0:00:02 > 0:00:06This programme contains some strong language.
0:00:06 > 0:00:09U2 are part of everybody's history of rock music - the biggest band in the world.
0:00:09 > 0:00:11MUSIC: Elevation by U2
0:00:11 > 0:00:13But they're also part of a less well known story -
0:00:13 > 0:00:15how rock and roll changed Ireland.
0:00:17 > 0:00:18I watched, as little girl,
0:00:18 > 0:00:22a lot of what the conditions for grown-up women in Ireland were
0:00:22 > 0:00:23and I wasn't having it.
0:00:23 > 0:00:26MUSIC: Gloria by Them
0:00:28 > 0:00:31The creation of Irish rock is a 40-year story.
0:00:33 > 0:00:35Ireland had a guitar hero...
0:00:35 > 0:00:38It was just very rock and roll, but it was very much him.
0:00:39 > 0:00:42..and one of the few black rock stars.
0:00:42 > 0:00:45And the most bizarre thing - he married Leslie Crowther's daughter, which was weird.
0:00:45 > 0:00:47I used to watch Crackerjack.
0:00:47 > 0:00:49MUSIC: Teenage Kicks by The Undertones
0:00:49 > 0:00:51John Peel's favourite band...
0:00:51 > 0:00:54Ah, they were great. How could you not like The Undertones?
0:00:54 > 0:00:56MUSIC: Rat Trap by The Boomtown Rats
0:00:56 > 0:00:58..a big mouth...
0:00:58 > 0:01:01And I just thought "Finally, the Paddies did it," you know?
0:01:01 > 0:01:03MUSIC: Mandinka by Sinead O'Connor
0:01:03 > 0:01:05..the rare sighting of a female rock star...
0:01:07 > 0:01:10..and finally, the biggest band in the world.
0:01:10 > 0:01:14We had to work hard, cos we were absolutely the worst band ever.
0:01:16 > 0:01:20This is the story of the pioneers of Irish rock -
0:01:20 > 0:01:22how they forged an international presence
0:01:22 > 0:01:25and helped change Ireland along the way.
0:01:25 > 0:01:28MUSIC: Elevation by U2
0:01:40 > 0:01:42The birthplaces of Irish rock
0:01:42 > 0:01:45are the two capital cities of this divided island -
0:01:45 > 0:01:47Dublin in the Republic
0:01:47 > 0:01:48and Belfast in the United Kingdom.
0:01:51 > 0:01:54Two cities that disagreed on virtually everything,
0:01:54 > 0:01:57but united in one goal -
0:01:57 > 0:01:59to repel the new sounds of '50s rock and roll
0:01:59 > 0:02:01wafting in over the airwaves.
0:02:05 > 0:02:07In the 1950s,
0:02:07 > 0:02:09the streets of Belfast seemed an unlikely breeding ground
0:02:09 > 0:02:12for the blues scene that would emerge there.
0:02:15 > 0:02:18The hard-line Protestant ethos of the ruling majority
0:02:18 > 0:02:20preferred church to rock and roll.
0:02:21 > 0:02:23MUSIC: Come Running by Van Morrison
0:02:23 > 0:02:25But in Protestant East Belfast,
0:02:25 > 0:02:27a young Van Morrison -
0:02:27 > 0:02:29the founder of the Belfast blues scene -
0:02:29 > 0:02:32had unique access to the new sounds.
0:02:34 > 0:02:37Belfast was a busy international port
0:02:37 > 0:02:39where Van's dad worked as a shipbuilder -
0:02:39 > 0:02:42and just as in Liverpool and Newcastle,
0:02:42 > 0:02:45the port gave the Morrison household access to the R&B records
0:02:45 > 0:02:47coming in from the States.
0:02:49 > 0:02:51MUSIC:
0:02:54 > 0:02:55Well, I think we was very lucky,
0:02:55 > 0:03:00because we had a great record collection of gospel, blues, jazz -
0:03:00 > 0:03:01we just played this stuff.
0:03:01 > 0:03:04The first time I heard Ray Charles, I completely just...
0:03:04 > 0:03:07You know, it totally just changed my life.
0:03:07 > 0:03:10I went out and bought the records immediately.
0:03:10 > 0:03:11They were hard to get, then.
0:03:11 > 0:03:14You had to go to a specific place at that point, there was...
0:03:14 > 0:03:17In Smithfield, there was a shop that got these 45s.
0:03:21 > 0:03:23There was no scene yet in Belfast,
0:03:23 > 0:03:25but at least the music was being heard.
0:03:27 > 0:03:30100 miles south, over the border in Dublin,
0:03:30 > 0:03:31it was being strangled at birth.
0:03:34 > 0:03:38There, the twin powers of church and state didn't want new music -
0:03:38 > 0:03:40they wanted very old music...
0:03:43 > 0:03:45..a kind of state-sponsored folk music,
0:03:45 > 0:03:50designed to form the bedrock for this new Gaelic and Catholic nation.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53MAN SPEAKS IRISH
0:03:54 > 0:03:59Not an ideal breeding ground for the aspiring rock musician.
0:03:59 > 0:04:01This church-state compact
0:04:01 > 0:04:04was an utter disaster
0:04:04 > 0:04:06and we were trapped by it.
0:04:06 > 0:04:12It was...an appalling fraud on the Irish people.
0:04:15 > 0:04:17Frankly, I wish England had never left Ireland.
0:04:17 > 0:04:19I think we would have been a lot better off, you know?
0:04:19 > 0:04:23We were going to be colonised by someone and as it happened,
0:04:23 > 0:04:26the coloniser which took over was the Church
0:04:26 > 0:04:27and that was disastrous.
0:04:27 > 0:04:30If the Brits hadn't left, that wouldn't have happened.
0:04:32 > 0:04:35My dad grew up in the '50s and '60s.
0:04:35 > 0:04:37He could remember sermons
0:04:37 > 0:04:40in opposition to jazz, you know?
0:04:40 > 0:04:43The Catholic Church had so little on its mind in those days,
0:04:43 > 0:04:46that they would preach against jazz and rock and roll.
0:04:50 > 0:04:52With rock and roll being repressed
0:04:52 > 0:04:55by watchful clerics south and north of the border,
0:04:55 > 0:04:57a uniquely Irish solution emerged -
0:04:57 > 0:04:59the showbands.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02MUSIC: Johnny B Goode
0:05:03 > 0:05:06The hits of the day, but played by Irish lads,
0:05:06 > 0:05:08who toured the ballrooms right across the island.
0:05:10 > 0:05:12It was like the circus coming to town.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15Everybody saw it - entrepreneurs saw it, priests saw it,
0:05:15 > 0:05:17making money for the parish.
0:05:17 > 0:05:18There was no drink
0:05:18 > 0:05:21and the priests used to oversee that they didn't dance too closely.
0:05:22 > 0:05:27And from that moment, it was like a disease spread right round Ireland.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34The showbands provided a valuable training ground
0:05:34 > 0:05:37for two of the first generation of Irish rock musicians.
0:05:39 > 0:05:42The Northern Ireland Protestant, Van Morrison...
0:05:44 > 0:05:47..and the Southern Irish Catholic, Rory Gallagher.
0:05:47 > 0:05:48It's a dance band, you know?
0:05:48 > 0:05:51You do everything, from classic Brothers material to rock and roll,
0:05:51 > 0:05:53to pops, to everything.
0:05:54 > 0:05:57But it was a good schooling, you know? And you got...
0:05:57 > 0:05:58You got your wings there.
0:06:00 > 0:06:03If you were playing in showbands, where you had to play
0:06:03 > 0:06:06other people's music that you didn't really want to play,
0:06:06 > 0:06:08the ultimate goal would be to have a band that would play
0:06:08 > 0:06:11the music that you wanted to play.
0:06:11 > 0:06:14MUSIC: Mystic Eyes by Them
0:06:30 > 0:06:31In 1964,
0:06:31 > 0:06:3419-year-old Van Morrison formed an R&B band
0:06:34 > 0:06:38and named it after the 1950s horror film "Them".
0:06:38 > 0:06:43They got a residency at a trad jazz club called the Maritime Hotel
0:06:43 > 0:06:46and so was born the Belfast blues scene.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57And we went down and we got to the stairs
0:06:57 > 0:07:00and you could hear it on the stairs -
0:07:00 > 0:07:05this pounding, electric rhythm.
0:07:05 > 0:07:07Really raucous, really loud.
0:07:08 > 0:07:11God almighty, you know? It was just... "What's this?"
0:07:23 > 0:07:24It was just exciting.
0:07:24 > 0:07:28For me, it was like being in Memphis or something, or Chicago
0:07:28 > 0:07:31and here it was, on my doorstep.
0:07:31 > 0:07:32And they were great teen anthems -
0:07:32 > 0:07:34Gloria, Here Comes the Night...
0:07:34 > 0:07:36Just really great songs.
0:07:38 > 0:07:39Within six months,
0:07:39 > 0:07:44Them were in the top ten with one of the abiding anthems of British R&B,
0:07:44 > 0:07:48the Van Morrison-written "Gloria".
0:07:48 > 0:07:51# Lord, you know she comes around
0:07:52 > 0:07:54# She's about five feet four
0:07:56 > 0:08:00# Right from her head down to the ground
0:08:00 > 0:08:01# Well, she comes around here
0:08:03 > 0:08:05# Just about midnight
0:08:07 > 0:08:09# She make me feel so good, Lord...#
0:08:09 > 0:08:12Gloria, I mean, it's an amazing song isn't it, you know?
0:08:12 > 0:08:16It's just like an Irish Chuck Berry song in a sense, you know?
0:08:16 > 0:08:18It's got the simplicity of Johnny B Goode,
0:08:18 > 0:08:20but this is like...
0:08:20 > 0:08:22This is Van The Man, doing his thing.
0:08:22 > 0:08:23# Gloria
0:08:23 > 0:08:25# I want to shout it out every day
0:08:25 > 0:08:27# Gloria.. #
0:08:27 > 0:08:29I mean, it was great, because up to then,
0:08:29 > 0:08:33it was like English, British bands that were happening all the time
0:08:33 > 0:08:36and this was the first real Irish band that was happening, big time.
0:08:45 > 0:08:47Them had another big hit...
0:08:49 > 0:08:52..but Van Morrison soon found the constraints of pop
0:08:52 > 0:08:54almost as restricting as the show bands.
0:08:58 > 0:09:00By the time we'd got to Here Comes The Night,
0:09:00 > 0:09:04to me, that was, you know, going in the direction of making pop records.
0:09:04 > 0:09:06That's not really what I wanted to do...
0:09:06 > 0:09:07That wasn't what it was about.
0:09:07 > 0:09:10So that's where it all started to go haywire.
0:09:15 > 0:09:16Van Morrison quit Them
0:09:16 > 0:09:19and took the time-honoured Irish path to America,
0:09:19 > 0:09:21to launch a solo career.
0:09:26 > 0:09:27But in his wake,
0:09:27 > 0:09:30the blues scene in Belfast had attained legendary status
0:09:30 > 0:09:34and had caught the eye of his fellow showband veteran, Rory Gallagher.
0:09:34 > 0:09:38# Everyone is saying what to do and what to think
0:09:38 > 0:09:41# And when to ask permission when you feel you want to blink
0:09:41 > 0:09:45# First look left and then look right and now look straight ahead
0:09:45 > 0:09:48# Make sure and take a warning of every word we've said... #
0:09:50 > 0:09:53250 miles south in Cork,
0:09:53 > 0:09:57Rory uprooted his newly-formed blues trio Taste and headed north.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01# Fireman, please won't you listen to me
0:10:01 > 0:10:03# Gotta pretty woman in Tennessee.
0:10:03 > 0:10:05# Keep rollin' on
0:10:05 > 0:10:07# Keep rollin' on.
0:10:07 > 0:10:10# Goodbye, goodbye It's all over now
0:10:10 > 0:10:12# I'm movin' on... #
0:10:13 > 0:10:17Rory Gallagher came to Belfast in 1965,
0:10:17 > 0:10:19equipped with the first Fender Stratocaster
0:10:19 > 0:10:22to ever arrive in Ireland.
0:10:22 > 0:10:25RORY GALLAGHER JAMS
0:10:29 > 0:10:32He has a really great, very visceral kind of approach.
0:10:32 > 0:10:36It's very physical, very sort of tactile
0:10:36 > 0:10:39and then the other thing was, it was just raw, you know?
0:10:39 > 0:10:43It was very improv-based, you know?
0:10:49 > 0:10:53There was a groove to what he did that was sort of sexy
0:10:53 > 0:10:55and there's not a lot of people that I listened to coming up
0:10:55 > 0:10:58that did that in the realm of sort of rock stuff.
0:10:58 > 0:11:01You'd find '50s guitar players that did it,
0:11:01 > 0:11:04but in rock and roll, it's usually much more straight ahead.
0:11:04 > 0:11:06This had a kind of roll to it.
0:11:11 > 0:11:15Over the next 30 years, Belfast became Rory's spiritual home
0:11:15 > 0:11:19and he became one of its best-loved sons.
0:11:19 > 0:11:23Rory sort of regarded Belfast as his second home, anyway.
0:11:23 > 0:11:25And the first time I saw Taste,
0:11:25 > 0:11:28it would have been '67 in the Maritime
0:11:28 > 0:11:30and it was like, devastating.
0:11:30 > 0:11:32I mean, when they finished...
0:11:32 > 0:11:35I mean, the crowd were just stunned by the whole thing. It was amazing.
0:11:35 > 0:11:38CROWD: We want Rory! We want Rory!
0:11:38 > 0:11:41I mean, Rory was becoming a bit of a star around the town, you know?
0:11:41 > 0:11:46You'd see him around town and people would just recognise him.
0:11:46 > 0:11:48But he saw Belfast as a Northern Catholic,
0:11:48 > 0:11:52as he'd been born in Ulster, before moving south to Cork.
0:11:52 > 0:11:55And in the 1960s, the Catholic minority
0:11:55 > 0:11:58were beginning to demand equal rights in Northern Ireland
0:11:58 > 0:12:00with the Protestant ruling majority.
0:12:02 > 0:12:04Probably from growing up in the North of Ireland,
0:12:04 > 0:12:07Rory could see that my father had been victimised,
0:12:07 > 0:12:09in terms of getting work in Derry,
0:12:09 > 0:12:11cos of the side of the water he lived on.
0:12:11 > 0:12:15Obviously, his love of the blues - it wasn't just playing the music.
0:12:15 > 0:12:19Rory was reading a lot on civil rights in general,
0:12:19 > 0:12:22which was very parallel with the movement in the North of Ireland.
0:12:26 > 0:12:30I wouldn't regard myself as a top 20 musician at all,
0:12:30 > 0:12:31even though I might be...
0:12:31 > 0:12:34I could write a top 20 song, but I wouldn't, but...
0:12:36 > 0:12:39I don't think that's important, you know?
0:12:39 > 0:12:42# Go on and ask him his name
0:12:42 > 0:12:44# Let him try and explain... #
0:12:44 > 0:12:47Taste may never have been in the pop charts,
0:12:47 > 0:12:50but this was the period of the power rock trio,
0:12:50 > 0:12:52led by Cream and Jimi Hendrix...
0:12:53 > 0:12:56..and driven by Gallagher's guitar virtuosity,
0:12:56 > 0:12:59Taste quickly moved up their ranks.
0:12:59 > 0:13:01# Tell the man, lift him up
0:13:01 > 0:13:04# Hand him a paper cup
0:13:04 > 0:13:06# Take away that gin... #
0:13:06 > 0:13:09Taste were a great band in Ireland's bid for...
0:13:11 > 0:13:12..hard rock.
0:13:12 > 0:13:15In an age of guitar heroes, put Rory up there.
0:13:17 > 0:13:21I saw him at the Isle of Wight, up against The Doors, The Who,
0:13:21 > 0:13:23Jimi Hendrix, Leonard Cohen.
0:13:25 > 0:13:27I would put them, at that festival,
0:13:27 > 0:13:29top three acts - easy.
0:13:32 > 0:13:35We lived on an island, the influences on us were limited
0:13:35 > 0:13:38and rock music provided us with a great window on the world.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41But we assumed that the gatekeepers of this window
0:13:41 > 0:13:44were all either English or Americans.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49It was only really when Rory Gallagher came along
0:13:49 > 0:13:51that we realised that this world of rock music
0:13:51 > 0:13:54could also be interpreted by Irish people
0:13:54 > 0:13:58and for a student in the 1970s, that was a very big eye-opener -
0:13:58 > 0:14:01that we could have a local Cork musician
0:14:01 > 0:14:02who would become a world star.
0:14:02 > 0:14:04MUSIC: Leavin' Blues by Taste
0:14:04 > 0:14:07The Isle of Wight was Taste's swan song...
0:14:09 > 0:14:12..but not before they played Belfast's Ulster Hall one last time.
0:14:14 > 0:14:16This was a very different Belfast.
0:14:18 > 0:14:20Sectarian hatred had erupted.
0:14:22 > 0:14:26The Civil Rights movement had led to violent confrontations
0:14:26 > 0:14:28and had eventually been supplanted
0:14:28 > 0:14:31by Catholic and Protestant paramilitaries.
0:14:32 > 0:14:35There was murder and mayhem on the streets.
0:14:37 > 0:14:38There had been quite a harmony.
0:14:38 > 0:14:40It was extraordinary to see
0:14:40 > 0:14:43how the whole thing so quickly got so radical.
0:14:46 > 0:14:48The unique thing was that you had the Ulster Hall,
0:14:48 > 0:14:52where Taste were playing, with the unity of young fans...
0:14:52 > 0:14:55and at the same time, it was being used as a so-called church
0:14:55 > 0:14:57by Ian Paisley at that time.
0:15:01 > 0:15:04It just seemed to get worse and worse.
0:15:10 > 0:15:12By the end of the '60s,
0:15:12 > 0:15:15the blues boom in the divided city of Belfast
0:15:15 > 0:15:19had produced two of rock music's most enduring stars -
0:15:19 > 0:15:21Protestant Van Morrison
0:15:21 > 0:15:22and Catholic Rory Gallagher.
0:15:26 > 0:15:29It was time for folky Dublin to catch up.
0:15:29 > 0:15:32Rory was huge in Belfast. It seemed to be bigger up there.
0:15:32 > 0:15:35You always got the impression that if you went up there,
0:15:35 > 0:15:37you'd a better chance of getting from B to A, than from here.
0:15:37 > 0:15:39But that changed.
0:15:39 > 0:15:41Everything just took off in Dublin.
0:15:41 > 0:15:43It was unbelievable.
0:15:43 > 0:15:47In the late '60s, Dublin was still a predominantly folky town.
0:15:49 > 0:15:51HE SINGS A FOLK SONG
0:15:55 > 0:15:58But it moved on from the enforced Gaelic culture
0:15:58 > 0:15:59of a decade earlier.
0:16:01 > 0:16:03Folk was now fashionable -
0:16:03 > 0:16:08and out of this scene came Dublin's first bona fide rock star.
0:16:08 > 0:16:12# I am your main man if you're looking for trouble
0:16:12 > 0:16:15# I'll take no lip, no-one's tougher than me
0:16:15 > 0:16:18# If I kicked your face you'd soon be seeing double
0:16:18 > 0:16:21# Hey, little girl, keep your hands off me
0:16:21 > 0:16:22# I'm a rocker... #
0:16:22 > 0:16:27Philip was one of those guys who believed that...
0:16:27 > 0:16:30every morning that you got up, you dressed in leather trousers
0:16:30 > 0:16:35and that there was a limousine to take you to Tesco's.
0:16:35 > 0:16:38# Down at the juke joint me and the boys were stompin'
0:16:38 > 0:16:41# Bippin' and boppin' and telling a dirty joke or two... #
0:16:41 > 0:16:42He knew his Irish history.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45He could even speak a good bit of Irish
0:16:45 > 0:16:47and he was very proud of being Irish,
0:16:47 > 0:16:49there's no doubt about that whatsoever.
0:16:49 > 0:16:51But he was still black
0:16:51 > 0:16:52and he liked being black.
0:17:00 > 0:17:04Philip Parris Lynott was born in Birmingham in 1949
0:17:04 > 0:17:08to an unmarried 18-year-old Irish girl and a Caribbean father...
0:17:10 > 0:17:12..but soon was sent to Dublin.
0:17:13 > 0:17:17You see, I'd kept a secret from my parents that I'd had a child -
0:17:17 > 0:17:20never mind a black child -
0:17:20 > 0:17:23and thank God, they had got a heart
0:17:23 > 0:17:25and they told me that they would take him.
0:17:26 > 0:17:30It all began in 85 Leighlin Road, Crumlin, Dublin.
0:17:32 > 0:17:35Well, I was brought up in a corporation scheme,
0:17:35 > 0:17:38where every house looked the same
0:17:38 > 0:17:42and the biggest way to get a reputation was to be tough -
0:17:42 > 0:17:45and I got myself a reputation!
0:17:47 > 0:17:49Philip used to carry a hurling stick in school
0:17:49 > 0:17:53and he would just lay into anybody that said anything to him
0:17:53 > 0:17:57about being black or "Hey, Sambo, way back home", which he did get.
0:17:59 > 0:18:01Phil was at school with me.
0:18:01 > 0:18:03The only black guy in the whole school, right?
0:18:03 > 0:18:05So everybody knew who he was, you know?
0:18:06 > 0:18:10After a couple of years I found out that he played in a band.
0:18:10 > 0:18:12It was called The Black Eagles and Phil was great.
0:18:12 > 0:18:14He wasn't playing bass, he was just singing,
0:18:14 > 0:18:16but he had a great voice and a great presence.
0:18:16 > 0:18:19His stage presence was just brilliant.
0:18:19 > 0:18:24By his late teens, Phil was a face on a hip Dublin beat scene.
0:18:25 > 0:18:29The beat scene in Dublin was traditional stuff,
0:18:29 > 0:18:33but with a hippy undertone to it, alternative folk,
0:18:33 > 0:18:38and Philip would go down and play and sing folk music
0:18:38 > 0:18:40with a lot of these people, as well.
0:18:40 > 0:18:43Eric Bell was a Belfast blues guitarist
0:18:43 > 0:18:45who'd played with Van Morrison
0:18:45 > 0:18:48and when Eric joined forces with Phil Lynott,
0:18:48 > 0:18:52Dublin folk met Belfast blues for the first time.
0:18:54 > 0:18:57That was how Thin Lizzy started.
0:18:58 > 0:19:01If anyone asked Philip, "What do you want to be?"
0:19:01 > 0:19:03"Rich and famous."
0:19:03 > 0:19:06It wasn't a big, long-winded explanation -
0:19:06 > 0:19:08"rich and famous."
0:19:08 > 0:19:10So he knew exactly what he wanted.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15MUSIC: Shades Of A Blue Orphanage by Thin Lizzy
0:19:15 > 0:19:16# And it's true
0:19:16 > 0:19:18# True blue
0:19:20 > 0:19:22# Irish blue... #
0:19:25 > 0:19:27He was a very interesting writer, you know?
0:19:27 > 0:19:29The first time I ever heard the word "Dublin"
0:19:29 > 0:19:33in a song that wasn't a folk song or a traditional song
0:19:33 > 0:19:35was in a piece he wrote.
0:19:35 > 0:19:38"I always said that if our affair ended, I would leave Dublin"
0:19:38 > 0:19:41and there was a kind of curious validation in that -
0:19:41 > 0:19:45just those two syllables being included on a record anywhere.
0:20:00 > 0:20:04Once in London, Lizzy signed to Decca records
0:20:04 > 0:20:07and Phil set about his task of becoming
0:20:07 > 0:20:08Ireland's most famous Irishman.
0:20:10 > 0:20:11Philip's trying to belong -
0:20:11 > 0:20:14"Look, I'm more Irish than the Irish, you know?
0:20:14 > 0:20:16"I'm black, but I'm more Irish than the Irish,
0:20:16 > 0:20:19"even though my dad was... whatever the fuck, you know?
0:20:19 > 0:20:21"Look, I'm writing your songs for you".
0:20:21 > 0:20:23Insisting on a Celtic mythology.
0:20:23 > 0:20:26Look at his Jim Fitzpatrick sleeves -
0:20:26 > 0:20:28and of course, Philip loved all this.
0:20:28 > 0:20:31MUSIC: Whiskey In The Jar by Thin Lizzy
0:20:31 > 0:20:33The band hit on the idea of doing
0:20:33 > 0:20:36a rock version of an old Irish folk song,
0:20:36 > 0:20:38but were struggling with the sound.
0:20:39 > 0:20:42Philip put on this cassette and it was The Chieftains
0:20:42 > 0:20:45and I suddenly said, "That's what you want -
0:20:45 > 0:20:48"traditional Irish pipe -
0:20:48 > 0:20:50"try and get it on the guitar."
0:20:56 > 0:20:58The chemistry worked.
0:20:58 > 0:21:01The mix of Dublin folk and Belfast blues
0:21:01 > 0:21:04created a timeless classic, which Lynott desperately wanted.
0:21:05 > 0:21:09# I first produced my pistol
0:21:09 > 0:21:12# Then produced my rapier
0:21:12 > 0:21:15# I said "Stand-o, deliver
0:21:15 > 0:21:19# "Or the devil, he may take you
0:21:19 > 0:21:22# Musha ring dum-a-doo-dum-a-da
0:21:24 > 0:21:28# Whack for my daddy-o
0:21:28 > 0:21:31# Whack for my daddy-o
0:21:31 > 0:21:34# There's whiskey in the jar-o... #
0:21:35 > 0:21:38While Phil Lynott was basking in the glory of his debut
0:21:38 > 0:21:40in the British charts...
0:21:40 > 0:21:42MUSIC: Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison
0:21:42 > 0:21:43..across in New York,
0:21:43 > 0:21:46Van Morrison was still on a search for his sound,
0:21:46 > 0:21:48despite a solo top ten hit.
0:21:48 > 0:21:50# Heart's a-thumping and you
0:21:52 > 0:21:53# My brown eyed girl
0:21:56 > 0:21:58# You my brown eyed girl. #
0:21:58 > 0:22:02My original intention, where I was coming from, musically,
0:22:02 > 0:22:05was rhythm and blues and soul.
0:22:05 > 0:22:08I just wanted to break everything down and...
0:22:09 > 0:22:11..create my own soul music.
0:22:15 > 0:22:18# If I ventured in the slipstream
0:22:20 > 0:22:23# Between the viaducts of your dream... #
0:22:25 > 0:22:28Once Van Morrison finally got control of his output,
0:22:28 > 0:22:30he released a series of albums
0:22:30 > 0:22:32that expanded the boundaries of rock music.
0:22:34 > 0:22:37# Could you find me? #
0:22:37 > 0:22:41They chronicled his own personal journey into the mystic,
0:22:41 > 0:22:43but were also shot through with Irish themes,
0:22:43 > 0:22:45like exile and redemption.
0:22:45 > 0:22:48# Lay me down
0:22:48 > 0:22:51# In silence easy
0:22:51 > 0:22:53# To be born again
0:22:55 > 0:22:57# To be born again... #
0:22:57 > 0:23:01A singular, really original,
0:23:01 > 0:23:05intuitive and instinctive genius is Van Morrison...
0:23:07 > 0:23:10..and he took this bedrock of excellence -
0:23:10 > 0:23:12the blues and jazz -
0:23:12 > 0:23:15and he married it to this other feeling,
0:23:15 > 0:23:18using this...Yeats-ian language.
0:23:18 > 0:23:20It was profoundly Irish Van Morrison,
0:23:20 > 0:23:23in that he tuned in, instinctively, to language.
0:23:24 > 0:23:27Primarily, yeah - I'm an Irish writer and I think that...
0:23:27 > 0:23:31I mean, I think... We're preoccupied with the past, because...
0:23:31 > 0:23:34you know, we're sort of trying to get to
0:23:34 > 0:23:37transcending the mundane existence.
0:23:37 > 0:23:39# Down on Cyprus Avenue
0:23:42 > 0:23:45# With the childlike visions leaping into view
0:23:49 > 0:23:52# Clicking clacking of the high-heeled shoe... #
0:23:55 > 0:23:57Like many an exiled Irish artist,
0:23:57 > 0:24:00Van was preoccupied with the city of his childhood.
0:24:02 > 0:24:05What Joyce did for Dublin, Van did for Belfast.
0:24:05 > 0:24:09# Marching with the soldier boy behind... #
0:24:09 > 0:24:13There's a preoccupation with the past - it's not sentimental.
0:24:14 > 0:24:16I mean, the actual street...
0:24:16 > 0:24:20Rather than being like a street with a row of houses,
0:24:20 > 0:24:22you're coming away thinking that this is an incredible place,
0:24:22 > 0:24:24it must be, it has to be.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27I mean, the lives that have been lived in this place
0:24:27 > 0:24:29and the things that have happened.
0:24:34 > 0:24:37East Belfast is so topographically specific
0:24:37 > 0:24:39in Van Morrison's work.
0:24:41 > 0:24:45It is probably one of the most extraordinary examples
0:24:45 > 0:24:48of imagination acted on by environment
0:24:48 > 0:24:49in any art form I can think of.
0:24:51 > 0:24:53And yet, it's also the launchpad
0:24:53 > 0:24:56for his explorations of wherever he goes
0:24:56 > 0:24:58in those extraordinary songs.
0:25:37 > 0:25:39Van, I see as a priest.
0:25:39 > 0:25:42You know, he's a searcher - all his records,
0:25:42 > 0:25:44he's been on a search for God.
0:25:44 > 0:25:48I call them sky-rippers - somebody who opens up the sky.
0:25:48 > 0:25:50You look through, you know that there are other worlds
0:25:50 > 0:25:52and there are other things going on.
0:25:54 > 0:25:56And they're able to access something - perhaps psychically -
0:25:56 > 0:25:58that other artists don't.
0:26:00 > 0:26:02He was the first Irish artist, I think,
0:26:02 > 0:26:03that shone a light on the fact that
0:26:03 > 0:26:06there is a path one can take towards healing.
0:26:07 > 0:26:09One could argue...
0:26:09 > 0:26:12that perhaps he hasn't got there.
0:26:12 > 0:26:14But what's important was that he showed that there is a path,
0:26:14 > 0:26:16that the rest of us could take.
0:26:19 > 0:26:22Van's healing journey constantly brought him back
0:26:22 > 0:26:25to the idyllic days of his Belfast childhood
0:26:25 > 0:26:27and in the process,
0:26:27 > 0:26:29he imprinted the street names of the city
0:26:29 > 0:26:32on the imaginations of his fans around the world.
0:26:34 > 0:26:36But he was singing of brighter times.
0:26:40 > 0:26:44In the '70s, other Belfast streets were becoming world famous.
0:26:46 > 0:26:49NEWS REPORT: 'Daly's bar, on the Falls Road, was crowded with people,
0:26:49 > 0:26:50' waiting to watch...
0:26:50 > 0:26:53'..a similar explosion in a pub in the Shankill Road,
0:26:53 > 0:26:54'a Protestant pub.'
0:26:55 > 0:26:58Then, on 31st July 1975,
0:26:58 > 0:27:02the terrorists threatened the future of Irish music itself.
0:27:06 > 0:27:10Up to that point, the troopers of the music industry -
0:27:10 > 0:27:12the show bands - continued to play the ballrooms
0:27:12 > 0:27:14on both sides of the border.
0:27:15 > 0:27:16On that night,
0:27:16 > 0:27:19The Miami Showband had played Banbridge in the North
0:27:19 > 0:27:21and were heading home after the gig,
0:27:21 > 0:27:25when they were stopped by a gang of paramilitaries, who began to fire.
0:27:28 > 0:27:31I was actually shot with a dum-dum bullet
0:27:31 > 0:27:33and a dum-dum is an explosive bullet
0:27:33 > 0:27:37and when it went in, into my gut,
0:27:37 > 0:27:40it exploded into 13 pieces
0:27:40 > 0:27:43and all the other guys were falling on top of me
0:27:43 > 0:27:46and I could feel them just thumping on top of me.
0:27:46 > 0:27:49I think Brian was dead very quickly.
0:27:49 > 0:27:52He had been shot in the back and in the back of the head
0:27:52 > 0:27:56and they turned Fran over...
0:27:56 > 0:27:57and he was lying on the ground,
0:27:57 > 0:27:59he was crying and asking them, "Don't kill me".
0:27:59 > 0:28:02They shot him 22 times,
0:28:02 > 0:28:05but 17 of those was in his face,
0:28:05 > 0:28:08because he was, as you said, a particularly good-looking lad
0:28:08 > 0:28:12and Tony had been hit in the back of the head
0:28:12 > 0:28:14and in the back and his hands...
0:28:15 > 0:28:17..and...
0:28:18 > 0:28:20..with multiple injuries as well.
0:28:23 > 0:28:25And I heard somebody on the road shouting,
0:28:25 > 0:28:30"Come on, I got those bastards with dum-dums. They're dead."
0:28:30 > 0:28:31The guy didn't fire into me.
0:28:32 > 0:28:34He just left.
0:28:39 > 0:28:42Three band members were murdered that night
0:28:42 > 0:28:43and two seriously injured...
0:28:45 > 0:28:47..innocent victims of a complicated game
0:28:47 > 0:28:49of false propaganda and collusion.
0:28:54 > 0:28:55Miami Showband...
0:28:55 > 0:28:58I mean, that was when a place that already seemed difficult
0:28:58 > 0:29:00seemed almost impossible
0:29:00 > 0:29:04and you just can't imagine it getting any worse than this.
0:29:06 > 0:29:10Belfast had, I think, pretty much ceased to be
0:29:10 > 0:29:13a place where musicians would come.
0:29:21 > 0:29:24'Well, it's time for me to stop "Messin' With The Kid",
0:29:24 > 0:29:27'and hand you over to Rory Gallagher!'
0:29:27 > 0:29:30MUSIC: Messin' With The Kid by Rory Gallagher
0:29:30 > 0:29:32Virtually no-one, apart from Rory Gallagher, that is.
0:29:41 > 0:29:43Now a hugely successful solo artist,
0:29:43 > 0:29:46Rory never abandoned his adopted city.
0:29:53 > 0:29:56He became a hero to the music-starved Belfast fan.
0:29:56 > 0:29:59MUSIC: Goin' To My Hometown by Rory Gallagher
0:29:59 > 0:30:00'In an Irish tour,
0:30:00 > 0:30:03'I always try and include Belfast and the North of Ireland.
0:30:03 > 0:30:05'After all, I lived there for a while
0:30:05 > 0:30:09'and I learnt a lot playing in the clubs there.
0:30:09 > 0:30:11'So I had a certain home feeling for the place.'
0:30:11 > 0:30:14# I'm gettin' lonesome I'm gettin' blue
0:30:14 > 0:30:16# I need someone to talk to
0:30:16 > 0:30:18'It's always a great audience in Belfast.
0:30:18 > 0:30:21'It's a pity almost no-one else goes to play there.'
0:30:21 > 0:30:23# Now let me tell you where I'm going to
0:30:31 > 0:30:34# Yes, I'm goin' to my hometown
0:30:35 > 0:30:37# Sorry, babe, but I can't take you
0:30:41 > 0:30:44# Yes, I'm goin' to my hometown
0:30:45 > 0:30:48# Sorry, baby, but I can't take you
0:30:54 > 0:30:56# Only got one ticket
0:30:56 > 0:30:58# You know I can't afford two
0:31:02 > 0:31:05The dates - they'd have to wait until a ceasefire,
0:31:05 > 0:31:07which normally happened over Christmas, anyway.
0:31:07 > 0:31:11But it was always a fragile peace
0:31:11 > 0:31:12and you'd be told,
0:31:12 > 0:31:15"Well, no - there's no way you can drive down to Dublin tonight".
0:31:15 > 0:31:19He took the risk of being stopped by rogue paramilitary outfits.
0:31:20 > 0:31:22But Rory wouldn't take "no" for an answer.
0:31:22 > 0:31:24He said "Well, I'm certainly not going to go back
0:31:24 > 0:31:27"and play Dublin and Cork and not play in the North of Ireland".
0:31:27 > 0:31:29- # Do you wanna go? - Yeah!
0:31:29 > 0:31:31- # Do you wanna go? - Yeah!
0:31:31 > 0:31:34- # Do you wanna go? - Yeah!
0:31:34 > 0:31:37- # Do you wanna go? - Yeah!
0:31:37 > 0:31:39- # Do you wanna go, baby? - Yeah!
0:31:39 > 0:31:42- # Do you wanna go? - Yeah!
0:31:42 > 0:31:44# Do you wanna go? #
0:31:46 > 0:31:49There was always this thing about "where did Rory Gallagher come from?"
0:31:49 > 0:31:52I remember Taste were one of Maritime bands,
0:31:52 > 0:31:55so I always thought he was from here, you know?
0:31:55 > 0:31:58There's an example of someone who defied the border
0:31:58 > 0:32:00and those difficulties.
0:32:02 > 0:32:03I just want to continue playing.
0:32:03 > 0:32:05I want to be able to walk into a shop
0:32:05 > 0:32:08and buy a bar of chocolate, if I want to,
0:32:08 > 0:32:11or go into a bar and have a pint, without being besieged all the time.
0:32:11 > 0:32:13I just want an ordinary kind of...
0:32:13 > 0:32:16walk down the streets without being recognised sort of life.
0:32:16 > 0:32:19Of course, if somebody comes over and says "How you doing, Rory?"
0:32:19 > 0:32:22that's fine, but I don't want to get into the Rolls-Royce
0:32:22 > 0:32:25and the mansion and the cloak-and-dagger style of living.
0:32:25 > 0:32:28Rory Gallagher was actually my first rock gig -
0:32:28 > 0:32:30the Irish tour of '74.
0:32:30 > 0:32:35He was a home boy and he was dressed as a generic teenager...
0:32:35 > 0:32:37he was playing guitar
0:32:37 > 0:32:40and he was Irish and he was local
0:32:40 > 0:32:42and you could bump into him walking down the street.
0:32:45 > 0:32:48Philo was the opposite.
0:32:48 > 0:32:50I mean, Phil Lynott was a star, you know?
0:32:50 > 0:32:52He was a truly Irish rock star.
0:32:55 > 0:32:59Phil Lynott had come a long way from his corporation house in Crumlin.
0:33:02 > 0:33:04With a top ten hit in America,
0:33:04 > 0:33:08he was providing much-needed glamour to his beloved Dublin...
0:33:10 > 0:33:14..with its crumbling economy and rocketing immigration.
0:33:16 > 0:33:18I was tired of hearing rock and roll stars saying
0:33:18 > 0:33:20how sorry they were for themselves, you know?
0:33:20 > 0:33:23Like how they disliked fame and how they were bothered.
0:33:23 > 0:33:25I jumped to it, you know?
0:33:25 > 0:33:28I was famous, I thought, "Great, the women are after me."
0:33:28 > 0:33:31Like, people want to buy me free drink, you know?
0:33:31 > 0:33:33And they want to treat me, they want to take me here,
0:33:33 > 0:33:34they want to take me there.
0:33:34 > 0:33:38Great - and you know, I really went for it, hook, line and sinker.
0:33:45 > 0:33:48# Guess who just got back today
0:33:48 > 0:33:51# Them wild-eyed boys that had been away
0:33:51 > 0:33:54# Haven't changed, had much to say
0:33:54 > 0:33:57# But man, I still think them cats are great
0:33:57 > 0:34:00# They were asking if you were around
0:34:00 > 0:34:03# How you was, where you could be found
0:34:03 > 0:34:05# Told 'em you were living downtown
0:34:05 > 0:34:08# Driving all the old men crazy
0:34:08 > 0:34:12- # The boys are back in town - The boys are back in town... #
0:34:12 > 0:34:13They're a people's band.
0:34:13 > 0:34:15Not a critic's band,
0:34:15 > 0:34:17not a band that's going to win the record of the year,
0:34:17 > 0:34:19but they're a people's band.
0:34:19 > 0:34:21That's music that people turn to when they're having a hard time,
0:34:21 > 0:34:24when they need a song to lift them up and make them want to fight.
0:34:24 > 0:34:27# Dancing in the moonlight
0:34:27 > 0:34:30# It's caught me in its spotlight
0:34:30 > 0:34:33- #- It's all right, all right - Dancing in the moonlight... #
0:34:33 > 0:34:35It's Phil's sensitivity in the songs, that I think is
0:34:35 > 0:34:38the romance of Thin Lizzy, that most people overlook,
0:34:38 > 0:34:39which is why they endure.
0:34:39 > 0:34:42Yeah, they're a great hard rock band, but I think it's really Phil's heart
0:34:42 > 0:34:46that carries the band through the ages.
0:34:46 > 0:34:47# And I'm walking home... #
0:34:49 > 0:34:51You'll never find a Dubliner
0:34:51 > 0:34:53who would say a bad word about Phil Lynott.
0:34:53 > 0:34:56The first Irish person who ever went onto a stage
0:34:56 > 0:34:59at Madison Square Garden and said,
0:34:59 > 0:35:00"Are you out there?"
0:35:00 > 0:35:04was Phil Lynott and it was so fantastic, that one of us...
0:35:04 > 0:35:08that any member of this rainy, miserable nation
0:35:08 > 0:35:10would ever be given permission to do that.
0:35:10 > 0:35:12# The girl's a fool She broke the rules
0:35:12 > 0:35:14# She hurt him hard... #
0:35:14 > 0:35:16But Phil Lynott's returning rock god act
0:35:16 > 0:35:20was only a temporary respite from the grind of Dublin life.
0:35:20 > 0:35:23CHORAL CHURCH MUSIC
0:35:23 > 0:35:26In truth, little had changed in 20 years.
0:35:26 > 0:35:29The power of the Catholic Church remained largely unchallenged.
0:35:31 > 0:35:34Political corruption was on the rise
0:35:34 > 0:35:37and the economy was in freefall.
0:35:38 > 0:35:41Ireland had rock stars, but no rock business.
0:35:43 > 0:35:46Come the moment, cometh the man.
0:35:46 > 0:35:47There was nothing at all.
0:35:47 > 0:35:50There were fans and there were showbands
0:35:50 > 0:35:53and therefore, there were no rock gigs and so,
0:35:53 > 0:35:55you had to go about setting up your own gigs
0:35:55 > 0:35:57and doing your own posters
0:35:57 > 0:36:00and creating a sensibility of pop and rock,
0:36:00 > 0:36:01doing weird things during gigs.
0:36:13 > 0:36:17- # Life pours down into the neon heart - It's late at night
0:36:17 > 0:36:20- # Cement City is all a-spark - Yeah, that's right
0:36:20 > 0:36:24- # The whores are loose and the dames are abroad- My pants are tight... #
0:36:26 > 0:36:30What was great about Bob was he came along and said,
0:36:30 > 0:36:31"We're going to take this over.
0:36:31 > 0:36:36"We are going to change what happens in the Irish music scene
0:36:36 > 0:36:38"and we're going to do it single-handedly".
0:36:38 > 0:36:40Bob was the first person who actually ever came along
0:36:40 > 0:36:43and sang in an Irish accent, but made it punky and cool, you know?
0:36:43 > 0:36:46And that was terribly important, actually,
0:36:46 > 0:36:47because whether he meant to or not,
0:36:47 > 0:36:49he gave us a sense that it was OK to be Irish,
0:36:49 > 0:36:51cos it really wasn't OK to be Irish, you know?
0:36:51 > 0:36:56- # I picked her up at the bar that night- What did you do?
0:36:56 > 0:37:00- # I took her home, she didn't put up a fight- What did you do? #
0:37:00 > 0:37:02And they were angry and it was OK to be angry -
0:37:02 > 0:37:05anger is still an emotion in Ireland that's looked on
0:37:05 > 0:37:06as being terribly not OK -
0:37:06 > 0:37:08and especially if you're a girl, you know?
0:37:08 > 0:37:11But Bob was angry and that was good, you know?
0:37:11 > 0:37:13I had nothing else going.
0:37:14 > 0:37:17No exams, no jobs,
0:37:17 > 0:37:19no economy, walk.
0:37:19 > 0:37:21They're everywhere. The Boomtown Rats here -
0:37:21 > 0:37:24a bit of social comment for you. Have a listen to the lyrics of this.
0:37:24 > 0:37:28So come the moment, what do you think the songs are going to be about?
0:37:44 > 0:37:47We were all in love with him. We all just fancied the arse off him.
0:37:47 > 0:37:49He was just the sexiest thing to ever walk the earth, you know?
0:37:49 > 0:37:51He was cheeky.
0:37:51 > 0:37:54He delivered angry things, but in a funny way.
0:37:54 > 0:37:571977 pop music - that's what we play.
0:37:59 > 0:38:00We're the only ones doing it.
0:38:00 > 0:38:03And now, this week's number one. As we expected, it's up there again -
0:38:03 > 0:38:06Olivia Newton-John, John Travolta and oh, those Summer Nights.
0:38:06 > 0:38:08# Had me a blast
0:38:08 > 0:38:10# Summer loving Happened so fast...#
0:38:10 > 0:38:15It's very hard to describe to people what it was like
0:38:15 > 0:38:16when Rat Trap went to number one.
0:38:18 > 0:38:21Not just in Ireland...
0:38:21 > 0:38:24but in England, it was a great moment, he tears...
0:38:24 > 0:38:25On Top Of The Pops,
0:38:25 > 0:38:28Bob tears a picture of John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John,
0:38:28 > 0:38:33who had sort of... You know, Grease had been at the top of the charts.
0:38:33 > 0:38:36It was like pop domination
0:38:36 > 0:38:39and here was rock and roll, just biting it on the arse.
0:38:42 > 0:38:43Top Of The Pops...
0:38:43 > 0:38:46I decided I'd get a special suit for the occasion
0:38:46 > 0:38:50and I bought this sort of space-age-y suit and I put an Irish flag here.
0:38:51 > 0:38:53Never done it before in my life, never done it since,
0:38:53 > 0:38:57but I just thought "Finally, the Paddies did it", you know?
0:38:57 > 0:39:00I also tore up John Travolta's picture,
0:39:00 > 0:39:02cos that was the end of that period, too.
0:39:02 > 0:39:07# There was a lot of rockin' going on that night
0:39:07 > 0:39:10# Cruisin' time for the young bright lights... #
0:39:10 > 0:39:11Bob Geldof and The Boomtown Rats
0:39:11 > 0:39:16were the blueprint for the modern Irish music business.
0:39:16 > 0:39:21I mean, Bob had the star quality that Philo had,
0:39:21 > 0:39:22that Phil Lynott had,
0:39:22 > 0:39:25and they went out there and they took the applause,
0:39:25 > 0:39:27whether they deserved it or not
0:39:27 > 0:39:30and that taught a young U2
0:39:30 > 0:39:32that you had to make your own luck.
0:39:56 > 0:39:59Then he said some very important things about Ireland.
0:39:59 > 0:40:03I mean, this is the guy who wrote Banana Republic 40 years ago.
0:40:03 > 0:40:07We're still dealing with issues of political corruption,
0:40:07 > 0:40:10abuse in the Catholic Church...
0:40:10 > 0:40:14You know, many, many years before it was safe
0:40:14 > 0:40:17to come out and talk about these issues,
0:40:17 > 0:40:19Geldof and his band did.
0:40:22 > 0:40:27Geldof and his band also bequeathed to Dublin a fledgling music scene.
0:40:30 > 0:40:34By contrast, Belfast was a musical ghost town.
0:40:34 > 0:40:35EXPLOSION
0:40:35 > 0:40:37'Shortly after two o'clock,
0:40:37 > 0:40:41'the bar security guard was held up by a gunman, who planted the bomb...'
0:40:41 > 0:40:43'It follows ten days after a similar explosion
0:40:43 > 0:40:45'in a pub in the Shankill Road.'
0:40:48 > 0:40:52Mid '70s Belfast was a horror story.
0:40:52 > 0:40:54There was murder on the streets.
0:40:54 > 0:40:59The IRA were blowing our wonderful city apart.
0:40:59 > 0:41:03The Loyalist murder gangs were killing poor Catholics
0:41:03 > 0:41:06and it was horrific and you just didn't go out at night,
0:41:06 > 0:41:08because our pubs had been bombed
0:41:08 > 0:41:11and our friends had been shot going home from the pub
0:41:11 > 0:41:14and it was a nightmare.
0:41:15 > 0:41:19The whole country seemed to be having a nervous breakdown.
0:41:22 > 0:41:25The city centre was a no-go area at night,
0:41:25 > 0:41:28so punk music only existed in isolated pockets,
0:41:28 > 0:41:31within the divided Catholic and Protestant communities.
0:41:37 > 0:41:39In the midst of these divisions,
0:41:39 > 0:41:42Terry Hooley thought music therapy could be the answer.
0:41:44 > 0:41:48On the most bombed street in Europe, in the closed heart of Belfast,
0:41:48 > 0:41:51he opened a music shop and called it "Good Vibrations".
0:41:54 > 0:41:57The shop became a great meeting place for people on a Saturday.
0:41:57 > 0:42:00The next thing, we would get people come in
0:42:00 > 0:42:02looking for protection money and stuff.
0:42:03 > 0:42:05So that was a bit difficult, but...
0:42:07 > 0:42:10Somebody had given me all these country and Irish records,
0:42:10 > 0:42:12which we knew that we definitely weren't going to sell.
0:42:12 > 0:42:16So I gave them a pile of records, so I did, and they went away!
0:42:16 > 0:42:19MUSIC: Big Time by Rudi
0:42:19 > 0:42:22# Big time, you ain't no friend of mine
0:42:22 > 0:42:26# Big time, you ain't no friend of mine... #
0:42:27 > 0:42:30There was something wonderfully anarchic about Terry.
0:42:30 > 0:42:33He's always set his face against
0:42:33 > 0:42:35the narrow politics of this particular place.
0:42:37 > 0:42:38He sets up a record label
0:42:38 > 0:42:42and the first thing he puts out is Big Time by Rudi.
0:42:42 > 0:42:45It's the revolutionary power of the seven-inch single.
0:42:45 > 0:42:48# You've always got some money... #
0:42:51 > 0:42:53With a local record label
0:42:53 > 0:42:56and a few venues bravely opening up in the city centre,
0:42:56 > 0:42:59an enthusiastic punk scene sprung up.
0:43:03 > 0:43:05There's an identity for the kids
0:43:05 > 0:43:09and a good excuse for Catholics and Protestants to get together.
0:43:09 > 0:43:12It's just completely good, as far as Northern Ireland's concerned.
0:43:12 > 0:43:16All the stuff that was going on around us -
0:43:16 > 0:43:19being searched going into town, being stopped by the British Army,
0:43:19 > 0:43:21bombs going off, guns...
0:43:21 > 0:43:25You made it to the Harp Bar, you pogo-ed and you had a good time
0:43:25 > 0:43:26and hopefully, you got home safe.
0:43:29 > 0:43:31We just decided to start a group,
0:43:31 > 0:43:32so we borrowed instruments,
0:43:32 > 0:43:36we learned a few songs and...hey presto.
0:43:37 > 0:43:41# Teenage dreams, so hard to beat
0:43:41 > 0:43:43# Every time she walks down the street... #
0:43:43 > 0:43:45The next band signed to Good Vibrations
0:43:45 > 0:43:47weren't from Belfast at all.
0:43:47 > 0:43:50The Undertones hailed from Derry.
0:43:50 > 0:43:53# I wanna hold her, wanna hold her tight
0:43:53 > 0:43:57# Get teenage kicks right through the night... #
0:43:57 > 0:44:00They arrived in their jeans and their parka jackets
0:44:00 > 0:44:03and guitars in cardboard boxes with bits of strings
0:44:03 > 0:44:05and they started talking and I just didn't have a clue
0:44:05 > 0:44:07what they were saying.
0:44:07 > 0:44:09HE SLURS IN LONDONDERRY ACCENT
0:44:09 > 0:44:11"I think five o'clock, I think..."
0:44:11 > 0:44:15And they quietly undid the nuts and they got their guitars out
0:44:15 > 0:44:18and Fergal just went "One, two, three, four..." Bang!
0:44:18 > 0:44:20- And we went, "Oh, my God".- Yes.
0:44:21 > 0:44:23# I wanna hold her, wanna hold her tight
0:44:23 > 0:44:27# Get teenage kicks right through the night... #
0:44:29 > 0:44:32Once their first single Teenage Kicks was released,
0:44:32 > 0:44:36the band hatched a plot to get it played on John Peel's radio show.
0:44:37 > 0:44:40What happened next was a never-to-be-repeated moment.
0:44:40 > 0:44:42He phoned up John Peel -
0:44:42 > 0:44:45surprisingly, phoned him and got straight through to John Peel.
0:44:45 > 0:44:47And I was speaking to a member of the band, The Undertones
0:44:47 > 0:44:50who come from Londonderry and the chap I was speaking...
0:44:50 > 0:44:53John Peel gave us a heads-up that it was going to be played on the show.
0:44:53 > 0:44:55We assembled in John's front room
0:44:55 > 0:44:57and then he played Teenage Kicks and then, I think he said,
0:44:57 > 0:45:00"That was so good, I'm going to play it again"
0:45:00 > 0:45:02and you hear it go back on again.
0:45:02 > 0:45:03And it was just great.
0:45:03 > 0:45:05So that was unprecedented,
0:45:05 > 0:45:09cos we'd been listening to John Peel play from '73, '74 anyway, so...
0:45:09 > 0:45:12He'd never, ever done that, at any time.
0:45:12 > 0:45:15And he says he thought the singing sounded like Loudon Wainwright...
0:45:15 > 0:45:16- I remember that.- Aye.
0:45:16 > 0:45:18..which we didn't understand.
0:45:18 > 0:45:20My ambitions were fulfilled very quickly -
0:45:20 > 0:45:22making a record, getting it played with John Peel
0:45:22 > 0:45:24and getting on Top Of The Pops.
0:45:24 > 0:45:26# I've got a cousin called Kevin
0:45:26 > 0:45:29# He's sure to go to heaven
0:45:29 > 0:45:31# Always spotless, clean and neat... #
0:45:31 > 0:45:33How could you not like The Undertones?
0:45:33 > 0:45:36A great pop band. I mean, there was no bullshit about The Undertones,
0:45:36 > 0:45:39it was just pure pop music, if you like.
0:45:39 > 0:45:41Really good. Sometimes sublime.
0:45:43 > 0:45:47There was that feeling that something has come back.
0:45:47 > 0:45:48That energy again.
0:45:51 > 0:45:53Punk didn't knock down the walls,
0:45:53 > 0:45:56but it certainly chipped away at a few.
0:45:56 > 0:45:59We're just tired of all the shit your ma and da tell you.
0:45:59 > 0:46:02It's a load of balls. We live in a stone-faced country,
0:46:02 > 0:46:042,000 people dead, for what?
0:46:04 > 0:46:05I mean, who wants a united Ireland?
0:46:05 > 0:46:07Who wants to be in the United Kingdom?
0:46:07 > 0:46:09It makes no odds to me, like -
0:46:09 > 0:46:11I'm still standing on the corner every night
0:46:11 > 0:46:13and going down the Harp Bar.
0:46:14 > 0:46:17With punk, the youth of Ireland had challenged
0:46:17 > 0:46:21much of the island's old certainties and tribal identities.
0:46:26 > 0:46:28This song is not a rebel song.
0:46:28 > 0:46:30This song is Sunday Bloody Sunday.
0:46:33 > 0:46:38Post-punk, rock set out to expose the deep wounds of the island's past
0:46:38 > 0:46:39and to imagine a healing.
0:47:04 > 0:47:07It was very much the sign of the times - the new Ireland.
0:47:07 > 0:47:11Our generation were just sick of the sectarianism.
0:47:11 > 0:47:13We were a generation that felt
0:47:13 > 0:47:16we were as capable as the rest of the world.
0:47:16 > 0:47:20We didn't have to live under this downtrodden history
0:47:20 > 0:47:22that we'd suffered from.
0:47:26 > 0:47:29It's no coincidence that U2 are synonymous with modern Ireland...
0:47:31 > 0:47:35..because they didn't really grow up in the old Ireland.
0:47:37 > 0:47:40From around Clontarf, a coastal suburb of Dublin,
0:47:40 > 0:47:42they were a mix of Protestant and Catholic,
0:47:42 > 0:47:45Irish and English-born.
0:47:45 > 0:47:49We were unusual, in that we came from a slightly broader base
0:47:49 > 0:47:51than a reactionary Dublin.
0:47:52 > 0:47:54If you were a Southern Irish Catholic,
0:47:54 > 0:47:59you were inevitably pitted against Protestants, in a way,
0:47:59 > 0:48:01and we weren't a part of that.
0:48:03 > 0:48:06The mixed thing meant that they weren't exposed
0:48:06 > 0:48:09or expected to live up to the Ireland
0:48:09 > 0:48:11that we were all told existed.
0:48:11 > 0:48:13My thing was, "Kick against it".
0:48:13 > 0:48:16They didn't have to kick against anything, cos they thought
0:48:16 > 0:48:18they were already living in this modern Ireland.
0:48:21 > 0:48:24Even their school spoke to a different Ireland.
0:48:24 > 0:48:27All four attended Mount Temple,
0:48:27 > 0:48:30a rare Dublin non-denominational comprehensive school.
0:48:31 > 0:48:34Mount Temple was set up as an experiment...
0:48:35 > 0:48:38..and tried to bring Protestant and Catholic together
0:48:38 > 0:48:40and very successfully did.
0:48:40 > 0:48:43And Larry put a note on the notice board
0:48:43 > 0:48:46looking for people interested in forming a band.
0:48:46 > 0:48:49# Oh, no! Man, I just got here
0:48:49 > 0:48:52# You got me thinking I'm about to leave
0:48:52 > 0:48:55# Some day, maybe tomorrow
0:48:55 > 0:48:58# I just don't know, I just don't... #
0:48:58 > 0:49:02They would listen very closely to what advice you had
0:49:02 > 0:49:04and they would come back a week later and say,
0:49:04 > 0:49:06"Well, we've thought about that, that and that
0:49:06 > 0:49:08"and we agree with this part, but not everything".
0:49:08 > 0:49:10So they were thinking the whole time about
0:49:10 > 0:49:13what they could take from what you said, for them.
0:49:15 > 0:49:19From the start, U2 looked to America, rather than Europe,
0:49:19 > 0:49:20and it was the key to their success.
0:49:22 > 0:49:26America would understand Irish passion, you know?
0:49:26 > 0:49:29Celtic passion, that would go down in America,
0:49:29 > 0:49:32whereas England was all too cool for school.
0:49:32 > 0:49:36# In the name of love
0:49:36 > 0:49:41# What more in the name of love? #
0:49:41 > 0:49:44But it wasn't just a commercial impulse.
0:49:46 > 0:49:48Their first American hit, Pride
0:49:48 > 0:49:51was a homage to Martin Luther King,
0:49:51 > 0:49:55whose message they felt could speak to a divided Ireland.
0:50:00 > 0:50:04The theme of Martin Luther King's passive rebellion
0:50:04 > 0:50:06was a theme that was complex
0:50:06 > 0:50:09and it related to the Irish situation, as well.
0:50:09 > 0:50:10So there was cross-fertilisation.
0:50:12 > 0:50:15We wanted to make music that represented
0:50:15 > 0:50:18the constituency of the people we had come from.
0:50:20 > 0:50:24For centuries, the Irish had looked to America for a new life.
0:50:24 > 0:50:28For their breakthrough album, U2 repeated the journey,
0:50:28 > 0:50:29not as penniless immigrants,
0:50:29 > 0:50:32but interested observers.
0:50:32 > 0:50:35MUSIC: I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For by U2
0:50:35 > 0:50:37The Joshua Tree is a concept album
0:50:37 > 0:50:39that paints an Irish portrait of the States
0:50:39 > 0:50:42and the Americans loved it.
0:50:46 > 0:50:48We connected very much with
0:50:48 > 0:50:52that idea of being an immigrant, of travelling west.
0:50:52 > 0:50:54It was a way into that version of America.
0:51:23 > 0:51:25The Joshua Tree moment happened
0:51:25 > 0:51:28because U2 wanted to discover that stuff.
0:51:31 > 0:51:33These were young Irish people, discovering America
0:51:33 > 0:51:36and thinking about America - thinking about it from the outside, though.
0:51:38 > 0:51:41And it is about the America that's inclusive...
0:51:42 > 0:51:44..and welcoming to people
0:51:44 > 0:51:48and the America that's imperial and punitive
0:51:48 > 0:51:50and that's what delivered them to the entire world.
0:51:51 > 0:51:54New York City, gateway to a new life
0:51:54 > 0:51:57for so many Irish emigres over the years.
0:51:57 > 0:52:00Until you've made it here, you haven't really made it.
0:52:00 > 0:52:0420,000 people have come here tonight to see U2.
0:52:04 > 0:52:06To be here, when the four lads from Dublin
0:52:06 > 0:52:09celebrate their conquest of the New World.
0:52:09 > 0:52:12MUSIC: Where The Streets Have No Name by U2
0:52:12 > 0:52:15# I wanna reach out and touch the flame
0:52:17 > 0:52:20# Where the streets have no name... #
0:52:20 > 0:52:23The Joshua Tree sold 25 million copies.
0:52:23 > 0:52:26U2 were now the biggest band in the world.
0:52:27 > 0:52:30We managed to have two songs off that record
0:52:30 > 0:52:34that really were genuine top ten hits
0:52:34 > 0:52:37and that changed everything, right up to now.
0:52:37 > 0:52:41You know, people see us differently, they listen to us differently.
0:52:43 > 0:52:48I do think that U2 probably led the idea of Ireland
0:52:48 > 0:52:53as being connected to the world...
0:52:54 > 0:52:57..which was not my generation.
0:52:57 > 0:53:00It fed into Ireland as part of the EU.
0:53:00 > 0:53:05It fed into acknowledgement of the Irish diaspora and returning,
0:53:05 > 0:53:08it fed into international sporting events...
0:53:08 > 0:53:10An outward-reaching Ireland,
0:53:10 > 0:53:13as opposed to tightening our inferiority complex.
0:53:16 > 0:53:19But there was one missing piece to the Irish rock jigsaw.
0:53:19 > 0:53:21Sinead O'Connor used rock
0:53:21 > 0:53:24to confront male domination in Ireland
0:53:24 > 0:53:26and in rock music itself.
0:53:26 > 0:53:29We didn't have a voice, we didn't have independence.
0:53:29 > 0:53:33For me, as a young girl, I noticed very, very early that
0:53:33 > 0:53:35it was important to become financially independent,
0:53:35 > 0:53:37as quickly as possible.
0:53:37 > 0:53:39My granny had drilled it into me at a very young age
0:53:39 > 0:53:42never to reveal my cash stash to any male relative,
0:53:42 > 0:53:45so that one's life wouldn't be controlled by the men -
0:53:45 > 0:53:48whether it was your father, or whoever it might be.
0:53:48 > 0:53:50And also to get out - to get out of Ireland.
0:53:51 > 0:53:53Couldn't wait to get out.
0:53:53 > 0:53:57Deliberately never looked behind me, out the window on the plane.
0:53:57 > 0:54:00# I'm dancing the seven veils
0:54:00 > 0:54:04# Want you to pick up my scarf
0:54:04 > 0:54:06# See how the black moon fades... #
0:54:06 > 0:54:09You know, in the '80s, you weren't really seeing women who were doing
0:54:09 > 0:54:11something very much on their own terms
0:54:11 > 0:54:12and then, Sinead comes along
0:54:12 > 0:54:15and I think she was 20 when Mandinka came out
0:54:15 > 0:54:17and there was this young,
0:54:17 > 0:54:20shaved-headed, doe-eyed girl
0:54:20 > 0:54:23with this unbelievable, huge,
0:54:23 > 0:54:26gospel-y, part-bardic voice.
0:54:26 > 0:54:29# I don't know no shame, I feel no pain
0:54:29 > 0:54:32# I can't
0:54:32 > 0:54:36# See the flame... #
0:54:36 > 0:54:39Somebody who was very much in charge of their own destiny,
0:54:39 > 0:54:42but just had this almost Amazonian...
0:54:42 > 0:54:44one-off-ness about her.
0:54:44 > 0:54:46There was nobody you could compare her to.
0:54:46 > 0:54:50# I do, Mandinka... #
0:54:50 > 0:54:52The passion is coming right up from the earth.
0:54:52 > 0:54:54She's like a tree or something.
0:54:54 > 0:54:57She's coming straight from the human soul.
0:54:59 > 0:55:03We can all kind of feel what she is expressing.
0:55:03 > 0:55:05She's like, expressing it for everybody else.
0:55:08 > 0:55:11In 1990, Sinead O'Connor's cover of the Prince song
0:55:11 > 0:55:14went to number one across the globe.
0:55:14 > 0:55:16She became the year's most unlikely pop star.
0:55:19 > 0:55:23It bought me, as a woman, enormous financial freedom.
0:55:23 > 0:55:25I didn't have to marry anyone,
0:55:25 > 0:55:27for any other reason other than I loved them.
0:55:27 > 0:55:30I didn't have to be with a fella to offer any reason I loved him.
0:55:30 > 0:55:32I could be with any kind of fella I liked.
0:55:32 > 0:55:35# Nothing can take away these blues
0:55:36 > 0:55:41# Cos nothing compares
0:55:41 > 0:55:47# Nothing compares 2 u... #
0:55:48 > 0:55:50While the money was very freeing,
0:55:50 > 0:55:53being a pop star all of a sudden
0:55:53 > 0:55:55and being expected to behave like one
0:55:55 > 0:55:58and all that kind of stuff was very, very confusing.
0:55:58 > 0:56:01Because it is required, if you're going to be a pop star,
0:56:01 > 0:56:03that you're not going to upset the boat about anything.
0:56:03 > 0:56:05If someone asks you what you think about Israel,
0:56:05 > 0:56:08you've got to say nothing - you're going to change the subject.
0:56:08 > 0:56:10If somebody asked you about abortion,
0:56:10 > 0:56:12you weren't going to answer the question, you were going to...
0:56:12 > 0:56:14play the game, as such.
0:56:14 > 0:56:17And that wasn't really in my nature.
0:56:17 > 0:56:20# We have confidence
0:56:20 > 0:56:25# In the victory of good
0:56:25 > 0:56:30# Over evil. #
0:56:34 > 0:56:35Fight the real enemy.
0:56:41 > 0:56:45It's a weird thing about pouty pop singers.
0:56:46 > 0:56:49The last thing they want to do when they get on telly
0:56:49 > 0:56:51is to talk about their new record or flog it, you know?
0:56:51 > 0:56:53They've got to go, "And another thing!
0:56:53 > 0:56:54"And this is wrong, and that..."
0:56:54 > 0:56:59All of them. You know, they never shut the fuck up, you know?
0:56:59 > 0:57:00It's true, isn't it?
0:57:00 > 0:57:02Like, they're always crapping on...
0:57:02 > 0:57:06You know, whatever, about me starting off, get Bono going -
0:57:06 > 0:57:08Jesus, he never shuts up.
0:57:08 > 0:57:11MUSIC: One by U2
0:57:14 > 0:57:18Rock music had become so symbolic of a changing Ireland
0:57:18 > 0:57:21that when a peace agreement was finally mooted in the North,
0:57:21 > 0:57:25the Yes campaign enlisted Bono to help them get their message across.
0:57:25 > 0:57:29I just think it's a great time to be here in Belfast
0:57:29 > 0:57:32and to be with these men...
0:57:32 > 0:57:36who've put aside...a lot.
0:57:36 > 0:57:38# You say
0:57:38 > 0:57:41# One love
0:57:41 > 0:57:43# One life
0:57:43 > 0:57:46# When it's one need
0:57:46 > 0:57:47# In the night
0:57:49 > 0:57:51# One love
0:57:51 > 0:57:54# We get to share it
0:57:54 > 0:57:56# Leaves you, darling
0:57:56 > 0:57:59# If you don't care for it... #
0:57:59 > 0:58:03I think that Ireland couldn't have been transformed
0:58:03 > 0:58:07without that sort of group of musicians.
0:58:07 > 0:58:09U2 and The Rats
0:58:09 > 0:58:11and Sinead O'Connor - my sister -
0:58:11 > 0:58:15and the earlier people, Rory Gallagher and everybody else.
0:58:15 > 0:58:17I think those people changed their country
0:58:17 > 0:58:20and their society for the better
0:58:20 > 0:58:23and they had a lot of fun while they were doing it, you know?
0:58:23 > 0:58:26They made fun legal in Ireland
0:58:26 > 0:58:29and for that alone, they should be celebrated.
0:58:29 > 0:58:32# Is it too late
0:58:33 > 0:58:35# Tonight
0:58:35 > 0:58:40# To drag the past out into the light
0:58:40 > 0:58:42# We're one
0:58:42 > 0:58:45# But we're not the same
0:58:45 > 0:58:48# We get to carry each other
0:58:48 > 0:58:50# Carry each other
0:58:50 > 0:58:53# One... #