0:00:02 > 0:00:08This programme contains some strong language
0:00:08 > 0:00:11The golden age of American rock, when singers were gods,
0:00:11 > 0:00:15guitarists were axemen and songs were anthems...
0:00:15 > 0:00:18# Like a bat out of hell I'll be gone when the morning comes
0:00:18 > 0:00:23# But when the day is done And the sun goes down... #
0:00:23 > 0:00:26..the soundtrack of a nation forged one stadium at a time.
0:00:26 > 0:00:30# Welcome to the Hotel California... #
0:00:30 > 0:00:33For three decades from the late 1960s, rock music was
0:00:33 > 0:00:37the sound of America taking over first the country's radio
0:00:37 > 0:00:40stations and then its TV screens.
0:00:40 > 0:00:44# School's out for summer... #
0:00:44 > 0:00:49This programme follows the '70s generation, the multi-millionaire
0:00:49 > 0:00:54rock stars who left the protest marches behind and decided to party.
0:00:54 > 0:00:56You want rock 'n' roll to be dangerous,
0:00:56 > 0:00:58we were dangerous. I said,
0:00:58 > 0:01:00"When you're in this band, three things are for sure,
0:01:00 > 0:01:02"you're going to see the world,
0:01:02 > 0:01:04"you're going to get paid, you're going to get stitches."
0:01:10 > 0:01:13I saw the '70s as starting down the road
0:01:13 > 0:01:15of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll,
0:01:15 > 0:01:19we stopped the war, now we're going to party.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23It was a decade when America's world image faltered,
0:01:23 > 0:01:27but American rock music was in its pomp.
0:01:29 > 0:01:32Maybe you could name the last really cool
0:01:32 > 0:01:35rock 'n' roll song from a French artist...
0:01:35 > 0:01:37HE BLEATS
0:01:40 > 0:01:44This is the story of classic American rock, told by those
0:01:44 > 0:01:47who were there and made the music that shaped a generation.
0:01:59 > 0:02:03In the late 1960s, American rock music had been the soundtrack
0:02:03 > 0:02:06to rebellion, the backdrop for student protests
0:02:06 > 0:02:09and anti-war demonstrations. It was the era of The Doors,
0:02:09 > 0:02:13Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix and the Woodstock Festival.
0:02:18 > 0:02:21But as the 1960s ended, so did the hippy dream,
0:02:21 > 0:02:23with the deaths of Hendrix,
0:02:23 > 0:02:27Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin and the horror of the Altamont Festival
0:02:27 > 0:02:31where Hell's Angels murdered a black Rolling Stones fan.
0:02:38 > 0:02:42As the new decade dawned, the USA was in turmoil with widespread
0:02:42 > 0:02:44demonstrations against the Vietnam War.
0:02:51 > 0:02:53When national guardsmen shot dead
0:02:53 > 0:02:57four student protesters at Kent State University in May 1970,
0:02:57 > 0:03:01there was outrage across much of the country.
0:03:01 > 0:03:04# Hey, all you people
0:03:04 > 0:03:06# For goodness' sake
0:03:06 > 0:03:08# Let's get together
0:03:08 > 0:03:11# What does it take? #
0:03:11 > 0:03:16But the tragedy of Kent State was the zenith of the anti-war movement.
0:03:16 > 0:03:18Although the Vietnam War still raged,
0:03:18 > 0:03:23the hated draft, which had fuelled the protests, was slowly withdrawn.
0:03:27 > 0:03:30When the draft went away, that took away a huge part of why
0:03:30 > 0:03:33people were in the streets, because they were afraid of getting
0:03:33 > 0:03:36drafted into a war they didn't believe in.
0:03:36 > 0:03:39Oh, I think people were exhausted, the revolution,
0:03:39 > 0:03:40trying to speak up, marching,
0:03:40 > 0:03:43making music that reflects this, you know,
0:03:43 > 0:03:48it's hard work and the death toll, as we know, was quite high.
0:03:54 > 0:03:59At the start of the 1970s, the American music industry was firmly
0:03:59 > 0:04:00based in California.
0:04:02 > 0:04:05The hedonistic atmosphere of the West Coast
0:04:05 > 0:04:10was a magnet for would-be rock stars like a young Tom Petty from Florida.
0:04:13 > 0:04:17Los Angeles in the '70s, you really had to be here to...
0:04:17 > 0:04:22HE LAUGHS It's a hard thing to...
0:04:22 > 0:04:24if you didn't see it, it's really hard to describe,
0:04:24 > 0:04:29but it was quite a place, the place was really alive.
0:04:29 > 0:04:32It was the Wild West, it was the equivalent of the Wild West,
0:04:32 > 0:04:36it lasted a lot shorter than people would admit.
0:04:36 > 0:04:39There was a lot of money floating around back then.
0:04:39 > 0:04:41It was the beginning of a lot of things.
0:04:41 > 0:04:44We were all influenced by some of the best music that you can imagine.
0:04:48 > 0:04:52This industry was springing up and getting bigger every day.
0:04:52 > 0:04:56You were seeing things that you never dreamt of,
0:04:56 > 0:04:57like rehearsal rooms.
0:04:57 > 0:05:03Like, I had never seen, like, a complex of rehearsal rooms for bands
0:05:03 > 0:05:06and, you know, Sunset Boulevard
0:05:06 > 0:05:10was just lined with record companies.
0:05:10 > 0:05:12To be in your twenties and to be here,
0:05:12 > 0:05:14that was really pretty exciting.
0:05:21 > 0:05:25Rock music of the new decade was in a state of flux.
0:05:25 > 0:05:30The big names of the late 1960s were exhausted, burnt out or dead,
0:05:30 > 0:05:35there was plenty of room for new artists to come to the fore.
0:05:41 > 0:05:45On the West Coast, the sound was gentle. It was the sweet
0:05:45 > 0:05:48harmonies of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and the reflective
0:05:48 > 0:05:53records of singer/songwriters like James Taylor and Joni Mitchell.
0:05:53 > 0:05:56Young Americans had tired of confrontation
0:05:56 > 0:05:58they now sought comfort instead.
0:06:00 > 0:06:04The music of the '70s was all about escape. It really is. Even if
0:06:04 > 0:06:08it wasn't an escape lyrically, it would be the music would take you
0:06:08 > 0:06:11somewhere or the show would take you somewhere or the music and the show.
0:06:15 > 0:06:18One of the first bands to capitalise on this new escapist mood was
0:06:18 > 0:06:20The Doobie Brothers.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24Named after the slang word for a joint,
0:06:24 > 0:06:27The Doobies had formed in the San Francisco scene
0:06:27 > 0:06:32of the late 1960s, but their outlook was a world away
0:06:32 > 0:06:36from the politically-conscious bands of just a couple of years earlier.
0:06:36 > 0:06:39I think the type of music that the band made,
0:06:39 > 0:06:42I don't think it had a lot to do with what was
0:06:42 > 0:06:44going on in the political arena
0:06:44 > 0:06:46and we were so busy on the road
0:06:46 > 0:06:49that you really didn't have time to get involved with it.
0:06:55 > 0:06:59The Doobies breakthrough song was Listen To The Music in 1972.
0:06:59 > 0:07:04# Don't you feel it growin' day by day...? #
0:07:04 > 0:07:08Their lyrics saw solutions not in protest, but in relaxing
0:07:08 > 0:07:11and listening to your favourite band.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14# Some are sad
0:07:14 > 0:07:16# Oh, we got to let the music play... #
0:07:16 > 0:07:20The idea was that if the world leaders got together on some
0:07:20 > 0:07:23grassy, warm, sunny place, and listened to music
0:07:23 > 0:07:27and let that be the language, as opposed to the rhetoric
0:07:27 > 0:07:32of politics, that somehow the music would eat through all the red tape
0:07:32 > 0:07:34and they'd realise, "Cheers!
0:07:34 > 0:07:36"We have a lot more in common than we think."
0:07:36 > 0:07:40Like I said, it was utopia, it didn't work, but it was a neat idea.
0:07:40 > 0:07:45# Oh, oh, listen to the music... #
0:07:45 > 0:07:50The engine that drove rock's new popularity was FM radio.
0:07:50 > 0:07:53What had been started by a few hippies in San Francisco in 1967,
0:07:53 > 0:07:57was now spreading like wildfire across the country.
0:07:57 > 0:08:00These free-form stations weren't tied to playlists
0:08:00 > 0:08:04and were perfect for the new era of album-orientated music.
0:08:10 > 0:08:15I got there just as FM radio was starting to really take off
0:08:15 > 0:08:16and reach a lot of people.
0:08:16 > 0:08:20Songs were anywhere from 10 minutes to 15, 20 minutes long,
0:08:20 > 0:08:24and there were so many segments of music that were available.
0:08:24 > 0:08:29FM radio would play even album sides, an entire side
0:08:29 > 0:08:35in its entirety, so you got this exposure from all over the world,
0:08:35 > 0:08:41so your musical tastes would start to grow, your musical influences.
0:08:41 > 0:08:46In those days, you would get maybe, honest to God, 30 new albums
0:08:46 > 0:08:51a week, so a big part of our calling,
0:08:51 > 0:08:53I don't want to say job, but we felt it was our calling,
0:08:53 > 0:08:58was to find new bands and share it with the audience. It wasn't
0:08:58 > 0:09:02to just play the hits, we never thought in those terms ever,
0:09:02 > 0:09:09we were there to find new music and share it and get it out there.
0:09:12 > 0:09:16FM radio gave space for new acts including Steely Dan
0:09:16 > 0:09:19and The Steve Miller Band. Miller had been touring
0:09:19 > 0:09:23since the late 1960s, but remained resolutely under the radar.
0:09:27 > 0:09:28Then his track The Joker
0:09:28 > 0:09:32started to get heavy airplay right across the country.
0:09:34 > 0:09:35They put The Joker out as a single
0:09:35 > 0:09:38and they would just sort of throw it out to see what
0:09:38 > 0:09:42would happen, they didn't have any plan or spend any money.
0:09:42 > 0:09:45"There's this great new group," or any of that stuff
0:09:45 > 0:09:50and it just sort of went out and just became a huge hit.
0:09:52 > 0:09:57# Ooo-eee baby, I'll sure show you a good time
0:09:57 > 0:09:58# Cos I'm a picker
0:09:58 > 0:10:00# I'm a grinner
0:10:00 > 0:10:02# I'm a lover And I'm a sinner... #
0:10:02 > 0:10:05I remember coming back to San Francisco to play the homecoming
0:10:05 > 0:10:08concerts, driving to the show,
0:10:08 > 0:10:12and The Joker was on four radio stations at the same time.
0:10:12 > 0:10:16I was like punching it from here to there and I was kind of mad,
0:10:16 > 0:10:19because it wasn't on the fifth channel, it was just,
0:10:19 > 0:10:24I mean, they played it twice an hour, 24 hours a day for a year.
0:10:29 > 0:10:31You can't have a national smash,
0:10:31 > 0:10:36because it's hot on Sunset Strip, it's got to work in the Midwest,
0:10:36 > 0:10:38it's got to work in the South, it's got to
0:10:38 > 0:10:41work in Arizona, it's got to work in Maine, it's got to be national.
0:10:43 > 0:10:46As rock music played on car radios and eight-track players,
0:10:46 > 0:10:50the look of America began to change as well.
0:10:50 > 0:10:54Although Republican Richard Nixon was president, young Americans
0:10:54 > 0:10:58all over the States began to adopt rock's new, relaxed styles.
0:11:01 > 0:11:06Suddenly, you had the multicoloured platform shoes or the funny hats,
0:11:06 > 0:11:11everything came along in the '70s, amazingly enough,
0:11:11 > 0:11:14although the people who were now glomming onto those fashions
0:11:14 > 0:11:18and the attendant music, weren't part of the '60s but they still felt
0:11:18 > 0:11:22the glow of it, there was still some kind of a real curiosity about it.
0:11:24 > 0:11:28Rock of the 1970s was especially diverse, drawing together
0:11:28 > 0:11:33influences from country, jazz, blues and soul, it encompassed
0:11:33 > 0:11:36everything from the southern rock of Lynyrd Skynyrd
0:11:36 > 0:11:39to The Grateful Dead's Americana
0:11:39 > 0:11:42and Lou Reed's streetwise New York sounds.
0:11:47 > 0:11:49The most distinct musical city
0:11:49 > 0:11:52outside of the West Coast was Detroit.
0:11:52 > 0:11:55In the 1960s, it had been home to Motown
0:11:55 > 0:11:58and revolutionary rockers, the MC5,
0:11:58 > 0:12:01now it became the base for Alice Cooper.
0:12:01 > 0:12:06A misfit in LA, Alice went back home to Detroit to find his
0:12:06 > 0:12:10audience and his signature sound. With the help of producer Bob Ezrin,
0:12:10 > 0:12:16he turned his ragged, theatrical heavy metal into hard rock anthems.
0:12:16 > 0:12:17# I'm 18
0:12:17 > 0:12:20# And I don't know what I want... #
0:12:20 > 0:12:22We had all these great psychedelic songs.
0:12:22 > 0:12:26They were not something you could put your teeth into and say,
0:12:26 > 0:12:30"Oh, that's Alice Cooper." When Bob Ezrin saw us, he says, "I'm going to
0:12:30 > 0:12:34"do it like this and make hit records out of those,"
0:12:34 > 0:12:37so 18 that used to be 20 minutes long
0:12:37 > 0:12:41was now three minutes and it was a teen anthem.
0:12:41 > 0:12:44# 18, 18
0:12:44 > 0:12:46# 18 and I like it. #
0:12:46 > 0:12:50"I'm 18 and I like it, I celebrate the fact that I'm confused
0:12:50 > 0:12:53"and I'm an idiot and like this,"
0:12:53 > 0:12:56and that related to every kid in the world.
0:12:56 > 0:13:00You know, they just went, "I get that," School's Out,
0:13:00 > 0:13:03how can you get more commercial than that?
0:13:03 > 0:13:06And what is the best thing that
0:13:06 > 0:13:11ever happened in school, is the last three minutes of the last day before
0:13:11 > 0:13:17summer vacation. If you could get that three minutes on tape, just the
0:13:17 > 0:13:21joy of when that bell rings and you know you don't have to go to school
0:13:21 > 0:13:25for three months and it's summer - he said, "That's going to be a hit."
0:13:26 > 0:13:31# School's out forever
0:13:33 > 0:13:37# School's been blown to pieces... #
0:13:37 > 0:13:40With his make-up and his outrageous stage act, Alice Cooper was
0:13:40 > 0:13:43the biggest American rock star of 1972.
0:13:45 > 0:13:47But it was the British bands
0:13:47 > 0:13:49that were setting the pace. The early 1970s saw
0:13:49 > 0:13:52a second British rock invasion of the USA.
0:13:55 > 0:13:57Elton John had huge success.
0:13:57 > 0:14:01His shows were events and raised the bar for rock performance.
0:14:05 > 0:14:08Since The Stones and The Beatles,
0:14:08 > 0:14:11British bands had gone down a storm with young Americans.
0:14:14 > 0:14:17But it was Led Zeppelin who changed the game.
0:14:18 > 0:14:23# Mellow is the man who knows what he's been missing... #
0:14:23 > 0:14:28In the mid '70s, Zeppelin was like an event, it was like some huge
0:14:28 > 0:14:33thing. It's hard to describe what it was like when they came to town.
0:14:36 > 0:14:41Bands were playing for half an hour. The Beatles played for 23 minutes
0:14:41 > 0:14:44at The Hollywood Bowl and the first time I saw the Stones, it was like
0:14:44 > 0:14:4930, 35 minutes. Zeppelin started playing for two hours.
0:14:49 > 0:14:51It was unheard of...
0:14:51 > 0:14:54it was completely unheard of. That alone changed everything.
0:14:54 > 0:14:59The first notes of Good Times, Bad Times.
0:14:59 > 0:15:00It stopped my life,
0:15:00 > 0:15:01and went,
0:15:01 > 0:15:06"This is a new thing that just happened, wow, what is going on?"
0:15:06 > 0:15:09There are certain moments in your life that music will just
0:15:09 > 0:15:11take you and just rip you out of your own skin.
0:15:13 > 0:15:16Inspired by Led Zeppelin, blues rock was the dominant
0:15:16 > 0:15:21sound of America in the early 1970s, but after the death of Jimi Hendrix,
0:15:21 > 0:15:26rock music was played by white musicians for white audiences.
0:15:26 > 0:15:29Look, I was in high school in the mid '70s
0:15:29 > 0:15:32so we clearly would say rock music was some white boys' shit
0:15:32 > 0:15:37for real, yeah, and I was smart enough to know
0:15:37 > 0:15:38even more than them,
0:15:38 > 0:15:42that rock music had came out, rock 'n' roll was came out of rhythm
0:15:42 > 0:15:45and blues, but like I said,
0:15:45 > 0:15:50America's bad on history and geography, so to inform
0:15:50 > 0:15:54and educate your average America... American, could be jarring.
0:15:54 > 0:15:57It comes from black people,
0:15:57 > 0:15:59it's a black music.
0:15:59 > 0:16:04We live in a multi-racial world.
0:16:04 > 0:16:08Until the music is accepted by more
0:16:08 > 0:16:13than just one race, it can no longer carry that banner.
0:16:16 > 0:16:19But there was always some kind of black component in rock
0:16:19 > 0:16:22somewhere down the line. There was always a black player, whether it
0:16:22 > 0:16:26be The Allman Brothers or The Doobie Brothers, always a black player that
0:16:26 > 0:16:31is in that mix, because these guys were copying rhythm and blues and
0:16:31 > 0:16:34then going off on rifts that were fragmented off those original beats
0:16:34 > 0:16:36and grooves, anyway.
0:16:38 > 0:16:41You do have black involvement, how much black
0:16:41 > 0:16:44acknowledgement are you going to give? That's a whole other story.
0:16:48 > 0:16:53The USA of the early 1970s was in deep recession.
0:16:53 > 0:16:56The boom times of the previous decade were long gone.
0:17:02 > 0:17:04It wasn't rock's party animals,
0:17:04 > 0:17:09but black artists like Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye who
0:17:09 > 0:17:12commented on the state of the nation.
0:17:13 > 0:17:18And then in 1973, American rock's symbol of freedom, the car,
0:17:18 > 0:17:22almost ran out of gas when the Middle East war
0:17:22 > 0:17:26led to a ban on oil exports to the pro-Israeli USA.
0:17:26 > 0:17:33For the first time in their history, Americans had to queue for petrol.
0:17:33 > 0:17:36But politics weren't completely absent from rock
0:17:36 > 0:17:38and Nixon's re-election campaign
0:17:38 > 0:17:43was the perfect target for rock's leading court jester Alice Cooper.
0:17:44 > 0:17:47First of all, who was president? Nixon was the greatest
0:17:47 > 0:17:49object of satire of anybody.
0:17:53 > 0:17:56He was really out there, he was a great character,
0:17:56 > 0:18:01you know, this, "I am not a crook."
0:18:01 > 0:18:04# Elected! #
0:18:04 > 0:18:06It was the election. Who would
0:18:06 > 0:18:11be the least likely person to run for election would be Alice Cooper,
0:18:11 > 0:18:17you know. Let's write this song. And it was a big, powerful, dun-unnn!
0:18:17 > 0:18:19You couldn't deny it.
0:18:21 > 0:18:25When we did Elected on stage, it was a convention,
0:18:25 > 0:18:28it was balloons, it was confetti, but the absurdity was
0:18:28 > 0:18:31it was Alice Cooper with all the make-up
0:18:31 > 0:18:34and the blood and everything like this
0:18:34 > 0:18:35and I was the candidate,
0:18:35 > 0:18:38just a great, absurd glimpse of American politics.
0:18:44 > 0:18:47If Alice Cooper's theatrical antics represented one strand
0:18:47 > 0:18:51in American rock, another side stressed authenticity.
0:18:51 > 0:18:55Acts like Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band toured bar rooms
0:18:55 > 0:18:58and colleges, reaching out to ordinary Americans in the
0:18:58 > 0:18:59country's heartland.
0:19:03 > 0:19:08And in 1973, a new star arrived to embody blue collar America
0:19:08 > 0:19:12and was soon tipped as the future of rock 'n' roll.
0:19:12 > 0:19:16Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's first two albums
0:19:16 > 0:19:18were critical but not commercial successes -
0:19:18 > 0:19:21Born To Run changed all that.
0:19:22 > 0:19:24# Beyond the palace
0:19:24 > 0:19:27# Hemi-powered drones scream down the boulevard
0:19:27 > 0:19:31# The girls comb their hair in rear-view mirrors
0:19:31 > 0:19:33# And the boys try to look so hard... #
0:19:33 > 0:19:35Well, it's very interesting
0:19:35 > 0:19:37because in the beginning they were almost presenting him as another
0:19:37 > 0:19:41Dylan, which even though he has brilliant lyrics, he clearly wasn't
0:19:41 > 0:19:44doing the same kind of thing as Dylan was, you know, he hadn't taken
0:19:44 > 0:19:48the same path at all. In a way, he was more about the glory of America
0:19:48 > 0:19:51and the glory of being able to escape, particularly from the point
0:19:51 > 0:19:54of view of being the kind of working class guy who needs to escape,
0:19:54 > 0:19:57which means open roads and cars,
0:19:57 > 0:19:59you know, and that great American mythology,
0:19:59 > 0:20:02so that was his thing, but always there was this sense
0:20:02 > 0:20:08of glory in his songs, you know, the great big crescendos and everything.
0:20:08 > 0:20:10One, two, three!
0:20:10 > 0:20:13# The highways jammed with broken heroes
0:20:13 > 0:20:15# On a last chance power drive... #
0:20:15 > 0:20:19So, he was very much the kind of... a bit of a working class hero but
0:20:19 > 0:20:22without any of that kind of standing on a platform and moaning about it,
0:20:22 > 0:20:26it was a kind of, "Give me a chance and I'm going to get on and move."
0:20:26 > 0:20:29Springsteen's sound was rooted in the pop music
0:20:29 > 0:20:34he grew up with in the 1960s like Phil Spector and The Who.
0:20:34 > 0:20:36Like at the time of Born To Run
0:20:36 > 0:20:40I was listening to a lot of rock 'n' roll guitar sound,
0:20:40 > 0:20:42that was, you know, Duane Eddy,
0:20:42 > 0:20:45that was like Peter Townshend, the chords, you know,
0:20:45 > 0:20:48but I went back to that stuff, because it was just
0:20:48 > 0:20:54the stuff that was ringing most true to me at the time, you know,
0:20:54 > 0:20:58because it was a strange period in the music from late '60s
0:20:58 > 0:21:01into early '70s, I wasn't connecting with
0:21:01 > 0:21:04too much of what was going on, you know.
0:21:04 > 0:21:09# ..tramps like us, baby we were born to run
0:21:09 > 0:21:11# Whoa-oh
0:21:11 > 0:21:14# Whoa, oh, oh... #
0:21:17 > 0:21:20The East Coast was now in the ascendance with two bands
0:21:20 > 0:21:24that were soon to be among the biggest in American rock.
0:21:24 > 0:21:28# Some sweat hog mama with a face like a gent... #
0:21:28 > 0:21:31Aerosmith had been formed in New Hampshire in 1970
0:21:31 > 0:21:34when singer Steven Tyler and guitarist Joe Perry
0:21:34 > 0:21:36met in an ice cream parlour.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41Their third album Toys In The Attic
0:21:41 > 0:21:45was the breakthrough. Its swaggering twin guitar sound on songs
0:21:45 > 0:21:49like Sweet Emotion and Walk This Way, defining a new,
0:21:49 > 0:21:50hard rock style.
0:21:52 > 0:21:55I was influenced by The Stones and by Zeppelin a lot, you know,
0:21:55 > 0:22:00I loved their records, Aerosmith was like the combination of those, just
0:22:00 > 0:22:04this very, very cool sort of pseudo sloppy,
0:22:04 > 0:22:09very dynamic, punchy guitar,
0:22:09 > 0:22:14you know, approach, very riffy, very loose and I just identified with it.
0:22:19 > 0:22:21# Sweeeeeeet... #
0:22:21 > 0:22:26Probably the best two guitar player band to come out of America
0:22:26 > 0:22:28ever, as far as I am concerned.
0:22:28 > 0:22:32# Sweeeeeeet
0:22:32 > 0:22:34# Emotion
0:22:34 > 0:22:38To stand out from the crowd, rock bands now needed a strong image.
0:22:38 > 0:22:41Another East Coast outfit turned the cartoonish
0:22:41 > 0:22:47element in American rock up to 11. Originally a work-a-day
0:22:47 > 0:22:52New York metal band, Kiss was Alice Cooper times four.
0:22:55 > 0:22:58You see, the thing with rock 'n' roll is
0:22:58 > 0:23:00if you are ever going to, like, be seen
0:23:00 > 0:23:03and noticed, you have to do something different.
0:23:03 > 0:23:05God, Gene is going to hate me,
0:23:05 > 0:23:07Oh, well!
0:23:07 > 0:23:11Kiss, I think, again,
0:23:11 > 0:23:13Kiss came up with something different.
0:23:13 > 0:23:16They painted their face, you know, they blew stuff up on stage
0:23:16 > 0:23:19you know, kids were attracted to them just because it was something
0:23:19 > 0:23:23new and different and by the way, the songs have to be good,
0:23:23 > 0:23:27OK? You can't just look freaky
0:23:27 > 0:23:30and not have good music, you've got to have both.
0:23:30 > 0:23:31# The leather skirt... #
0:23:36 > 0:23:39I worked as an usher at a Kiss show once in a theatre
0:23:39 > 0:23:41in Philadelphia and it was entertainment plus -
0:23:41 > 0:23:43they put on a great show.
0:23:48 > 0:23:49It was comic book stuff,
0:23:49 > 0:23:53deliberately so. Gene Simmons with the blood and the levitating
0:23:53 > 0:23:54drum kit and all this stuff.
0:23:56 > 0:23:59They actually took a lot of shit from people,
0:23:59 > 0:24:01not just from the critics but from the business, because they
0:24:01 > 0:24:06thought, "Oh, well, this is strictly clown time." No, they were smart.
0:24:09 > 0:24:12Kiss came along and they said, "If one Alice works, then four ought
0:24:12 > 0:24:15"to work." "The only thing you have to be careful of,
0:24:15 > 0:24:17"if you are going to do the make-up,
0:24:17 > 0:24:19"do different kind of make-up than me,"
0:24:19 > 0:24:24I said, "And don't do anything I do on stage, because for your own good,
0:24:24 > 0:24:27"the press is going to kill you if you do."
0:24:27 > 0:24:29They did a pyro, we never did pyro,
0:24:29 > 0:24:33they did all this stuff that we didn't do which was very smart.
0:24:35 > 0:24:37They did it without the critics
0:24:37 > 0:24:41and that was one of the reasons why we divided them so much, they didn't
0:24:41 > 0:24:45need us like anyone else did. But they were a very interesting story,
0:24:45 > 0:24:48because they weren't particularly downtrodden other than that
0:24:48 > 0:24:51Gene Simmons one of the co-founders was an immigrant,
0:24:51 > 0:24:54you know, his whole thing was he loved America,
0:24:54 > 0:24:56kissed the ground as soon as he moved in,
0:24:56 > 0:24:59and did all the jobs that he could in order to make money, and that
0:24:59 > 0:25:03was his bottom line, sitting there, "How can I make this the biggest
0:25:03 > 0:25:05"band in the world?"
0:25:05 > 0:25:07But they also had some good tunes and they got up in
0:25:07 > 0:25:12their cartoon outfits and absolutely stampeded through the rock charts.
0:25:17 > 0:25:20At this point, rock bands had been fairly sniffy about being
0:25:20 > 0:25:23overtly commercial but not Kiss.
0:25:24 > 0:25:26T-shirts, action figures,
0:25:26 > 0:25:29make-up, nothing was beyond the Kiss marketing machine.
0:25:29 > 0:25:32With make-up diagrams so you can look like Gene, look like Paul,
0:25:32 > 0:25:35look like Peter or look like Ace.
0:25:35 > 0:25:39The electric guitar was the iconic instrument of the '70s rocker,
0:25:39 > 0:25:42thrust to the fore as it delivered long squalling solos.
0:25:48 > 0:25:52No-one played their solos louder and longer than Ted Nugent.
0:25:52 > 0:25:54Bare-chested and with flowing locks,
0:25:54 > 0:25:56he was the Tarzan of guitar rock.
0:25:57 > 0:25:59# Never before have I turned on you
0:25:59 > 0:26:01# You looked too good to me... #
0:26:01 > 0:26:05We played 300 concerts a year and we didn't make any money,
0:26:05 > 0:26:08we could pay expenses and keep good speakers in the amps,
0:26:08 > 0:26:11we all shared hotel rooms and it was tough,
0:26:11 > 0:26:13but that doesn't matter, I mean I'm a hunter.
0:26:13 > 0:26:14I sleep in the woods.
0:26:18 > 0:26:20The music on me, I never sat down once in my life, Steve,
0:26:20 > 0:26:25and went, "What can I do to really entertain people?" Never.
0:26:25 > 0:26:29Practice, get to the gig, plug in and just let her rip,
0:26:29 > 0:26:31never strategise nothing.
0:26:31 > 0:26:33I wore a loincloth one night, because I had shot
0:26:33 > 0:26:37some rabbits and I'd cured them myself with brains. It felt natural.
0:26:37 > 0:26:39# Yes, it is!
0:26:39 > 0:26:40# No
0:26:40 > 0:26:42# Noooooooo! #
0:26:46 > 0:26:51I might be the only guy, I really believe I am the only guy
0:26:51 > 0:26:56who can still completely live
0:26:56 > 0:26:59the original moment
0:26:59 > 0:27:00every time.
0:27:10 > 0:27:14They had great energy, fantastic rock 'n' roll guitar player,
0:27:14 > 0:27:16one of the best ones of that era
0:27:16 > 0:27:20and just wrote really great fucking riffs and, you know, simple
0:27:20 > 0:27:24catchy songs, you know. I saw him a few times in concert
0:27:24 > 0:27:27and, you know, it was just high energy stuff.
0:27:27 > 0:27:30I still to this day don't think anybody's really...
0:27:30 > 0:27:35Ted Nugent was like an island unto himself, you know.
0:27:35 > 0:27:37# Well, it's a free-for-all
0:27:37 > 0:27:39# Tootsie, tootsie, tootsie
0:27:39 > 0:27:40# Yeeaaahh! #
0:27:43 > 0:27:47Because I'm clean and sober and I am, like, a six foot two,
0:27:47 > 0:27:52180 pound raw nerve ending, I'm really responsive to stimuli,
0:27:52 > 0:27:54I don't know if you have noticed that about me.
0:27:54 > 0:27:59Can you imagine this 20 years ago? I would have already
0:27:59 > 0:28:06knocked you down! I was literally - did I say "was"? - I remain and
0:28:06 > 0:28:08I have always been
0:28:08 > 0:28:13inebriated on the creative procedure.
0:28:15 > 0:28:18The inescapable
0:28:18 > 0:28:21sensual feedback from the audiences,
0:28:21 > 0:28:23the girls are dancing, so you
0:28:23 > 0:28:25probably want to play that lick a little more often,
0:28:25 > 0:28:26or that approach.
0:28:30 > 0:28:34Rock music in the US was now a licence to print money, even
0:28:34 > 0:28:37rivalling Hollywood in its commercial clout.
0:28:37 > 0:28:41Record sales were booming and so were concerts.
0:28:41 > 0:28:45For bands like Heart, fronted by the Wilson sisters, theatres were
0:28:45 > 0:28:48no longer large enough and stadium rock was born.
0:28:49 > 0:28:51# We may still have time
0:28:51 > 0:28:53# We might steal goodbye
0:28:53 > 0:28:54# Every time I thing about it
0:28:54 > 0:28:56# I wanna cry... #
0:28:56 > 0:28:59Stadium rock doesn't describe the music, it describes the place,
0:28:59 > 0:29:05it has come to represent gargantuan ego, massive over-gestures, because
0:29:05 > 0:29:10you're playing to 55,000 people, but there was a certain notion that it
0:29:10 > 0:29:15represents money and it represents a certain distance from the listener.
0:29:18 > 0:29:20At times, you have to play bigger than life.
0:29:20 > 0:29:22Instead of me playing like this,
0:29:22 > 0:29:26I had to start playing like this, because people, you know, three
0:29:26 > 0:29:30football fields away had to be able to see me and this was before video
0:29:30 > 0:29:32cameras and things like that.
0:29:33 > 0:29:36The stage movements of singers instead
0:29:36 > 0:29:39of just there, you know, they were all over the front of the stage, so
0:29:39 > 0:29:41you had to entertain a lot of people,
0:29:41 > 0:29:43so you had to give it your all.
0:29:47 > 0:29:50Stadium rock is quintessentially American.
0:29:52 > 0:29:56It couldn't have come from anywhere else in the world.
0:29:56 > 0:29:59In England there's three. In France there's one arena.
0:29:59 > 0:30:01In Germany, there's maybe four.
0:30:01 > 0:30:03In Stockholm, there's one.
0:30:03 > 0:30:05It was really mind-blowing doing the research on Led Zeppelin,
0:30:05 > 0:30:08realising there weren't any arenas.
0:30:08 > 0:30:09That's what promoters told me. Peter,
0:30:09 > 0:30:11there was no place to play. That's why
0:30:11 > 0:30:13they never played in Europe very much that could make it
0:30:13 > 0:30:16worth their while, compared to an American show.
0:30:16 > 0:30:17You see what I am saying?
0:30:17 > 0:30:2015,000 people, Madison Square Gardens. Yeah, you can play
0:30:20 > 0:30:25Toulouse for 8,000 and the costs are 50% more expensive, because petrol
0:30:25 > 0:30:27is higher, you know, VAT or whatever,
0:30:27 > 0:30:29I'm going...I am going to go West.
0:30:37 > 0:30:42It took a lot of people coming together to design PA systems that
0:30:42 > 0:30:45would work, to build stages that could be built up on them, so it was
0:30:45 > 0:30:51all brand-new. So we were creating a new venue really, and first the
0:30:51 > 0:30:54light shows were the new part of it,
0:30:54 > 0:30:56so I was doing a show where I had
0:30:56 > 0:31:02a green laser behind my drum raiser that could shoot a beam to the moon,
0:31:02 > 0:31:08it had to have 120 gallons of water on it to keep it cool. There was
0:31:08 > 0:31:12no regulations whatsoever. Literally if you put your hand in the original
0:31:12 > 0:31:15beam it would probably have burnt a hole right though it,
0:31:15 > 0:31:17just, boom, lost his hand!
0:31:21 > 0:31:24I think we all put pressure on each other, the bar kept going up
0:31:24 > 0:31:28and of course the stage shows started to get more elaborate.
0:31:28 > 0:31:30Well, I guess we saw one band and they had pyros,
0:31:30 > 0:31:33so I guess we'd better get bombs and things that explode.
0:31:33 > 0:31:35So you compete with each other
0:31:35 > 0:31:39and we noticed they had three trucks, we'd better get four trucks.
0:31:40 > 0:31:44With stadiums and arenas packed to the rafters, the live album
0:31:44 > 0:31:49became commercial gold. Once considered a cheap cash-in, they
0:31:49 > 0:31:54were now essential in any record collection. But it was a live album
0:31:54 > 0:31:59by a relatively unknown British performer that broke the mould.
0:31:59 > 0:32:01Peter Frampton had toured the states solidly for five years,
0:32:01 > 0:32:06gradually building up his fan base. Backed by a group of top US
0:32:06 > 0:32:10session players, he was largely seen as an American artist.
0:32:10 > 0:32:12CHEERING
0:32:12 > 0:32:17Nobody foresaw the amazing success of Frampton Comes Alive.
0:32:24 > 0:32:28I got the call from my manager saying, "You are number one
0:32:28 > 0:32:31"on the Billboard," and then it seemed moments later
0:32:31 > 0:32:33when I got the next call from him,
0:32:33 > 0:32:38saying, "You have just broken the all time sales record for an album,
0:32:38 > 0:32:42"you are now the biggest selling album of all time in the world."
0:32:45 > 0:32:47# I wonder how you're feeling
0:32:47 > 0:32:49CROWD CHEERS
0:32:49 > 0:32:50# There's ringing in my ears... #
0:32:50 > 0:32:54The shit hit the fan, you know! Basically,
0:32:54 > 0:32:56it all went crazy overnight.
0:32:58 > 0:33:01# Who can I believe in? #
0:33:01 > 0:33:04I love to play live and I believe
0:33:04 > 0:33:08we captured something on Comes Alive that was an energy that comes across
0:33:08 > 0:33:11that you feel, somehow,
0:33:11 > 0:33:15that when you listen to it you can feel that
0:33:15 > 0:33:21we are enjoying ourselves playing and I think it's as simple as that.
0:33:21 > 0:33:25# Oh, won't you yeah, you, show me the way? #
0:33:25 > 0:33:29You had a chance to develop your craft and I think that's one of the
0:33:29 > 0:33:33reasons why those bands, they were successful, they were successful in
0:33:33 > 0:33:38coming out with the sound that was being underwritten, that was being
0:33:38 > 0:33:43supported, the record companies were into nurturing talent.
0:33:45 > 0:33:49I was very lucky I was with A&M records, which was Herb Albert
0:33:49 > 0:33:54and Jerry Moss and they were, one was a musician and the other was
0:33:54 > 0:33:58a music lover who was a great businessman, they only signed people
0:33:58 > 0:34:04they liked, they really got involved in that artist's whole persona, if
0:34:04 > 0:34:10you wanted. If you didn't, they left you alone to do whatever you wanted.
0:34:10 > 0:34:13Through the '70s, it was a much more easier relationship
0:34:13 > 0:34:17between artists and record company, the people
0:34:17 > 0:34:22running the labels were creative thinking people, not creative
0:34:22 > 0:34:27people necessarily, but certainly people that respected creativity.
0:34:30 > 0:34:32I had four solo records before Comes Alive
0:34:32 > 0:34:35and each one sold worse than the other, I think,
0:34:35 > 0:34:38you know, so it wasn't
0:34:38 > 0:34:42like they were saying, "Oh, well he's not selling,"
0:34:42 > 0:34:44they believed in the artist
0:34:44 > 0:34:49and were willing to let the artist grow and lose some money.
0:34:51 > 0:34:55American rock's boom years contrasted with the dark times
0:34:55 > 0:34:58endured by the USA itself. The Watergate Scandal
0:34:58 > 0:35:04and Nixon's resignation in 1974 had rocked the country to its core.
0:35:04 > 0:35:09Nixon's replacement Gerald Ford was seen as dull and lacklustre.
0:35:11 > 0:35:15American troops had left Vietnam in 1973 only for Saigon
0:35:15 > 0:35:20to fall to the communist north two years later. As US staff
0:35:20 > 0:35:24hastily evacuated their embassy, their south Vietnamese colleagues
0:35:24 > 0:35:28were left scrambling to get on the last helicopters. The USA's
0:35:28 > 0:35:33position as a global superpower seemed to be teetering on the edge.
0:35:36 > 0:35:39In America's cities, the situation was almost as bleak,
0:35:39 > 0:35:42with mass unemployment and urban decay.
0:35:42 > 0:35:50By 1975, New York was virtually bankrupt. So when Democrat
0:35:50 > 0:35:54Jimmy Carter successfully ran for president in 1976, he
0:35:54 > 0:35:59self-consciously hooked up with the rock generation, the baby boomers.
0:35:59 > 0:36:01# When the sky is dark... #
0:36:01 > 0:36:04The music that the boomers were listening to were
0:36:04 > 0:36:08bands like Fleetwood Mac. They were part of a new, soft melodic style,
0:36:08 > 0:36:10where superb production
0:36:10 > 0:36:16and glamorous image smoothed off rock's rough edges. Originally
0:36:16 > 0:36:18a ground-breaking British blues band,
0:36:18 > 0:36:21Mac was now fronted by American duo
0:36:21 > 0:36:24Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham.
0:36:27 > 0:36:29Like most rock bands, Fleetwood Mac
0:36:29 > 0:36:33had build their reputation through years on the road.
0:36:33 > 0:36:38But the biggest US rock record of 1976 came out of nowhere.
0:36:38 > 0:36:41Fittingly, in the bicentennial year, it was born in the home
0:36:41 > 0:36:47of the American revolution. Boston was the brainchild of Tom Scholz.
0:36:47 > 0:36:50A science graduate, he worked as a technician at Polaroid, while
0:36:50 > 0:36:54creating the perfect rock sound in his home studio every evening.
0:36:56 > 0:37:00The process of getting the record actually released by a label
0:37:00 > 0:37:04and then played on a radio station was a long and painful journey.
0:37:10 > 0:37:13I had been recording demos for years.
0:37:13 > 0:37:17The plan was I would record one last demo. If that didn't do it,
0:37:17 > 0:37:20then I was going to liquidate, sell what I could, get what I could
0:37:20 > 0:37:25out of it. I recorded at night and worked at Polaroid in the day and I
0:37:25 > 0:37:28worked really hard in the recording at night, so sometimes during
0:37:28 > 0:37:33the day at Polaroid, I wasn't really at my maximum potential, but somehow
0:37:33 > 0:37:37I didn't get fired. I'm in a big room with a lot of other engineers
0:37:37 > 0:37:41and draughtsmen. I get a call from somebody in New York that says
0:37:41 > 0:37:45they're the vice president of A&R for A&M records or something like
0:37:45 > 0:37:48that. I said, "Well, I don't know what that is."
0:37:48 > 0:37:51I pick up the phone, "We've heard your demo,
0:37:51 > 0:37:56"we want to talk to you about doing an album." And I put
0:37:56 > 0:37:59the phone down, jumped up on a desk and I am doing a dance on a desk
0:37:59 > 0:38:04in the middle of the office which of course attracted a lot of attention.
0:38:05 > 0:38:09A band was put together around Tom Scholz to play the music live
0:38:09 > 0:38:13and with the single More Than A Feeling getting heavy airplay,
0:38:13 > 0:38:16Boston's first concerts caused chaos.
0:38:16 > 0:38:183,000 people showed up.
0:38:18 > 0:38:22They broke down the chain-link fence, there was a riot,
0:38:22 > 0:38:29the promoter was arrested. It was, it was a phenomenon!
0:38:30 > 0:38:33Boston's debut was one of a string of multimillion-selling rock
0:38:33 > 0:38:36albums released in 1976.
0:38:44 > 0:38:46# She slipped away... #
0:38:46 > 0:38:48A new platinum category was created
0:38:48 > 0:38:53to account for the huge sales that rock was now enjoying.
0:38:53 > 0:38:57The first record to get the award was The Eagles' Greatest Hits.
0:39:00 > 0:39:04The Eagles had first come to light as Linda Ronstadt's backing group.
0:39:08 > 0:39:11# Well, I'm running down the road trying to loosen my load... #
0:39:11 > 0:39:15With the addition of top guitarists Don Felder
0:39:15 > 0:39:20and Joe Walsh, their music was full of impeccable harmonies and soaring
0:39:20 > 0:39:22guitar breaks.
0:39:22 > 0:39:24# Take it easy... #
0:39:24 > 0:39:28The band epitomised rock's new, glossy professionalism.
0:39:28 > 0:39:34Every step of the production of a record, the overall complexity
0:39:34 > 0:39:37and detail that we spent on every note that went on every
0:39:37 > 0:39:41record was really far and above what any of us had tried to do before,
0:39:41 > 0:39:45but we wanted to keep raising that bar every time we made a record,
0:39:45 > 0:39:49to make a better record. But we had the same sense of detail in every
0:39:49 > 0:39:54show when we were on stage as well. No mistakes were allowed, nobody
0:39:54 > 0:39:58could sing off key, you couldn't play wrong notes on guitar. We spent
0:39:58 > 0:40:02a great deal of time making certain that our show was as flawless
0:40:02 > 0:40:07as our records or at least that attempt to make it at that level.
0:40:08 > 0:40:13The Eagles perfected their sound on Hotel California, which rode
0:40:13 > 0:40:17the wave of rock success while commenting on the uncertain state
0:40:17 > 0:40:21that the country was in. The album went on to sell over 32 million
0:40:21 > 0:40:26copies worldwide, but started off with one simple guitar riff.
0:40:28 > 0:40:30I remember one day in July, I was just
0:40:30 > 0:40:32sitting on the couch in this living room looking
0:40:32 > 0:40:36out at the Pacific Ocean and the sun was kind of glistening on the water,
0:40:36 > 0:40:40I was playing guitar and out came that introduction chord depression
0:40:40 > 0:40:44and I played it three or four times and I said, "I have to record some
0:40:44 > 0:40:45"of this before I forget it."
0:40:52 > 0:40:54And then when I started trying to assemble this cassette
0:40:54 > 0:40:57that had a bunch of song ideas on it, I came back and
0:40:57 > 0:41:01heard that introduction and I said, "I need to finish this,"
0:41:01 > 0:41:04so I rebuilt it with a little drum machine and played bass on it,
0:41:04 > 0:41:08played almost all the guitar parts that you hear on the final record. I
0:41:08 > 0:41:10finally got in the studio
0:41:10 > 0:41:14to record what was going to become Hotel California and Joe and I...
0:41:14 > 0:41:18I had always thought that Joe and I would set up with two guitars,
0:41:18 > 0:41:21turn on the tape machine, I'd play a lick, let him answer the lick,
0:41:21 > 0:41:25I'd play the next lick, and we'd just, you know, battle it out.
0:41:33 > 0:41:36That's what we were doing for a few minutes,
0:41:36 > 0:41:38until Don Henley walked into the control room and said,
0:41:38 > 0:41:41"What are you doing? That's not right, stop."
0:41:41 > 0:41:43I went, "What do you mean, that's not right?"
0:41:43 > 0:41:45He said, "That's not like the demo."
0:41:45 > 0:41:48And what I had recorded on a demo was like almost a year
0:41:48 > 0:41:52before that, and I had no idea what I had played, I didn't, like, listen
0:41:52 > 0:41:56to it, so we were in a studio in Miami, I had to call my housekeeper
0:41:56 > 0:42:01at the house in Malibu have her find the cassette, put it in a blaster,
0:42:01 > 0:42:04play it back and they held a phone up in front of this blaster,
0:42:04 > 0:42:08we recorded it in a studio in Miami, I had to sit and learn what I had
0:42:08 > 0:42:11just made up at the time when I was making the demo.
0:42:15 > 0:42:17Don Henley turned around and said,
0:42:17 > 0:42:20"That is going to be one of our singles," so I said to Don,
0:42:20 > 0:42:24"I don't think, that's not a single, that's maybe an FM track."
0:42:24 > 0:42:27He said, "No, that's going to be our single,"
0:42:27 > 0:42:29and I've never really been so happy to be so wrong
0:42:29 > 0:42:34in my life that he persisted and it turned out to be what it was.
0:42:45 > 0:42:48Despite the enormous success of bands like The Eagles
0:42:48 > 0:42:52and Fleetwood Mac, some thought their music represented all
0:42:52 > 0:42:56that had gone wrong with American rock. Where it had once been
0:42:56 > 0:43:02vital and edgy, it now seemed glossy and self-indulgent. The drugs
0:43:02 > 0:43:07had also changed. In the 1960s, rock had turned on with marijuana
0:43:07 > 0:43:13and LSD, now it was cocaine, the rich man's drug, which further
0:43:13 > 0:43:17divorced these multimillionaire rock stars from any everyday reality.
0:43:20 > 0:43:24I remember seeing huge after-gig parties and the bands would
0:43:24 > 0:43:29arrive in limousines and records had never made that
0:43:29 > 0:43:32kind of money before, and they sold millions and millions of copies.
0:43:32 > 0:43:35The money started becoming more important
0:43:35 > 0:43:36and then the drugs got harder.
0:43:39 > 0:43:41And it also became because of cocaine
0:43:41 > 0:43:46more cerebral, the emotional feel of the love, love, love became
0:43:46 > 0:43:50much more up in your head because of that particular drug.
0:43:54 > 0:43:57That also means you become very focused on yourself,
0:43:57 > 0:44:00which becomes the cartoonish LA of the late '70s,
0:44:00 > 0:44:05the cocaine cowboys, and the way people now look at The Eagles
0:44:05 > 0:44:08and Fleetwood Mac is an excessive statement in their own.
0:44:11 > 0:44:14I don't think that a lot of people in the music industry
0:44:14 > 0:44:16understood how addictive
0:44:16 > 0:44:19and how detrimental cocaine could be to your life,
0:44:19 > 0:44:22your health and your finances.
0:44:22 > 0:44:24It's like an addiction like gambling, once you get involved
0:44:24 > 0:44:27with it, you just keep going and going and going
0:44:27 > 0:44:29and in the '70s no-one really understood
0:44:29 > 0:44:32how addictive and how detrimental it could be.
0:44:32 > 0:44:34Yeah, nobody believed it was dangerous.
0:44:34 > 0:44:40When you have lots of money, lots of sex, great music, wonderful food,
0:44:40 > 0:44:43very interesting people to deal with,
0:44:43 > 0:44:46it creates its own weather system
0:44:46 > 0:44:50and that weather system can be sunny and balmy or it can
0:44:50 > 0:44:54become a hurricane in a nanosecond. That's what created the chaos.
0:44:54 > 0:44:57A junkie crackhead is a crackhead,
0:44:57 > 0:45:00I mean, a musician crackhead is a crackhead, he is just
0:45:00 > 0:45:04a crackhead, OK! He's not just some special category of crackhead,
0:45:04 > 0:45:07because he's a musician. He's a crackhead. Maybe he's able to get
0:45:07 > 0:45:12some music out, but the problem is you get too in love with a certain
0:45:12 > 0:45:15kind of drug and the music always winds up taking the back seat.
0:45:21 > 0:45:25I smoked as much pot as anybody, or took as much LSD as anybody, drank
0:45:25 > 0:45:28a little bit but not a lot, but enough to just say,
0:45:28 > 0:45:29"God, you know what?
0:45:29 > 0:45:33"I must be a weakling or something here,
0:45:33 > 0:45:36"because I don't know how these guys do it, but I know if I continue
0:45:36 > 0:45:38"to do it, I'm not going to be around."
0:45:38 > 0:45:42I think substance abuse will go down in history
0:45:42 > 0:45:45and continues to go down, as we speak,
0:45:45 > 0:45:47as the most mindless, soulless,
0:45:47 > 0:45:53self-inflicted, suicidal indecency available to man, because the
0:45:53 > 0:45:56dopers didn't show up to rehearsals on time, the dopers couldn't
0:45:56 > 0:46:00tune their instruments, the dopers couldn't remember an arrangement
0:46:00 > 0:46:04and the dopers had no soul to care about an efficient, professional
0:46:04 > 0:46:07delivery of their craft, service or wares.
0:46:07 > 0:46:10Case fucking closed.
0:46:10 > 0:46:11I HATE hippies.
0:46:12 > 0:46:14While The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac
0:46:14 > 0:46:18and Boston were selling millions, others were looking for a more
0:46:18 > 0:46:22back-to-basics style. Tom Petty had been on the fringes
0:46:22 > 0:46:25of the LA music scene for four years when he released his debut
0:46:25 > 0:46:31album in 1976, but Petty rejected rock's excesses and with his band
0:46:31 > 0:46:36The Heartbreakers he had a simpler, rougher, pared-back guitar sound.
0:46:36 > 0:46:42# Strange voice on the telephone
0:46:42 > 0:46:45# Telling me I better leave you alone... #
0:46:45 > 0:46:50The first thing that struck me when I went to clubs in LA was how
0:46:50 > 0:46:56bad the LA bands were. They tended to have the right haircuts
0:46:56 > 0:46:59and clothes, but they weren't really that good.
0:46:59 > 0:47:02# Looks like I'm the fool again... #
0:47:02 > 0:47:08I do remember that coming from the South where we had played for years
0:47:08 > 0:47:12and there was a strong R&B presence down there where the bass and
0:47:12 > 0:47:16drums were really important and you had to have good rhythm sections.
0:47:25 > 0:47:27By the time that the Heartbreakers were together
0:47:27 > 0:47:33and playing live, I didn't feel like anybody could touch us.
0:47:33 > 0:47:37We were what they call now a classic rock 'n' roll band.
0:47:45 > 0:47:47The '70s really just seemed like
0:47:47 > 0:47:49more of the '60s, it was kind of like
0:47:49 > 0:47:52the '60s just kept going
0:47:52 > 0:47:58and then started to slowly around, say,
0:47:58 > 0:48:03the end of '74, '75, it started to just get really kind of
0:48:03 > 0:48:07over-bloated and fat
0:48:07 > 0:48:10and come to an almost
0:48:10 > 0:48:16complete standstill until about '77.
0:48:16 > 0:48:19Then you had punk rock
0:48:19 > 0:48:22and that reignited a whole different kind of thing.
0:48:27 > 0:48:30Tom Petty was never really a punk rocker but he chimed with
0:48:30 > 0:48:34the traditional, no-fuss sound that the punk championed.
0:48:36 > 0:48:38# Oh, yeah, ah, oh, yes
0:48:38 > 0:48:40# Sheena is
0:48:40 > 0:48:41# A punk rocker, Sheena is... #
0:48:41 > 0:48:45Punk has its own rich story in the USA, starting with Iggy
0:48:45 > 0:48:49and The Stooges in Detroit and leading to the New York Scene
0:48:49 > 0:48:52of Patti Smith, Blondie and The Ramones.
0:48:52 > 0:48:54# Sheena is
0:48:54 > 0:48:56# A punk rocker... #
0:48:56 > 0:49:00The Ramones' first album also came out in 1976 to rave reviews,
0:49:00 > 0:49:03but punk was a regional phenomenon in the USA
0:49:03 > 0:49:08and The Ramones' debut didn't even get into the Billboard top 100.
0:49:10 > 0:49:13There was all this stuff coming out of England,
0:49:13 > 0:49:15punk wise, which was then reflected here, but we had
0:49:15 > 0:49:18The Ramones. I saw The Ramones in 1976,
0:49:18 > 0:49:21the same year that Fleetwood Mac was just breaking wide,
0:49:21 > 0:49:23both things happening at exactly the
0:49:23 > 0:49:26same time. Couldn't be more polar opposite
0:49:26 > 0:49:28and yet they both made perfect sense
0:49:28 > 0:49:31in the country at the time, depending on where you lived.
0:49:33 > 0:49:37But in Los Angeles, punk was more of a fashion statement,
0:49:37 > 0:49:42it was more of a fad and I loved the overall attitude.
0:49:42 > 0:49:43It wasn't about the clothes
0:49:43 > 0:49:46and it really wasn't about total anarchy thing,
0:49:46 > 0:49:48because most of the kids that were into punk rock
0:49:48 > 0:49:51in Los Angeles don't even know what anarchy is, really.
0:49:51 > 0:49:53# Ooh, my little pretty one, pretty one... #
0:49:53 > 0:49:56It was really a bit more of a kind of poseur thing,
0:49:56 > 0:49:58as far as I could see. I'm sure that
0:49:58 > 0:50:01I will be targeted by American pop fans for that now,
0:50:01 > 0:50:05but you'd go to these things and there'd be, you know, some guys
0:50:05 > 0:50:08who clearly looked like they had day jobs, but they had punked up for
0:50:08 > 0:50:12the evening in their kind of studs and leather and were slam dancing
0:50:12 > 0:50:16as supposed to just before I'd left England in '77, you'd go to
0:50:16 > 0:50:18a place where lots of little spotty oiks
0:50:18 > 0:50:21would kind of drown ten bottles of cider
0:50:21 > 0:50:24and were just flying around like dervishes. I don't
0:50:24 > 0:50:26think that it had that kind of earth-shattering thing
0:50:26 > 0:50:28that it did in the UK.
0:50:28 > 0:50:31It had a sort of a fashion thing out here, all the magazines, you
0:50:31 > 0:50:35would see kind of the punk look, you know, with the torn clothes with the
0:50:35 > 0:50:39safety pins that you could buy very expensive versions of at Macy's.
0:50:41 > 0:50:44Ironically, it wasn't punk that posed the biggest threat to
0:50:44 > 0:50:50American rock, but disco. From its origins in the early 1970s, disco
0:50:50 > 0:50:54had come to dominate both singles and album charts.
0:50:54 > 0:50:57The sales of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack
0:50:57 > 0:51:01shook rock to its denim-clad roots.
0:51:01 > 0:51:03# And now it's all right, it's OK
0:51:03 > 0:51:06# And you may look the other way... #
0:51:06 > 0:51:12Disco music, it just kind of took the wind out of real hard rock
0:51:12 > 0:51:17and that whole movement that we were so in love with, you know, so
0:51:17 > 0:51:23we actually just made fun of it all the time, you know Stayin' Alive.
0:51:23 > 0:51:28# Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive! #
0:51:28 > 0:51:31On the radio now, the only songs they would play from us
0:51:31 > 0:51:34were ballads. I would have a hard rock record come out
0:51:34 > 0:51:38and they would pick the ballad, that was the hit, so I had four ballad
0:51:38 > 0:51:42hits in a row, everybody thought that I had totally softened up.
0:51:45 > 0:51:47Many rock stars chose to ride the disco wave.
0:51:47 > 0:51:52Even Kiss, the superheroes of American hard rock, joined in.
0:51:52 > 0:51:55# Mmmmmm, yeah. #
0:51:55 > 0:51:56I Was Made For Loving You was
0:51:56 > 0:52:00backed with a disco beat. It went on to be one of their biggest hits.
0:52:00 > 0:52:04# Do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do
0:52:04 > 0:52:07# Do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do... #
0:52:13 > 0:52:18But the hardcore American rock fans were never in love with disco.
0:52:18 > 0:52:22Their resentment exploded at the infamous Disco Demolition Night.
0:52:22 > 0:52:27In Comiskey Park, Chicago, baseball fans got in cheap
0:52:27 > 0:52:29if they brought a disco record to burn.
0:52:34 > 0:52:37Disco Demolition was a one-off event.
0:52:37 > 0:52:41The real battle for established rock acts was how to follow up
0:52:41 > 0:52:44some of the best selling albums of all time.
0:52:44 > 0:52:47The pressure became, after Hotel California, to exceed that record
0:52:47 > 0:52:51just became mammoth. It was such a strain and stressful situation
0:52:51 > 0:52:57to try to write more songs that were that calibre or above, that we
0:52:57 > 0:53:00had created this monster and it nearly ate us,
0:53:00 > 0:53:02to tell you the truth.
0:53:04 > 0:53:07Dealing with all the people that success brings
0:53:07 > 0:53:12you come into contact with. By people, I'm being kind, because that
0:53:12 > 0:53:16connects you to some of the lowest forms of life on the planet that
0:53:16 > 0:53:19get dressed in the morning. Whether music or money is the important
0:53:19 > 0:53:26part for a record company is the most obvious answer of all time.
0:53:33 > 0:53:36The pressure was... the pressure was horrifying.
0:53:36 > 0:53:40People just thought, "Well, you have made a whole bunch of money
0:53:40 > 0:53:44"for them, now what's taking you so long to make more for us?" You're
0:53:44 > 0:53:50holding up the show by not, and I actually have and still have people
0:53:50 > 0:53:55accusing me of messing up their career
0:53:55 > 0:53:59or their fortunes, because I didn't produce
0:53:59 > 0:54:01the thing that I do fast enough to make money for them.
0:54:03 > 0:54:06# Like a bat out of hell, I'll be gone when the morning comes... #
0:54:06 > 0:54:10The last of rock's blockbuster albums of the late 1970s was
0:54:10 > 0:54:12Meatloaf's Bat Out Of Hell.
0:54:14 > 0:54:17A concept album written by Jim Steinmann,
0:54:17 > 0:54:19its grandiose, operatic style
0:54:19 > 0:54:22was typical of American rock's excesses.
0:54:25 > 0:54:28The record industry now had an insatiable hunger for
0:54:28 > 0:54:33these multimillion selling records, a demand that was hard to fulfil.
0:54:34 > 0:54:37When people realised that you could go multi platinum with a record,
0:54:37 > 0:54:41that suddenly became the goal, everybody loves
0:54:41 > 0:54:44a success in the music business. The bigger, the better,
0:54:44 > 0:54:46but, you know, when companies who don't know
0:54:46 > 0:54:49anything about music start getting involved,
0:54:49 > 0:54:53then you've got to be a little bit suspicious and when some accountant
0:54:53 > 0:54:54in some other part
0:54:54 > 0:54:57of a large corporation starts saying, "Well, you know,
0:54:57 > 0:55:01"this guy Van Morrison, you know, his bottom line has really dropped
0:55:01 > 0:55:05"off in the last couple of years, I think you should drop him."
0:55:05 > 0:55:08That was when the jig was up. We all knew, "Wait a minute,
0:55:08 > 0:55:11"people who know about music are no longer in control of this industry."
0:55:14 > 0:55:18American rock in the 1970s was prodigiously successful.
0:55:18 > 0:55:22Bands as varied as Kiss and The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac
0:55:22 > 0:55:27and Aerosmith sold hundreds of millions of albums between them,
0:55:27 > 0:55:30but their success had changed the record business.
0:55:31 > 0:55:32Rock music of the late '60s
0:55:32 > 0:55:38had been the sound of rebellion and protest. A decade later, it was made
0:55:38 > 0:55:42by corporations, headed by lawyers only interested in the bottom line.
0:55:43 > 0:55:47The rock bands that came to the fore at the end of the '70s,
0:55:47 > 0:55:50such as Styx, Journey and REO Speedwagon
0:55:50 > 0:55:53got themselves a new nickname.
0:55:53 > 0:55:57There was a term for a while called corporate rock...
0:55:57 > 0:55:59# Babe, I love... #
0:55:59 > 0:56:01..and I'm not going to embarrass the bands,
0:56:01 > 0:56:08but you know who they are. They had that kind of clean, predictable,
0:56:08 > 0:56:13don't say anything to piss anybody off, just get the hit played,
0:56:13 > 0:56:17corporate rock sound and that was not good for people like me.
0:56:19 > 0:56:22Yeah, all those bands for us
0:56:22 > 0:56:28who were like the real street rockers, Speedwagon and Styx
0:56:28 > 0:56:31and Journey and Foreigner and all those kind of bands,
0:56:31 > 0:56:33shall we throw Chicago in there?
0:56:33 > 0:56:37Oh, no! It was just too lightweight.
0:56:37 > 0:56:40# Feel like giving up... #
0:56:40 > 0:56:47By the late 1970s, radio was really getting kind of...bad.
0:56:47 > 0:56:51They really started to smell too much like businesspeople,
0:56:51 > 0:56:54attache-case smell was all throughout the music,
0:56:54 > 0:56:58you know, and music was going through the roof, because
0:56:58 > 0:57:02people were kind of trained to hear something. Go to the store, get it.
0:57:02 > 0:57:06It was almost like the industry had kind of trained people to
0:57:06 > 0:57:12kind of, like, fall into this format of just "Aaaaaagh!"
0:57:12 > 0:57:13for no reason at all.
0:57:16 > 0:57:21At the end of the 1970s, both America and American rock seemed
0:57:21 > 0:57:23to be struggling.
0:57:23 > 0:57:26Internationally, the country was powerless in
0:57:26 > 0:57:31the face of the Iran hostage crisis and rock music, for a decade
0:57:31 > 0:57:36the symbol of American virility, also appeared to be in retreat
0:57:36 > 0:57:40reduced to mild stadium bands crooning impotently to a disco beat.
0:57:42 > 0:57:45But in the next decade, everything changed with a new
0:57:45 > 0:57:50generation of hard rock bands, a television channel called MTV
0:57:50 > 0:57:52and a former movie star turned president.
0:57:52 > 0:57:55# She says we've got to hold on
0:57:55 > 0:57:57# To what we've got
0:57:57 > 0:57:59# It doesn't make a difference
0:57:59 > 0:58:01# If we make it or not
0:58:01 > 0:58:03# We got each other
0:58:03 > 0:58:07# And that's a lot for love
0:58:07 > 0:58:09# We'll give it a shot
0:58:09 > 0:58:12# Oh, we're halfway there
0:58:12 > 0:58:14# Whoa-oh!
0:58:14 > 0:58:16# Livin' on a prayer
0:58:16 > 0:58:19# Livin' on a prayer. #