I have been watching UK TV Freeview Channel 840, “That’s Oldies”, which I came across by chance, and had a 1960s music fix. It shows old TV rock and pop music from the 1950, 1960s, and 1970s, non-stop, end-to-end all day. These are not the tired old “Top Of The Pops” BBC programmed, endlessly repeated.
Watching again now, there are groups I enjoyed enormously, such as Cream and the Animals, and others, at least for me, completely forgotten, such as Thunderclap Newman.
They seem to play chunks of 1960s British groups, 1970s, and 1950s with American music. Most except for the 1970s are in black and white. Much of the 1950s music is from American television shows, but not the original hits.
Needless to say, I enjoyed the 1960s groups most. Many you might expect to see do not feature. There is nothing of The Beatles, Rolling Stones, or The Who. I guess it is a rights issue. So, what you get are rarely-played groups with their lesser-known hits that did not reach the top 3. That’s all right. I have not seen most of them for 60 or 70 years, and found them fascinating.
What strikes me now is how good they were, and how many new things I missed in them at the time, such as harmonies, counter melodies, and clever solos. There were so many groups I dismissed as not worthy of attention, probably because I have much more musical knowledge and appreciation now, and, hopefully, am a better guitarist.
It is also surprising how well groomed they all were. They were thought scruffy, but most are wearing suits.
I love heavy and Prog Rock in particular Tasker. I like to watch those sixties bands and see how much and fashion and hair styles evolved and were influenced by jazz, folk, popular musicians, Rock n roll. Bands like Thin Lizzy,Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin come to mind.
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