Whether you're a brother or whether you're a mother... #
0:42:56 > 0:43:00Their images merged and the Bee Gees and Travolta went global.
0:43:02 > 0:43:04It gave them an element of credibility
0:43:04 > 0:43:06because they were now part of the movie.
0:43:06 > 0:43:11This is an immaculately clean-cut set of individuals.
0:43:11 > 0:43:13So this is mass appeal now.
0:43:13 > 0:43:19To be a young woman in Leicester and see that on a cinema screen
0:43:19 > 0:43:24was to be, in a way, exposed to Studio 54
0:43:24 > 0:43:26and all that glorious decadence.
0:43:26 > 0:43:31We were looking for hedonism and some glamour and some excitement
0:43:31 > 0:43:34that wasn't making us think too hard.
0:43:34 > 0:43:41# Stayin' ali-i-i-ive. #
0:43:41 > 0:43:44The Bee Gees had been big in the '60s
0:43:44 > 0:43:46but, on the back of Saturday Night Fever,
0:43:46 > 0:43:49they went massive, defining pop culture in 1978.
0:43:51 > 0:43:54How Deep Is Your Love was number one before the film came out
0:43:54 > 0:43:58but to go from that to a million records a week was just unreal.
0:43:58 > 0:43:59We lost all sense of reality.
0:43:59 > 0:44:03People climbing over our walls, people driving past
0:44:03 > 0:44:07and pumping the Fever music outside the gates
0:44:07 > 0:44:10and, you know, that kind of craziness.
0:44:10 > 0:44:14Saturday Night Fever, the album, is, I think, the defining
0:44:14 > 0:44:17album of the '70s, like Sgt Pepper was with the '60s.
0:44:17 > 0:44:19They got two generations at that point.
0:44:19 > 0:44:23They got the housewives that were probably with them
0:44:23 > 0:44:26since the '60s, who now had kids,
0:44:26 > 0:44:28that thought, "That's my band."
0:44:30 > 0:44:32Shut that door...
0:44:32 > 0:44:34The whole world had Saturday Night Fever
0:44:34 > 0:44:37but soon this went Saturday night light entertainment.
0:44:37 > 0:44:40Grayson's groovers.
0:44:40 > 0:44:42SONG: Night Fever
0:44:44 > 0:44:46Five, six, seven, and...
0:44:46 > 0:44:50It seems that everybody wants to be a John Travolta.
0:44:50 > 0:44:52The problem is that film moves just too fast
0:44:52 > 0:44:55for the devotees to memorise all the steps
0:44:55 > 0:44:58so back-to-school they've come, for dancing lessons.
0:44:58 > 0:45:01- Get your John Travolta finger. - John Travolta finger.
0:45:01 > 0:45:03Touch your left elbow with it. Here we go.
0:45:03 > 0:45:05It's point and touch and point and touch.
0:45:05 > 0:45:09And that, I am told, is what they mean by a beautiful mover.
0:45:09 > 0:45:13In early 1978, the Bee Gees owned the charts and there was
0:45:13 > 0:45:17no space for anyone else, unless you worked with or were related to them.
0:45:17 > 0:45:19# Do it light
0:45:19 > 0:45:21# Taking me through the night
0:45:21 > 0:45:23# Shadow dancing. #
0:45:23 > 0:45:27Their number ones were gazumped by number ones of other songs
0:45:27 > 0:45:28that they'd written or produced.
0:45:28 > 0:45:31# If I can't have you
0:45:31 > 0:45:33# I don't want nobody, baby. #
0:45:33 > 0:45:36What's amazing with the Bee Gees, they'd write songs,
0:45:36 > 0:45:38we'd record it and they'd be great and then suddenly
0:45:38 > 0:45:42they'd say, "Oh, no, it's not good enough," and push it aside.
0:45:42 > 0:45:45And Andy would take it and get a hit with it.
0:45:45 > 0:45:49The Bee Gees continued riding the crest of the disco wave
0:45:49 > 0:45:51and hit number one again in 1979.
0:45:51 > 0:45:56# Loving you
0:45:56 > 0:45:58# Tragedy
0:45:58 > 0:46:00# When the feeling's gone and you can't go on
0:46:00 > 0:46:02# It's tragedy
0:46:02 > 0:46:04# When the morning cries and you don't know why
0:46:04 > 0:46:06# It's hard to bear
0:46:06 > 0:46:10# With no-one to love you you're goin' nowhere. #
0:46:12 > 0:46:15I remember seeing Telly Savalas on television,
0:46:15 > 0:46:18because Kojak was huge, and his comment was,
0:46:18 > 0:46:20"You know, like everything else, this bubble will burst."
0:46:20 > 0:46:22And I always kept that in my head.
0:46:22 > 0:46:25You can't have that kind of success without criticism
0:46:25 > 0:46:27and it's something we had to learn, and we did.
0:46:27 > 0:46:31The backlash against disco was already beginning because it got
0:46:31 > 0:46:34really bloated and really big really fast
0:46:34 > 0:46:36and I think the Bee Gees
0:46:36 > 0:46:38were kind of seen as the apex of that bloat.
0:46:38 > 0:46:40# Tragedy
0:46:40 > 0:46:43# When the feeling's gone and you can't go on
0:46:43 > 0:46:44# It's tragedy. #
0:46:44 > 0:46:47The success of Saturday Night Fever
0:46:47 > 0:46:51was the final nail in the coffin for disco.
0:46:51 > 0:46:55Suddenly, disco became the sound of white, straight people.
0:46:55 > 0:46:56# Tragedy! #
0:46:56 > 0:46:59But tragedy was nothing if not prophetic.
0:46:59 > 0:47:02The Bee Gees were so big it was painful.
0:47:02 > 0:47:05# Meaningless songs
0:47:05 > 0:47:10# In very high voices
0:47:10 > 0:47:14# With 1,000 violins. #
0:47:15 > 0:47:17Richard Curtis and I wrote this song,
0:47:17 > 0:47:21which was sort of a Mickey take of the Bee Gees.
0:47:21 > 0:47:24I don't think they liked it. I can't think why.
0:47:24 > 0:47:29# In a pair of tight, gold jeans. #
0:47:29 > 0:47:32What encapsulates medallion man was the cover
0:47:32 > 0:47:35of The Children Of The World album.
0:47:35 > 0:47:39You can almost smell the Aramis coming off the album cover.
0:47:39 > 0:47:42They were sort of looking in the middle distance.
0:47:42 > 0:47:44It looked like they were caught in a wind tunnel.
0:47:44 > 0:47:47It was quite a sort of macho image,
0:47:47 > 0:47:50but it was also quite sort of otherworldly.
0:47:50 > 0:47:54The teeth and hair and the medallion and the...
0:47:54 > 0:47:58You know, that was... That became uncool really quickly.
0:47:58 > 0:48:00Some people have implied that your high voices,
0:48:00 > 0:48:02coupled with the long hair,
0:48:02 > 0:48:05shirt open to the naval, revealing hairy chest and medallion look
0:48:05 > 0:48:09suggests that you are somewhat less than masculine and that you...
0:48:09 > 0:48:11# Look the other way. #
0:48:11 > 0:48:13LAUGHTER
0:48:13 > 0:48:14Exactly. What do you say to that?
0:48:14 > 0:48:17# Ha, ha, ha, ha. #
0:48:17 > 0:48:21When these comedians try to mock you,
0:48:21 > 0:48:24it's a compliment in disguise.
0:48:25 > 0:48:30Very much so. It means that you are a part of the public psyche.
0:48:30 > 0:48:33You have a valued and important place in it.
0:48:33 > 0:48:36At this point, where the Bee Gees are seen as possibly naff,
0:48:36 > 0:48:37they moved behind the scenes.
0:48:37 > 0:48:41You know, they realised that the brand, for the time being,
0:48:41 > 0:48:43seems to be so irreparably damaged.
0:48:43 > 0:48:47In 1980, the Bee Gees parted company with Stigwood.
0:48:47 > 0:48:50After filing a lawsuit to be released from RSO Records,
0:48:50 > 0:48:53they retreated to the studio and set a different course.
0:48:53 > 0:48:57They then embarked on what became the next phase of their career -
0:48:57 > 0:48:59as songwriters, guns for hire.
0:48:59 > 0:49:02We needed to show that we were actually songwriters and that
0:49:02 > 0:49:05Fever was a project, and we were finding all kinds of reasons
0:49:05 > 0:49:09to make ourselves feel better. And...
0:49:09 > 0:49:11in that way, we wrote songs for other people
0:49:11 > 0:49:13that we probably would never have written.
0:49:13 > 0:49:16# With the love you're livin' on
0:49:16 > 0:49:19# You gotta be mine
0:49:19 > 0:49:22# We take it away... #
0:49:22 > 0:49:25I was so nervous about working with her, I called Neil Diamond
0:49:25 > 0:49:28and so, "What's she like to work with?" You know?
0:49:28 > 0:49:32And he said, "Oh, relax, she's great. Just go for it.
0:49:32 > 0:49:35"Don't worry about it. She's very professional
0:49:35 > 0:49:38"and a very sweet person," so, you know, OK.
0:49:38 > 0:49:42# And we got nothing to be sorry for
0:49:42 > 0:49:45# Our love is one in a million
0:49:45 > 0:49:47# Eyes can see... #
0:49:47 > 0:49:52They were now at the upper echelons of the best artists.
0:49:52 > 0:49:54They could access anyone, in fact.
0:49:54 > 0:49:56# Islands in the stream
0:49:56 > 0:49:58# That is what we are
0:49:58 > 0:50:01# No-one in between
0:50:01 > 0:50:03# How can we be wrong?
0:50:03 > 0:50:05# Sail away with me
0:50:05 > 0:50:07# To another world. #
0:50:07 > 0:50:14These were hit-makers and this gave them a new life, a new tension.
0:50:14 > 0:50:19But the songs are written in the same brotherly way, but they target
0:50:19 > 0:50:23it for a specific individual and, again, this is a unique quality,
0:50:23 > 0:50:26one that had been honed over decades.
0:50:26 > 0:50:30# I'm in the middle of a chain reaction
0:50:30 > 0:50:32# A chain reaction! #
0:50:32 > 0:50:35It just goes to show you that the public image of what the Bee Gees
0:50:35 > 0:50:38were has no relation to the kind of quality of their music
0:50:38 > 0:50:42and, if you divorce the music from that, people will still buy it.
0:50:42 > 0:50:46After spending six years catapulting music's biggest stars
0:50:46 > 0:50:51back to the top, by 1987, the Bee Gees were ready to relaunch.
0:50:51 > 0:50:54The Bee Gees are still going strong and, yes, I do remember them, just.
0:50:54 > 0:50:58Their new album ESP is their 25th LP in a recording career that
0:50:58 > 0:51:01has spanned nearly as many years.
0:51:01 > 0:51:04You Win Again is the 50th single from the song-writing trio
0:51:04 > 0:51:07whose material has been covered by over 100 different artists.
0:51:10 > 0:51:11# I couldn't figure why
0:51:11 > 0:51:14# You couldn't give me what everybody needs
0:51:14 > 0:51:19# I shouldn't let you kick me when I'm down
0:51:19 > 0:51:21# My baby... #
0:51:21 > 0:51:24We'd really been doing this since we were tiny kids
0:51:24 > 0:51:27and we were good at it. We always had blinkers on.
0:51:27 > 0:51:29We never could see what else we would do.
0:51:29 > 0:51:34And this is all we wanted to do so I think grim determination
0:51:34 > 0:51:39and persistence and taking all the blows and all the kicks
0:51:39 > 0:51:43and not worrying about it and just getting on with it.
0:51:43 > 0:51:45"Well, it wasn't this time but next time." You know?
0:51:45 > 0:51:47It's always perceiving that
0:51:47 > 0:51:49something great was going to happen, no matter what.
0:51:49 > 0:51:52# There's no fight you can't fight
0:51:52 > 0:51:54# This battle of love with me
0:51:54 > 0:51:56# You win again
0:51:56 > 0:51:58# So little time
0:51:58 > 0:52:00# We do nothing but compete. #
0:52:00 > 0:52:03By the time we get to the '80s,
0:52:03 > 0:52:07it is a much more mature Bee Gees that we see on stage.
0:52:07 > 0:52:09They've done it all.
0:52:09 > 0:52:11There is an audience that has grown up with them
0:52:11 > 0:52:16now as well that has stayed with them. It is an older audience.
0:52:16 > 0:52:18They are not, at that point,
0:52:18 > 0:52:21attempting to appeal to a younger audience.
0:52:21 > 0:52:23They just have a fantastic back catalogue.
0:52:23 > 0:52:26# Still waters run deep
0:52:26 > 0:52:29# Just remember when we lie to each other
0:52:29 > 0:52:33# No-one wins and losers weep. #
0:52:33 > 0:52:34We were no longer kids,
0:52:34 > 0:52:36we were no longer something that could really appeal to kids.
0:52:36 > 0:52:40Money never really was an issue for us, it was really about being famous.
0:52:40 > 0:52:43The feeling of fame was our big money.
0:52:43 > 0:52:46But their main line back to the kids was their songs
0:52:46 > 0:52:48and the '90s boy bands.
0:52:48 > 0:52:52# And when you rise in the morning sun
0:52:52 > 0:52:57# I feel you touch my hand in the pouring rain... #
0:52:57 > 0:53:00The Bee Gees songs had the perfect ingredients for the boy band.
0:53:00 > 0:53:03The harmonies and the melancholy,
0:53:03 > 0:53:06their longing ballads were perfect for a bit of hormonal adulation.
0:53:06 > 0:53:11It's now about the business. We want the song that will launch you.
0:53:11 > 0:53:16We want the song that people will buy into, within 30 seconds.
0:53:16 > 0:53:19We want to cross generations. We want mass appeal.
0:53:19 > 0:53:21Bee Gees has to be in the mix.
0:53:21 > 0:53:23# How deep is your love?
0:53:23 > 0:53:27# How deep is your love? How deep is your love? #
0:53:27 > 0:53:31You pick the right Bee Gees song, you're going to have a hit.
0:53:31 > 0:53:34# It's only words
0:53:34 > 0:53:37# And words are all I have
0:53:37 > 0:53:39# To take your heart away. #
0:53:39 > 0:53:41And it wasn't just the ballads that put the Bee Gees
0:53:41 > 0:53:42back on Top Of The Pops.
0:53:42 > 0:53:44# Tragedy!
0:53:44 > 0:53:46# When the feeling's gone and you can't go on
0:53:46 > 0:53:47# It's tragedy. #
0:53:47 > 0:53:50For Pete Waterman to get Steps to record Tragedy,
0:53:50 > 0:53:54a whole new generation love that song.
0:53:54 > 0:53:56It was a big hit first time for the Bee Gees,
0:53:56 > 0:53:58but it became an even bigger hit second time
0:53:58 > 0:54:02and there's few examples where the cover version is a bigger hit
0:54:02 > 0:54:04than the original version.
0:54:04 > 0:54:06It did nothing for their credibility cos,
0:54:06 > 0:54:09to be honest, I mean, that, you know, forgive me, Steps,
0:54:09 > 0:54:13but it's a karaoke, wedding, sing-along version.
0:54:13 > 0:54:17The Britpop era is the sort of era where people should have gone,
0:54:17 > 0:54:20"Bloody hell, have you heard these early Bee Gees?"
0:54:20 > 0:54:22They should have been sort of hoisted up as an example
0:54:22 > 0:54:24of kind of classic '60s pop music
0:54:24 > 0:54:26in a way that all sorts of other things weren't during...
0:54:26 > 0:54:29Small Faces or whatever. And they just weren't.
0:54:29 > 0:54:32They absolutely weren't and it's because Steps have covered Tragedy
0:54:32 > 0:54:37and, you know, it's seen as to do with the naffest of naff pop music.
0:54:37 > 0:54:40How much it's just desperately unfair, really.
0:54:42 > 0:54:45After the years of ridicule, the Bee Gees were still going strong
0:54:45 > 0:54:50and they charted yet again in 2001, but it was to be their last hit.
0:54:51 > 0:54:54# I've seen the story
0:54:54 > 0:54:56# I've read it over once or twice
0:54:56 > 0:54:59# I said that you say
0:54:59 > 0:55:01# A little bit of bad advice
0:55:01 > 0:55:04# I've been in trouble
0:55:04 > 0:55:07# Happened to me all my life. #
0:55:07 > 0:55:11In 2003, Maurice died and the brotherhood was torn asunder.
0:55:11 > 0:55:13# There's a light
0:55:15 > 0:55:17# A certain kind of light
0:55:18 > 0:55:20# That never shone on me... #
0:55:22 > 0:55:25Maurice dying, that was a real shock to the whole family.
0:55:25 > 0:55:29And it took a long time for us to get past that.
0:55:32 > 0:55:36After Maurice's death, Barry and Robin really performed together.
0:55:36 > 0:55:41And, with Robin's untimely death in 2012, Barry remained alone,
0:55:41 > 0:55:43the last brother standing.
0:55:44 > 0:55:48I have very vivid dreams of my brothers, you know.
0:55:48 > 0:55:50It's like you actually see your brother
0:55:50 > 0:55:53and he's talking to you the way he always did.
0:55:53 > 0:55:56# You don't know what it's like... #
0:55:56 > 0:55:58And you wake up and you think, "God, that was so real."
0:55:58 > 0:56:03He wanted to go on stage and I was up for it and that was the dream.
0:56:03 > 0:56:05# To love somebody
0:56:05 > 0:56:07# To love somebody
0:56:08 > 0:56:14# The way I love you. #
0:56:16 > 0:56:19# And it's me you need to show
0:56:19 > 0:56:21# How deep is your love?
0:56:21 > 0:56:23# How deep is your love? How deep is your love? #
0:56:23 > 0:56:26The Bee Gees gave us four decades of hits.
0:56:26 > 0:56:29They were so much more than cool.
0:56:29 > 0:56:32# Cos we're living in a world of fools. #
0:56:32 > 0:56:34Songs and melodies that last,
0:56:34 > 0:56:37that outlast the genres they were written in,
0:56:37 > 0:56:41like disco or R&B or anything, I mean, they are timeless.
0:56:41 > 0:56:43They were masters of melancholy
0:56:43 > 0:56:46and gave us some of pop's most moving moments.
0:56:46 > 0:56:50# I just gotta get a message to you
0:56:51 > 0:56:54# Hold on
0:56:54 > 0:56:56# Hold on... #
0:56:56 > 0:56:59The delivery is so honest and heartbreaking,
0:56:59 > 0:57:04you have to be a brick wall not to let that affect you.
0:57:04 > 0:57:07# Hold on. #
0:57:07 > 0:57:10They were able to connect and speak to you directly in their lyrics
0:57:10 > 0:57:11on an emotional level
0:57:11 > 0:57:16and that is how I began a relationship with the Bee Gees.
0:57:16 > 0:57:20But, at the time, I would never say I was into the Bee Gees
0:57:20 > 0:57:22because they were not cool.
0:57:22 > 0:57:24# Night fever, night fever
0:57:24 > 0:57:27# We know how to do it
0:57:27 > 0:57:30# Feel like forever, baby. #
0:57:30 > 0:57:33We would put on tracks by the Bee Gees
0:57:33 > 0:57:34from Saturday Night Fever
0:57:34 > 0:57:36just to see what all the cool people would do.
0:57:36 > 0:57:38Would they be horrified or would they dance?
0:57:38 > 0:57:41And when I put it on, everyone was horrified
0:57:41 > 0:57:43then they all went crazy because they loved it.
0:57:43 > 0:57:45It was a guilty pleasure.
0:57:45 > 0:57:47# Jive talkin'
0:57:47 > 0:57:49# You're tellin' me lies, yeah. #
0:57:49 > 0:57:52I think the Bee Gees have always had secret cred.
0:57:52 > 0:57:55They've always been one of those bands it's not, like, cool
0:57:55 > 0:57:59to be like, "Yeah, Bee Gees, man, that's my jam!"
0:57:59 > 0:58:01But they have a massive respect.
0:58:01 > 0:58:03# Just isn't a crime
0:58:03 > 0:58:05# And if there's somebody
0:58:05 > 0:58:07# You'll love till you die. #
0:58:07 > 0:58:09It's genius. It's proper genius.
0:58:09 > 0:58:13It's being one of the greatest song-writing teams ever.
0:58:19 > 0:58:20SONG: Stayin' Alive
0:58:20 > 0:58:23And their legacy lives on.
0:58:23 > 0:58:27I really can't imagine doing anything else with my life, you know.
0:58:27 > 0:58:31Some of the greatest moments for me are on a stage
0:58:31 > 0:58:35and I still have that hunger so... But I'll always see my brothers.
0:58:35 > 0:58:38They'll always be with me. But I've still got to do it.
0:58:38 > 0:58:39I've still got to do it.
0:58:39 > 0:58:41# Not goin' nowhere
0:58:41 > 0:58:44# Somebody help me
0:58:44 > 0:58:46# Somebody help me, yeah
0:58:50 > 0:58:52# Not goin' nowhere
0:58:53 > 0:59:01# Stayin' ali-ive. #