Picture from BBC

Friday night can sometimes be the best night to stay in and sit in front of BBC4 for the entire night when they really make the effort, other times you wonder what happened. The theme nights are great at times and I know they have to cater for all tastes, but other times I get the impression that someone has been left in charge with a box of videos and some crayons to keep them occupied. Surely there is uncovered ground with regards to music? I know BBC4 do stuff on other nights of the week, and they do knock out a decent documentary but as far as music is concerned, (which is why the majority of us watch it on a Friday) they seem to have taken their feet off the pedals a bit. 

As far as the repeats of Top of the Pops goes, this was a great idea when it first started as they were broadcast in real time, as is the Radio Two show Pick of the Pops. I'd have taken this one step further and when the presenters on the repeats mentioned being on Radio One the next day I would have tried to get them to do just that. If nothing else it would shock today's Radio One audience if Noel Edmonds or David Hamilton suddenly turned up in the schedule. Obviously they had to scrap all of the episodes presented by Jimmy Savile and to a lesser extent Dave Lee Travis, but it is a shame that the music had to disappear with it. Surely they could have just cut the introductions out and played the episodes as constant music. Although they began to just miss out the week presented by a sex offender, (or indeed with one singing) now they have cocked it up completely by showing two episodes some weeks. 

Documentary wise, the music programmes seem to be on a perpetual loop with no sign of any fresh ideas. I for one would love the opportunity to make stuff for them, documentaries on certain artists for example, but the BBC is a very closed door affair. We know this is true as I hit a brick wall with 6Music despite having a ready made radio show for them. 

On a comedy note, I am enjoying the run of The Good Old Days, one of the few entertainments from the 1970s they can play without having to edit out racism or sexism. Surely there must be a selection of bygone entertainments that can be broadcast? How about the old Seaside Special shows, or sticking on a real time Saturday morning show starting with Swap Shop and working their way along the timeline until they get to Live and Kicking? There's the children's drama series that used to go out on a Sunday teatime, or other music shows besides Top of the Pops. Dick Clark apparently kept a personal archive of every episode of American Bandstand, why hasn't an offer been made? 

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 This week's edition of The Sunday Alternative is here. 

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Last night one of the more obscure television channels showed a film called The Birth of The Beatles, the story, would you believe, of how the band got together and mainly concentrating on the pre-fame build-up including ex-members Pete Best and Stuart Sutcliffe. Best was the only person from The Beatles who cooperated in the making of this film so there was a certain amount of bias and I don't feel as though making this film was necessary; there wasn't anything contained within that shed new light on things. Made in 1979 this is the only biopic to have been made while all four of the band were still alive, so I'm surprised nobody tried to stop it. As a writer this is perhaps something I should be aware of, but are you allowed to just go around making biographical movies without seeking permission? The whole thing was played out like the worst school nativity play you have ever seen, if the school was the Hollyoaks Academy. A made for television movie, I was surprised to see that it was made by Dick Clark. You can tell a mile off that this was aimed at the American market, but someone with Clark's reputation could have made something better than this. I gave it an hour, and I would like it back.

I recorded the podcast before we left for my dad's house and time was against me so I wasn't able to release it until later in the day. By the end of the recording I had to forgo having a shower as Mandi was hurrying me up, this put me in a bad mood as I hate being rushed and put under pressure; I also hate not being able to have a shower. The walk to my dad's was mostly silent although things did improve by the time we got there.

Today was a big day for The Sunday Alternative as aside from the podcast going online at around six o'clock there was also the launch of the official bag. They went on sale today and all the money will be put in the PayPal fund to create future online entertainment that will be free for everyone. My first day listening figures were respectable enough although down on the same time last week, but it did have good feedback so maybe it was worth it in the end.

This week's edition of The Sunday Alternative can be heard here.

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April housekeeping

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I recently commented that BBC4 should bust a gut to get hold of the recordings of American Bandstand. Dick Clark kept a great deal of recordings for his own archive, thus collating a valuable history of 20th century popular music from rock and roll to the modern day. BBC4 have a fantastic track record when it comes to music programming, often theming an entire night around a specific genre, with Top Of The Pops and Old Grey Whistle Test compilations, live concerts, and documentary. On Thursdays, they are showing Top Of The Pops episodes in real time, which has proved that full episodes of Top Of The Pops aren't necessarily a good thing. For every David Bowie, there seems to be a Rene and Renata, which perhaps builds a case to bring back Top Of The Pops 2 instead. Or just find the recordings on YouTube instead.

Music television is in very poor health at the moment, with very little in the way of performance programmes. Later With Jools Holland is very hit and miss, and has possibly run it's course. Future BBC4 programme makers will have a difficult job compiling from the current era, especially when it comes to straight forward pop music. These television shows are vital if we're going to maintain the history of music performance. At the moment, all a band or singer has is an appearance on Graham Norton's show, or Jonathon Ross, or a plug on The X-Factor. The latter usually only applies if Simon Cowell is in charge of you.

There is a concrete case for bringing back Top Of The Pops, but with the right presenters. The Radio 1 DJs of old might have been Smashie and Nicey buffoons, but they had a good television presence and knew how to rouse a crowd. When I applied a few years ago to produce the show, (yes really) I suggested guest hosts; pop stars and comedians mainly, with actors and children's television presenters thrown in. If the BBC don't want me as a producer, the least they could do is offer the job to one of two people; Louis Walsh, or Pete Waterman. They both understand the pop music business, despite their own crimes against the hit parade, and would know how to stage what was once the most relevant music show on television.

Top Of The Pops saw off competition from chancers over the years. I remember The Roxy, Razzmatazz, The Tube, CD:UK, The White Room and The Word all coming and going during my life. In addition to that, Whistle Test, Ready Steady Go, 6-5 Special, and others from before my time have all been consigned to television history. This is why we have an archive for use by nostalgia peddling programme makers. The future archives will be full of holes, and history will record music not with live performance but with pop videos. 

In the early hours of this morning, while perusing Twitter, I saw the news that Dick Clark had died. The name doesn't really mean a lot in this country, but in America he is a cultural icon. In this country his name has been heard in film and television, most famously on an episode of Friends titled 'The One With The Routine'. Dick Clarke's New Years Rockin' Eve was an example of 'event television' that will probably never be equalled in popularity in America. I can't really think who the equivalent person is in this country; part John Peel maybe because of his ear for new music, but a much more populist version.

Starting his career in radio, Clark became the second string presenter on a programme simply called Bandstand. The main presenter, Bob Horn, was accused of 'sexual impropriety' towards members of the teenage audience, and Dick Clarke was promoted to main presenter of the newly named American Bandstand. The revamped show kicked off in August 1957, and ran until 1989 with Dick Clarke presenting, earning him the nickname of 'the world's oldest teenager'. I was hoping to get through this blog without using that line, but he and the tag go hand in hand.

Dick Clark owned American Bandstand, a rarity in those days when the networks were the boss. Nowadays, most presenters make their own programmes to sell to the channel. He had a good ear for musical trends, and an appearance on American Bandstand was a passport to success during the show's thirty year run. His stake in a large number of record companies earned him royalties, which was his only brush with anything close to controversy during his career, while the 'payola' scandal was being investigated. Clark was cleared of any wrongdoing, but was forced to choose between his investments or the show, and chose the show. American Bandstand not only broke new acts to a national television audience, but also broke ground in 1950s America by featuring black artists on the show, and black teenagers in the crowd, unheard of at the time. The British television show Oh Boy! was based on the American Bandstand model, after Jack Good saw what was happening. Of course our version didn't have the same longevity, and only Top Of The Pops comes close.

The New Year's Eve events were must see television, the like of which we in this country just won't ever get our heads around. Jools Holland's Hootenanny doesn't even touch the sides. Although he had a stroke in 2004, he carried on with a co-presenter.

Aside from his flagship shows, his company produced game-shows, films and television drama, and owned a chain of American Bandstand themed diners. Dick Clark Productions was sold in 2002 for $136 million, though he kept his hand in as chairman.

American pop culture will never his like again, and yet he remains something of a mystery to us Brits. Mentioned on Grease, Happy Days, and others, we kept hearing the name but didn't come to the party. In another rare move in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when live television output wasn't archived, Clark kept his own tapes of American Bandstand episodes, building a rich treasure trove of popular music history. BBC4, get on the phone to someone now!