0:00:02 > 0:00:08This programme contains some strong language.
0:00:08 > 0:00:15It was a time when singers were gods, guitarists were axemen and songs were anthems.
0:00:15 > 0:00:19# Born in the USA, I was
0:00:19 > 0:00:23# Born in the USA, I was... #
0:00:23 > 0:00:27The soundtrack of the nation, forged one stadium at a time.
0:00:28 > 0:00:34This is the story of the golden age of American rock, told by the people who were there.
0:00:34 > 0:00:37MUSIC: "Purple Haze" by The Jimi Hendrix Experience
0:00:37 > 0:00:43In the '60s, American rock wanted to change the world.
0:00:43 > 0:00:47By the end of the '70s, it had been absorbed into the mainstream...
0:00:47 > 0:00:48# Babe, I love you. #
0:00:48 > 0:00:52..its rebellious spirit lost in a multibillion-dollar industry.
0:00:55 > 0:01:00But the following decade, a new wave of rock bands would inject energy, sex and excitement
0:01:00 > 0:01:02back into rock.
0:01:03 > 0:01:08New technology and media would help the fame-hungry newcomers and established acts
0:01:08 > 0:01:12transform rock into a commodity like never before.
0:01:13 > 0:01:15It was a new era.
0:01:15 > 0:01:20The '80s. The decade of decadence.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23MUSIC: "Welcome To The Jungle" by Guns N' Roses
0:01:33 > 0:01:35# Jungle, welcome to the jungle
0:01:35 > 0:01:40# Watch it bring you to your knees
0:01:40 > 0:01:41# Down in the jungle
0:01:41 > 0:01:45# Welcome to the jungle Watch it bring you to your...
0:01:45 > 0:01:49# It's gonna bring you down! Hurrgh! #
0:01:57 > 0:02:00MUSIC: "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey
0:02:00 > 0:02:03In 1981, a new sheriff rode into Washington,
0:02:03 > 0:02:08vowing to lead America into a shining era of renewal.
0:02:08 > 0:02:12We have it in our power to begin the world over again.
0:02:15 > 0:02:18After Jimmy Carter's gloomy tenure of the late '70s,
0:02:18 > 0:02:21Ronald Reagan's economic and foreign policy reforms
0:02:21 > 0:02:24gave the country back its sense of self-belief.
0:02:26 > 0:02:29It felt good to be an American again.
0:02:29 > 0:02:32# Strangers waiting
0:02:33 > 0:02:35# Up and down the boulevard... #
0:02:35 > 0:02:39In that same year, REO Speedwagon, Styx and Journey
0:02:39 > 0:02:42topped the charts with albums full
0:02:42 > 0:02:44of well-crafted, melodic rock anthems.
0:02:44 > 0:02:47# Don't stop believin'
0:02:49 > 0:02:53# Hold on to that feelin'... #
0:02:53 > 0:02:55After America's brief flirtation with disco
0:02:55 > 0:02:59at the end of the previous decade, rock music was back on top.
0:02:59 > 0:03:02# Don't stop! #
0:03:02 > 0:03:04MUSIC: "Hard To Say I'm Sorry" by Chicago
0:03:06 > 0:03:09But, it was a safer, softer sound
0:03:09 > 0:03:12than the hard rockers like Kiss, Alice Cooper and Aerosmith,
0:03:12 > 0:03:14who had been so popular in the '70s.
0:03:15 > 0:03:20By the early '80s, commercial radio playlists ruled the music industry.
0:03:20 > 0:03:22Stations couldn't afford to risk losing listeners
0:03:22 > 0:03:28and advertising revenue by playing anything that sounded too edgy.
0:03:28 > 0:03:31# Hold me now
0:03:31 > 0:03:34# It's hard for me to say I'm sorry... #
0:03:34 > 0:03:39For young rock fans, this middle of the road rock was music your parents listened to.
0:03:39 > 0:03:44A revolutionary new TV station was about to grab their attention.
0:03:44 > 0:03:46'In the beginning was the music.
0:03:46 > 0:03:47SEAGULLS CAW
0:03:47 > 0:03:49'But there was no-one around to hear it.
0:03:49 > 0:03:52CRASH
0:03:52 > 0:03:56'Announcing the latest achievement in home entertainment.
0:03:56 > 0:04:03'The power of sight. The power of sound. MTV Music Television.'
0:04:03 > 0:04:06# ..Rewritten by machine on new technology... #
0:04:06 > 0:04:09On the 1st of August 1981,
0:04:09 > 0:04:12MTV chose a video by the British band Buggles
0:04:12 > 0:04:14for its first-ever broadcast.
0:04:14 > 0:04:17The idea was simple. Radio on the TV.
0:04:17 > 0:04:21# Video killed the radio star
0:04:21 > 0:04:25# Video killed the radio star... #
0:04:25 > 0:04:29At first, American record companies didn't think MTV would work.
0:04:29 > 0:04:32Why spend money on making videos for an unknown TV station,
0:04:32 > 0:04:37when their rock bands were already all over FM radio?
0:04:37 > 0:04:39There were some bands who learned early on
0:04:39 > 0:04:43that they could benefit from the video opportunities of MTV
0:04:43 > 0:04:50to get exposure in the US, and they were mostly British bands.
0:04:50 > 0:04:52Put on some weird hats, some lipstick, some make-up -
0:04:52 > 0:04:54I'm talking, of course, about the men.
0:04:55 > 0:04:59# See them walking hand in hand across the bridge at midnight... #
0:04:59 > 0:05:04This made them visual in a way that the American bands weren't.
0:05:04 > 0:05:06# Girls on film... #
0:05:06 > 0:05:10Without any radio exposure, a new invasion of British bands
0:05:10 > 0:05:12were selling millions of records.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15MTV clearly had serious commercial power
0:05:15 > 0:05:18and American rock had to catch up.
0:05:18 > 0:05:21But now, just having the songs wasn't enough.
0:05:21 > 0:05:23You had to LOOK cool too -
0:05:23 > 0:05:28and for some of the older American rock bands, like Styx, this was a problem.
0:05:28 > 0:05:32It was, kind of, late in the game for us to be doing videos and that sort of thing.
0:05:34 > 0:05:38By the time we got to MTV, we really were novices at it.
0:05:39 > 0:05:43Seemingly overnight, the giants of arena rock
0:05:43 > 0:05:46began to look decidedly outdated.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49That was it for us, so suddenly to be TV stars
0:05:49 > 0:05:55was just... You know, it was an odd adjustment.
0:05:55 > 0:05:58# Is it any wonder I'm not crazy?
0:05:59 > 0:06:04# Is it any wonder I'm sane at all?
0:06:04 > 0:06:07They had to start looking more modern, they had to start...
0:06:07 > 0:06:10The poodle hairstyle to disappear, and, of course, suddenly
0:06:10 > 0:06:13they weren't wearing denim any more, they'd turn up in a leather jacket -
0:06:13 > 0:06:15- it was almost funny. You almost went... - HE STIFLES A LAUGH
0:06:15 > 0:06:18..But she's so beautiful.
0:06:18 > 0:06:21That's when things got real ugly for us.
0:06:21 > 0:06:23We made some pretty silly videos.
0:06:23 > 0:06:25They were some of the most
0:06:25 > 0:06:29embarrassing moments that I can remember.
0:06:29 > 0:06:31When Duran Duran comes out
0:06:31 > 0:06:35and they're all like, you know, male model-handsome,
0:06:35 > 0:06:38and then we show up and it's like, how do you compete with that?
0:06:38 > 0:06:43How do you compete with John Taylor? The guy's beautiful. You know.
0:06:45 > 0:06:48# And I'm gonna keep on lovin' you... #
0:06:48 > 0:06:53You know, some people would say "Nice afro" and I'm like "No, no." People would say "You had a mullet,"
0:06:53 > 0:06:57I'm like, "No, not really." And then I realised what I had was a mulfro.
0:06:57 > 0:07:00It was part afro, part mullet
0:07:00 > 0:07:04and probably, the worst of both, you know.
0:07:06 > 0:07:12MTV was quickly changing American pop music and rock needed to keep up.
0:07:12 > 0:07:14The bands that filled stadiums in the 1970s
0:07:14 > 0:07:18simply didn't fit in with the station's youthful attitude.
0:07:19 > 0:07:23But newcomers Van Halen understood what MTV wanted -
0:07:23 > 0:07:26big tunes with a flamboyant image.
0:07:26 > 0:07:28MUSIC: "Panama" by Van Halen
0:07:29 > 0:07:30# Oh, yeah
0:07:33 > 0:07:34# Ah-ah-ah
0:07:40 > 0:07:44# Jump back, what's that sound?
0:07:44 > 0:07:47# Here she comes, full blast and top down
0:07:47 > 0:07:50# Hot shoe, burnin' down the avenue
0:07:50 > 0:07:53# Model citizen, zero discipline... #
0:07:53 > 0:07:58LA's Van Halen were one of the first '80s American hard rock bands
0:07:58 > 0:08:01to cross over to the mainstream.
0:08:01 > 0:08:03They bridged the gap between metal and pop
0:08:03 > 0:08:06with a series of catchy songs and cheeky videos.
0:08:06 > 0:08:09# Panama
0:08:10 > 0:08:13# Panama... #
0:08:14 > 0:08:17The music was a showcase for guitarist Eddie Van Halen's
0:08:17 > 0:08:20fast and wildly inventive playing style.
0:08:29 > 0:08:34For many rock fans, he is America's greatest guitar hero since Jimi Hendrix.
0:08:44 > 0:08:50Eddie came out and it was obviously incredibly bitchin' guitar playing.
0:08:50 > 0:08:54Every single guitar player that came out after,
0:08:54 > 0:08:57you know, 1979, 1980
0:08:57 > 0:09:02all played a hybrid version of Eddie Van Halen.
0:09:02 > 0:09:05But it wasn't just about technical ability.
0:09:05 > 0:09:07This was rock as entertainment,
0:09:07 > 0:09:09evoking the explosive energy
0:09:09 > 0:09:13of older American rock acts like Aerosmith and Kiss.
0:09:28 > 0:09:31GUITAR RIFF
0:09:34 > 0:09:36# Oh!
0:09:39 > 0:09:41# Oh, yeah!
0:09:43 > 0:09:45# Teacher, stop that screamin'... #
0:09:45 > 0:09:47At the centre of the Van Halen spectacle
0:09:47 > 0:09:51was extrovert lead singer, David Lee Roth.
0:09:51 > 0:09:55Dave Roth was the epitome of the American singer.
0:09:55 > 0:09:58No question about him - he was all over that stage,
0:09:58 > 0:10:03he was flamboyant, he was in your face, he was charismatic...
0:10:03 > 0:10:06No, I'm actually a very family-oriented kind of guy,
0:10:06 > 0:10:09I've personally started three or four since January.
0:10:09 > 0:10:14He was hysterical. He was like a singing used car salesman.
0:10:14 > 0:10:18You know? Where he would sing pretty much about anything
0:10:18 > 0:10:20and try to sell you on it. And it was great.
0:10:20 > 0:10:23# I didn't know about this school
0:10:23 > 0:10:28# Little girl from Cherry Lawn, you're so bold
0:10:28 > 0:10:29# I didn't know that rule... #
0:10:32 > 0:10:36Van Halen managed to do what other heavy metal bands couldn't -
0:10:36 > 0:10:38make the music mainstream and pop.
0:10:38 > 0:10:41You had like, the '70s and then going into the '80s
0:10:41 > 0:10:47it was definitely Van Halen that sort of changed everything that rock'n'roll was up to that point.
0:10:47 > 0:10:48# Oh, can't you see me standing here
0:10:48 > 0:10:52# I got my back against the record machine... #
0:10:52 > 0:10:55By 1983, they were already MTV stars
0:10:55 > 0:10:58and had released four top ten albums.
0:10:58 > 0:11:02The following year, they became a household name, with their first number one single.
0:11:02 > 0:11:04# Oh, might as well jump
0:11:04 > 0:11:07# Jump
0:11:07 > 0:11:08# Might as well jump... #
0:11:08 > 0:11:11They had created the blueprint for a new American rock sound
0:11:11 > 0:11:15that would eventually take over the 1980s.
0:11:16 > 0:11:18But for now, on the other side of the country,
0:11:18 > 0:11:22one rock star was outselling everybody.
0:11:22 > 0:11:24# Cover me, baby...! #
0:11:26 > 0:11:29By the early '80s, New Jersey boy Bruce Springsteen
0:11:29 > 0:11:32was already an international superstar,
0:11:32 > 0:11:34producing a bar-room rock
0:11:34 > 0:11:37that struck right at the heart of blue-collar America.
0:11:37 > 0:11:39There's something about this one person
0:11:39 > 0:11:42that makes people wait outside record stores at 7:00am.
0:11:42 > 0:11:43Bruce saved my life.
0:11:43 > 0:11:46I mean, during periods when I was really depressed, he inspired me.
0:11:46 > 0:11:48MUSIC: "Cover Me"
0:11:51 > 0:11:54# The times are tough now They're just getting tougher, yeah
0:11:54 > 0:11:58# This old world is rough It's just getting rougher
0:11:58 > 0:12:01# Cover me
0:12:01 > 0:12:04# Come on, baby, cover me... #
0:12:05 > 0:12:09Bruce was a one of a kind live performer.
0:12:09 > 0:12:12You know, he's a preacher. He's a preacher with a guitar.
0:12:12 > 0:12:14MUSIC: "Born In The USA"
0:12:19 > 0:12:22In 1984, he'd released
0:12:22 > 0:12:25one of the most iconic American rock albums ever.
0:12:25 > 0:12:29# Born in the USA, I was
0:12:29 > 0:12:31# Born in the USA... #
0:12:31 > 0:12:35It was also his most misunderstood work.
0:12:35 > 0:12:38The album was about the struggles of American life,
0:12:38 > 0:12:42and the title track a tribute to a disenfranchised Vietnam vet.
0:12:42 > 0:12:46# Got in a little hometown jam
0:12:46 > 0:12:50# So they put a rifle in my hand
0:12:50 > 0:12:54# Sent me off to a foreign land
0:12:54 > 0:12:59# To go and kill the yellow man, now... #
0:12:59 > 0:13:03Most Americans totally misunderstood Born In The USA.
0:13:03 > 0:13:07Cos all you heard was the hook, Bruce's gruff manner and totally...
0:13:07 > 0:13:11Nobody was going to sit down and examine lyrics
0:13:11 > 0:13:12cos the hook was so
0:13:12 > 0:13:14boom, boom, boom...
0:13:14 > 0:13:15with the beat -
0:13:15 > 0:13:18# Born in the USA... #
0:13:18 > 0:13:21# ..I was born in the USA... #
0:13:21 > 0:13:24The lyrics were right there.
0:13:24 > 0:13:26But you got a nation who was
0:13:26 > 0:13:31respondent to riffs and hooks. Headline news.
0:13:31 > 0:13:35# Come back home to the refinery
0:13:35 > 0:13:40# Hiring man said, "Son, if it was up to me..."
0:13:40 > 0:13:44# Went down to see my VA man, he said
0:13:44 > 0:13:48# "Son, don't you understand?" now... #
0:13:50 > 0:13:54Ronald Reagan didn't pay much attention to the lyrics, either.
0:13:54 > 0:13:57Campaigning for his re-election, the song seemed like the perfect soundtrack
0:13:57 > 0:14:00to the President's nationalistic tub-thumping.
0:14:00 > 0:14:05America's future rests in a thousand dreams inside your hearts.
0:14:05 > 0:14:08It rests in the message of hope, in songs of a man
0:14:08 > 0:14:13so many young Americans admire - New Jersey's own Bruce Springsteen.
0:14:13 > 0:14:16What an idiot. It's not that hard.
0:14:16 > 0:14:20What is it about? It's about a guy who's born in the USA,
0:14:20 > 0:14:22and comes back with a much dirtier deal
0:14:22 > 0:14:24than he had when he left.
0:14:24 > 0:14:30It's not patriotic. It's about a broken system.
0:14:31 > 0:14:34The great communicator completely misread
0:14:34 > 0:14:36one of the greatest rock'n'roll songs ever written.
0:14:36 > 0:14:41In 1984, Reagan won his second term by a landslide,
0:14:41 > 0:14:44the nation seemingly united by a recovering economy
0:14:44 > 0:14:47and an undercurrent of anti-Soviet sentiment.
0:14:47 > 0:14:50The President had reignited the Cold War -
0:14:50 > 0:14:53the anti-Communist feelings even reflected in popular culture.
0:14:53 > 0:14:55Today, the Soviet Union
0:14:55 > 0:14:58has officially entered professional boxing.
0:14:58 > 0:15:01This is not just an exhibition fight. This is us against them.
0:15:01 > 0:15:04I must break you.
0:15:15 > 0:15:18That same year, American pop exploded with superstars.
0:15:18 > 0:15:22MTV was at the centre of that success.
0:15:23 > 0:15:26The New York-based television station was a national sensation
0:15:26 > 0:15:29with millions of teenagers glued to their screens.
0:15:31 > 0:15:33# Like a virgin
0:15:33 > 0:15:37# Touched for the very first time... #
0:15:38 > 0:15:42But on the other side of the country a new music scene was emerging
0:15:42 > 0:15:46that would dominate the channel for the remainder of the decade.
0:15:49 > 0:15:52MUSIC: "Nothing But A Good Time" by Poison
0:15:56 > 0:16:00In Los Angeles, a group of musicians were using Van Halen
0:16:00 > 0:16:03as their blueprint to create a new rock movement.
0:16:06 > 0:16:10They all hung out on the mile-long road known as Sunset Strip.
0:16:10 > 0:16:12# Don't need nothing
0:16:12 > 0:16:15# But a good time
0:16:15 > 0:16:18# How can I resist? #
0:16:18 > 0:16:19The LA scene was electric.
0:16:19 > 0:16:23You know, you had The Roxy, The Whiskey, The Troubadour,
0:16:23 > 0:16:26you had all these places to play and everybody was playing all the time.
0:16:26 > 0:16:29You went out every single night of the week.
0:16:29 > 0:16:33The Strip was, literally, you couldn't walk down the sidewalk,
0:16:33 > 0:16:34cos it was so crowded.
0:16:36 > 0:16:41The early 1980s Los Angeles music craze was hardcore punk.
0:16:41 > 0:16:44The emerging rock scene couldn't have been any more different.
0:16:44 > 0:16:47While punks dressed down, the metallers took the '70s fashion
0:16:47 > 0:16:51of the New York Dolls and British glam to a ridiculous new level.
0:16:52 > 0:16:55I started seeing these freaks, with black hair and blond hair,
0:16:55 > 0:16:57walking up Clarke Street
0:16:57 > 0:16:59and I am like, "What is that?"
0:16:59 > 0:17:03Here they are in these, like, leather stiletto boots
0:17:03 > 0:17:07and the wild hair and stuff
0:17:07 > 0:17:09and I just thought, "This is the next big thing."
0:17:09 > 0:17:13Your whole day revolved around the sun coming down,
0:17:13 > 0:17:15getting dressed up,
0:17:15 > 0:17:16hiking the hair up...
0:17:18 > 0:17:19..partying. It was great.
0:17:20 > 0:17:22This was partying '80s style.
0:17:25 > 0:17:28The loose sucks was indescribable.
0:17:28 > 0:17:30You know there were people all on the streets,
0:17:30 > 0:17:32smoking, drinking, fucking.
0:17:32 > 0:17:35You had a couple of cocktails, then you did a couple of lines.
0:17:35 > 0:17:37Cocaine, Jack Daniels.
0:17:37 > 0:17:39Jack! Jack!
0:17:39 > 0:17:42Then you had a couple more cocktails, to balance off the couple of lines.
0:17:42 > 0:17:45I ralphed my guts out on many nights.
0:17:45 > 0:17:48Sex on the fire escape in front of, you know, ten other people
0:17:48 > 0:17:51was all just, sort of, a normal day.
0:17:51 > 0:17:55They never thought, "Jeez, you know, if I fuck that porn star,
0:17:55 > 0:17:57"I could get AIDS". That never occurred to them.
0:17:59 > 0:18:03# Right now, lay it down Lay it down.
0:18:03 > 0:18:06MTV was on the lookout for a new music trend
0:18:06 > 0:18:08to expand their growing audience.
0:18:08 > 0:18:12With its outrageous look and sound, the LA rock scene was perfect.
0:18:12 > 0:18:16By the early '80s, Sunset Strip bands started to feature on
0:18:16 > 0:18:21the channel's playlist. The most requested video was by Quiet Riot.
0:18:21 > 0:18:23# Cum on feel the noize
0:18:24 > 0:18:26# Girls rock their boys
0:18:26 > 0:18:30# We'll get wild, wild, wild
0:18:30 > 0:18:33# Get wild
0:18:33 > 0:18:34# Come on! #
0:18:34 > 0:18:39After heavy rotation on MTV of their cover of an old Slade song,
0:18:39 > 0:18:42their debut LP became their first ever heavy metal album
0:18:42 > 0:18:45to go to number one in America.
0:18:45 > 0:18:48Record labels see this and say,
0:18:48 > 0:18:50"Sign me the next Quiet Riot!"
0:18:50 > 0:18:53And from that point on, we open up the floodgates
0:18:54 > 0:18:55And proud of it.
0:18:56 > 0:19:00Quiet Riot may have opened the door to MTV for LA's new rock scene,
0:19:00 > 0:19:04but it was another Sunset Strip band who kicked that door off its hinges.
0:19:04 > 0:19:06# She's got looks that kill
0:19:09 > 0:19:11# That kill
0:19:11 > 0:19:14# She got the looks that kill... #
0:19:14 > 0:19:17Indulgent, decadent, perverts.
0:19:17 > 0:19:20They pushed it to the limit.
0:19:20 > 0:19:22What does your mother think of all this?
0:19:22 > 0:19:24- She loves it. - She loves it, you know.
0:19:24 > 0:19:25'They had attitude,'
0:19:25 > 0:19:28they had the look, they were funny.
0:19:28 > 0:19:32You know, they were trying to be the baddest boys of all time.
0:19:35 > 0:19:40Motley Crue combined the party-hard spirit of Sunset Strip,
0:19:40 > 0:19:44with the exuberance of '70s rockers Aerosmith and Alice Cooper,
0:19:44 > 0:19:48Formed in 1981, they were put together by drummer Tommy Lee
0:19:48 > 0:19:50and bass player Nikki Sixx,
0:19:50 > 0:19:52the brains behind the operation.
0:19:55 > 0:19:59Our whole thing was about living large and girls and cars
0:19:59 > 0:20:02and motorcycles and fun.
0:20:02 > 0:20:03What kind of women do you like?
0:20:03 > 0:20:05Any women with a pussy.
0:20:05 > 0:20:10You would just drink and do drugs and just get crazy.
0:20:10 > 0:20:14looking back it's like, "What the hell were we thinking?"
0:20:14 > 0:20:16- # Too young to fall in love - Too young
0:20:16 > 0:20:19- # Too young to fall in love - Too young
0:20:19 > 0:20:23- # Too young to fall in love - To fall in love
0:20:23 > 0:20:25- # Too young to fall in love - Too young, much too young... #
0:20:25 > 0:20:28They really hit the big time after signing with
0:20:28 > 0:20:30the management of their heroes, Kiss,
0:20:30 > 0:20:33they ditched their early satanic flirtation,
0:20:33 > 0:20:37ramped up the glam and made each gig a theatrical event.
0:20:37 > 0:20:40You know, we started messing around with pyrotechnics.
0:20:40 > 0:20:43You know, and we didn't know anything about it,
0:20:43 > 0:20:45we got this Pyro Gel and we would just smear it on Nikki
0:20:45 > 0:20:47and practise lighting him on fire.
0:20:47 > 0:20:49What was born again was showbiz again.
0:20:49 > 0:20:52They rehearsed the show, they spent money on the show,
0:20:52 > 0:20:55it was a big show, and I thought that was healthy.
0:20:55 > 0:20:57MUSIC: "Smoking In The Boys Room" by Motley Crue
0:20:57 > 0:20:59Like Alice Cooper before them
0:20:59 > 0:21:03their showbiz approach to rock music was strikingly visual.
0:21:03 > 0:21:06It translated perfectly to MTV.
0:21:06 > 0:21:09# Smoking in the boys' room
0:21:09 > 0:21:12# We're smoking in the boys' room
0:21:12 > 0:21:16# Teacher don't you fill me up with your rule
0:21:16 > 0:21:21# Everybody knows that smokin' ain't allowed in school. #
0:21:21 > 0:21:23And it was thanks to Motley Crue's outlandish image
0:21:23 > 0:21:26LA's heavy rock scene was given a new name -
0:21:26 > 0:21:28Hair Metal.
0:21:28 > 0:21:31When we were backstage and T-Bone looked at me and said,
0:21:31 > 0:21:33"Dude, how's my hat?"
0:21:33 > 0:21:36I go, "You're not wearing a hat, it's just your hair."
0:21:36 > 0:21:38He goes, "Dude, that's my hat!"
0:21:38 > 0:21:40That's what he called his hair, cos they used so much hairspray.
0:21:40 > 0:21:44Then he comes over like a wild lady and he goes,
0:21:44 > 0:21:45"Dude, how's my helmet?"
0:21:45 > 0:21:48"What do you mean?" He has so much hairspray in his hair,
0:21:48 > 0:21:50it just became hard as rock,
0:21:50 > 0:21:53so he's going, "How's my helmet?" "It looks good, man."
0:21:54 > 0:21:59In 1985 Motley Crue's album, Theatre Of Pain, charted at number six.
0:21:59 > 0:22:02Suddenly every record label wanted their own Motley Crue.
0:22:04 > 0:22:06For five or six years, all the A&R men, all the bands...
0:22:06 > 0:22:09You didn't head to New York to establish yourself -
0:22:09 > 0:22:12they all got on a bus, plane, train to Los Angeles,
0:22:12 > 0:22:16and that's where everybody was, you know, it's like...everybody.
0:22:16 > 0:22:19Hit it, CC!
0:22:19 > 0:22:21MUSIC: "Talk Dirty To Me" by Poison
0:22:21 > 0:22:26Before long, American TV and radio was invaded by Hair Metal.
0:22:26 > 0:22:28# At the drive in
0:22:28 > 0:22:31# In the old man's Ford
0:22:31 > 0:22:34# Down the basement
0:22:34 > 0:22:37# Lock the cellar door
0:22:37 > 0:22:39# And, baby
0:22:39 > 0:22:40# Talk dirty to me. #
0:22:40 > 0:22:44MTV made bands like Ratt, Twisted Sister, Cinderella
0:22:44 > 0:22:47and Poison household names.
0:22:47 > 0:22:51With big hooks and catchy choruses, this was larger than life pop metal
0:22:51 > 0:22:53that appealed to American teenagers.
0:22:53 > 0:22:55# Oooh, yeah! #
0:22:55 > 0:22:57But the lyrics, like the videos,
0:22:57 > 0:23:01were lewd, crude and unashamedly sexist.
0:23:01 > 0:23:04The sexual equality championed by '60s rock bands
0:23:04 > 0:23:06was now a distant memory.
0:23:06 > 0:23:09# Girls, girls, girls
0:23:09 > 0:23:13# At the Dollhouse in Fort Lauderdale
0:23:13 > 0:23:16# Girls, girls, girls
0:23:16 > 0:23:20# Rocking in Atlanta at Tattletails
0:23:20 > 0:23:24# Girls, girls, girls
0:23:24 > 0:23:27# Raising hell at the Seventh Veil. #
0:23:27 > 0:23:30"How's women betrayed in them?" As bimbos, of course!
0:23:30 > 0:23:32That was their role in that.
0:23:32 > 0:23:35Everybody had identical boobs from identical doctors.
0:23:35 > 0:23:38You know, it wasn't that good,
0:23:38 > 0:23:42but it was very much up in keeping with the '80s, that narcissism.
0:23:42 > 0:23:45# I just need a new toy. #
0:23:45 > 0:23:48I could not believe the moment... I can remember the moment,
0:23:48 > 0:23:53sitting in my living room and watching MTV and Girls, Girls, Girls
0:23:53 > 0:23:57comes on - Motley Crue - and there are all these strippers.
0:23:57 > 0:23:58I couldn't believe it, it's like,
0:23:58 > 0:24:02"OK, that's it, you know, you've gone the limit now."
0:24:02 > 0:24:07It was a similar story of sexual discrimination behind the scenes.
0:24:07 > 0:24:10I think, at that point in time, men wanted to reduce women
0:24:10 > 0:24:16back to barefoot and pregnant, if possible, and there weren't a lot
0:24:16 > 0:24:19of women in the music industry at that point in time, either.
0:24:19 > 0:24:23You know, there was myself and like a handful of other women.
0:24:23 > 0:24:28You know, I'd be managing a band that was, like, on the rise
0:24:28 > 0:24:32and the record company president or the A&R person who wanted to
0:24:32 > 0:24:36sign the band would, like, whisper in the band's ear,
0:24:36 > 0:24:40"Well, we'll sign you and get you a real manager,"
0:24:40 > 0:24:42because, you know, I was a woman.
0:24:44 > 0:24:47Not only was Hair Metal sexist,
0:24:47 > 0:24:51but it completely ignored the social and political climate of the 1980s.
0:24:51 > 0:24:54While America wrestled with big issues like the Cold War,
0:24:54 > 0:24:56the economy and AIDS,
0:24:56 > 0:24:59all the rock bands cared about was partying.
0:25:00 > 0:25:03Our shit was about having a good time, you know.
0:25:03 > 0:25:05I never wanted to get deep.
0:25:05 > 0:25:07We, kind of, kept it tongue-in-cheek.
0:25:07 > 0:25:11You've got to remember I came from the Van Halen thing.
0:25:11 > 0:25:12We were just trying to be,
0:25:12 > 0:25:15"Hey, let's party and fuck and have a good time," you know?
0:25:15 > 0:25:19Back at MTV's headquarters in New York, many of
0:25:19 > 0:25:24the hip, young staff found Hair Metal decidedly crass and un-cool.
0:25:24 > 0:25:29Every time MTV took metal off the air, the ratings went down.
0:25:29 > 0:25:33So for a long time, they were stuck, they were reluctantly
0:25:33 > 0:25:36stuck with metal, because it made them so much money.
0:25:36 > 0:25:38Hair Metal's popularity was such that
0:25:38 > 0:25:42several of America's old rock acts, ended up tweaking their image
0:25:42 > 0:25:47and songs in an attempt to cash in on the new rock craze.
0:25:47 > 0:25:50Could we be taken seriously? You are damn right we could.
0:25:50 > 0:25:5250 million fans can't be wrong.
0:25:52 > 0:25:56Folks at home, take us seriously, but take us.
0:25:58 > 0:26:02Hard rock heroes Kiss went for the complete makeover.
0:26:02 > 0:26:04Out went their trademark face paint
0:26:04 > 0:26:07and in came a Hair Metal fashion catastrophe.
0:26:07 > 0:26:09So why did you take the make-up off?
0:26:09 > 0:26:11You do something too long and you wind up being
0:26:11 > 0:26:14a caricature of yourself. You end up being a copy of yourself.
0:26:14 > 0:26:17I always figure that, you know, that life is like a one-way trip,
0:26:17 > 0:26:20so you might as well dress for a good time, so, you know.
0:26:20 > 0:26:22As you can tell, he is really dressed today.
0:26:22 > 0:26:24And this is the best way to have fun.
0:26:24 > 0:26:31# Oh, no, tears are falling
0:26:31 > 0:26:35# Oh, no, tears are falling. #
0:26:35 > 0:26:38Kiss fans weren't so keen on the new direction
0:26:38 > 0:26:42and the band failed to score a Top 40 hit in the 1980s.
0:26:42 > 0:26:45# And the night goes by so very slow... #
0:26:45 > 0:26:49'70s female rockers Heart ditched their flowery frocks
0:26:49 > 0:26:52for a sexier '80s rock sound and image.
0:26:52 > 0:26:56They would later regret playing up to Hair Metal's sexual stereotypes,
0:26:56 > 0:27:00but they scored six Top Ten hits during the decade.
0:27:00 > 0:27:06# Till now I always got by on my own
0:27:06 > 0:27:10# I never really cared until I met you. #
0:27:10 > 0:27:16Hey, this is a Rock'n'Roll museum, you guys don't belong in here!
0:27:16 > 0:27:17Ha-ha-ha!
0:27:17 > 0:27:18# I'm the king of rock
0:27:18 > 0:27:19# There is none higher... #
0:27:19 > 0:27:24Another '70s faded rock giant used a different means to make a comeback.
0:27:24 > 0:27:28By 1986, hip-hop had established itself as a serious threat
0:27:28 > 0:27:31to rock's crown as America's leading popular music.
0:27:31 > 0:27:33# Got the right to vote and will elect
0:27:33 > 0:27:36# And other rappers can't stand us but give us respect. #
0:27:36 > 0:27:40It started out as street music from the black community
0:27:40 > 0:27:42but thanks to chart acts like Run DMC,
0:27:42 > 0:27:46it was fast appealing to a large white audience, too.
0:27:46 > 0:27:50MUSIC: "Walk This Way" by Aerosmith and Run DMC
0:27:50 > 0:27:55And it was via rap music that Aerosmith made their return.
0:27:55 > 0:27:58# There's a back seat lover that's always on the cover... #
0:27:58 > 0:28:01Their collaboration with Run DMC catapulted them
0:28:01 > 0:28:05from a drug induced exile back into the Top Ten.
0:28:05 > 0:28:07# Walk this way
0:28:07 > 0:28:09# Talk this way
0:28:09 > 0:28:11# Walk this way
0:28:11 > 0:28:13# Talk this way. #
0:28:13 > 0:28:17They were quick to capitalise on their return to fame.
0:28:17 > 0:28:19With help from songwriter Desmond Child,
0:28:19 > 0:28:23they were able to create their own successful style of '80s American rock.
0:28:25 > 0:28:28# Dude looks like a lady
0:28:29 > 0:28:31# Dude looks like a lady. #
0:28:31 > 0:28:33Dude (Looks Like A Lady) came about
0:28:33 > 0:28:36because they had gone to a bar
0:28:36 > 0:28:39and so, at the end of the bar, from behind,
0:28:39 > 0:28:42they saw this gorgeous blonde.
0:28:42 > 0:28:46Then the blonde turned around and it was Vince Neil of Motley Crue
0:28:46 > 0:28:50and so they started laughing and started saying,
0:28:50 > 0:28:52"Hey, that dude looks like a lady!"
0:28:52 > 0:28:54And that's where it was born.
0:28:54 > 0:28:56# Dude looks like a lady
0:28:57 > 0:29:00# Dude looks like a lady. #
0:29:01 > 0:29:02Similar to the hair metal sound,
0:29:02 > 0:29:06Dude (Looks Like A Lady) epitomised '80s American rock production.
0:29:06 > 0:29:08Just like the fashion and the hooks,
0:29:08 > 0:29:11it was about making everything bigger.
0:29:11 > 0:29:13# Baby let me follow you down
0:29:13 > 0:29:17# Do me, do me, do me, do me! #
0:29:18 > 0:29:23It became an art of being in the studio to see who could
0:29:23 > 0:29:25get the ear candy the best,
0:29:25 > 0:29:29because what they wanted to do was grab listeners.
0:29:29 > 0:29:32The snares along with digital reverb
0:29:32 > 0:29:35could seem like they could go on for ever and ever
0:29:35 > 0:29:38in rooms that couldn't exist in reality.
0:29:38 > 0:29:41You could doubletrack, tripletrack, quadrupletrack
0:29:41 > 0:29:45all of the guitars and make this enormous sound
0:29:45 > 0:29:46that was really in your face.
0:29:46 > 0:29:51# Here I go again on my own
0:29:51 > 0:29:55# Going down the only road I've ever known. #
0:29:55 > 0:29:57As in the 1970s,
0:29:57 > 0:30:01in the '80s there were two schools of mainstream American rock -
0:30:01 > 0:30:03one favoured that big production sound,
0:30:03 > 0:30:05backed by a theatrical performance,
0:30:05 > 0:30:09the other looked back to America's rich tradition of rock'n'roll,
0:30:09 > 0:30:13connecting with the hearts of the working class.
0:30:13 > 0:30:16# Well, I fought for you
0:30:18 > 0:30:20# I fought too hard... #
0:30:20 > 0:30:24By the early 1980s, Tom Petty had gone from a cult heartland hero
0:30:24 > 0:30:27to a star of FM radio.
0:30:27 > 0:30:30With his blends of post Beatles riffs
0:30:30 > 0:30:32and streetwise '50s pop romanticism,
0:30:32 > 0:30:35he crashed the Top Ten with albums like
0:30:35 > 0:30:37Hard Promises and Long After Dark.
0:30:37 > 0:30:41It set him on course to becoming one of America's most loved rock stars.
0:30:41 > 0:30:44# There's been a change
0:30:44 > 0:30:49# Yeah, there's been a change of heart
0:30:49 > 0:30:51# There's been a change... #
0:30:51 > 0:30:55In the '80s you had drum machines and synthesisers,
0:30:55 > 0:30:59things that I felt would date the music.
0:30:59 > 0:31:05I tried to avoid that and keep the music organic.
0:31:11 > 0:31:16My mission was to stay true to where I came from,
0:31:16 > 0:31:20just try to be a garage band,
0:31:20 > 0:31:23you know, a live band.
0:31:26 > 0:31:28# You were the moon and sun
0:31:28 > 0:31:32# You're just a loaded gun now. #
0:31:32 > 0:31:37It wasn't just the vintage sound of American rock Petty preferred.
0:31:37 > 0:31:40# There's been a change. #
0:31:40 > 0:31:42Tom saw the economic climate of the '60s
0:31:42 > 0:31:44as a fairer time for the rock fan.
0:31:44 > 0:31:51Rock'n'roll was so great because it was a 99 cent enterprise,
0:31:51 > 0:31:56you know, like anybody could go get that record they heard on the radio.
0:31:56 > 0:32:01But once... Like when you started seeing, especially like the CD,
0:32:01 > 0:32:06you know it was becoming 13 dollars, 14 dollars -
0:32:06 > 0:32:08people couldn't pay that.
0:32:08 > 0:32:11# Good love is hard to find. #
0:32:11 > 0:32:17In the 1970s sales of rock music had made billions for record companies.
0:32:17 > 0:32:21In the '80s, when Reaganomics inspired aggressive profiteering,
0:32:21 > 0:32:25the major labels proposed a one dollar increase on chart albums.
0:32:25 > 0:32:27Tom Petty refused to comply.
0:32:27 > 0:32:30He was fighting greed and stupidity.
0:32:30 > 0:32:34Basically, record companies wanted more for less
0:32:34 > 0:32:39and Petty was telling them "No, we charge a fair price,
0:32:39 > 0:32:42"I don't want to squeeze it out of the people who are buying it,"
0:32:42 > 0:32:44because he was a guy who bought records.
0:32:44 > 0:32:47You know, he'd be squeezing it out of people that he used to know,
0:32:47 > 0:32:50and I think there's a nobility to that.
0:32:50 > 0:32:55# Good love is hard to find... #
0:32:55 > 0:33:01I don't know, I thought it was kind of cool to just say, "I'm fine,
0:33:01 > 0:33:04"I don't need another buck."
0:33:04 > 0:33:08Not one artist got behind me!
0:33:08 > 0:33:11Despite his battle with the music industry,
0:33:11 > 0:33:15thanks to an appearance at Live Aid and a series of successful albums,
0:33:15 > 0:33:19in the 1980s, Tom became one of the most famous rock acts in the world.
0:33:19 > 0:33:24His bitter sweet lyrics were inventively portrayed in a series of creative videos,
0:33:24 > 0:33:28far removed from the vulgarity of Hair Metal's sexual imagery.
0:33:28 > 0:33:32MUSIC "Don't Come Around Here No More" by Tom Petty
0:33:32 > 0:33:35Rock is a blue-collar music.
0:33:35 > 0:33:40We had a lot of acceptance among the more working class people,
0:33:40 > 0:33:43I suppose, and that's rewarding, you know
0:33:43 > 0:33:45because that's where I came from.
0:33:46 > 0:33:49I would be very disappointed if it was only the, kind of,
0:33:49 > 0:33:53Young Republicans set that liked our music.
0:33:53 > 0:33:58MUSIC: "Jack and Diane" by John Cougar Mellencamp
0:34:04 > 0:34:08Indiana singer John Cougar Mellencamp appealed to that same heartland audience,
0:34:08 > 0:34:12with songs that depicted the struggles of everyday Americans.
0:34:12 > 0:34:16# Little ditty 'bout Jack and Diane
0:34:16 > 0:34:20# Two American kids growin' up in the heartland
0:34:22 > 0:34:26# Jackie gonna be a football star
0:34:26 > 0:34:29# Diane's debutante back seat of Jackie's car. #
0:34:31 > 0:34:36His most significant work was 1985's album, Scarecrow,
0:34:36 > 0:34:39a damning critique of the American farming industries collapse.
0:34:39 > 0:34:42Having grown up around Indiana farmland,
0:34:42 > 0:34:44it was a subject close to his heart.
0:34:44 > 0:34:48Scarecrow came from, as he called it, table talk.
0:34:48 > 0:34:51You know, sitting around the dinner table with members of his family.
0:34:51 > 0:34:54# Scarecrow on a wooden cross Blackbird in the barn
0:34:54 > 0:34:58# 400 empty acres that used to be my farm
0:34:58 > 0:35:02# I grew up like my daddy did My grandpa cleared this land
0:35:02 > 0:35:05# When I was five I walked the fence while Grandpa held my hand... #
0:35:05 > 0:35:09I believe it was his brother-in-law was a farmer.
0:35:09 > 0:35:14If you worked out all the finances, what he was making,
0:35:14 > 0:35:16what he was spending, the investment, the hours,
0:35:16 > 0:35:20he was making a buck 15 an hour, as a farmer.
0:35:20 > 0:35:24I made a dollar an hour, working in a drug store in 1969
0:35:24 > 0:35:26and I was 15-years-old.
0:35:26 > 0:35:29# Grandma's on the front porch swing with a Bible in her hand
0:35:29 > 0:35:33# Sometimes I hear her singing Take me to the Promised Land
0:35:33 > 0:35:37# Take away a man's dignity he can't work his fields and cows
0:35:37 > 0:35:40# There'll be blood on the scarecrow
0:35:40 > 0:35:42# Blood on the plough. #
0:35:42 > 0:35:44Alongside Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty,
0:35:44 > 0:35:46John Mellencamp was one of the few '80s rock stars
0:35:46 > 0:35:49who engaged with the decline of the American dream.
0:35:49 > 0:35:53Although Reagan may have encouraged rapid economic growth
0:35:53 > 0:35:54it came at a cost.
0:35:55 > 0:35:57While the top 2% got richer,
0:35:57 > 0:36:01nearly half the population's income fell in the 1980s.
0:36:01 > 0:36:05People like Mellencamp, Springsteen, Petty, these are songwriters
0:36:05 > 0:36:07that are fed up with the political system.
0:36:07 > 0:36:10They're talking about the people affected by politics
0:36:10 > 0:36:13and that's why their songs still resonate.
0:36:13 > 0:36:16While all three of these socially-aware artists
0:36:16 > 0:36:19enjoyed extensive exposure on MTV,
0:36:19 > 0:36:21they couldn't have been any more different
0:36:21 > 0:36:25to the narcissistic hair metal that saturated the channel.
0:36:25 > 0:36:28# I fuck like a beast!
0:36:28 > 0:36:30# I come around round
0:36:30 > 0:36:34# I come feel your love. #
0:36:34 > 0:36:40I thought that hair band stuff was just the absolute lowest point
0:36:40 > 0:36:42I had ever seen rock get to.
0:36:42 > 0:36:47I thought they really humiliated women, to a great extent.
0:36:47 > 0:36:49I didn't like that.
0:36:50 > 0:36:53Hair Metal was offending a high profile group of American mothers, too.
0:36:55 > 0:36:59The music is exciting, the singers idolised by millions,
0:36:59 > 0:37:01but many of the fans are young and impressionable
0:37:01 > 0:37:03and some of the lyrics,
0:37:03 > 0:37:05according to an influential group of American mothers,
0:37:05 > 0:37:08should not be falling on youthful ears.
0:37:08 > 0:37:11Over his two terms, one of Ronald Reagan's presidential drives
0:37:11 > 0:37:15was a return to the morals and standards of 1950s America.
0:37:17 > 0:37:21As part of this cultural clean up, a group of Senator's wives formed
0:37:21 > 0:37:24The Parents' Music Resource Centre, in 1985.
0:37:26 > 0:37:27Led by Al Gore's wife, Tipper,
0:37:27 > 0:37:32its remit was to rid American rock of sex, drugs and violence.
0:37:32 > 0:37:36# Never let loose Going in for the kill. #
0:37:36 > 0:37:39This group, Motley Crue, has a song on this album,
0:37:39 > 0:37:42It's entitled Livewire,
0:37:42 > 0:37:45quote, "I'll either break her face or take down her legs,
0:37:45 > 0:37:47"Get my ways at will, Go for the throat,
0:37:47 > 0:37:51"Never let loose, Going in for the kill."
0:37:51 > 0:37:55The sexual lyrics are very, very explicit at this point.
0:37:55 > 0:37:58In fact, I'm embarrassed to tell you some of them.
0:37:58 > 0:38:02Many of the Hair Metal bands were on the organisation's hit list.
0:38:02 > 0:38:06The PMRC demanded record labels give albums age restrictions
0:38:06 > 0:38:08and even drop artists deemed offensive.
0:38:08 > 0:38:11The musicians were outraged,
0:38:11 > 0:38:13but did the PMRC have a point?
0:38:13 > 0:38:17That was the era that women were treated the worst, you know -
0:38:17 > 0:38:19in the '80s.
0:38:21 > 0:38:24The sexism really was the most obvious,
0:38:24 > 0:38:27so, yeah, looking back, I think Tipper might have had a point.
0:38:27 > 0:38:33But, I don't know, just from, you know, a street rocker point of view,
0:38:33 > 0:38:36I don't really relate to those people, you know.
0:38:36 > 0:38:39In the end, the American recording industry agreed
0:38:39 > 0:38:43to slap advisory labels on albums that contained explicit content.
0:38:43 > 0:38:46It didn't have quite the desired effect.
0:38:46 > 0:38:49As a kid, you're going to go, "That's the one I'm going to buy,"
0:38:49 > 0:38:53and so album sales, you know, went up,
0:38:53 > 0:38:56like, 100% in sales, just because of those stickers.
0:38:59 > 0:39:02- New Jersey.- New Jersey.
0:39:02 > 0:39:04New Jersey, yeah.
0:39:04 > 0:39:08While the PMRC battled with the seedier side of pop,
0:39:08 > 0:39:10a new Jersey band with a clean-cut image
0:39:10 > 0:39:15was set to take over the world, with the perfect American rock package.
0:39:15 > 0:39:19MUSIC "Livin' On A Prayer" by Bon Jovi
0:39:20 > 0:39:24Bon Jovi drew on the stadium anthems of Journey and Boston,
0:39:24 > 0:39:28had the stage presence of Aerosmith and Kiss and their songs
0:39:28 > 0:39:31evoked the struggles of Bruce Springsteen's blue collar America
0:39:31 > 0:39:34# Hold on to what we've got
0:39:34 > 0:39:38# It doesn't make a difference if we make it or not... #
0:39:38 > 0:39:41And by adopting the fashion and sound of Hair Metal,
0:39:41 > 0:39:44they could appeal to the whole of America.
0:39:44 > 0:39:46# Give it a shot
0:39:46 > 0:39:50# Oh, we're halfway there
0:39:50 > 0:39:54# Oh oh, livin' on a prayer
0:39:54 > 0:39:58# Take my hand We'll make it I swear
0:39:58 > 0:40:02# Oh oh, livin' on a prayer. #
0:40:02 > 0:40:05If you gave a commission to a sculptor
0:40:05 > 0:40:08and said, "Make the perfect rock star,"
0:40:08 > 0:40:14he would basically chisel out Jon Bon Jovi's face and hair.
0:40:14 > 0:40:17# MUSIC: "Runaway" by Bon Jovi
0:40:17 > 0:40:20Led by singer Jon and guitarist Richie Sambora,
0:40:20 > 0:40:23the band formed in 1983, but it would take them
0:40:23 > 0:40:27a couple of albums to perfect their hit making formula.
0:40:27 > 0:40:31# Daddy's girl learned fast all those things he couldn't say. #
0:40:31 > 0:40:33When John brought in Kiss and Aerosmith collaborator
0:40:33 > 0:40:36Desmond Child, everything changed.
0:40:36 > 0:40:38# She's a little runaway. #
0:40:38 > 0:40:41I rented a car and drove out to New Jersey
0:40:41 > 0:40:44to these marshlands, you know,
0:40:44 > 0:40:47on the edge of an oil refinery.
0:40:47 > 0:40:49I was still living in my mother's house.
0:40:49 > 0:40:52Jon and I used to write in my mom's...
0:40:52 > 0:40:54in my parents' basement.
0:40:54 > 0:40:57I was led downstairs to the basement,
0:40:57 > 0:40:59where there was a little space heater
0:40:59 > 0:41:03and there was a keyboard on a Formica table,
0:41:03 > 0:41:08and we started writing this song called You Give Love A Bad Name.
0:41:08 > 0:41:10I had brought the title
0:41:10 > 0:41:13and Jon had the hook, "shot through the heart".
0:41:13 > 0:41:19And Richie started playing that chugging great hook
0:41:19 > 0:41:21and we were off and running.
0:41:21 > 0:41:24# Shot through the heart And you're to blame
0:41:24 > 0:41:28# You give love a bad name
0:41:28 > 0:41:29# Bad name
0:41:29 > 0:41:30# I play my part... #
0:41:30 > 0:41:32With co-writer Desmond on board,
0:41:32 > 0:41:35Bon Jovi's next album made them superstars.
0:41:35 > 0:41:38Just like the stadium rockers of the '70s,
0:41:38 > 0:41:41their sing-along anthems worked as well on stage
0:41:41 > 0:41:44as they did on a car stereo or a bar jukebox.
0:41:44 > 0:41:47Songs like Livin' On A Prayer, You Give Love A Bad Name
0:41:47 > 0:41:51strike a chord in the working class.
0:41:52 > 0:41:57And it is the kind of music they want to rock to on the weekends.
0:41:57 > 0:42:03In 1987, while America grappled with the New York Stock Market crash
0:42:03 > 0:42:06Slippery When Wet was the biggest-selling album,
0:42:06 > 0:42:10the song's lyrics recalling better times.
0:42:10 > 0:42:13What we were doing was going back to our prom days in high school...
0:42:13 > 0:42:15# I sit in this smoky room... #
0:42:15 > 0:42:18and I guess, by accident, that was romantic
0:42:18 > 0:42:19and girls got it.
0:42:19 > 0:42:21# ..when we lost the keys
0:42:21 > 0:42:25# And you lost more than that in my back seat, baby. #
0:42:25 > 0:42:28I was just talking about my experience.
0:42:28 > 0:42:33You are sitting there, across the table from your prom date,
0:42:33 > 0:42:35at that point in time you're saying,
0:42:35 > 0:42:38"This is the girl I could possibly marry."
0:42:38 > 0:42:39# ..Forever
0:42:39 > 0:42:42# Never say goodbye
0:42:42 > 0:42:45# Never say goodbye... #
0:42:45 > 0:42:48What we captured, it was everybody's life experience,
0:42:48 > 0:42:50we were just mirroring it.
0:42:50 > 0:42:53# Hoping it would never end. #
0:42:53 > 0:42:56For MTV, Jon's dazzling film star looks
0:42:56 > 0:43:00were great for ratings and the band's videos featured 24/7.
0:43:00 > 0:43:05The channel was particularly partial to their line in power ballads.
0:43:05 > 0:43:08MUSIC: "Wanted Dead Or Alive" by Bon Jovi
0:43:12 > 0:43:14There had been a tradition
0:43:14 > 0:43:17in the music of Queen
0:43:17 > 0:43:19and, of course, The Beatles and Paul McCartney,
0:43:19 > 0:43:23songs like, you know, Long And Winding Road,
0:43:23 > 0:43:26they were emotionally very big songs.
0:43:26 > 0:43:30When the metal bands got a hold of that style,
0:43:30 > 0:43:35then they amped it up and that's what became the power ballad.
0:43:35 > 0:43:39# Is this love that I'm feelin'? #
0:43:39 > 0:43:41Power ballads were an '80s American phenomenon,
0:43:41 > 0:43:46a chance for our grizzled rockers to show their more vulnerable side
0:43:46 > 0:43:50and sell a whole load of records to soccer moms as well as teenage fans.
0:43:50 > 0:43:52They all followed the same formula -
0:43:52 > 0:43:54acoustic guitars...
0:43:55 > 0:43:57..soaring melodies...
0:44:00 > 0:44:02..rousing choruses...
0:44:05 > 0:44:06..and epic guitar solos.
0:44:06 > 0:44:09MUSIC: "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" by Poison
0:44:13 > 0:44:16When backed by a cheesy video, the song was soon on MTV,
0:44:16 > 0:44:20then on the FM dial and, finally, topping the charts.
0:44:20 > 0:44:23In the music business, anything that succeeds is instantly
0:44:23 > 0:44:29imitated over and over again on a larger scale until it fails.
0:44:29 > 0:44:32Just as it had at the end of the '70s,
0:44:32 > 0:44:36mainstream American rock was moving away from its rebellious roots,
0:44:36 > 0:44:38diluted by commercial success.
0:44:38 > 0:44:39It was all a bit safe.
0:44:39 > 0:44:44There was a lot of commercial, spoon-fed, sugary music
0:44:44 > 0:44:47and it was flooding radio and MTV.
0:44:47 > 0:44:49At some point, you've got to get, if you are 18,
0:44:49 > 0:44:51you've got to be pissed off.
0:44:51 > 0:44:54MUSIC: "Welcome To The Jungle" by Guns N' Roses
0:44:55 > 0:44:57# Welcome to the jungle
0:44:57 > 0:44:59# We got fun and games
0:44:59 > 0:45:00# We got everything you want
0:45:00 > 0:45:02# Honey, we know the names
0:45:02 > 0:45:04# We are the people that you find
0:45:04 > 0:45:06# Whatever you may need
0:45:06 > 0:45:09# If you got the money, honey We got your disease
0:45:09 > 0:45:11# In the jungle
0:45:11 > 0:45:12# Welcome to the jungle
0:45:12 > 0:45:16# Watch it bring you to your kn-kn-kn-kn-kn-kn-kn-kn-knees
0:45:16 > 0:45:19# Knees
0:45:19 > 0:45:21# I wanna watch you bleed. #
0:45:21 > 0:45:23For rebellious teens,
0:45:23 > 0:45:26Guns N' Roses were the ultimate American rock band.
0:45:26 > 0:45:29Released in 1987, their debut album is widely regarded
0:45:29 > 0:45:32as one of the greatest rock records of all time.
0:45:32 > 0:45:36It had the perfect combination of the swaggering arrogance
0:45:36 > 0:45:38of the big '70s stadium bands but
0:45:38 > 0:45:42mixed in with the sleaze and energy of punk and British hard rock.
0:45:42 > 0:45:47Guns N' Roses were not acting, they were not playing a part.
0:45:47 > 0:45:50They really were bad boys of rock'n'roll.
0:45:52 > 0:45:55# I see your sister in her Sunday dress
0:45:55 > 0:45:57# She's out to please She pouts her best... #
0:45:57 > 0:46:01We couldn't stand, like, all these sort of flamboyant guys
0:46:01 > 0:46:04that looked like girls running around with their bands.
0:46:04 > 0:46:08It was actually pretty silly, you know, looking back on it.
0:46:08 > 0:46:12In the Guns N' Roses days we hated that whole thing,
0:46:12 > 0:46:14we were like the antithesis of it.
0:46:14 > 0:46:15# Fuck off! #
0:46:17 > 0:46:19Some of LA's pop metal bands exaggerated their
0:46:19 > 0:46:23rebellious lifestyle, but Guns N' Roses were the real deal,
0:46:23 > 0:46:25dragged up on the back streets of West Hollywood.
0:46:25 > 0:46:28MUSIC: "It's So Easy" by Guns N' Roses
0:46:33 > 0:46:37We lived in, like, this dark underbelly of the real Hollywood.
0:46:37 > 0:46:41Drugs and dealers and guns.
0:46:41 > 0:46:47That informed us a lot more than Sunset Strip did,
0:46:47 > 0:46:49or spandex pants.
0:46:49 > 0:46:53MUSIC: "Out Ta Get Me" by Guns N' Roses
0:46:56 > 0:47:00The GNR sound was a filthy fusion of the punky rhythm section
0:47:00 > 0:47:03of drummer Steve Adler and bass player Duff McKagan,
0:47:03 > 0:47:06backing Izzy Stradlin's Stones-inspired guitar
0:47:06 > 0:47:08and the razor-sharp riffing of Slash.
0:47:11 > 0:47:14MUSIC: "My Michelle" by Guns N' Roses
0:47:23 > 0:47:26But the furious focus of the band was their temperamental lead singer,
0:47:26 > 0:47:28Axl Rose.
0:47:28 > 0:47:32# Your daddy works in porno now your momma's not around
0:47:32 > 0:47:36# She used to love her heroin Now she's underground
0:47:36 > 0:47:38# You stay out late at night
0:47:38 > 0:47:40# And you do your coke for free
0:47:40 > 0:47:45# Driving your friends crazy with your life's insanity. #
0:47:45 > 0:47:50Axl was one of the most intense people I have ever met in my life.
0:47:50 > 0:47:53He was a bad-ass, without a doubt.
0:47:53 > 0:47:55He was a guy that I've seen get in street fights
0:47:55 > 0:47:57and he's a guy that I've seen beat the shit out of people.
0:47:57 > 0:47:59I remember we were going to get him,
0:47:59 > 0:48:02because we were going to do a rehearsal
0:48:02 > 0:48:04and I went up and knocked on the door,
0:48:04 > 0:48:07he opened the door and he kicked me right in the balls
0:48:07 > 0:48:11and, to this day, I don't know why!
0:48:11 > 0:48:14The band soon built up a formidable live reputation,
0:48:14 > 0:48:17their raw energy offering a visceral alternative
0:48:17 > 0:48:20to the airbrushed look and sound of their contemporaries.
0:48:20 > 0:48:22They were so brilliant live.
0:48:22 > 0:48:25You knew that you were watching a train wreck,
0:48:25 > 0:48:27but you couldn't take your eyes off of it, you know,
0:48:27 > 0:48:31it was just so intense and a little bit dangerous.
0:48:31 > 0:48:35# Well, well, well, my Michelle... #
0:48:38 > 0:48:41With highly-explicit lyrics about prostitution,
0:48:41 > 0:48:44heroin addiction and running from the police,
0:48:44 > 0:48:47for nearly a year, their debut album struggled to get
0:48:47 > 0:48:50any mainstream exposure, but their second single,
0:48:50 > 0:48:52a tender love song,
0:48:52 > 0:48:56had just the right commercial appeal to dominate the American airwaves.
0:48:56 > 0:48:59# She's got a smile that it seems to me
0:48:59 > 0:49:03# Reminds me of childhood memories
0:49:03 > 0:49:08# Where everything was as fresh as the bright blue sky... #
0:49:08 > 0:49:11In the summer of 1988, Sweet Child O' Mine
0:49:11 > 0:49:14was a number one hit single for Guns N' Roses
0:49:14 > 0:49:17and set Appetite For Destruction on course
0:49:17 > 0:49:20for selling over 15 million copies.
0:49:20 > 0:49:24The album combined the best parts of the last 20 years of American rock -
0:49:24 > 0:49:27attitude, arrogance and universal appeal.
0:49:27 > 0:49:31# Oh oh-oh, sweet child o' mine
0:49:34 > 0:49:39# Oh-oh oh-oh, sweet love of mine. #
0:49:39 > 0:49:44It's a great record, because everything in their lives
0:49:44 > 0:49:49as errant young men into this strangely-cohesive band
0:49:49 > 0:49:52of musicians and singers and writers,
0:49:52 > 0:49:54it was all building up to that record.
0:49:54 > 0:49:56The performances are incredible, the production's great
0:49:56 > 0:49:58and they could play it.
0:49:58 > 0:50:02You know, I saw them on their first national tour and they killed it.
0:50:02 > 0:50:06Appetite For Destruction is one of the greatest rock'n'roll records EVER
0:50:06 > 0:50:10and those type of records that have swearing in it
0:50:10 > 0:50:14and have controversial topics don't get that big.
0:50:14 > 0:50:18They're not supposed to because it's not vanilla, but they did.
0:50:18 > 0:50:22The Reagan years were big and huge and scary
0:50:22 > 0:50:25and there was the Cold War and there was all this stuff
0:50:25 > 0:50:28and because there was recession,
0:50:28 > 0:50:31there was more crime and there was drugs everywhere.
0:50:31 > 0:50:34We weren't the only ones living like this, you know?
0:50:34 > 0:50:38We were just sort of, turns out, a mouthpiece
0:50:38 > 0:50:41for a lot of people like us.
0:50:41 > 0:50:44# Shed a tear, cos I'm missing you
0:50:44 > 0:50:47# I'm still all right to smile
0:50:49 > 0:50:51# Girl, I think about your... #
0:50:51 > 0:50:54The band quickly followed up Appetite For Destruction
0:50:54 > 0:50:57with the semi-acoustic album Lies.
0:50:57 > 0:50:59It sold five million copies in the United States alone
0:50:59 > 0:51:01and, by the end of the decade,
0:51:01 > 0:51:04they were the biggest rock act in the world.
0:51:04 > 0:51:11# All we need is just a little patience... #
0:51:11 > 0:51:14But fame came at a cost.
0:51:14 > 0:51:17I started getting into the heroin.
0:51:18 > 0:51:23And...it just took over.
0:51:23 > 0:51:27And it will take over your life - no matter how great you have it,
0:51:27 > 0:51:31no matter how much you appreciate what you have,
0:51:31 > 0:51:33if you are doing that,
0:51:33 > 0:51:35it's going to take complete control of your life.
0:51:36 > 0:51:38And then the crack thing came out.
0:51:38 > 0:51:40That was just...
0:51:45 > 0:51:49In 1990, Stephen Adler was fired from Guns N' Roses,
0:51:49 > 0:51:51for his continual substance abuse,
0:51:51 > 0:51:54from which he would later suffer a serious stroke.
0:51:54 > 0:51:57By that time, most of the band were struggling with addiction,
0:51:57 > 0:52:00but they continued to work together on new material.
0:52:00 > 0:52:04In 1991, they released two double albums,
0:52:04 > 0:52:07a confused mess of different musical styles.
0:52:07 > 0:52:11The direction was, kind of, all over the place. It was...
0:52:11 > 0:52:13We had so many songs.
0:52:13 > 0:52:15I still don't know what's on One and Two,
0:52:15 > 0:52:17I don't know what the difference is.
0:52:17 > 0:52:21I've gone back and forth over the years, for sure,
0:52:21 > 0:52:25like, thinking, "Well, we should have just made one rock record."
0:52:26 > 0:52:30You are churning out money for a lot of different entities -
0:52:30 > 0:52:32for promoters, for agents,
0:52:32 > 0:52:35for record companies, for whatever else -
0:52:35 > 0:52:38and you get...whether you...
0:52:39 > 0:52:42You can be as anti-establishment as you want,
0:52:42 > 0:52:44but if your band is huge
0:52:44 > 0:52:46and you're touring and you're out there...
0:52:48 > 0:52:49..things just happen.
0:52:49 > 0:52:53As '80s rock staggered on into the '90s,
0:52:53 > 0:52:56it followed a familiar pattern that had begun back in the '70s -
0:52:56 > 0:52:59it didn't matter how radical you started out,
0:52:59 > 0:53:02rock music was such big business
0:53:02 > 0:53:06that the corporate side eventually took over any rebellious spirit.
0:53:06 > 0:53:09# In the cold November rain... #
0:53:09 > 0:53:11Back on the Sunset Strip,
0:53:11 > 0:53:13a decade of decadence had finally caught up
0:53:13 > 0:53:15with the hair metal bands, too.
0:53:15 > 0:53:18Serious addiction problems had ended several careers
0:53:18 > 0:53:20while the AIDS pandemic put an end
0:53:20 > 0:53:22to their penchant for the promiscuous.
0:53:23 > 0:53:25So help me, God.
0:53:25 > 0:53:29As Reagan's reign came to an end, America was changing, too.
0:53:29 > 0:53:31The Cold War may have thawed,
0:53:31 > 0:53:35but as the world's leading superpower moved into the 1990s,
0:53:35 > 0:53:39the country struggled with both high unemployment and inflation.
0:53:39 > 0:53:44Once the United States entered the Gulf War, oil prices rocketed.
0:53:44 > 0:53:49Suddenly, the carefree partying of '80s rock had lost its charm.
0:53:49 > 0:53:53# With the lights out it's less dangerous
0:53:53 > 0:53:57# Here we are now, entertain us
0:53:57 > 0:53:59# I feel stupid... #
0:53:59 > 0:54:03Nirvana's album Nevermind topped the charts in January 1992
0:54:03 > 0:54:06and American rock changed overnight.
0:54:06 > 0:54:10Nirvana didn't look, sound or behave like '80s rock stars.
0:54:10 > 0:54:13This was made obvious at the 1992 MTV Music Awards
0:54:13 > 0:54:17when Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain and his wife Courtney Love
0:54:17 > 0:54:19got into an argument with Axl Rose
0:54:19 > 0:54:21and his girlfriend Stephanie Seymour.
0:54:21 > 0:54:23Axl comes up to Kurt and he goes,
0:54:23 > 0:54:26"You better shut your bitch up or I'll take her to the pavement."
0:54:26 > 0:54:29This is in a tent with hundreds of people in it,
0:54:29 > 0:54:32all of them players in the industry.
0:54:32 > 0:54:37And Kurt, who was very droll and very dry and very funny,
0:54:37 > 0:54:39looked at me and goes, "Shut up, bitch."
0:54:39 > 0:54:42The whole room started just falling to bits.
0:54:42 > 0:54:44It was a really funny comeback
0:54:44 > 0:54:48and, in the midst of it, Stephanie, trying to do a save,
0:54:48 > 0:54:50looked at me and said "So, are you a model?"
0:54:50 > 0:54:54And I said "No, are you a rocket scientist?"
0:54:54 > 0:54:59More laughter, more gales of it. They were thoroughly humiliated.
0:54:59 > 0:55:02It was a clash of values. It was different values.
0:55:02 > 0:55:06A lot of people really treated women like animals - fucking animals.
0:55:06 > 0:55:10MUSIC: "In Bloom" by Nirvana
0:55:10 > 0:55:14This backstage incident turned out to symbolise a cultural shift.
0:55:14 > 0:55:16Kurt Cobain's attitude publically highlighted
0:55:16 > 0:55:21the sexist posturing of mainstream '80s rock as outdated.
0:55:21 > 0:55:23It wasn't cool to be the lothario lead singer
0:55:23 > 0:55:26or alpha male guitar virtuoso.
0:55:26 > 0:55:28Grunge gave American rock a sense of revolution
0:55:28 > 0:55:30not heard since the 1960s.
0:55:30 > 0:55:35# Sell the kids for food... #
0:55:35 > 0:55:39They looked like the guy that just walked in from the audience
0:55:39 > 0:55:41to the guitar and was playing.
0:55:41 > 0:55:44Obviously, it clicked with the young 16, 17-year-olds
0:55:44 > 0:55:48who are like, "That guy is right, I do hate my mom."
0:55:48 > 0:55:52# Hey, he's the one
0:55:52 > 0:55:55# Who likes all our pretty songs... #
0:55:55 > 0:55:59Kurt Cobain came and mowed them down
0:55:59 > 0:56:01like wheat before the sickle, you know?
0:56:04 > 0:56:05Gone.
0:56:05 > 0:56:08And you saw what was left of those hair guys
0:56:08 > 0:56:10trying to get into plaid shirts
0:56:10 > 0:56:14and look a little less, you know, sprayed up,
0:56:14 > 0:56:16because they were done for.
0:56:17 > 0:56:20Which is a good, you know...
0:56:20 > 0:56:23If that can happen to you, you're doing the wrong thing.
0:56:25 > 0:56:28MUSIC: "Da Mystery of Chessboxin'" by Wu Tang Clan
0:56:29 > 0:56:31# Raw, I'm gonna give it to you,
0:56:31 > 0:56:32# With no trivia
0:56:32 > 0:56:34# Raw like cocaine straight from Bolivia
0:56:34 > 0:56:37# My hip-hop will rock and shock the nation
0:56:37 > 0:56:39# Like the Emancipation Proclamation... #
0:56:39 > 0:56:40In the end, it wasn't grunge
0:56:40 > 0:56:42that replaced the golden age of rock -
0:56:42 > 0:56:45it was the golden age of rap.
0:56:45 > 0:56:49In the 20 years since, it's hip-hop that's been providing American kids
0:56:49 > 0:56:51with the big, outrageous personalities
0:56:51 > 0:56:55that rock once provided in the '60s, '70s and '80s.
0:56:57 > 0:57:02I think the last major seismic eruption in rock
0:57:02 > 0:57:07was probably the Nirvana period. Right after that,
0:57:07 > 0:57:12rock slips from the music of the day into the background.
0:57:12 > 0:57:15It's not in the foreground any more.
0:57:15 > 0:57:18Rap is in the foreground, hip-hop is in the foreground.
0:57:18 > 0:57:20And then you have young people coming up
0:57:20 > 0:57:25who identified with that music, and, rightfully so,
0:57:25 > 0:57:27it became the music of the day for them.
0:57:29 > 0:57:33Today, classic American rock is a heritage industry.
0:57:33 > 0:57:37Artists like Styx, REO Speedwagon and Ted Nugent
0:57:37 > 0:57:39regularly tour the length and breadth of America,
0:57:39 > 0:57:42playing to packed-out arenas.
0:57:43 > 0:57:46Tom Petty, John Mellencamp and Bruce Springsteen
0:57:46 > 0:57:50continue to be some of America's biggest-selling live acts
0:57:50 > 0:57:54and Kiss and Motley Crue regularly sell out concerts
0:57:54 > 0:57:55on their own cruise ships.
0:57:57 > 0:58:00With America, everything is about getting away
0:58:00 > 0:58:03from life's everyday little nonsense
0:58:03 > 0:58:06and everything was about a party and a good time
0:58:06 > 0:58:08and making everything an event.
0:58:16 > 0:58:19We were there for people to forget their problems
0:58:19 > 0:58:20and enjoy the entertainment.
0:58:20 > 0:58:26Right now, there is no showmanship, there's no...rock stars any more.
0:58:27 > 0:58:30I don't even know how you would do it now.
0:58:30 > 0:58:34There is only like one major label and that is so micro-managed
0:58:34 > 0:58:37that I don't know if they would allow any band to go off the rails.
0:58:40 > 0:58:43Which I think... You've gotta be a little off the rails.
0:58:44 > 0:58:48The rock music of the '60s, '70s and '80s
0:58:48 > 0:58:51has become America's classical music.
0:58:51 > 0:58:54For the fans, it represents a glorious era
0:58:54 > 0:58:55of big entertainment rock,
0:58:55 > 0:58:58when songs were anthems, singers were gods
0:58:58 > 0:59:01and guitarists were axemen.
0:59:01 > 0:59:05For those fans, the golden age will never die.
0:59:05 > 0:59:09MUSIC: "Paradise City" by Guns N' Roses
0:59:16 > 0:59:19# Just a' urchin livin' under the street
0:59:19 > 0:59:21# A hard case that's tough to beat
0:59:21 > 0:59:23# I'm your charity case so buy me somethin' to eat
0:59:23 > 0:59:27# I'll pay you at another time
0:59:27 > 0:59:29# Take it to the end of the line... #