0:00:02 > 0:00:05This programme contains strong language
0:00:05 > 0:00:07As you can all quite well imagine,
0:00:07 > 0:00:10the letters that get themselves printed
0:00:10 > 0:00:12are only the tip of an iceberg.
0:00:12 > 0:00:13The iceberg in this case
0:00:13 > 0:00:17seems to be one of a particularly threatening nature.
0:00:17 > 0:00:21In fact, it is an iceberg that is drifting uncomfortably close
0:00:21 > 0:00:27to the dazzlingly lit, wonderfully appointed Titanic that is big-time rock pop -
0:00:27 > 0:00:29tax exile, jet-set show business.
0:00:32 > 0:00:35Letter after letter repeats the same thing.
0:00:35 > 0:00:38You all seem to have had it with The Who and Liz Taylor,
0:00:38 > 0:00:40Rod Stewart and the Queen,
0:00:40 > 0:00:42Jagger and Princess Margaret,
0:00:42 > 0:00:45paying three quid to be bent, mutilated,
0:00:45 > 0:00:46crushed, or seated behind a pillar,
0:00:46 > 0:00:50all in the name of modern, '70s-style super rock.
0:00:51 > 0:00:54The aforementioned iceberg cometh.
0:00:54 > 0:00:57And that iceberg, dear readers, is you.
0:01:08 > 0:01:12Everyone that was involved in punk was a child in the '60s.
0:01:12 > 0:01:15So we grew up with rock music
0:01:15 > 0:01:20at the centre of the universe, and as a medium for social change.
0:01:20 > 0:01:25# It's all right now... #
0:01:25 > 0:01:29And what we got, when it was our turn,
0:01:29 > 0:01:32was the feeling that we had kind of missed the party.
0:01:32 > 0:01:35We had grown up too late to be a part of that.
0:01:39 > 0:01:42The whole country had this feeling that there's no innovation,
0:01:42 > 0:01:44there's nothing happening, definitely not for us.
0:01:44 > 0:01:47When you looked at all the great music that had happened,
0:01:47 > 0:01:50you really felt, "Well, what are we going to do?"
0:01:50 > 0:01:52You really didn't have a future.
0:01:52 > 0:01:57No matter how well you achieved academically,
0:01:57 > 0:02:00it's like, "Why bother? Know your place."
0:02:00 > 0:02:02We didn't want any bullshit,
0:02:02 > 0:02:04we didn't want to have an older generation's views
0:02:04 > 0:02:06put upon our shoulders.
0:02:06 > 0:02:09We didn't want to have to toe the line.
0:02:09 > 0:02:12You've created somebody who has nothing.
0:02:12 > 0:02:15And, out of nothing, I'm going to build a whole new suit of clothes.
0:02:15 > 0:02:18Out of nothing, I'm going to look great.
0:02:18 > 0:02:22Out of nothing, I'm going to terrify your children.
0:02:22 > 0:02:26In London, it felt as if a great ashen cloud
0:02:26 > 0:02:29had fallen over everything.
0:02:29 > 0:02:32The great idealistic issues of the hippie era,
0:02:32 > 0:02:35gender politics, issues of race,
0:02:35 > 0:02:38issues of authority, were not listened to.
0:02:38 > 0:02:40In fact, I had gone to the Home Office and said,
0:02:40 > 0:02:43"We have been arguing with you, and if you don't listen to me,
0:02:43 > 0:02:48"my generation, the next generation is going to come at you with knives."
0:02:48 > 0:02:52This is the evolutionary story of the birth of British punk...
0:02:54 > 0:02:58..the underground London scene that came before the fabled ground zero
0:02:58 > 0:03:01of the Sex Pistols' Anarchy In The UK.
0:03:02 > 0:03:06Over time, punk has been mythologized and reduced
0:03:06 > 0:03:10to a barrage of swearing, spitting and safety pins.
0:03:12 > 0:03:14The foundations of punk were actually forged
0:03:14 > 0:03:16by a gateway generation
0:03:16 > 0:03:22sandwiched between the '60s hippies and the '70s punks.
0:03:22 > 0:03:24They were the big brothers of punk,
0:03:24 > 0:03:28already themselves on a mission to take rock back from the jet set.
0:03:29 > 0:03:31This generation paved the way
0:03:31 > 0:03:34but would ultimately be wiped out by punk's new dawn.
0:03:41 > 0:03:44And the very first stepping stone on the road to punk
0:03:44 > 0:03:47was laid by a group of enterprising young American long-hairs
0:03:47 > 0:03:50at the beginning of the '70s.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53# Well, I'm riding on an airplane... #
0:03:53 > 0:03:55One day, in May 1971,
0:03:55 > 0:03:58a Californian honky-tonk trio, Eggs Over Easy,
0:03:58 > 0:04:01knocked on the door of a north London boozer,
0:04:01 > 0:04:02looking for a place to play.
0:04:02 > 0:04:05I don't know what they were doing in England,
0:04:05 > 0:04:08but they went to see the landlord. There was three of them.
0:04:08 > 0:04:10And they said, "Could we play here?"
0:04:10 > 0:04:14And the guy said, "We kind of play jazz. What do you play?"
0:04:14 > 0:04:18And they said, "Kind of R&B and country and rock and pop. Everything."
0:04:18 > 0:04:23He said, "Give us a lunchtime, and see how it goes."
0:04:23 > 0:04:25And that's what they did.
0:04:25 > 0:04:26And it took off.
0:04:26 > 0:04:29# We're going to have a little party
0:04:29 > 0:04:33# It's going to last for a week or two. #
0:04:33 > 0:04:38They were authentic Americans, and we were really excited by that.
0:04:38 > 0:04:39Draft dodgers, I think.
0:04:39 > 0:04:41I'm not certain about that, maybe that was just a myth.
0:04:41 > 0:04:45And they had a massive repertoire.
0:04:45 > 0:04:48They were like a living jukebox.
0:04:50 > 0:04:54It wasn't your regular rock crowd. I can remember
0:04:54 > 0:04:59a Sikh bus conductor with his uniform on, dancing,
0:04:59 > 0:05:03dancing with his wife or with someone else's wife, I don't know.
0:05:03 > 0:05:07All kinds of people. It was really, really shaking.
0:05:10 > 0:05:14The simple idea of a rock 'n' roll band playing in a pub
0:05:14 > 0:05:17was something of a eureka moment for Nick Lowe's band Brinsley Schwarz
0:05:17 > 0:05:21and their new manager, ex-Jimi Hendrix roadie, Dave Robinson.
0:05:21 > 0:05:25Against the early '70s backdrop of super rock and prog,
0:05:25 > 0:05:28rootsy country rock bands like the Brinsleys
0:05:28 > 0:05:30had trouble finding places to play.
0:05:30 > 0:05:33When I saw Eggs Over Easy, it was like,
0:05:33 > 0:05:35"I've got the model. Come down and see -
0:05:35 > 0:05:38"this is what I'm telling you you should be doing."
0:05:38 > 0:05:41They were the kind of musicians we were aspiring to be.
0:05:41 > 0:05:45So we started appropriating quite a lot of their act, you know.
0:05:45 > 0:05:48And when they went back to America,
0:05:48 > 0:05:50we're appropriated their gig as well.
0:05:50 > 0:05:53# Falling in love again
0:05:53 > 0:05:56# Falling in love again... #
0:05:56 > 0:05:57Having seen the light,
0:05:57 > 0:06:01the Brinsleys settled in to a residency at The Tally Ho
0:06:01 > 0:06:05and their enterprising manager set out to make the most of his new opportunity.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08Finding kindred spirits,
0:06:08 > 0:06:13and finding kindred bar managers, became what I got up to.
0:06:13 > 0:06:19MUSIC: "All Right Now" by Free
0:06:19 > 0:06:24I'd been working for David Bowie in the very early '70s.
0:06:24 > 0:06:28After the Ziggy Stardust tours were over,
0:06:28 > 0:06:31there was no job for me then with David Bowie.
0:06:31 > 0:06:34So round about the same time,
0:06:34 > 0:06:39Dave Robinson and myself spent our evenings looking for venues.
0:06:39 > 0:06:42We literally used to drive around London
0:06:42 > 0:06:46in my old Morris 1000 traveller.
0:06:46 > 0:06:49Every time we passed a big pub, we'd stop and go in
0:06:49 > 0:06:52and ask the landlord if he had a big room he wanted to rent out.
0:06:52 > 0:06:54It was a bit of a crusade, really.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57# Now, don't you wait Don't hesitate
0:06:57 > 0:07:00# Let's move before They raise the parking rate. #
0:07:00 > 0:07:03PIANO PUB MUSIC
0:07:03 > 0:07:06These pubs didn't always offer a warm welcome to new faces.
0:07:08 > 0:07:13Pubs weren't very appealing to young people.
0:07:13 > 0:07:16The vast majority of them were run by Irish men,
0:07:16 > 0:07:20with an aggressive attitude!
0:07:22 > 0:07:25Almost none of them served meals.
0:07:25 > 0:07:29There wasn't a gastro... The word "gastropub" hadn't been invented then.
0:07:29 > 0:07:33It was still the older guy
0:07:33 > 0:07:35escaping from his wife,
0:07:35 > 0:07:39the place they would brag and booze,
0:07:39 > 0:07:41and talk about football.
0:07:41 > 0:07:46Nothing had happened in pubs for about 30 years, really.
0:07:48 > 0:07:52ROCK 'N' ROLL MUSIC
0:07:53 > 0:07:55All of a sudden, London's pubs were happening.
0:07:55 > 0:07:59Brinsley Schwarz were joined on the scene by groups like Ducks Deluxe
0:07:59 > 0:08:01and Bees Make Honey,
0:08:01 > 0:08:04and the capital's landlords warmed to what they now called pub rock,
0:08:04 > 0:08:07and the thirsty crowds it attracted.
0:08:07 > 0:08:09# Caledonia, Caledonia... #
0:08:09 > 0:08:13A circuit gradually evolved.
0:08:13 > 0:08:15The Tally Ho was the first one,
0:08:15 > 0:08:17because Eggs Over Easy were playing there.
0:08:17 > 0:08:21The Hope & Anchor became a bigger venue, round about 1972.
0:08:21 > 0:08:25Also another pub in Hammersmith called The Red Cow.
0:08:25 > 0:08:30Then this place, The Nashville, came along later.
0:08:30 > 0:08:36It became the main means by which new acts were exposed to the public.
0:08:51 > 0:08:53The great thing about the London pub rock scene was
0:08:53 > 0:08:56you didn't need a huge PA system.
0:08:56 > 0:09:00You didn't need a tour bus, and you didn't really need a road crew.
0:09:00 > 0:09:01Four or five guys,
0:09:01 > 0:09:05put it in the car, go down The Hope & Anchor or The Kensington,
0:09:05 > 0:09:07set up on beer crates, virtually,
0:09:07 > 0:09:09and play for an hour or two.
0:09:09 > 0:09:13There were no bells and whistles at a pub rock show,
0:09:13 > 0:09:17and this chimed with the bands' preferred style of stripped down music.
0:09:17 > 0:09:20Not for them the pomp and peacocking
0:09:20 > 0:09:22of the prevailing forms of rock in 1972.
0:09:25 > 0:09:29It was a very strange time, that '71, '72 period.
0:09:29 > 0:09:33# And I-I-I-I, I love you. #
0:09:33 > 0:09:36In the pop world, you had glam.
0:09:36 > 0:09:40T Rex and Slade, and those guys.
0:09:42 > 0:09:45I went to see Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Please!
0:09:45 > 0:09:47# Oh, honey, watch that man.
0:09:49 > 0:09:51# Well, he talks like a jerk
0:09:51 > 0:09:54# But he's only taking care of the room. #
0:09:54 > 0:10:00COMMENTATOR: 'It is said Bowie will soon be the world's number one beat singer.
0:10:00 > 0:10:03'He'd be the first superstar of pop to wear shorty dresses on stage.'
0:10:03 > 0:10:06It was just too cosmetic for me.
0:10:06 > 0:10:09I couldn't swallow that.
0:10:09 > 0:10:10# Watch that man. #
0:10:10 > 0:10:14You also had this appalling... HE LAUGHS
0:10:14 > 0:10:17..this appalling thing called prog rock.
0:10:22 > 0:10:25Yes, King Crimson, Family, Genesis.
0:10:25 > 0:10:28Jethro Tull, Super Tramp.
0:10:28 > 0:10:31You know, prog rock. I hated it.
0:10:31 > 0:10:33SYNTHESISER SOLO
0:10:33 > 0:10:35Too much light shows,
0:10:35 > 0:10:38too much people playing keyboards like this,
0:10:38 > 0:10:40and all of that business.
0:10:42 > 0:10:44Not just the music that people played,
0:10:44 > 0:10:46but how audiences reacted,
0:10:46 > 0:10:50which was to sit on the floor, with their eyes shut
0:10:50 > 0:10:55listening to this wondrously complicated music.
0:10:55 > 0:10:58It had gone a long, long way from rock 'n' roll.
0:11:06 > 0:11:10Humdrum daily life for youngsters in the early '70s,
0:11:10 > 0:11:13played out to an extended soundtrack of earnest virtuosity
0:11:13 > 0:11:15and mutton chop pop,
0:11:15 > 0:11:17was in dire need of something new.
0:11:20 > 0:11:24Pub rock's answer to this was to dig out something old.
0:11:24 > 0:11:28The pub rock bands started looking back to Chuck Berry,
0:11:28 > 0:11:32early blues artists, early soul and R&B artists.
0:11:32 > 0:11:37# I'm going coast to coast
0:11:37 > 0:11:40# I'm going coast to coast. #
0:11:46 > 0:11:50Classic rock and R&B from the '50s and early '60s played fast,
0:11:50 > 0:11:53and, washed down with generous amounts of ale,
0:11:53 > 0:11:56was pub rock's response to boring Britain.
0:11:57 > 0:12:00Unbeknownst to them, their retro leanings set British rock
0:12:00 > 0:12:02on a course that would eventually lead
0:12:02 > 0:12:04to the short sharp shock of punk.
0:12:04 > 0:12:07ROCK GUITAR INTERLUDE
0:12:12 > 0:12:14The Ducks were just crazy.
0:12:14 > 0:12:16We just had so much energy.
0:12:18 > 0:12:20We just piled it in there.
0:12:20 > 0:12:22We played at 150 miles an hour.
0:12:25 > 0:12:29Sean Tyla had a very aggressive, kind of rough attitude,
0:12:29 > 0:12:31which I rather liked.
0:12:39 > 0:12:42He was fabulously abusive to audiences, for one thing!
0:12:42 > 0:12:44HE LAUGHS
0:12:44 > 0:12:49And, you know, that was a bit of a mixed blessing.
0:12:49 > 0:12:51# I'm going coast to coast. #
0:12:51 > 0:12:54I often used to get people come up to me at the end of a gig,
0:12:54 > 0:12:58and say, "You really pissed me off tonight."
0:12:58 > 0:12:59I'd say, "What have I done now?"
0:12:59 > 0:13:01He said, "You didn't tell me to fuck off!"
0:13:03 > 0:13:06So I'm not coming to your gigs if you don't tell me to fuck off.
0:13:06 > 0:13:08I said, "All right, OK. Fuck off!"
0:13:08 > 0:13:11HE LAUGHS
0:13:14 > 0:13:18Ducks Deluxe were like a punk rock group in the making.
0:13:18 > 0:13:21But a few excess kilos and facial hair
0:13:21 > 0:13:26was all that stood between Ducks Deluxe and punk rock legend, really.
0:13:33 > 0:13:38By 1973, pub rock gigs had gained a reputation as a good night out
0:13:38 > 0:13:41and were proving popular with legions of Londoners.
0:13:41 > 0:13:44ROCK GUITAR
0:13:47 > 0:13:51The crowds were coming. These pubs now suddenly were full.
0:13:51 > 0:13:54The landlords were banging me on the back, saying,
0:13:54 > 0:13:57"Dave, this is happening, what are you drinking?"
0:13:57 > 0:14:01We understood it was fundamentally about entertainment.
0:14:01 > 0:14:05Paul, our singer, very quickly adopted this persona of, like,
0:14:05 > 0:14:07an Arthur Daley-type character.
0:14:07 > 0:14:10You know, with a moustache and the cigarette
0:14:10 > 0:14:13and the sort of sleazy patter.
0:14:15 > 0:14:20# You know, I went to a party the other night
0:14:20 > 0:14:23# This certain chick was out of sight
0:14:23 > 0:14:25# Now, we got talking... #
0:14:25 > 0:14:27One of the things that pub rock
0:14:27 > 0:14:30is the fact that everybody is in the front row.
0:14:30 > 0:14:32Because it's so small,
0:14:32 > 0:14:36you are so close to the band.
0:14:36 > 0:14:38You are all a part of it.
0:14:38 > 0:14:41And the band gets that feeling as well.
0:14:41 > 0:14:45# So I slapped a little cash down on the desk... #
0:14:45 > 0:14:49It broke down the barriers between the audience and the artist.
0:14:49 > 0:14:54If you went to the Hammersmith Odeon to see Mott The Hoople,
0:14:54 > 0:14:57chances of bumping into Ian Hunter - extremely remote.
0:14:57 > 0:14:59Come down The Hope & Anchor,
0:14:59 > 0:15:03chances of bumping into Ian Dury - ten to one. You know?
0:15:03 > 0:15:05# Pocket money, ooh, pocket money
0:15:05 > 0:15:08# But you know it's true, baby. #
0:15:08 > 0:15:11If Ian Dury was at the bar, he'd be hard to miss,
0:15:11 > 0:15:15especially with his band Kilburn & The High Roads in tow.
0:15:15 > 0:15:18The Kilburns were an entirely different phenomena.
0:15:18 > 0:15:22It was like seeing a kind of demented Gene Vincent,
0:15:22 > 0:15:26you know, with a deformed drummer and a dwarf bass player,
0:15:26 > 0:15:29and it was like the circus had come to town.
0:15:30 > 0:15:33# Woke up this morning in a state of shock... #
0:15:33 > 0:15:35Unlike the punks who would follow,
0:15:35 > 0:15:37or the glam acts their younger sisters liked,
0:15:37 > 0:15:42most pub rockers didn't believe in having a look.
0:15:42 > 0:15:44Only the Kilburns, who met at Canterbury College of Art,
0:15:44 > 0:15:47had their own unique aesthetic.
0:15:49 > 0:15:50# And the cocktail rock
0:15:52 > 0:15:55# They did the mumble rumble
0:15:55 > 0:15:57# And the cocktail rock... #
0:15:57 > 0:16:00It was a rather strange band.
0:16:00 > 0:16:03It wasn't quite a rock 'n' roll band, that's what we thought.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06It was like this... We were Kilburns.
0:16:06 > 0:16:10# I climbed out of bed and I call a doc
0:16:10 > 0:16:14# Don't need you, oh! Cocktail rock, whoo! #
0:16:14 > 0:16:21Kilburn & The High Roads were just so far ahead of everybody else
0:16:21 > 0:16:24in look and in...punk feel.
0:16:24 > 0:16:28Ian Dury was wearing a razor blade in his ear
0:16:28 > 0:16:30years before the punk movement.
0:16:30 > 0:16:32# And the cocktail rock. #
0:16:32 > 0:16:36All right, Keith, on the guitar, you want to play a little?
0:16:36 > 0:16:39More important than his earrings, Ian Dury wrote songs
0:16:39 > 0:16:41depicting real life on London's streets
0:16:41 > 0:16:47at a time when most pub rockers sang songs about life south of the Mason-Dixon line.
0:16:49 > 0:16:51# Mumble, mumble rumble
0:16:51 > 0:16:54# And the cocktail rock. #
0:17:03 > 0:17:04The Mumble Rumble.
0:17:04 > 0:17:09He liked people like Max Wall, Norman Wisdom.
0:17:09 > 0:17:12He was very much into the stagecraft of that kind of thing.
0:17:12 > 0:17:17And he was almost like a Dickensian figure, as well. Very English.
0:17:17 > 0:17:20And I think people loved that we were talking about
0:17:20 > 0:17:21Kilburn High Road instead of Memphis.
0:17:24 > 0:17:26The Kilburns used to come
0:17:26 > 0:17:28to Hornsey College Of Art and do gigs.
0:17:28 > 0:17:32Songs like Rough Kids by them - that was a great song.
0:17:32 > 0:17:35I think Rough Kids was one of the first punking sounding songs.
0:17:35 > 0:17:37You know, very London.
0:17:42 > 0:17:45The Kilburns gave a glimmer of hope to the odd teenager
0:17:45 > 0:17:47craving tunes that reflected their own lives.
0:17:49 > 0:17:52But the pub rockers themselves didn't have youth on their side.
0:17:52 > 0:17:54You'd have, like, a lead singer that looked really good.
0:17:54 > 0:17:59You thought, he's got the slightly Bowie haircut, and a T-shirt,
0:17:59 > 0:18:04but they were wearing flares, and the guitarist would have long hair.
0:18:04 > 0:18:09It was really, you know, beery blokes playing Chuck Berry tunes.
0:18:13 > 0:18:16Even the Whistle Test could see that pub rock
0:18:16 > 0:18:18wasn't quite going to save rock 'n' roll.
0:18:20 > 0:18:23Richard, how much impact do you think the pub rock circuit
0:18:23 > 0:18:27is having or is going to have now on the musical situation?
0:18:27 > 0:18:29If you go round and look at a lot of pub rock bands,
0:18:29 > 0:18:31or a lot of bands playing in pubs,
0:18:31 > 0:18:34you find that most of them are over 25.
0:18:34 > 0:18:38It's really recreating the music of the '50s and the early '60s,
0:18:38 > 0:18:42and out of that kind of thing a revolution is not going to come.
0:18:43 > 0:18:48The next big influence on rock is going to come from 18-year-olds, 19-year-olds, 20-year-olds.
0:18:58 > 0:19:02Pub rock established a live music scene and uncovered
0:19:02 > 0:19:05the rock 'n' roll roots that would form the sonic template for punk.
0:19:11 > 0:19:15This appetite for raiding the past in search of fresh sounds
0:19:15 > 0:19:19was being passed down to even younger kids by two record traders,
0:19:19 > 0:19:20Ted Carroll and Roger Armstrong.
0:19:23 > 0:19:27We're in Golborne Road, we're outside number 93,
0:19:27 > 0:19:30which in 1971 was a flea market.
0:19:31 > 0:19:37I had a record stall in the back, and that's where I started my Rock On empire.
0:19:40 > 0:19:44This place was the first place you could buy rock 'n' roll records
0:19:44 > 0:19:47from the '50s, '60s, and even the '70s,
0:19:47 > 0:19:49as well as rhythm & blues and soul,
0:19:49 > 0:19:53so it used to attract a lot of journalists, musicians.
0:19:53 > 0:19:56Joe Strummer bought a copy of Brand New Cadillac in here
0:19:56 > 0:19:58and then recorded it with The Clash.
0:19:58 > 0:20:01So there was all that kind of stuff happening all the time, you know?
0:20:03 > 0:20:06Well, Ted Carroll and Roger Armstrong,
0:20:06 > 0:20:09we liked them, because they were introducing us
0:20:09 > 0:20:12to music that I hadn't heard before,
0:20:12 > 0:20:15early blues and jazz and all that kind of stuff.
0:20:15 > 0:20:18They were big instigators of having the product to turn people on.
0:20:21 > 0:20:25Just down the road in Chelsea, rag trade maverick Malcolm McLaren
0:20:25 > 0:20:30had also picked up on this revival of rock's teenage past.
0:20:30 > 0:20:33Malcolm, he was selling '50s rock 'n' roll stuff
0:20:33 > 0:20:35and I used to sell him a lot of records.
0:20:35 > 0:20:38When everybody was walking around dressed in BacoFoil,
0:20:38 > 0:20:40like Gary Glitter or Anthony Price,
0:20:40 > 0:20:42he had a Teddy Boy shop.
0:20:43 > 0:20:46If you had to begin in the '70s,
0:20:46 > 0:20:48you had to begin your life with,
0:20:48 > 0:20:52well, what was the culture that really moved you?
0:20:52 > 0:20:56So we would dig up the ruins of what was the 1950s.
0:20:56 > 0:21:00We were going to rescue these ruins, we were going to polish them,
0:21:00 > 0:21:02dust them down, pull them up.
0:21:02 > 0:21:04# Well, it's one for the money
0:21:04 > 0:21:06# Two for the show... #
0:21:06 > 0:21:10McLaren's shop kitted out a growing number of teenagers
0:21:10 > 0:21:12who, fed up with the present, were looking for the future
0:21:12 > 0:21:15in the depths of their parents' vinyl collection,
0:21:15 > 0:21:18or the back of their wardrobe, for that matter.
0:21:24 > 0:21:28American Graffiti was a very influential thing for a much younger age group.
0:21:28 > 0:21:31- ARCHIVE:- American Graffiti. - Baby, what's that?- It's a movie!
0:21:31 > 0:21:34- Can you dig it? Can you dig it? - Go back in time!
0:21:34 > 0:21:38It's one of those great old movies about romance, racing and rock 'n' roll!
0:21:38 > 0:21:41Those teenage kids, they used to call it graffiti music.
0:21:41 > 0:21:43Graffiti music, they called it.
0:21:44 > 0:21:47We were far enough away from the '50s, in a sense,
0:21:47 > 0:21:51for it not to be just about nostalgia, in a way.
0:21:52 > 0:21:55They were just listening to it, and it was great music,
0:21:55 > 0:21:58and it was sort of simple and straightforward,
0:21:58 > 0:22:03and it was the antithesis of the grandiose stadium rock kind of things.
0:22:03 > 0:22:06Though, funnily enough, it was a stadium gig that, in a sense,
0:22:06 > 0:22:09also helped trigger it, which was the Wembley Rock 'N' Roll Show.
0:22:09 > 0:22:12# One, two, three o'clock, four o'clock rock
0:22:12 > 0:22:14# five, six, seven o'clock, eight o'clock rock
0:22:14 > 0:22:17# nine, ten, 11 o'clock, 12 o'clock rock,
0:22:17 > 0:22:20# We're going to rock around the clock tonight... #
0:22:20 > 0:22:23It was Bo Diddley, Chuck, Jerry Lee...
0:22:23 > 0:22:27- Bill Haley.- Bill Haley. - Little Richard.- Little Richard.
0:22:27 > 0:22:31And guess who was also there, with a job lot of retro T-shirts to sell?
0:22:31 > 0:22:33ARCHIVE: Bill Haley large?
0:22:33 > 0:22:37It's Malcolm McLaren with a pop-up version of his Kings Road store.
0:22:37 > 0:22:40- Why is rock coming back? - What?- Why is rock coming back?
0:22:40 > 0:22:44Well, it never really went away, did it? No, definitely not.
0:22:44 > 0:22:46Large Jerry Lee Lewis.
0:22:48 > 0:22:50Revisiting the teen tribes
0:22:50 > 0:22:54and three-minute hits of the '50s was a signpost on the road to punk.
0:22:54 > 0:22:58But, 40 miles south, down the A13,
0:22:58 > 0:23:02those pioneering days of rock 'n' roll had definitely never gone away.
0:23:10 > 0:23:13In Southend, of course, we had the famous seafront
0:23:13 > 0:23:15and the Kursaal Amusement Park,
0:23:15 > 0:23:17and the longest pier in the world,
0:23:17 > 0:23:20and so there was a bit of a fairground atmosphere.
0:23:20 > 0:23:25All the amusement arcades and the piers and so forth had jukeboxes,
0:23:25 > 0:23:28and it seemed like rock 'n' roll records were for ever spinning.
0:23:28 > 0:23:31MUSIC: "Boogie Chillen" by John Lee Hooker
0:23:39 > 0:23:43Canvey was a bit of a backwater, and I'd got into this
0:23:43 > 0:23:45rhythm & blues music and that, and naturally I'm thinking,
0:23:45 > 0:23:48"Oh, man, I wish I lived in the Mississippi Delta."
0:23:48 > 0:23:51And of course - a jolly obvious thing -
0:23:51 > 0:23:52you do live in a delta, actually,
0:23:52 > 0:23:55and you do live where there are people living in shacks.
0:23:57 > 0:24:00# Well, my momma didn't allow me
0:24:00 > 0:24:02# To stay out all night long... #
0:24:02 > 0:24:06So you could indulge these kind of fantasies, and the whole thing
0:24:06 > 0:24:10lit up by the lights and fires of the oil refinery.
0:24:10 > 0:24:12# I didn't care what she didn't allow
0:24:12 > 0:24:15# I would boogie-woogie anyhow... #
0:24:15 > 0:24:17Yes! Got the blues.
0:24:23 > 0:24:25Wilko was joined in his fantasy by three other local lads
0:24:25 > 0:24:28in a group they called Dr Feelgood.
0:24:28 > 0:24:31# If there's something that I like
0:24:31 > 0:24:33# It's the way that woman walks
0:24:33 > 0:24:37# And if there's something I like better
0:24:37 > 0:24:39# It's the way she baby talks
0:24:39 > 0:24:42# She does it right
0:24:42 > 0:24:43# She does it right... #
0:24:43 > 0:24:49Actually, what we were doing was slightly old-fashioned or something.
0:24:50 > 0:24:54The local rival bands used to look down on us a little bit,
0:24:54 > 0:24:57you know, because we weren't wearing frocks
0:24:57 > 0:24:59and singing about going to Mars.
0:24:59 > 0:25:02# And when she gets back to her seat
0:25:02 > 0:25:04# Mmm, all the people cry for more #
0:25:04 > 0:25:06# She does it right... #
0:25:06 > 0:25:11Rock 'n' roll's not about The Hobbit and things like that,
0:25:11 > 0:25:13that's for girls, you know.
0:25:13 > 0:25:14Children's music.
0:25:14 > 0:25:17This is for people who want to have a good time.
0:25:17 > 0:25:21Having shown the pubs and clubs of the Thames delta a good time,
0:25:21 > 0:25:24before long, the Feelgoods set their sights
0:25:24 > 0:25:26on the London pub rock scene.
0:25:26 > 0:25:30We went up to town to The Torrington to see a couple of bands.
0:25:30 > 0:25:34I was there with my brother, and we got in there,
0:25:34 > 0:25:37and this band were... I remember saying to my bruv,
0:25:37 > 0:25:39"If this is the top band in London...
0:25:40 > 0:25:42"..we've got it made."
0:25:42 > 0:25:44# I wonder who it could be.
0:25:47 > 0:25:49# It was so dark I couldn't see
0:25:49 > 0:25:50# But I know it wasn't me
0:25:50 > 0:25:52# When I tell you it ain't right
0:25:52 > 0:25:54# I know you've got to agree... #
0:25:54 > 0:25:57Suddenly, these oiks come from Canvey Island,
0:25:57 > 0:26:00just going berserk up there, and people were loving it.
0:26:00 > 0:26:01# Roxette
0:26:02 > 0:26:05# I didn't need to seek you out
0:26:07 > 0:26:09# You know the music played so loud
0:26:09 > 0:26:11# But I could hear you through the crowd
0:26:11 > 0:26:13# You was telling everyone
0:26:13 > 0:26:16# About a new guy you'd found... #
0:26:16 > 0:26:21The combination of the Feelgoods' musical assault and their working-class geezer image
0:26:21 > 0:26:24grabbed the pub scene by the throat and, crucially,
0:26:24 > 0:26:28also grabbed the attention of a younger crowd.
0:26:30 > 0:26:32Lee Brilleaux looked like he would
0:26:32 > 0:26:34punch your head in given a moment's notice,
0:26:34 > 0:26:39and Wilko Johnson was just this mad, speed-freak looking kind of guy.
0:26:42 > 0:26:46Wilko, for me, was the first sort of guitar hero of the '70s,
0:26:46 > 0:26:50the first person I could really relate to. Didn't like all the widdly-diddly...
0:26:50 > 0:26:53The sort of poodle-cut American stadium rockers didn't mean nothing to me.
0:26:56 > 0:26:59They're slightly forgotten in the roots of punk,
0:26:59 > 0:27:02but, actually, they are the British roots of punk,
0:27:02 > 0:27:04they're sort of the first British punk rock group.
0:27:07 > 0:27:12I think the line between pub rock and punk rock is straddled by,
0:27:12 > 0:27:16not only Dr Feelgood, but by Eddie & The Hot Rods.
0:27:16 > 0:27:18Get Out Of Denver, baby!
0:27:20 > 0:27:23It was fast, and it was urgent.
0:27:23 > 0:27:26# Still remember it was autumn and the moon was shining
0:27:26 > 0:27:28# 60 Cadillac was roaring through Nebraska whining
0:27:28 > 0:27:31# To hit 120, Man, the fields was bending over
0:27:31 > 0:27:33# Heading for the mountains Knowing we was trailin' further
0:27:33 > 0:27:36# The pipes were blazin' and the screamin' wheels turnin', turnin'
0:27:36 > 0:27:38# Had my girl beside me, brother, she was burnin', burnin'... #
0:27:38 > 0:27:40Hailing from Canvey Island,
0:27:40 > 0:27:43Eddie & The Hot Rods were direct descendants of Dr Feelgood.
0:27:43 > 0:27:46They were steeped in the same R&B roots,
0:27:46 > 0:27:50but were a few, crucial years younger than their Essex elders.
0:27:50 > 0:27:54The Feelgoods are now, not at the peak of their career,
0:27:54 > 0:27:57but they're really about as big as it can get.
0:27:58 > 0:28:01Eddie & The Hot Rods kind of came and snuck in under that.
0:28:04 > 0:28:06They were younger, and they had a younger following,
0:28:06 > 0:28:08and they were a very high energy band.
0:28:10 > 0:28:14And they went straight into pub gigs that were ready-made.
0:28:14 > 0:28:17They had an almost meteoric rise.
0:28:18 > 0:28:22The other bands in the early days, like Ducks Deluxe, Brinsleys
0:28:22 > 0:28:25and bands like that, were fantastic in their right.
0:28:25 > 0:28:27We put a burst of energy into it.
0:28:32 > 0:28:35I was quite fit in those days, so it was just...
0:28:35 > 0:28:38To let go of the energy I used to go mad on stage,
0:28:38 > 0:28:41running around, swinging from the rafters.
0:28:41 > 0:28:44There was no-one else like us at the time.
0:28:45 > 0:28:50The punk generation had reached the legal age and begun to infiltrate the pub scene.
0:28:50 > 0:28:53Faced with a front man of their own age,
0:28:53 > 0:28:57they adopted Eddie & The Hot Rods as one of their own.
0:28:57 > 0:29:00You went to see people like Eddie & The Hot Rods, '75, '76,
0:29:00 > 0:29:04because they were playing a very basic, punky type of R&B.
0:29:04 > 0:29:08You know, it was music that you felt you could identify with.
0:29:10 > 0:29:13Their eyes were bulging, they looked the part,
0:29:13 > 0:29:19they were playing at a tempo that no-one in LA was playing at.
0:29:22 > 0:29:24And they were ours.
0:29:29 > 0:29:31The Rods cranked up the energy on stage,
0:29:31 > 0:29:34but their set still relied on American rock covers.
0:29:34 > 0:29:38What would soon set punk apart was a voice with a vision of Britain
0:29:38 > 0:29:42as it felt and smelled to the kids it had set adrift.
0:29:42 > 0:29:47# I was saying let me out of here before I was even born
0:29:47 > 0:29:50# It's such a gamble when you get a face
0:29:50 > 0:29:53# I belong to the generation but
0:29:53 > 0:29:56# I can take it or leave it each time... #
0:29:56 > 0:29:58It was still that sort of hangover from the '60s
0:29:58 > 0:30:00that went on into the mid '70s,
0:30:00 > 0:30:04where people were still walking around in massive great big flairs this big,
0:30:04 > 0:30:08and your dad wearing pasty kipper ties and matching shirts
0:30:08 > 0:30:09and all that sort of gear from C&A's.
0:30:09 > 0:30:12# Kisses for me
0:30:12 > 0:30:14# Save all your kisses for me... #
0:30:14 > 0:30:16They were getting into the flower power thing,
0:30:16 > 0:30:18but like six years later or something.
0:30:21 > 0:30:25# Don't cry, honey, don't cry... #
0:30:26 > 0:30:29And if it wasn't bad enough having to suffer
0:30:29 > 0:30:32the bad taste hangover from the '60s,
0:30:32 > 0:30:37the Britain this generation had inherited was also looking worse for wear.
0:30:37 > 0:30:39I can only give you one gallon, sir.
0:30:39 > 0:30:41That'll get you to your nearest garage.
0:30:41 > 0:30:45So the South Wales miners have decided to turn the screw further.
0:30:45 > 0:30:49- Their latest action...- Huge piles of rubbish after the demonstration...
0:30:49 > 0:30:50CROWD SHOUTING
0:30:50 > 0:30:55- Ferguson?- Here.- Gottley?- Sir. - Green?- Sir.
0:30:55 > 0:30:56- Chambers?- Sir.- Londale.- Sir.
0:30:56 > 0:30:58Linda Ayre?
0:30:59 > 0:31:00Anyone seen Linda Ayre?
0:31:00 > 0:31:05Because of that attitude absolutely rampant in the education system
0:31:05 > 0:31:09of telling you you really didn't have a future,
0:31:09 > 0:31:12that you had no job prospects,
0:31:12 > 0:31:15no matter how well you achieved academically.
0:31:15 > 0:31:18It's like, "Why bother? Know your place."
0:31:18 > 0:31:21The situation in Britain sort of produced us.
0:31:21 > 0:31:24It sort of give us a place, in a way,
0:31:24 > 0:31:28because that lack of things meant that you had to do something for yourself.
0:31:30 > 0:31:31For me, that was music.
0:31:33 > 0:31:36Music was just as important to the punk generation
0:31:36 > 0:31:39as it had been to their parents in the '60s.
0:31:39 > 0:31:42But the characters they would become had been nurtured
0:31:42 > 0:31:45by a very different set of sounds and images.
0:31:47 > 0:31:48# She's faster than most
0:31:48 > 0:31:51# And she lives on the coast Uh-huh... #
0:31:53 > 0:31:55There would be no punk without glam.
0:31:58 > 0:32:00Bolan was this outright, straight-in-your-face
0:32:00 > 0:32:03"I'm going to be a pop star, I'm going to have all your money,
0:32:03 > 0:32:05"all your girlfriends, you've had it."
0:32:05 > 0:32:07And I remember watching Top Of The Pops
0:32:07 > 0:32:10and Bolan was doing Hot Love, and I'd never seen anything like it,
0:32:10 > 0:32:12these girls were just, like, whacking off.
0:32:14 > 0:32:18And I thought, "That's what I want to get stuck into."
0:32:21 > 0:32:25The flamboyant gods of glam divided Britain's male population.
0:32:25 > 0:32:28The blokes, who inhabited the pub rock scene,
0:32:28 > 0:32:31were wary of their gender bending ways.
0:32:31 > 0:32:33But for the younger generation,
0:32:33 > 0:32:37Ziggy Stardust was an exotic beacon of hope.
0:32:37 > 0:32:38# Poor Jean Genie
0:32:38 > 0:32:40# Snuck into the city
0:32:40 > 0:32:42# Strung out on lasers
0:32:42 > 0:32:43# And slash back blazers... #
0:32:43 > 0:32:46It was the first thing that had appeared
0:32:46 > 0:32:51on Top Of The Pops for years that your dad didn't like.
0:32:52 > 0:32:55It was shocking and it was sexually ambiguous,
0:32:55 > 0:32:59and he was thin and he was charismatic...
0:32:59 > 0:33:02# Jean Genie loves chimney stacks
0:33:02 > 0:33:06# He's outrageous He screams and he bawls
0:33:06 > 0:33:09# Jean Genie, let yourself go... #
0:33:13 > 0:33:15Rock music still had the power
0:33:15 > 0:33:17to flaunt the gap between the generations.
0:33:17 > 0:33:20And another potent new ingredient in the mix
0:33:20 > 0:33:23had swaggered across the Atlantic in 1973
0:33:23 > 0:33:26in the form of the New York Dolls.
0:33:26 > 0:33:28# Jet boys fly Jet boys gone
0:33:28 > 0:33:31# Jet boys stole my baby... #
0:33:31 > 0:33:33The New York Dolls appearing on Whistle Test,
0:33:33 > 0:33:34that for me was like,
0:33:34 > 0:33:37"Whoa, I'm not going to go to work in that fucking factory."
0:33:37 > 0:33:39It was like, "Whoa! I want to be that."
0:33:39 > 0:33:45# My baby... #
0:33:47 > 0:33:50New York Dolls were the first band
0:33:50 > 0:33:52to be insulted on The Old Grey Whistle Test.
0:33:52 > 0:33:54An American group who are to the Stones
0:33:54 > 0:33:56what The Monkees were to The Beatles
0:33:56 > 0:34:00a pale and amusing derivative.
0:34:00 > 0:34:02Bob Harris said afterwards, "Mock rock,"
0:34:02 > 0:34:05as though, "This is just a joke, we can't take this seriously."
0:34:10 > 0:34:11Mock rock.
0:34:13 > 0:34:16One man in particular begged to differ with Bob Harris.
0:34:16 > 0:34:19By the mid '70s, Malcolm McLaren had begun to lose interest
0:34:19 > 0:34:23in the Ted revival and the Dolls became his new obsession.
0:34:25 > 0:34:29New York Dolls were in town and they went into Let It Rock
0:34:29 > 0:34:32and Malcolm kind of fell in love with them.
0:34:34 > 0:34:36He went to New York to manage them for a while,
0:34:36 > 0:34:37and that all fell apart.
0:34:39 > 0:34:43He came back and decided he'd do a UK band
0:34:43 > 0:34:45that were confrontational and rocking in the same way.
0:34:47 > 0:34:51In 1974, McLaren overhauled his Kings Road shop, Let It Rock.
0:34:51 > 0:34:55Sex would be its provocative new name.
0:34:55 > 0:34:59The new thing we decided to do was far more subversive
0:34:59 > 0:35:03and far more overtly sexual for us,
0:35:03 > 0:35:08and something that we felt we had suddenly arrived in the '70s.
0:35:09 > 0:35:13Sex, and McLaren's British take on the Dolls,
0:35:13 > 0:35:16would be fresh, new and shocking.
0:35:16 > 0:35:21I used to go in there when it was Let It Rock, which was basically a second-hand Teddy Boy shop.
0:35:21 > 0:35:23Then it was Sex, and Sex was a scary shop.
0:35:23 > 0:35:26You wouldn't just go in Sex, it was rubber and leather,
0:35:26 > 0:35:31and Jordan was in there and she was very intimidating. That was the idea of it.
0:35:31 > 0:35:33Alongside Jordan, and in amongst the gimp masks,
0:35:33 > 0:35:37was Saturday boy and aspiring rock star Glen Matlock.
0:35:42 > 0:35:45The shop was at the wrong end of the Kings Road and it attracted
0:35:45 > 0:35:49all these nut-case weirdos and Steve and Paul would come in as well.
0:35:49 > 0:35:53I think it was to try and nick stuff and it was my job to stop them.
0:35:53 > 0:35:57Steve Jones and Paul Cook also shared Glen's ambition
0:35:57 > 0:35:59to form a band.
0:35:59 > 0:36:01I guess we were looking for something
0:36:01 > 0:36:04that kids like us could go and see, cos there was nothing like that.
0:36:04 > 0:36:08There was a kind of pub rock scene going around at the time,
0:36:08 > 0:36:10which was the only thing happening
0:36:10 > 0:36:13and we thought we could jump in on the back of that
0:36:13 > 0:36:15and make our own scene, if you like.
0:36:15 > 0:36:17Encouraged by McLaren,
0:36:17 > 0:36:21keen to extend his new brand to the music business,
0:36:21 > 0:36:23all they needed now was a frontman.
0:36:24 > 0:36:25Everybody had long hair -
0:36:25 > 0:36:28your bank manager, your milkman, they had long hair,
0:36:28 > 0:36:31slightly over the ears, and flared trousers.
0:36:31 > 0:36:34If we saw somebody in the street who had short hair and tight trousers
0:36:34 > 0:36:36we would just say, "Do you fancy yourself as a singer?"
0:36:36 > 0:36:39Up until that point of joining the Pistols,
0:36:39 > 0:36:42I'd never even conceived of singing.
0:36:42 > 0:36:46So unsinging became kind of oddly enough
0:36:46 > 0:36:49the most appropriate approach to the Pistols.
0:36:49 > 0:36:53We invited him back to audition in front of the jukebox
0:36:53 > 0:36:55and we put a couple of records on,
0:36:55 > 0:36:58one of them being Eighteen by Alice Cooper.
0:36:58 > 0:37:02He liked Alice Cooper. He just sort of took the piss out of it,
0:37:02 > 0:37:04but the way he took the piss out of it,
0:37:04 > 0:37:06there was something about him.
0:37:06 > 0:37:08In 19-year-old John Lydon
0:37:08 > 0:37:12the fledgling Sex Pistols had happened upon a kind of visionary.
0:37:12 > 0:37:14He shared their interest in music,
0:37:14 > 0:37:18but also had a burning desire to tell the truth of his generation.
0:37:18 > 0:37:20I couldn't play an instrument,
0:37:20 > 0:37:22so the boys were great there.
0:37:22 > 0:37:25But they couldn't actually write songs, any of them.
0:37:25 > 0:37:29If they were going be the songwriters in that respect,
0:37:29 > 0:37:32it would end up being versions of other things
0:37:32 > 0:37:36and Johnny came in with a completely different attitude to that.
0:37:36 > 0:37:39There was a bit of tension about that,
0:37:39 > 0:37:42but I think I proved my point.
0:37:42 > 0:37:44You know, the written word, you know,
0:37:44 > 0:37:47it's an incredibly important thing
0:37:47 > 0:37:51and I think up until the Sex Pistols, everything was a lie.
0:37:58 > 0:38:00Alongside Johnny Rotten,
0:38:00 > 0:38:05one other man would become known as the voice of the punk generation.
0:38:05 > 0:38:08But in 1975, Joe Strummer was just one member
0:38:08 > 0:38:10in a band of refusenik post-hippies
0:38:10 > 0:38:15taking refuge from '70s Britain in a West London squat.
0:38:15 > 0:38:18# Johnny is a wanderer tied to a guitar
0:38:18 > 0:38:22# Thinks he's going to change the world... #
0:38:22 > 0:38:23There wasn't much money about
0:38:23 > 0:38:26and a lot of people just needed a place to live, very much like today!
0:38:30 > 0:38:36The 101ers was a squatting band. They came from the squatters.
0:38:36 > 0:38:38It was named, not after the George Orwell room,
0:38:38 > 0:38:42but 101 Walterton Road where they were squatting.
0:38:42 > 0:38:46# Johnny had a temperature Saw a pretty face
0:38:46 > 0:38:49# Tried to walk it on a lead
0:38:50 > 0:38:54# Counted out his money, Charged them to his health...
0:38:54 > 0:38:58I think the seeds of what we would now term punk mentality
0:38:58 > 0:39:00were there in that house.
0:39:00 > 0:39:05You know, you could be on your way to the kitchen
0:39:05 > 0:39:08and suddenly become the bass player.
0:39:16 > 0:39:20Having started out playing for the amusement of their fellow squatters,
0:39:20 > 0:39:25the 101ers soon graduated to their local pub, The Elgin in Ladbroke Grove.
0:39:25 > 0:39:30At the time the 101ers still had their goal -
0:39:30 > 0:39:33being a band like the Feelgoods
0:39:33 > 0:39:40and being one of the, if you like, top pub rock bands.
0:39:47 > 0:39:50Almost overnight, this modest ambition was realised
0:39:50 > 0:39:52and it was the lead singer Joe Strummer
0:39:52 > 0:39:55and his high octane performance that people came out to see.
0:39:56 > 0:39:58You came into the store and said,
0:39:58 > 0:40:00"Saw this band at Dingwalls last night.
0:40:00 > 0:40:04"The lead singer's an absolute star. We've got to do something with them."
0:40:04 > 0:40:06And so, we then, a couple of nights later, went out.
0:40:06 > 0:40:10- Remember it was one of those student gigs...?- South London. - Barely a stage.
0:40:12 > 0:40:17He played like he was playing in front of 20,000 people, you know?
0:40:17 > 0:40:19The guy's energy was just ferocious.
0:40:20 > 0:40:23Watching him, he was like amphetamine person,
0:40:23 > 0:40:25just going completely crazy.
0:40:25 > 0:40:28It was just like veins bulging out of the neck.
0:40:28 > 0:40:30There was an anger there.
0:40:30 > 0:40:36It was clear that Strummer's charisma and conviction were set to outgrow the 101ers.
0:40:36 > 0:40:37One night at The Nashville,
0:40:37 > 0:40:42a new support act would set him on his road to Damascus.
0:40:42 > 0:40:44I was working with the 101ers and the next night,
0:40:44 > 0:40:49they were playing The Nashville and the Sex Pistols were the support act.
0:40:49 > 0:40:51I walked into Nashville
0:40:51 > 0:40:55and I got to the back and Joe was watching the Sex Pistols.
0:40:59 > 0:41:04I kind of felt this atmosphere when I walked in there, really different.
0:41:04 > 0:41:08I remember putting my hand up like that and going to him,
0:41:08 > 0:41:10"Do you feel that?"
0:41:10 > 0:41:14And he went, "Yeah." I said, "There's something different in the air."
0:41:14 > 0:41:18There was a magical time, from maybe the beginning of '76
0:41:18 > 0:41:21through to late '76,
0:41:21 > 0:41:25where you genuinely felt something was going on.
0:41:25 > 0:41:28You could feel something like punk coming.
0:41:28 > 0:41:30You could feel a change coming.
0:41:30 > 0:41:32You weren't quite sure what it was.
0:41:47 > 0:41:52April, 1975.
0:41:52 > 0:41:55The Americans evacuate Saigon.
0:41:57 > 0:41:59For me, the end of the '60s.
0:41:59 > 0:42:03Although it's 1975, Vietnam was the...
0:42:03 > 0:42:08central rallying point of the 1960s.
0:42:08 > 0:42:09It's what we protested against.
0:42:09 > 0:42:12We went to Grosvenor Square, shook our fists.
0:42:14 > 0:42:17It was Beatles and Stones,
0:42:17 > 0:42:21Mick Jagger and Tariq Ali and Vanessa Redgrave.
0:42:21 > 0:42:23We were angry about Vietnam.
0:42:23 > 0:42:27Vietnam finished with the American surrender - sorry, guys -
0:42:27 > 0:42:31in 1975, April,
0:42:31 > 0:42:34evacuated by helicopter from the Embassy in Saigon.
0:42:35 > 0:42:39November '75, a band called the Sex Pistols
0:42:39 > 0:42:43did their first gig at St Martin's art school.
0:42:43 > 0:42:47So somewhere between April and November
0:42:47 > 0:42:50was where that generational baton was handed on.
0:42:52 > 0:42:55Richard "Kid" Strange was the cosmic leader
0:42:55 > 0:42:58of psychedelic proto-punks, the Doctors Of Madness.
0:43:02 > 0:43:04They had many of the hallmarks of what became punk
0:43:04 > 0:43:07and were on the road to success by 1976.
0:43:09 > 0:43:12We got a call from our agent, this must have been May, '76,
0:43:12 > 0:43:15saying, "There's a band you might have heard of, they've caused a bit of trouble.
0:43:15 > 0:43:19"You know who I'm going to say. It's the Sex Pistols.
0:43:19 > 0:43:21"They want to support you. Is that OK?"
0:43:21 > 0:43:23I thought, "Yeah, fine, bring it on," you know.
0:43:27 > 0:43:31We arrived and the Pistols were sitting in the auditorium.
0:43:31 > 0:43:33They were naughty, but not excessively so.
0:43:33 > 0:43:36They looked like they were kids bunking off school, you know?
0:43:36 > 0:43:39They were that bit younger than us.
0:43:39 > 0:43:43We'd sort of been led to believe that they might be armed, you know!
0:43:46 > 0:43:48As harmless as they may have appeared,
0:43:48 > 0:43:53the Pistols were armed with something so violently new
0:43:53 > 0:43:56that any act with so much as a whiff of the old regime about them
0:43:56 > 0:44:00could now consider themselves the enemy.
0:44:00 > 0:44:02They opened the show and I was watching from the wings
0:44:02 > 0:44:05and I thought, "It's all over for us."
0:44:11 > 0:44:15The reaction that they garnered was just extraordinary -
0:44:15 > 0:44:21devotion to the point of evangelical prostration in front of the stage.
0:44:23 > 0:44:24# We're so pretty
0:44:24 > 0:44:26# Oh, so pretty... #
0:44:26 > 0:44:30Or, "What is this abomination? It's not music." You know?
0:44:30 > 0:44:33And, of course, in a way, that was the point.
0:44:33 > 0:44:37It was much better than music, it was something to upset your parents.
0:44:37 > 0:44:40# We're so pretty Oh, so pretty
0:44:40 > 0:44:43# Vacant... #
0:44:43 > 0:44:45You just thought...
0:44:45 > 0:44:47"I'm two years too old."
0:44:50 > 0:44:53And then, to compound the whole thing,
0:44:53 > 0:44:56by the time we came off and got back into the dressing room,
0:44:56 > 0:45:00the Pistols had been through our pockets and nicked our money as well!
0:45:00 > 0:45:05# And we don't care. #
0:45:05 > 0:45:07Punk's time had come.
0:45:07 > 0:45:09The iceberg had cometh
0:45:09 > 0:45:13as Britain basked in record temperatures in the summer of '76.
0:45:13 > 0:45:18Its roots run deep and a diverse cast had played their part in setting the scene,
0:45:18 > 0:45:20but British punk's true birth,
0:45:20 > 0:45:25the spawning of this visceral, ugly, enticing beast
0:45:25 > 0:45:28to be loved or hated but impossible to ignore
0:45:28 > 0:45:30can only be traced to your first time -
0:45:30 > 0:45:35the first time you saw the Sex Pistols.
0:45:35 > 0:45:38These four characters stumbled onto the stage
0:45:38 > 0:45:41and they played these songs
0:45:41 > 0:45:45and they were just like nothing else I've ever seen or heard before.
0:45:45 > 0:45:48Wow. They played a Stooges song, they played No Fun,
0:45:48 > 0:45:51and they played Watcha Gonna Do About It,
0:45:51 > 0:45:52the old Small Faces song, but instead of,
0:45:52 > 0:45:55"I want you to know that I love you, baby," it was,
0:45:55 > 0:45:57"I want you to know that I fucking hate you, baby."
0:45:57 > 0:45:58I thought, "That is cool."
0:45:58 > 0:46:02Actually, they were sort of...very beautiful.
0:46:02 > 0:46:05They were like fairies, really.
0:46:05 > 0:46:08Fuck me. It's the only language I can use.
0:46:08 > 0:46:10I mean, it was a cultural ground zero.
0:46:10 > 0:46:15You know, the sort of fairies at the bottom of one's garden. And young.
0:46:15 > 0:46:19I mean, I actually couldn't hear what John was singing
0:46:19 > 0:46:22but there was an energy and an intensity that you could not deny.
0:46:25 > 0:46:27What was so different about the Sex Pistols early on
0:46:27 > 0:46:30was they were quite aggressive to the audience.
0:46:30 > 0:46:33It was the eyes, it was just the eyes, looking at the audience.
0:46:33 > 0:46:35He'd look at them with such hatred.
0:46:35 > 0:46:40He was sat there, scowling, and I felt really drawn to that.
0:46:40 > 0:46:46I just loved the contradiction and I just had never seen anything like it.
0:46:46 > 0:46:49It just inspired me to leave college,
0:46:49 > 0:46:52split up with my missus and go for it.
0:46:52 > 0:46:57It was an event. Not so much a musical event, but a cultural event.
0:46:57 > 0:47:00Even then, you could see this was different, this was important.
0:47:00 > 0:47:04The electrifying message of the Pistols was spreading fast
0:47:04 > 0:47:09and Johnny Rotten was becoming the oracle of the punk generation.
0:47:09 > 0:47:10I knew that it would catch on
0:47:10 > 0:47:13because I knew the minute I saw Johnny Rotten
0:47:13 > 0:47:18that he was exactly the kind of poetic figure
0:47:18 > 0:47:21that was going to inspire a whole generation of kids.
0:47:21 > 0:47:24The word "punk" is as old as Shakespeare.
0:47:24 > 0:47:28Although I knew that none of the musicians of that generation
0:47:28 > 0:47:30would particularly like to be called punks,
0:47:30 > 0:47:33when you're spreading the word
0:47:33 > 0:47:36and writing it down, you had to have this term.
0:47:36 > 0:47:40Suddenly, Caroline Coon labels the Sex Pistols punk
0:47:40 > 0:47:42and me the king of punk.
0:47:43 > 0:47:47King Johnny went forth to address his subjects
0:47:47 > 0:47:49and declared war on his enemies.
0:47:49 > 0:47:52- What's this thing you've got against hippies?- They're complacent.
0:47:52 > 0:47:55We're not supposed to know nothing, us.
0:47:56 > 0:48:00But it's them what did not know a thing. How ludicrous!
0:48:00 > 0:48:03And that was their revolution, you know,
0:48:03 > 0:48:05they were the hangovers from the '60s.
0:48:05 > 0:48:08I always knew the '60s wasn't a revolution.
0:48:08 > 0:48:11It really just was a bunch of university students,
0:48:11 > 0:48:14with somewhat wealthy parents, having fun.
0:48:16 > 0:48:18Condemned for their lack of ambition,
0:48:18 > 0:48:21overnight, the long-haired older brothers of Britain,
0:48:21 > 0:48:25including those pioneering pub rockers, were yesterday's men.
0:48:25 > 0:48:27The Pistols inspired their generation
0:48:27 > 0:48:30to write their own future.
0:48:30 > 0:48:34You wanted to get involved, man. You didn't want to be just a fan.
0:48:34 > 0:48:37And it was about that kind of empowerment and reinventing yourself.
0:48:37 > 0:48:40I mean, Strummer told me as much.
0:48:40 > 0:48:42He said after he saw the Pistols,
0:48:42 > 0:48:44101ers was like yesterday's newspaper.
0:48:44 > 0:48:46Joe Strummer had been courted
0:48:46 > 0:48:51by guitarist Mick Jones on the hunt for a lead singer for his new band.
0:48:51 > 0:48:54Struck by the Sex Pistols, Strummer realised he was, in fact,
0:48:54 > 0:48:58a punk trapped in an pub rock band.
0:48:58 > 0:49:01He ditched the 101ers, jumped a generation
0:49:01 > 0:49:03and signed up to The Clash.
0:49:03 > 0:49:05In those days, it was very quick.
0:49:05 > 0:49:07You'd be in a group for two weeks
0:49:07 > 0:49:10and then you wouldn't again, or you may be.
0:49:10 > 0:49:13- Sounds like a load of shit. - Sounds great to me.
0:49:13 > 0:49:15'I think you're really lucky'
0:49:15 > 0:49:19if you find the right people, you know what I mean?
0:49:19 > 0:49:22Then it just becomes more than just the individual,
0:49:22 > 0:49:25it becomes the chemistry between...
0:49:25 > 0:49:29You're very lucky to find that, the right people and the right time.
0:49:29 > 0:49:32It comes along once in a while.
0:49:32 > 0:49:35We didn't have any agenda, real agenda, it was just like,
0:49:35 > 0:49:39we just want to play some tunes and have a good time, you know.
0:49:39 > 0:49:42- The Clash didn't have an agenda? - Well, I didn't.
0:49:42 > 0:49:44I mustn't speak for the others.
0:49:52 > 0:49:56- What sort of things do you write about?- What's going on at the moment.
0:49:56 > 0:49:57Like what?
0:49:57 > 0:50:01Like what? Career opportunities.
0:50:01 > 0:50:02They're sort of like...
0:50:02 > 0:50:05all the kids are supposed to be like factory fodder, you know?
0:50:05 > 0:50:07You don't learn nothing. All you're working for
0:50:07 > 0:50:09is just to go into a factory
0:50:09 > 0:50:12which is round the corner, or something like that.
0:50:12 > 0:50:17# Police and thieves in the street... #
0:50:17 > 0:50:20What the new generation did so successfully
0:50:20 > 0:50:25was to create a new British identity
0:50:25 > 0:50:26where artists as musicians
0:50:26 > 0:50:30are writing about their own experience from the streets,
0:50:30 > 0:50:34their own tragedies, their own splendours,
0:50:34 > 0:50:36in an English, British voice.
0:50:45 > 0:50:47# White riot I wanna riot
0:50:47 > 0:50:50# White riot I wanna riot... #
0:50:50 > 0:50:54- Tell me about White Riot, what's it about?- Notting Hill Gate.
0:50:54 > 0:50:59You know that riot they had? We was down there, me and him.
0:51:02 > 0:51:06And we got searched by policemen looking for bricks.
0:51:09 > 0:51:11Later on we got searched by a Rasta
0:51:11 > 0:51:14looking for pound notes in our pockets.
0:51:14 > 0:51:17All we had was bricks and bottles!
0:51:17 > 0:51:19# White riot I wanna riot... #
0:51:19 > 0:51:22The Pistols and The Clash spearheaded the nascent punk movement
0:51:22 > 0:51:26with a two-pronged insurgency aimed at the powers that be.
0:51:26 > 0:51:28They tapped the mood of violence
0:51:28 > 0:51:31simmering under the surface of boring '70s Britain
0:51:31 > 0:51:34and would bear witness when it spilled over.
0:51:34 > 0:51:37Without this conflict at its heart,
0:51:37 > 0:51:40punk would have been little more than noisy pop music.
0:51:43 > 0:51:46But almost as important in defining this new art form
0:51:46 > 0:51:48was the chaotic and often comical theatrics
0:51:48 > 0:51:53surrounding life in a fledgling punk band.
0:51:53 > 0:51:56The Damned led the way in this department.
0:52:03 > 0:52:05# A distant man can't sympathise
0:52:05 > 0:52:08# He can't uphold his distant laws
0:52:08 > 0:52:10# Due to form on that today
0:52:10 > 0:52:13# I got a feeling then I hear this call
0:52:13 > 0:52:16# I said neat, neat, neat She can't afford a cannon
0:52:16 > 0:52:18# Neat, neat, neat She can't afford a gun... #
0:52:18 > 0:52:21You had Vanian looking like some fucking vampire,
0:52:21 > 0:52:23Captain, once he got called Captain,
0:52:23 > 0:52:26he changed from being quite a meek Ray Burns
0:52:26 > 0:52:29into this clown-cum-raving idiot,
0:52:29 > 0:52:31where you didn't know what he was going to dress in next.
0:52:31 > 0:52:32It could be a bloody tutu,
0:52:32 > 0:52:36a ballerina's tutu, or a nurse's outfit, or whatever.
0:52:36 > 0:52:39Yeah, I've always liked dressing up, it has to be said.
0:52:39 > 0:52:43The back of the first album cover, I wore a nurse's uniform.
0:52:43 > 0:52:46The funny thing was, I actually found I was quite enjoying wearing it.
0:52:46 > 0:52:49# Neat, neat, neat She can't afford a cannon... #
0:52:49 > 0:52:52It allowed everyone to live their fantasies,
0:52:52 > 0:52:53which is a wonderful thing.
0:52:53 > 0:52:57The Damned taught a generation that they weren't stuck with their lot.
0:52:57 > 0:53:01They called themselves names and revelled in their grotesque image.
0:53:01 > 0:53:05They WERE the damned.
0:53:05 > 0:53:08Punk was reflecting the ugliness of Britain back at itself
0:53:08 > 0:53:10and if you didn't get this, you'd be left behind.
0:53:16 > 0:53:19What was marvellous about it all, what was so hilarious
0:53:19 > 0:53:22was that, of course, the major record companies thought,
0:53:22 > 0:53:24"This can't be real! This... What?
0:53:24 > 0:53:27"We're going to have to put this music out shortly?
0:53:27 > 0:53:29"What? This is going to be in the charts?
0:53:29 > 0:53:31"I hate it, it's disgusting!"
0:53:31 > 0:53:32It was said at the time
0:53:32 > 0:53:36that you could hear the sound of record company executives' bodies
0:53:36 > 0:53:39hitting the pavement from the high buildings.
0:53:44 > 0:53:48Having transformed London's live music scene a few years earlier,
0:53:48 > 0:53:51the entrepreneurs behind pub rock now saw an opportunity
0:53:51 > 0:53:54to embrace and enable the punk generation.
0:53:54 > 0:53:58Here is a musical movement. All these kids want to buy something.
0:53:58 > 0:54:01They can buy a few one-off little bits
0:54:01 > 0:54:07but they want to buy something big to show their badge of credibility.
0:54:07 > 0:54:09Stiff put the records out quicker.
0:54:09 > 0:54:11We were quicker, we were faster, we were brasher,
0:54:11 > 0:54:14we were noisier and we were the best.
0:54:15 > 0:54:19There was a real vibe to it. There was no big office for them,
0:54:19 > 0:54:22they were just in an old shopfront on Alexander Street.
0:54:22 > 0:54:25And it was like, everyone was bagging records and doing it -
0:54:25 > 0:54:27everyone was mucking in doing stuff.
0:54:27 > 0:54:31It had Nick Lowe as a house producer.
0:54:31 > 0:54:35It had Dave and Jake, who knew how to market records
0:54:35 > 0:54:37in an original, innovative way.
0:54:37 > 0:54:40A band like The Damned was almost tailor-made for them, really.
0:54:40 > 0:54:43Stiff signed The Damned in late '76
0:54:43 > 0:54:47and put them straight in the studio with house producer Nick Lowe,
0:54:47 > 0:54:50of pub rockers Brinsley Schwarz fame.
0:54:51 > 0:54:54I made quite a lot of records up there in that little place.
0:54:54 > 0:54:59Occasionally - and I can think of on one hand -
0:54:59 > 0:55:02we did something in there which you could not believe.
0:55:02 > 0:55:06It was the first time I'd ever been in a recording studio.
0:55:06 > 0:55:10I'd seen Let It Be and I thought, "This is going to be great."
0:55:10 > 0:55:15And then we got into this sort of cupboard with a tape recorder.
0:55:15 > 0:55:18What they created that day in those modest surroundings
0:55:18 > 0:55:21would encapsulate the pure essence of punk
0:55:21 > 0:55:25and become the very first punk single to be released in Britain.
0:55:25 > 0:55:28We could not believe it. We could not believe it.
0:55:28 > 0:55:31It seemed like it was almost unsettling.
0:55:37 > 0:55:41It's a cracking riff, yeah, it's a cracking riff. Absolutely watertight.
0:55:43 > 0:55:46He played it back and there was something that was just totally exciting.
0:55:46 > 0:55:49It was like a genuine rush.
0:55:49 > 0:55:52You know when you're walking out in the country somewhere
0:55:52 > 0:55:56and suddenly an F1 jetfighter screams above you
0:55:56 > 0:55:58and it just whaaaa...
0:56:10 > 0:56:13# I got a feeling inside me
0:56:13 > 0:56:15# It's kind of strange like a stormy sea... #
0:56:15 > 0:56:18There's something so fundamental about it.
0:56:18 > 0:56:21That's what made it startlingly original.
0:56:21 > 0:56:26It's an ancient story somehow told in a brand-new way.
0:56:26 > 0:56:32You've got to be made of bloomin' wood not be touched by it.
0:56:32 > 0:56:37# I never thought this could happen to me
0:56:37 > 0:56:41# Something strange Oh, what should it be?
0:56:41 > 0:56:44Another first in true Stiff Records style
0:56:44 > 0:56:47was the DIY filming of this video for New Rose
0:56:47 > 0:56:50at the bastion of pub rock, The Hope & Anchor,
0:56:50 > 0:56:53drawing a direct line to punk's humble roots.
0:56:57 > 0:56:59I mean, that was two run-throughs
0:56:59 > 0:57:01with a camera at two different angles,
0:57:01 > 0:57:04maybe three, and that was it.
0:57:04 > 0:57:06Edited that night and we had the video in the morning.
0:57:06 > 0:57:09# I've got a new rose I've got her good
0:57:09 > 0:57:12# Guess I knew that I always would... #
0:57:12 > 0:57:15People have asked me over the years, "What's New Rose about?
0:57:15 > 0:57:17"Is it like a love story?"
0:57:17 > 0:57:21I've got a feeling that it's probably, as much as anything,
0:57:21 > 0:57:25about what was happening with the punk scene.
0:57:25 > 0:57:28The New Rose was this developing thing.
0:57:32 > 0:57:34I've never been that much into lyrics,
0:57:34 > 0:57:36I'm more of a guitar player, you know.
0:57:36 > 0:57:40The same month The Damned's New Rose was released,
0:57:40 > 0:57:45the Sex Pistols inked a deal with music business old farts, EMI.
0:57:45 > 0:57:48And their debut signal, Anarchy In The UK,
0:57:48 > 0:57:51hit the streets in November '76.
0:57:51 > 0:57:53It was time for punk to go above ground
0:57:53 > 0:57:57and into direct contact with those it was designed to offend.
0:57:57 > 0:58:03I've done everything humanly possible to ban this thing and to stop it.
0:58:03 > 0:58:081977, the year of punk, was just around the corner.
0:58:08 > 0:58:12Go on, you've got another five seconds. Say something outrageous.
0:58:12 > 0:58:15- You dirty bastard. - Go on, again.- You dirty fucker.
0:58:15 > 0:58:17- What a clever boy(!) - What a fucking rotter.
0:58:17 > 0:58:19Well, that's it for tonight.
0:58:19 > 0:58:23# I am an antichrist
0:58:23 > 0:58:27# I am an anarchist
0:58:27 > 0:58:30# Don't know what I want But I know how to get it
0:58:30 > 0:58:34# I wanna destroy the passer-by
0:58:34 > 0:58:40# Cos I wanna be
0:58:40 > 0:58:44# Anarchy... #
0:58:44 > 0:58:47Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd