0:00:02 > 0:00:06It was reported that Bernstein has banned the version of his song America by The Nice.
0:00:06 > 0:00:07He is reported to have said
0:00:07 > 0:00:10that they'd turned it into an anti-American dirge.
0:00:10 > 0:00:14- We asked if this was true.- The Nice? - You haven't heard of them?- No.
0:00:14 > 0:00:20This programme contains some strong language
0:00:21 > 0:00:24For British rock music in the '70s,
0:00:24 > 0:00:27America truly was the land of opportunity.
0:00:35 > 0:00:38The thing is about the size of America,
0:00:38 > 0:00:41if you can see that door opening slightly,
0:00:41 > 0:00:46you've got to kick it down, kick that door through and just go racing in.
0:00:47 > 0:00:52Between 1967 and 1976, British rock groups became lords
0:00:52 > 0:00:57and masters of a new stadium-based touring empire.
0:00:58 > 0:01:02Oh, my goodness, I hope the Beatles are on after us.
0:01:02 > 0:01:04Cos there's just too many people.
0:01:04 > 0:01:06They ain't come just to see us, have they?
0:01:06 > 0:01:08The radio stations would want to know,
0:01:08 > 0:01:10TV stations would want to know.
0:01:10 > 0:01:15A Lord Mayor would come and give you the key to the city and you'd go,
0:01:15 > 0:01:16"Oh. Thank you.
0:01:17 > 0:01:19"What does this open?"
0:01:21 > 0:01:25In a decade famed for its excess, this is how British rock,
0:01:25 > 0:01:29in all its varieties, came, saw and conquered America.
0:01:31 > 0:01:34It's always that sense of being on the freeway,
0:01:34 > 0:01:38of going west. It's the wagon trains, this pioneering spirit.
0:01:38 > 0:01:42"Oh, you just played the States?" Yeah, you know.
0:01:42 > 0:01:45"Oh, wow." We just went up in everybody's esteem.
0:01:45 > 0:01:48Once you've played the States, boy, you were there.
0:02:07 > 0:02:14Ladies and gentlemen. Boys and girls. The chocolate room.
0:02:17 > 0:02:21In August 1965, the Beatles played at Shea Stadium
0:02:21 > 0:02:24on their second tour of America.
0:02:24 > 0:02:26It was a ground-breaking idea.
0:02:26 > 0:02:30No band had ever played such a large venue.
0:02:30 > 0:02:34With the Beatles we experienced a big thing at Shea Stadium.
0:02:34 > 0:02:38We were kind of the first band to play a really big sports stadium.
0:02:38 > 0:02:41No-one had done that before, and we played Shea Stadium
0:02:41 > 0:02:42and it was 56,000 people.
0:02:42 > 0:02:47It was a riot, it was crazy, we couldn't hear ourselves at all,
0:02:47 > 0:02:49but it started that kind of thing.
0:02:51 > 0:02:55The Beatles' amplification lacked the punch to cut through the screams,
0:02:55 > 0:02:58with the result that nobody could hear the music,
0:02:58 > 0:03:00including the band.
0:03:00 > 0:03:03CROWD SCREAM
0:03:03 > 0:03:06For the Beatles, Shea marked the beginning of a transition
0:03:06 > 0:03:09from the road to the studio.
0:03:09 > 0:03:10However, within a few years,
0:03:10 > 0:03:16stadium rock would become the golden ticket for British acts in America.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19But first, we needed to create a new sound.
0:03:22 > 0:03:26In 1967, Britain created rock.
0:03:26 > 0:03:30It was loud, heavy and serious.
0:03:32 > 0:03:35THE band leading the charge was Cream.
0:03:35 > 0:03:39# Might fill spoons full of water
0:03:39 > 0:03:43# They might fill spoons full of tea
0:03:45 > 0:03:50# Just a little spoon of your precious love
0:03:50 > 0:03:53# Is that enough for me...? #
0:03:53 > 0:03:56Cream would become the first British rock band to conquer America,
0:03:56 > 0:03:59and they would find a new way to do it.
0:03:59 > 0:04:01Instead of relying on radio and television,
0:04:01 > 0:04:06they would knuckle down and take their music direct to a new audience.
0:04:08 > 0:04:12# Everything's a-fighting about it... #
0:04:14 > 0:04:20Up until then, you know, most of the British bands had been hit bands,
0:04:20 > 0:04:23you know, The Animals, The Hollies, The Beatles.
0:04:23 > 0:04:28And that was the way it was. It was happy, singalong big hits.
0:04:28 > 0:04:30The band that broke it all over there really was Cream.
0:04:32 > 0:04:34They are the ones that went there in mid-1967
0:04:34 > 0:04:39and played in every place there was.
0:04:39 > 0:04:40We didn't know how to do it,
0:04:40 > 0:04:43and it hadn't been established yet that you could do it.
0:04:46 > 0:04:51We would fly into the airport and rent a station wagon
0:04:51 > 0:04:54and go to the gig, do the gig, then drive back to the airport
0:04:54 > 0:04:58and go to the next place on the plane and rent another station wagon.
0:05:00 > 0:05:01Very hi-tech!
0:05:03 > 0:05:08# Feel when I dance with you
0:05:08 > 0:05:12# We move like the seas... #
0:05:12 > 0:05:14Treating America like the A1
0:05:14 > 0:05:18and playing nearly 150 dates in less than two years,
0:05:18 > 0:05:20Cream did it the hard way,
0:05:20 > 0:05:24and created the template for the touring British rock band.
0:05:24 > 0:05:28# I feel free... #
0:05:28 > 0:05:31The gear went in a truck with our vast crew,
0:05:31 > 0:05:36which was two or maybe three guys.
0:05:36 > 0:05:38# I can walk down the street There's no-one there... #
0:05:38 > 0:05:43We had no PA, so that made it relatively easy.
0:05:43 > 0:05:45We just used to sing loud in those days.
0:05:48 > 0:05:52Anyone who'd seen the Shea Stadium concert from The Beatles
0:05:52 > 0:05:55will kind of get the idea of what our concerts were like.
0:05:55 > 0:06:01Little amplifiers, lots of noise and nobody really hearing very much.
0:06:02 > 0:06:03Especially the band.
0:06:04 > 0:06:08When they could hear, what captivated American audiences
0:06:08 > 0:06:10was a new, aggressive sound and attitude,
0:06:10 > 0:06:13a strange brew of transatlantic styles.
0:06:14 > 0:06:18We were kind of outsiders, interlopers, if you like.
0:06:18 > 0:06:22But very soon we discovered that they loved us.
0:06:22 > 0:06:24# Strange brew
0:06:24 > 0:06:26Kills what's inside of you... #
0:06:26 > 0:06:29We were taking blues music
0:06:29 > 0:06:32back to the country that had kind of shunned it.
0:06:32 > 0:06:37The blues was considered by young blacks to be old hat music
0:06:37 > 0:06:41and the whites hadn't really heard much of it, so in a strange way
0:06:41 > 0:06:44we were taking their own music back to them
0:06:44 > 0:06:45and reintroducing it to them.
0:06:47 > 0:06:51At one time when Cream was at its height,
0:06:51 > 0:06:57we were grossing more than the next five bands put together.
0:06:57 > 0:07:01That's how big we were as a money-making machine.
0:07:01 > 0:07:04Cream blazed the trail,
0:07:04 > 0:07:08and other British rock bands were quick to follow,
0:07:08 > 0:07:09such as The Who,
0:07:09 > 0:07:13who headlined their own 23-date coast-to-coast tour in 1968.
0:07:15 > 0:07:18A new frontier was opening up,
0:07:18 > 0:07:21and one particular British export would come to own it.
0:07:23 > 0:07:28On 2nd January 1969, Led Zeppelin arrived in California.
0:07:28 > 0:07:33# I've been dazed and confused so long it's not true
0:07:34 > 0:07:36# Wanted a woman
0:07:36 > 0:07:39# Never bargained for you... #
0:07:39 > 0:07:42We played at the Whisky A Go Go in Hollywood
0:07:42 > 0:07:44and then we went on to San Francisco.
0:07:45 > 0:07:48# Tongue wags so much when I send you to hell... #
0:07:53 > 0:07:59It was really clear that we were just making waves from that point.
0:08:01 > 0:08:05To play in San Francisco, which we'd all respected the music
0:08:05 > 0:08:07so much that had come out of there.
0:08:07 > 0:08:10# I said you hurt and abuse
0:08:10 > 0:08:13# Telling all of your lies
0:08:13 > 0:08:18# Sweet little baby, baby How you mesmerise
0:08:18 > 0:08:23# I try to love you, baby But I know what you're seeing... #
0:08:23 > 0:08:27They were accepting us and respecting the fact
0:08:27 > 0:08:30that we were really way out there, if you like.
0:08:32 > 0:08:35In the era of acid-drenched Californian sounds,
0:08:35 > 0:08:39this was a British attack on the senses.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42America had heard nothing like it.
0:08:42 > 0:08:47We definitely had an edge over some of the other bands
0:08:47 > 0:08:49that were around, no doubt about it.
0:08:49 > 0:08:52We had four musicians on the top of their game,
0:08:52 > 0:08:54but they could also play together as a band.
0:08:56 > 0:09:00# I told you, baby, time and time and time again
0:09:00 > 0:09:03# I would never leave you, woman
0:09:03 > 0:09:05# God knows since when
0:09:05 > 0:09:07# I'd tell you everything I could... #
0:09:07 > 0:09:10Like Cream, Led Zep grew on American blues.
0:09:10 > 0:09:13# ..ever do to me, baby
0:09:13 > 0:09:16# Baby, break down and I'd cry... #
0:09:16 > 0:09:18Not only was their sound unique,
0:09:18 > 0:09:21but here was a band bringing stagecraft
0:09:21 > 0:09:24back to the home of showbiz.
0:09:24 > 0:09:30We'd worked out areas of real dramatic light and shade,
0:09:30 > 0:09:33so you could have volume at one minute
0:09:33 > 0:09:35and then it'd come down to a whisper.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41It could take you there and just keep your hanging, you know.
0:09:47 > 0:09:51It spread like wildfire, about the group and what it could do.
0:09:54 > 0:09:56It was a show not to be missed.
0:09:56 > 0:10:00In less than a year, Led Zeppelin stormed the USA.
0:10:00 > 0:10:03Their runaway success opened the floodgates for a generation
0:10:03 > 0:10:09of virtuoso prog and blues-based British rock musicians.
0:10:09 > 0:10:11Most had served their apprenticeship
0:10:11 > 0:10:14as fringe players in the '60s in the UK.
0:10:14 > 0:10:19And as a new decade beckoned, they would saddle up and go west.
0:10:22 > 0:10:23# Let us be lovers
0:10:23 > 0:10:26# We'll marry our fortunes together... #
0:10:27 > 0:10:31We'd seen an awful lot of Birmingham Town Hall,
0:10:31 > 0:10:34as much as any one man can take of Birmingham Town Hall.
0:10:34 > 0:10:38# Got some real estate in my bag... #
0:10:38 > 0:10:41As soon as you've invented your thing and started to sell it,
0:10:41 > 0:10:45so you have to go very quickly to somewhere bigger - Europe,
0:10:45 > 0:10:47or in our day, America.
0:10:47 > 0:10:49# Walked off
0:10:49 > 0:10:51# Walked off
0:10:51 > 0:10:59# Walked off to look for America... #
0:10:59 > 0:11:00It was just so exciting.
0:11:00 > 0:11:03We rented a big station wagon, which I drove, cos I love driving.
0:11:04 > 0:11:07Our gear was travelling in a truck with two crew,
0:11:07 > 0:11:09cos that's all we could afford.
0:11:12 > 0:11:15I stayed in what I thought were wonderful hotels,
0:11:15 > 0:11:18cos I'd been used to B&Bs in the UK.
0:11:18 > 0:11:21To have a hotel room that actually had a bathroom,
0:11:21 > 0:11:25that was just absolutely unbelievable. I couldn't believe it.
0:11:25 > 0:11:28We went across the top and the bottom,
0:11:28 > 0:11:32we never went across the middle, but the bottom I really liked. That was good fun.
0:11:32 > 0:11:36# Forgot my six-string razor
0:11:36 > 0:11:37# Hit the sky
0:11:39 > 0:11:43# Halfway to Memphis before I realised... #
0:11:43 > 0:11:45We were flying most of the time,
0:11:45 > 0:11:48with two sets of gear and one roadie.
0:11:48 > 0:11:51# My ex has called... #
0:11:51 > 0:11:55We'd go out to the tarmac, slip the guy 20 quid
0:11:55 > 0:11:58he'd load it all up and he'd take it all off.
0:11:58 > 0:12:02# Now it's a mighty long way down a dusty trail... #
0:12:02 > 0:12:05And I wrote a song, All the Way From Memphis.
0:12:05 > 0:12:09That was a 20 quid job. All the gear, on the plane, 20 quid.
0:12:11 > 0:12:14# All the way from Memphis... #
0:12:15 > 0:12:19It wouldn't be luxurious yet.
0:12:19 > 0:12:21But for the pilgrim fathers of British rock,
0:12:21 > 0:12:27that first American foray would be both the adventure of their lives and hard work.
0:12:29 > 0:12:34During that first tour there was a lot of driving involved between gigs.
0:12:34 > 0:12:35That's for sure.
0:12:38 > 0:12:40I remember getting sort of caught up in the snow drifts
0:12:40 > 0:12:43and things like that where the freeway was closed.
0:12:43 > 0:12:47I think Richard Cole was driving at the time, and he just
0:12:47 > 0:12:50took on this freeway regardless of whether it was closed or not.
0:12:55 > 0:13:00I don't think he'd driven across the plains going towards the Rockies,
0:13:00 > 0:13:03and just suddenly seeing them rear up
0:13:03 > 0:13:05and then rear up and then rear up.
0:13:10 > 0:13:14You couldn't help but thinking what the pioneers must have thought.
0:13:14 > 0:13:16"How are we going to get across that?"
0:13:21 > 0:13:27The first gig was in Detroit at a place called the Grande Ballroom
0:13:27 > 0:13:29with Iggy and The Stooges.
0:13:29 > 0:13:32And then, from Detroit, which is one hell of a drive,
0:13:32 > 0:13:36we drove to Los Angeles on Route 66.
0:13:41 > 0:13:46We stayed one night and stopped in a motel in real redneck country.
0:13:46 > 0:13:51These cowboys started saying "Look at these freaks, guys."
0:13:51 > 0:13:55And we actually got into a fight with these cowboys. A proper fight.
0:13:55 > 0:13:59We had to jump in the car, and the tyres were screaming.
0:13:59 > 0:14:04These guys throwing stuff at us. There weren't any shots fired.
0:14:04 > 0:14:05It wasn't that bad.
0:14:09 > 0:14:13By 1970, American amplification had improved dramatically
0:14:13 > 0:14:15since the days of Shea Stadium,
0:14:15 > 0:14:20in stark contrast to what the bands were used to in Britain.
0:14:21 > 0:14:25It was all pretty low-tech still. PA systems weren't that great.
0:14:25 > 0:14:29Lights were pretty terrible. If you could hear the singer, you were lucky.
0:14:29 > 0:14:31It was very low-tech.
0:14:31 > 0:14:37And it was the Americans who upgraded the technology.
0:14:37 > 0:14:40We toured here with an American band called Iron Butterfly.
0:14:40 > 0:14:44They carried their own PA system. Couldn't believe it.
0:14:44 > 0:14:46The extravagance. You carry the PA system with you?
0:14:46 > 0:14:50And they had a thing called a monitor system.
0:14:50 > 0:14:53Which is those wedges at the front of the stage that everybody sees.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56That means you can hear everybody else in the band.
0:14:56 > 0:14:58That was fantastic.
0:15:00 > 0:15:04- RADIO:- Have a good day, and thank you, Los Angeles.
0:15:08 > 0:15:10Another major technological development
0:15:10 > 0:15:12was the birth of FM radio.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16Overlooked by the all-powerful AM pop stations,
0:15:16 > 0:15:20stereo FM would build a new audience for the new music.
0:15:22 > 0:15:24In the country where the car was king,
0:15:24 > 0:15:27FM fanned the flames of rock far and wide.
0:15:28 > 0:15:35One of the great American experiences is rolling down the freeway,
0:15:35 > 0:15:4080mph, top down, cranked up to an amazing radio station.
0:15:40 > 0:15:42That's what it's all about.
0:15:42 > 0:15:45MUSIC: "Free Bird" by Lynyrd Skynyrd
0:15:52 > 0:15:56It was a great time in that all the stars were aligned,
0:15:56 > 0:15:59cos you had a musical and a cultural revolution.
0:15:59 > 0:16:04Part of FM radio then was not just the music, but the way was presented.
0:16:07 > 0:16:10Hiya, baby. Right on!
0:16:10 > 0:16:13If you could see what was coming out through the speakers,
0:16:13 > 0:16:16it would look like long hair and kind of cool.
0:16:16 > 0:16:18And if you could smell the speakers,
0:16:18 > 0:16:20it would probably smell like a joint, you know.
0:16:20 > 0:16:24It's a good record, man, outstanding record.
0:16:26 > 0:16:27I love it.
0:16:29 > 0:16:31I remember sitting in the back of this Cadillac,
0:16:31 > 0:16:34and there was speakers all the way round in the car
0:16:34 > 0:16:38and this incredible stereo sound, listening to FM radio.
0:16:38 > 0:16:44In England, you know, the Ford Cortina, one speaker, AM radio.
0:16:44 > 0:16:46It seemed louder and more bassy
0:16:46 > 0:16:50and more exciting somehow than the sound of British radio at the time.
0:16:52 > 0:16:55They were starting to play full LPs.
0:16:55 > 0:16:58A whole side of an album, say 20 minutes.
0:16:58 > 0:17:03They'd put it on and you'd get a chance to really understand what these bands were doing.
0:17:06 > 0:17:11There was almost a hunger on the part of the American audience
0:17:11 > 0:17:14to see what Britain coughed up next.
0:17:15 > 0:17:17Like a dose of bad phlegm.
0:17:17 > 0:17:21All sorts of weird and wacky things came out of the UK.
0:17:21 > 0:17:24And even if it was sometimes rather complex
0:17:24 > 0:17:27and difficult to appreciate on first listening,
0:17:27 > 0:17:29American radio was quite inviting
0:17:29 > 0:17:33and played what they called deep album cuts.
0:17:33 > 0:17:36MUSIC: "Us And Them" by Pink Floyd
0:17:36 > 0:17:38Of all the new British bands,
0:17:38 > 0:17:42Pink Floyd would come to own the airways.
0:17:42 > 0:17:45The cinematic soundscapes of Dark Side Of The Moon
0:17:45 > 0:17:47sounded so good in your cans
0:17:47 > 0:17:51that it became the biggest-selling British album in America,
0:17:51 > 0:17:52and still is to this day.
0:17:54 > 0:17:56# Us, us, us
0:17:59 > 0:18:03# And them, them, them, them... #
0:18:03 > 0:18:09The American FM radio story was so geared to our sort of music,
0:18:09 > 0:18:13to albums, and in terms of promotion it was brilliant,
0:18:13 > 0:18:16cos of course they'd play the whole record.
0:18:22 > 0:18:25It was a sort of golden age at one level.
0:18:26 > 0:18:28In the previous decade,
0:18:28 > 0:18:31New York had been the portal through which Britain had invaded.
0:18:31 > 0:18:35But in the '70s, Los Angeles became the hub of the rock world.
0:18:35 > 0:18:38# Sun is shining in the sky... #
0:18:38 > 0:18:43For those hailing from Britain's rock city, Birmingham, LA was a paradise.
0:18:43 > 0:18:45You get off the plane,
0:18:45 > 0:18:47all the air smelt like orange blossom.
0:18:47 > 0:18:53It was just gorgeous. The sky was blue. The sun was belting down.
0:18:53 > 0:18:54It was fantastic.
0:18:54 > 0:18:58So it was like totally unlike anything we've ever experienced.
0:18:58 > 0:19:02So we get round the corner to the hotel, which was the Hyatt.
0:19:02 > 0:19:05On Sunset. And it was all, like, magical.
0:19:05 > 0:19:09# ..here today Hey, hey, hey
0:19:09 > 0:19:11# Mr Blue Sky
0:19:11 > 0:19:12# Please tell us why
0:19:12 > 0:19:15# You had to hide away for so long
0:19:15 > 0:19:18# So long... #
0:19:18 > 0:19:21We got in there and went for a walk in the afternoon,
0:19:21 > 0:19:25and in this open-top sports car came this car full of girls,
0:19:25 > 0:19:28and as they came past they went "Woo-hoo,"
0:19:28 > 0:19:31and we all went, "It's good here, isn't it?"
0:19:33 > 0:19:36For a long-haired British rock musician in the '70s,
0:19:36 > 0:19:39America was a stairway to heaven.
0:19:41 > 0:19:44We had the best of everything. We really did.
0:19:44 > 0:19:47And we probably abused it in a lot of ways,
0:19:47 > 0:19:51but we did have anything we wanted. I mean, anything.
0:19:53 > 0:19:56Drugs, booze, women.
0:19:58 > 0:20:02Anything you'd want was available then.
0:20:02 > 0:20:05And that's the way it was. It was just like that, you know.
0:20:06 > 0:20:09I'd always find it funny that we were searched
0:20:09 > 0:20:12coming into the United States, and it's like,
0:20:12 > 0:20:13"You've gotta be kidding,
0:20:13 > 0:20:18"you're searching us for dope coming INTO the States?"
0:20:20 > 0:20:23And anything really meant anything.
0:20:24 > 0:20:30One tour we did, we stipulated on the rider that we wanted curries.
0:20:31 > 0:20:34And we'd have curries every night,
0:20:34 > 0:20:36and they'd come from all sorts of places,
0:20:36 > 0:20:40because you might play in a town and they haven't got a curry restaurant,
0:20:40 > 0:20:44so they might have to drive it 50 miles to bring it to you, this curry,
0:20:44 > 0:20:46and of course it'd be awful.
0:20:46 > 0:20:50You wouldn't always eat them, but they'd be there.
0:20:50 > 0:20:53It was like getting married every day.
0:20:53 > 0:20:56So if you're getting married every day, you would have flowers,
0:20:56 > 0:21:00you would have a girl, you would have all kinds of booze.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04# Carry the news
0:21:04 > 0:21:07# Boogaloo dudes... #
0:21:07 > 0:21:09It does get boring after a while,
0:21:09 > 0:21:12cos if you got married every day for a week, the same thing,
0:21:12 > 0:21:14you'd want a day off, you know.
0:21:14 > 0:21:16# All the young dudes
0:21:16 > 0:21:19# Carry the news... #
0:21:19 > 0:21:21With their far-out name and image,
0:21:21 > 0:21:24Mott The Hoople seemed like they were from another planet.
0:21:24 > 0:21:27America wanted in on their secret.
0:21:27 > 0:21:31They thought we were on something that they'd never heard of.
0:21:31 > 0:21:33They really wanted it bad, you know.
0:21:33 > 0:21:35# Boogaloo dudes... #
0:21:35 > 0:21:39I remember a girl sitting on a sofa backstage,
0:21:39 > 0:21:43and she went through all these, LSD, BCF, 932.
0:21:43 > 0:21:45I'd never heard any of this.
0:21:45 > 0:21:48Meanwhile I said "I'll have half a lager," and got on with it.
0:21:48 > 0:21:51# Boogaloo dudes
0:21:51 > 0:21:54# Carry the news... #
0:21:54 > 0:21:59There was a kind of madcap quality to the English rock bands.
0:21:59 > 0:22:04There was an insouciance and a devil-may-care thing,
0:22:04 > 0:22:07and although we were all serious about our music,
0:22:07 > 0:22:09we weren't serious about our music.
0:22:09 > 0:22:13We weren't navel-gazers, particularly.
0:22:15 > 0:22:19The bacchanalian spirit of the British rock band threw
0:22:19 > 0:22:22the sensitive nature of the Californian singer-songwriter
0:22:22 > 0:22:24into sharp relief.
0:22:29 > 0:22:32These guys'll do anything for love!
0:22:32 > 0:22:37Was there a brotherhood or a camaraderie between we British bands,
0:22:37 > 0:22:41a sort of Laurel Canyon feeling of London?
0:22:41 > 0:22:42No. I don't think so.
0:22:42 > 0:22:45I think we were all insanely competitive.
0:23:07 > 0:23:11There was a kind of a very laid-back
0:23:11 > 0:23:13American hippy way of being a musician
0:23:13 > 0:23:16and a very much more straightforward,
0:23:16 > 0:23:22quite incisive British way of being a rock musician.
0:23:22 > 0:23:24And I think that attracted the American audience.
0:23:27 > 0:23:29America was in an era of social unrest,
0:23:29 > 0:23:33but British fans weren't interested in getting with the revolution.
0:23:34 > 0:23:38They wanted to put on show and please the crowd.
0:23:53 > 0:23:56We played many college campuses
0:23:56 > 0:23:59and felt that level of student dissidence.
0:23:59 > 0:24:05We got questioned a lot by campus newspapers and so on, saying,
0:24:05 > 0:24:10"Are you with the revolution? Are you with us against the pigs?"
0:24:10 > 0:24:13"Against the pigs? I'm awfully sorry.
0:24:13 > 0:24:15"What don't you like about pigs?"
0:24:18 > 0:24:21For the first time, the special relationship was in danger,
0:24:21 > 0:24:25as American critical opinion of British music
0:24:25 > 0:24:27differed from the public response.
0:24:32 > 0:24:34The Beatles, everybody thinks The Beatles are great.
0:24:34 > 0:24:37Bob Dylan, everyone thinks Bob Dylan is great.
0:24:37 > 0:24:40The Rolling Stones, everybody thinks they're great.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43But then you get a certain point where it's like,
0:24:43 > 0:24:48"Well, is Deep Purple really great?"
0:24:48 > 0:24:53You know, is that just kind of interesting music?
0:24:53 > 0:24:57There was a moment, led certainly by The Beatles,
0:24:57 > 0:25:04where there was this element of going to a kind of new world,
0:25:04 > 0:25:07of really creating this new vision.
0:25:07 > 0:25:10You know, subtly, it became about stadium shows
0:25:10 > 0:25:16in which people were taking terrible barbiturates
0:25:16 > 0:25:20and vomiting all over each other and getting terribly drunk.
0:25:21 > 0:25:24It seemed like there were a lot of British bands
0:25:24 > 0:25:26leading the charge on that.
0:25:31 > 0:25:35Hard to believe now, but the entire output of Led Zeppelin
0:25:35 > 0:25:37was dismissed by US critics.
0:25:48 > 0:25:50They were hostile to the albums
0:25:50 > 0:25:52because they couldn't understand them.
0:25:52 > 0:25:54They couldn't understand what it was.
0:26:01 > 0:26:04That might have been whatever, the press,
0:26:04 > 0:26:07but it didn't bear any relation to what was going on in the real world,
0:26:07 > 0:26:14or our real world which was the audiences and the record sales.
0:26:14 > 0:26:15They were dynamic.
0:26:18 > 0:26:23Suddenly these British bands were like marauders
0:26:23 > 0:26:29and there wasn't a sense of large, social purpose.
0:26:29 > 0:26:35It was like, "Let's just go make a lot of money,
0:26:35 > 0:26:37"get laid as much as we can,
0:26:37 > 0:26:40"get as high as we can and go back home."
0:26:43 > 0:26:45But for the legions of American fans,
0:26:45 > 0:26:49British rock was a great spectacle of virtuosity,
0:26:49 > 0:26:53interspersed with buffoonery and occasional profundity.
0:27:09 > 0:27:11Jethro Tull arrived in America
0:27:11 > 0:27:14like wise men bearing gifts from another universe.
0:27:17 > 0:27:20HE SNORTS
0:27:20 > 0:27:23I didn't do rock 'n' roll lifestyle.
0:27:23 > 0:27:27I didn't do drugs, I didn't do all the groupie things and the excesses.
0:27:29 > 0:27:32We were really, really boring people,
0:27:32 > 0:27:36apart from an hour and a half on stage every night
0:27:36 > 0:27:38when we seemed vaguely interesting.
0:27:42 > 0:27:46Ian Anderson brought a distinct British phantasmagoria
0:27:46 > 0:27:48to the US touring spectacle,
0:27:48 > 0:27:52conflating Sherlock Holmes, a country squire and a court jester.
0:27:52 > 0:27:56Tull were out there, and they took America by storm.
0:27:56 > 0:28:01# I hear you calling in your sweet dream
0:28:04 > 0:28:07# Can't hear your daddy's warning cry. #
0:28:07 > 0:28:11It's always that sense of being on the freeway,
0:28:11 > 0:28:16in a way you just let yourself slip into an idea of travel,
0:28:16 > 0:28:22of going west. It's the wagon trains, this pioneering spirit.
0:28:22 > 0:28:25The way that you share it with Americans, in America,
0:28:25 > 0:28:28is the sense of mobility, the sense of independence,
0:28:28 > 0:28:30hitting a different city every day
0:28:30 > 0:28:33and leaving town early in the morning
0:28:33 > 0:28:36before the newspaper reviews came out.
0:28:41 > 0:28:44The station wagon era was long gone.
0:28:44 > 0:28:48In going west, successful British rock bands like Jethro Tull
0:28:48 > 0:28:53had renegotiated the terms of the rock 'n' roll contract.
0:28:56 > 0:28:59Without the support of the press,
0:28:59 > 0:29:04British rock was constructing its own highly profitable pleasure dome,
0:29:04 > 0:29:07exclusively for the kids of America.
0:29:11 > 0:29:16And one man in particular was the architect of this new Xanadu.
0:29:18 > 0:29:21Peter Grant was an amazing manager.
0:29:21 > 0:29:24He saw so many ways through things.
0:29:24 > 0:29:30Of course, once he had the clout of the band to go with it,
0:29:30 > 0:29:33he could realise these situations that he'd worked out,
0:29:33 > 0:29:37his little plans and going to the promoters and saying,
0:29:37 > 0:29:42"You're now getting 10% rather than the bands are getting 10%."
0:29:44 > 0:29:50Woe betide anyone selling fake merchandise at a Zep gig.
0:29:50 > 0:29:52Don't fucking talk to me, it's my bloody act.
0:29:52 > 0:29:54I'll leave you any time.
0:29:54 > 0:29:56You couldn't even get them a starting line.
0:29:56 > 0:29:59You're going to tell me... It wouldn't happen in Europe.
0:29:59 > 0:30:01I don't know how the guy got in the building,
0:30:01 > 0:30:03this isn't Europe or England.
0:30:03 > 0:30:06No, I can see that, because it's so inefficient.
0:30:06 > 0:30:10It would be all this restructuring
0:30:10 > 0:30:16and making real milestones within the business in various ways
0:30:16 > 0:30:20that really changed the shape of business over there at the time,
0:30:20 > 0:30:24which helped lots of other bands too.
0:30:24 > 0:30:28He was an incredible visionary in that side of business.
0:30:34 > 0:30:38Grant out-sharked the predatory American business
0:30:38 > 0:30:41and put Zeppelin firmly in control of their own destiny.
0:30:43 > 0:30:45The band travelled like royalty,
0:30:45 > 0:30:49their limousine arrival facilitated by police escort.
0:30:51 > 0:30:55It was something that was laid on. I guess there was a necessity for it.
0:30:55 > 0:30:58We weren't doing it just for show,
0:30:58 > 0:31:03there was a real necessity to be able to go through with these motorcades
0:31:03 > 0:31:07and police escorts to get into these venues.
0:31:13 > 0:31:14Grant also managed Bad Company,
0:31:14 > 0:31:18another successful British rock export
0:31:18 > 0:31:20for whom he had a similar level of ambition.
0:31:24 > 0:31:27# Bad company
0:31:27 > 0:31:31# I can't deny
0:31:33 > 0:31:35# Bad company
0:31:35 > 0:31:38# Till the day I die... #
0:31:38 > 0:31:42His idea was, "OK, we're just going to bypass all the clubs.
0:31:42 > 0:31:44"I want to get you straight into arenas,
0:31:44 > 0:31:47"but you've got to be ready for it." We had all the equipment ready,
0:31:47 > 0:31:50we had a private plane to take us from each venue, so when we landed,
0:31:50 > 0:31:52there was a limousine on the tarmac.
0:31:52 > 0:31:55We all jumped in the limousine, and it was a really good idea
0:31:55 > 0:31:57because it meant you could do more shows.
0:31:57 > 0:31:59You could work five or six nights a week
0:31:59 > 0:32:02because your travel was so smooth.
0:32:02 > 0:32:06Straight off the stage, into the limo, onto the plane,
0:32:06 > 0:32:09to the next town, go to sleep, wake up, do the show, bam, bam, bam.
0:32:19 > 0:32:23It was pretty evident how popular we were by the amount of people
0:32:23 > 0:32:25that were coming to the shows.
0:32:25 > 0:32:30We were always sold out and it got to a position,
0:32:30 > 0:32:34very, very early on, where we couldn't supply the demand
0:32:34 > 0:32:37of people coming, so we'd do multiple shows,
0:32:37 > 0:32:39and we still couldn't supply the demand.
0:32:39 > 0:32:43We were doing bigger venues and we still couldn't supply the demand.
0:32:46 > 0:32:50We'd go there in '73
0:32:50 > 0:32:54and we do Atlanta and there's 55,000 outside
0:32:54 > 0:32:57and then we break The Beatles' record in Tampa
0:32:57 > 0:33:00more or less the following day.
0:33:00 > 0:33:01Good evening.
0:33:01 > 0:33:05It really was the biggest crowd ever assembled for a single performance
0:33:05 > 0:33:10in one place in the entire history of the world.
0:33:10 > 0:33:14It was tonight and it was in Tampa. The name of the group, Led Zeppelin.
0:33:14 > 0:33:17Tonight, they broke the world record set by The Beatles
0:33:17 > 0:33:18in New York City in 1965.
0:33:18 > 0:33:2455,000 people grossing 306,000 for the promoter.
0:33:24 > 0:33:28Tonight in Tampa, there were 56,800 sold seats,
0:33:28 > 0:33:33a gross of 309,000.
0:33:33 > 0:33:37If you were at Tampa Stadium tonight, or anywhere nearby,
0:33:37 > 0:33:41that's the sort of thing you saw and heard.
0:33:41 > 0:33:43It was really a shock to the system.
0:33:43 > 0:33:45I didn't realise things could get that big.
0:33:45 > 0:33:49They were really football stadiums. These places were huge.
0:33:49 > 0:33:53I remember some kind gentleman taking me to Madison Square Garden
0:33:53 > 0:33:56or someone like that, took me up to the back row
0:33:56 > 0:33:58to show me what the stage looked like before the show.
0:33:58 > 0:34:01I just went, "Oh, my God!"
0:34:01 > 0:34:06Madison Square Garden was, for the Americans, a big status.
0:34:06 > 0:34:10When you've played Madison Square Garden,
0:34:10 > 0:34:12then you'd made it.
0:34:12 > 0:34:13# Ooh, yeah
0:34:13 > 0:34:17# It's been a long time since I rock and rolled
0:34:20 > 0:34:25# It's been a long time since I did the stroll
0:34:25 > 0:34:26# Woo, baby
0:34:26 > 0:34:30# Let me get back, let me get back let me get back
0:34:30 > 0:34:32# Baby, where I come from
0:34:37 > 0:34:40# It's been a long time been a long time
0:34:40 > 0:34:43# Lonely, lonely, lonely lonely, lonely
0:34:44 > 0:34:46# Yes, it has...
0:34:46 > 0:34:50British rock music in America started to have
0:34:50 > 0:34:52this very big momentum,
0:34:52 > 0:34:55and I guess a lot of people thought they could do no wrong.
0:34:55 > 0:34:59And in a sense, for a few years, no-one could because bands like...
0:34:59 > 0:35:02I mean, Elton John sold out I think...
0:35:03 > 0:35:05..five nights at Madison Square Garden.
0:35:05 > 0:35:07We could only sell three!
0:35:11 > 0:35:15# It's been a long time been a long time
0:35:15 > 0:35:19# Lonely, lonely, lonely lonely, lonely time... #
0:35:19 > 0:35:22In '73, Led Zeppelin were on top of the world,
0:35:22 > 0:35:25finishing a 4 million tour with three sold-out nights
0:35:25 > 0:35:27at Madison Square Garden.
0:35:27 > 0:35:30Not since prior to the Boston Tea Party had we been
0:35:30 > 0:35:33so popular in America.
0:35:36 > 0:35:40But not all of our exports went down so well.
0:35:40 > 0:35:41Notably, glam rock.
0:35:43 > 0:35:46We had a couple of shows, I think, in Madison Square Garden,
0:35:46 > 0:35:48and Roxy Music opened the show for us.
0:35:48 > 0:35:51And we went backstage to their dressing room
0:35:51 > 0:35:55and introduced ourselves. Said, "Hello, have a great time" and "Nice to have you here."
0:35:55 > 0:35:58Got a bit of a stiff sort of response from them
0:35:58 > 0:36:02cos they were definitely a bit showbizzy, a bit dressing up in silly clothes
0:36:02 > 0:36:05and doing a lot of make-up and taking themselves rather seriously.
0:36:05 > 0:36:09# I tried but I could not find a way
0:36:13 > 0:36:16# Looking back all I did was look away... #
0:36:16 > 0:36:18They went on stage
0:36:18 > 0:36:20and they just wanted it too much.
0:36:20 > 0:36:23The audience just looked at them and thought,
0:36:23 > 0:36:27"We don't like you. You look like you're trying too hard."
0:36:27 > 0:36:31# But if there is no next time where do I go...? #
0:36:31 > 0:36:34Too mannered, too art school, too dressy.
0:36:34 > 0:36:38# She's the sweetest queen I ever seen... #
0:36:40 > 0:36:44Roxy Music rather uncharitably sort of blamed us for their failure
0:36:44 > 0:36:47and claimed that we'd pulled the plug on them or something,
0:36:47 > 0:36:49which is not true at all.
0:36:49 > 0:36:51It's just the audience flat didn't like them.
0:36:51 > 0:36:55MUSIC: "Young Americans" by David Bowie
0:36:58 > 0:37:03And whilst David Bowie's Spiders From Mars were hugely popular in the UK,
0:37:03 > 0:37:07it wouldn't be Ziggy Stardust who would find fame in America.
0:37:09 > 0:37:11# I want what you want
0:37:11 > 0:37:14# And you want what I want
0:37:14 > 0:37:18# I want you I want, you want, I want... #
0:37:18 > 0:37:21Re-exporting another variant of black American music.
0:37:21 > 0:37:25It was the blue-eyed white-boy soul of Young Americans
0:37:25 > 0:37:28that made Bowie a household name in the USA.
0:37:28 > 0:37:31# All night I want the young America! #
0:37:31 > 0:37:34SCREAMING AND CHEERING
0:37:34 > 0:37:38The man himself relocated to Los Angeles in 1974.
0:37:41 > 0:37:45There's an underlying unease here. Definitely. You can feel it in every...
0:37:47 > 0:37:48..every avenue.
0:37:48 > 0:37:51It's very calm and it's a kind of a superficial calmness
0:37:51 > 0:37:54that they've developed to underplay the fact that it's...
0:37:54 > 0:37:59That there's a lot of high pressure here as it's a very big entertainment industry area.
0:38:00 > 0:38:03And you get this feeling of unease with everybody.
0:38:10 > 0:38:13The American rock business had grown from cottage industry
0:38:13 > 0:38:15to cartel in barely a few years.
0:38:16 > 0:38:20And 1974 witnessed its Californian pinnacle.
0:38:22 > 0:38:25ANNOUNCER: On April 6th, 200,000 nice people assembled
0:38:25 > 0:38:28at the Ontario Motor Speedway in Southern California
0:38:28 > 0:38:32to enjoy each other and the music of eight fine rock bands.
0:38:32 > 0:38:34CHEERING AND SCREAMING
0:38:34 > 0:38:38Come on! Let's have a party! Yeah!
0:38:38 > 0:38:42The California Jam was Woodstock without the mud or hippies.
0:38:42 > 0:38:46It would be the biggest grossing gig in history,
0:38:46 > 0:38:48and the three headlining acts
0:38:48 > 0:38:50were all Brits.
0:38:58 > 0:39:01Nobody knew exactly what it would be.
0:39:01 > 0:39:04I think there was close to a million people there.
0:39:04 > 0:39:06It was huge.
0:39:06 > 0:39:09And we just looked around, we went, "Oh, my God," you know!
0:39:09 > 0:39:12We saw everyone else was showing up and there was all these other bands,
0:39:12 > 0:39:13a lot that we knew.
0:39:13 > 0:39:16# Revolution in their minds
0:39:16 > 0:39:20# The children start to march
0:39:20 > 0:39:22# Against the world in which they have to live
0:39:22 > 0:39:25# And all the hate that's in their hearts
0:39:25 > 0:39:27# They're tired of being pushed around
0:39:27 > 0:39:31# And told just what to do
0:39:31 > 0:39:34# They'll fight the world until they've won
0:39:34 > 0:39:36# And love comes flowing through, yeah! #
0:39:38 > 0:39:41Gone were the days of peace, love and understanding,
0:39:41 > 0:39:45as backstage, the Brits battled for top spot.
0:39:45 > 0:39:49Somehow we managed to get a spot which, I think,
0:39:49 > 0:39:53Deep Purple wanted and, uh,
0:39:53 > 0:39:56Ritchie Blackmore ended up smashing one of the cameras
0:39:56 > 0:40:00with his guitar, which cost him all of the 30,000
0:40:00 > 0:40:02that they were making for the gig,
0:40:02 > 0:40:05and, of course, left us without a camera.
0:40:09 > 0:40:14Now, the best time of the festival is to go on just before dusk,
0:40:14 > 0:40:17so you go on as the sun's just setting,
0:40:17 > 0:40:19but then you finish in the dark
0:40:19 > 0:40:24and then you've got the fireworks, and boom.
0:40:24 > 0:40:28There's not a lot of bands who can follow after that.
0:40:28 > 0:40:34ELP won the battle and Keith Emerson pulled out all the stops.
0:40:34 > 0:40:38I suppose the one thing that people now remember me of in America
0:40:38 > 0:40:40is spinning round on a piano.
0:40:41 > 0:40:44I say, "Yes, but what about my music?"
0:40:44 > 0:40:47"Oh, yeah, well, that was good, too,
0:40:47 > 0:40:49"but I liked the spinning round on the piano."
0:40:49 > 0:40:51"OK. Good."
0:40:55 > 0:40:58As the '70s progressed, so did the size and ambition
0:40:58 > 0:41:01of the touring spectacle.
0:41:01 > 0:41:03In a reversal of today's economics,
0:41:03 > 0:41:07it was common for an American tour to be an extravagant loss leader,
0:41:07 > 0:41:10with the big money being made on album sales.
0:41:10 > 0:41:131975 would herald the arrival of Rick Wakeman,
0:41:13 > 0:41:17a British knight on the most ambitious of crusades.
0:41:22 > 0:41:25- NARRATOR ON STAGE:- Journey to the centre of the earth.
0:41:25 > 0:41:27CHEERING
0:41:30 > 0:41:33I wanted to tour with an orchestra and choir
0:41:33 > 0:41:36and everybody said I was mad, and I probably was,
0:41:36 > 0:41:39and I took the New York Symphony Orchestra and a choir
0:41:39 > 0:41:44and I rented two Lockheed Electra planes to put everybody on.
0:41:44 > 0:41:46Hotels everywhere.
0:41:46 > 0:41:49And so the journey begins.
0:41:53 > 0:41:56It was always going to lose money,
0:41:56 > 0:41:59and I was constantly reminded,
0:41:59 > 0:42:02"Oh, you're going to lose money on this."
0:42:02 > 0:42:08We did 18 shows, sold out every single show in every single stadium,
0:42:08 > 0:42:11but it was going to lose a quarter of a million dollars,
0:42:11 > 0:42:13which was a lot of money in '74.
0:42:21 > 0:42:23And so the journey continued
0:42:23 > 0:42:25through a succession of arches appearing before them
0:42:25 > 0:42:29as if they were the aisles of a gothic cathedral.
0:42:29 > 0:42:32The walls were enhanced with impressions of rock weeds
0:42:32 > 0:42:37and mosses from the Silurian epoch.
0:42:37 > 0:42:39My argument was, when I started that tour,
0:42:39 > 0:42:42I think Journey had sold about three million copies.
0:42:42 > 0:42:46By the end of that year it had done about nine or ten million.
0:42:46 > 0:42:49Their journey was completed
0:42:49 > 0:42:52and they found themselves 3,000 miles
0:42:52 > 0:42:56from their original starting point in Iceland.
0:42:56 > 0:42:59They had entered by one volcano
0:42:59 > 0:43:01and they had come out by another.
0:43:10 > 0:43:15The mid-'70s really were excess all areas for British prog in America.
0:43:16 > 0:43:19In that particular period in America,
0:43:19 > 0:43:21radio was a complete art form.
0:43:21 > 0:43:23You could hear prog rock music drive-time,
0:43:23 > 0:43:27in the middle of the day, so it was absolutely sensational.
0:43:27 > 0:43:32The radio itself was open to anything at any time,
0:43:32 > 0:43:34unlike England which was beginning to close down
0:43:34 > 0:43:38and get a bit conservative. America was an open book, radio-wise.
0:43:38 > 0:43:40MUSIC: "Larks' Tongues In Aspic" By King Crimson
0:43:40 > 0:43:42American radio was kind to King Crimson
0:43:42 > 0:43:45considering King Crimson was never kind to American radio.
0:43:45 > 0:43:48We kept producing complicated bits of music
0:43:48 > 0:43:50that didn't fit into anything...
0:43:57 > 0:44:00..and I remembered clearly going down Santa Monica Boulevard
0:44:00 > 0:44:03in a big limousine with an under-assistant, you know,
0:44:03 > 0:44:06west coast, executive guy from Atlantic Records,
0:44:06 > 0:44:09and the guy comes on the radio and says,
0:44:09 > 0:44:11"We're going to play the new one by King Crimson,
0:44:11 > 0:44:15"Larks' Tongues...In Aspic," he was having trouble saying that, even.
0:44:15 > 0:44:18Larks' Tongues In Aspic. I thought, "This is it!"
0:44:18 > 0:44:21You know, "This is out big moment, we're going to be on the radio."
0:44:34 > 0:44:36And after about a minute of this,
0:44:36 > 0:44:40this guy's looking out of the window saying, you know, "Is this art?"
0:44:42 > 0:44:46British prog triumphed in the home of razzmatazz.
0:44:46 > 0:44:49It just kept getting bigger.
0:44:50 > 0:44:54People are always blaming me for this, and that's saying,
0:44:54 > 0:44:56"Let's go on tour with an orchestra."
0:44:59 > 0:45:03And we hand-picked all the members of the orchestra.
0:45:05 > 0:45:07We got through about ten gigs
0:45:07 > 0:45:12and we were losing quite a lot of money.
0:45:12 > 0:45:14We almost went totally bankrupt.
0:45:20 > 0:45:25I mean, at one point, we got to even carrying our own hairdressers,
0:45:25 > 0:45:27Carl had his own karate teacher...
0:45:28 > 0:45:31It was incredible. Catering, you name it.
0:45:31 > 0:45:33You know...
0:45:34 > 0:45:35..total excess.
0:45:42 > 0:45:45In stark contrast to their station-wagon days,
0:45:45 > 0:45:49comfort was now essential for touring rock royalty.
0:45:49 > 0:45:51MUSIC: "Rocket Man" by Elton John
0:45:51 > 0:45:53# She packed my bags last night Pre-flight... #
0:45:53 > 0:45:55The private jet was de rigueur,
0:45:55 > 0:45:58and there was one particular plane that trumped them all.
0:45:58 > 0:46:01The Starship was a former passenger jet
0:46:01 > 0:46:03refurbished to the highest standards.
0:46:03 > 0:46:08# And I'm gonna be high
0:46:08 > 0:46:10# As a kite by then... #
0:46:10 > 0:46:15It was a way to be able to go somewhere like LA or New York
0:46:15 > 0:46:20and be able to, sort of, you know, unpack and then, sort of,
0:46:20 > 0:46:24do day trips to fly to Philadelphia or Boston or whatever
0:46:24 > 0:46:27and be based out of New York.
0:46:27 > 0:46:30Yeah, you could set up your sounds and play music
0:46:30 > 0:46:34and generally feel like you had a little home from home.
0:46:34 > 0:46:38What they did when you rented it from this Starship company,
0:46:38 > 0:46:41they painted your name on the side, of course.
0:46:41 > 0:46:44Which was quite wonderful.
0:46:49 > 0:46:53It was wonderful, of course, but it was stupid.
0:46:53 > 0:46:57We were having to put extra gigs in to pay for getting to the gigs.
0:47:00 > 0:47:02But, my goodness, it was fun.
0:47:04 > 0:47:08It had about four bedrooms, a sitting room with a fireplace...
0:47:10 > 0:47:12..a butler.
0:47:13 > 0:47:18On one tour, we had a dance floor on the plane
0:47:18 > 0:47:21and we actually hired a keyboard player on an organ.
0:47:22 > 0:47:25So while we're playing... We're flying to the next gig going,
0:47:25 > 0:47:28"Somebody should just play this music for us."
0:47:32 > 0:47:35People used to say, they'd be in line waiting to take off
0:47:35 > 0:47:37and the captain would come on and say,
0:47:37 > 0:47:38"Ladies and gentlemen, we've got, uh,
0:47:38 > 0:47:41"the Moody Blues are going to take off before us,
0:47:41 > 0:47:42"so we've just got to wait in line."
0:47:50 > 0:47:53The Starship may have been the height of luxury,
0:47:53 > 0:47:56but ELO could go one better.
0:47:58 > 0:48:02The stage was basically a space ship. It was like a flying saucer.
0:48:02 > 0:48:05And there's all this dry ice and lasers flashing,
0:48:05 > 0:48:08and then the... It would open.
0:48:08 > 0:48:11Very, very slowly.
0:48:11 > 0:48:15The band would come up on, like, risers, on to the stage,
0:48:15 > 0:48:18and it was a spectacular opening to a show.
0:48:25 > 0:48:29We did the last number and then it would all close down again.
0:48:29 > 0:48:32This incredibly loud music.
0:48:37 > 0:48:40I used to go out into the audience and watch it at the end.
0:48:40 > 0:48:42"I'm off," and I'd be off, down the...
0:48:42 > 0:48:45To just round the front of it to have a look as it closed.
0:48:45 > 0:48:49Cos it was this enormous crash, bang, wallop finale,
0:48:49 > 0:48:53like machinery whirring and hissing and whooshing noises.
0:48:53 > 0:48:56There was no question we were going to come out
0:48:56 > 0:48:57and do an encore or something,
0:48:57 > 0:49:00and people just knew, that was the end, the space ship had taken off,
0:49:00 > 0:49:03basically, it had gone again. It's like, people going, "Wow."
0:49:07 > 0:49:10It used to go down better than us, most nights.
0:49:10 > 0:49:13Cos I used to clap it myself.
0:49:14 > 0:49:161975 would see the emergence
0:49:16 > 0:49:20of the biggest British band of the late '70s from left of field.
0:49:20 > 0:49:24Nobody could have predicted the stellar rise of '60s R&B act
0:49:24 > 0:49:26Fleetwood Mac.
0:49:29 > 0:49:32Ironically, when Fleetwood Mac were a huge band over here,
0:49:32 > 0:49:35and a blues band, with Peter Green playing guitar,
0:49:35 > 0:49:37they, like us, tried, at the same time,
0:49:37 > 0:49:40to make it in America and really didn't do well at all.
0:49:42 > 0:49:46Key to the victorious return of the Mac was a change in personnel.
0:49:46 > 0:49:50The recruitment of Californian singer/songwriting duo
0:49:50 > 0:49:52Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham
0:49:52 > 0:49:55gave the band a wildly successful transatlantic sound.
0:49:55 > 0:49:58MUSIC: "Rhiannon" by Fleetwood Mac
0:50:00 > 0:50:04It was only, ironically, after they became something else,
0:50:04 > 0:50:06rather a west coast, kind of, post-hippy,
0:50:06 > 0:50:09easy-going band that they had this huge success.
0:50:09 > 0:50:12# Oh, now you know That your dreams unwind
0:50:12 > 0:50:14# Love's a state of mind... #
0:50:14 > 0:50:17Almost sounding like an American band.
0:50:17 > 0:50:19I mean, they sounded like a Californian band then,
0:50:19 > 0:50:21and it was almost coincidental
0:50:21 > 0:50:24that they happened to have their origins in the UK.
0:50:24 > 0:50:28# Dreams unwind It's still a state of mind
0:50:28 > 0:50:31# And your, and your
0:50:31 > 0:50:35# Dreams unwind And love is hard to find
0:50:38 > 0:50:43# Dreams unwind It's still a state of mind... #
0:50:43 > 0:50:47British rock music was now just a part of a broader church,
0:50:47 > 0:50:52an international FM sound where it didn't matter where you came from.
0:50:52 > 0:50:57# Take me like the wind, baby Take me with the sky
0:50:59 > 0:51:02# All the same, all the same
0:51:02 > 0:51:05# All the same, all the same... #
0:51:05 > 0:51:08Our rock bands had enjoyed a meteoric rise,
0:51:08 > 0:51:11an amazing journey, but one that couldn't last.
0:51:11 > 0:51:14For many, burn-out was inevitable.
0:51:15 > 0:51:18It did get to that point, yeah, when we were doing, just,
0:51:18 > 0:51:21too much of everything. We were staying up partying
0:51:21 > 0:51:25and nobody was getting any sleep
0:51:25 > 0:51:29and it just rolled on, it became a regular thing to do every night.
0:51:29 > 0:51:31"Oh, great. Whose room is it tonight?"
0:51:31 > 0:51:33And they would go in, you know.
0:51:33 > 0:51:37I do remember once in San Antonio, Texas,
0:51:37 > 0:51:40everyone had gone to the concert hall,
0:51:40 > 0:51:44Ritchie and I were coming out of our adjoining hotel rooms
0:51:44 > 0:51:48to go down to the lobby to be put in the car to be taken...
0:51:48 > 0:51:52And I was talking to him one minute and the next minute he wasn't there.
0:51:52 > 0:51:57I turned around and he had stopped in the middle of the corridor
0:51:57 > 0:52:02and was weeping copiously,
0:52:02 > 0:52:05just...had just burst into tears.
0:52:07 > 0:52:10"What's the matter?" I said. He said, "I want to go home.
0:52:10 > 0:52:12"I just want to go home."
0:52:12 > 0:52:17This is about week 13 of the fourth tour of the year, you know.
0:52:20 > 0:52:24We played the Hollywood Bowl and I actually collapsed from exhaustion.
0:52:27 > 0:52:29They said, "That's it, you've got to take a break
0:52:29 > 0:52:31"and have a bit of a rest,"
0:52:31 > 0:52:34so we came back to England and we had a break.
0:52:34 > 0:52:36But it did get to that point.
0:52:50 > 0:52:52But this journey ends on a high note.
0:52:55 > 0:53:00In 1976, the man who had played the first stadium gig was back.
0:53:00 > 0:53:05Paul McCartney returned to the US with his new band Wings.
0:53:05 > 0:53:08But would America be as keen this time around?
0:53:08 > 0:53:10MUSIC: "Band On The Run" by Wings
0:53:14 > 0:53:19We'd been working so hard to try and see
0:53:19 > 0:53:21if there was any life after The Beatles.
0:53:21 > 0:53:26It's a hard act to follow, you know? Um... And suddenly there was.
0:53:26 > 0:53:28Suddenly we had our identity as Wings.
0:53:28 > 0:53:32# And the rain exploded With a mighty crash
0:53:32 > 0:53:35# As we fell into the sun
0:53:35 > 0:53:39# And the first one said to the second one there
0:53:39 > 0:53:42# I hope you're having fun
0:53:42 > 0:53:46# Band on the run
0:53:46 > 0:53:49# Band on the run
0:53:49 > 0:53:53# And the jailer man and Sailor Sam
0:53:53 > 0:53:57# Were searching everyone... #
0:53:58 > 0:54:00The Wings Over America tour
0:54:00 > 0:54:03fulfilled The Beatles' interrupted American legacy,
0:54:03 > 0:54:06as more than 600,000 flocked to see the band.
0:54:06 > 0:54:11It was only fitting that they broke the stadium attendance record
0:54:11 > 0:54:15that McCartney had originally set, playing to 67,000 in Seattle.
0:54:18 > 0:54:22By then it was as big as The Beatles, but not as screamy,
0:54:22 > 0:54:26and also, the thing is, what's happened through the years,
0:54:26 > 0:54:28we can always get louder than the audience now.
0:54:28 > 0:54:31So, you know, no matter how crazy they're going,
0:54:31 > 0:54:35we can hear ourselves, and that kind of helped.
0:54:35 > 0:54:39# Band on the run
0:54:39 > 0:54:42# And the county judge
0:54:42 > 0:54:46# Who held a grudge
0:54:46 > 0:54:50# Will search forever more
0:54:50 > 0:54:54# For the band on the run... #
0:54:54 > 0:54:57In the '70s, a new generation of British rock bands
0:54:57 > 0:55:00came, saw and conquered.
0:55:00 > 0:55:05They created both an industry and a wonderful spectacle.
0:55:05 > 0:55:08They were royalty, giants who marauded across the land.
0:55:08 > 0:55:12They had enjoyed total market saturation.
0:55:12 > 0:55:16So what room was there for a new generation?
0:55:16 > 0:55:20We went to America because it was a...
0:55:20 > 0:55:22The fatal attraction.
0:55:22 > 0:55:27It was the big boil on the backside of the world, that one.
0:55:27 > 0:55:31An absolute... That's a nuthouse.
0:55:31 > 0:55:35Gots to get there, gots to see what that place is about.
0:55:35 > 0:55:38MUSIC: "I'm So Bored With The USA" by The Clash
0:55:45 > 0:55:48Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:55:48 > 0:55:51E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk