42 posts tagged with Television and music (View popular tags)

In Bed With Chris Needham (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) A BBC video-diary documentary from 1991 depicting the trails and tribulations of a teenage metal fan as he tries to knock his band, Manslaughter, into shape for its first gig, with many digressions into his philosophy of life along the way. Some NSFW swearing.
posted on Jun 8, 2008 - View this thread

Dan Treacy and his band Television Personalities have had a long and storied history. Here's a nice little documentary (part one, two, three, four) on 'em.
posted on May 20, 2008 - View this thread

Edward Samuel's Illustrated History of Copyright A fascinating illustrated historical tour, looking at how different technologies have shaped how we think about copyright and intellectual property.
posted on Jan 31, 2008 - View this thread

Solid Gold was a television show that ran from 1980 to 1988, on Saturdays, in the early evening, hosted by (among others) Dionne Warwick, Rick Dees, and Marilyn McCoo. It showcased snippets of the Top Ten popular songs of the week, accompanied and sometimes interpreted by the Solid Gold Dancers. This post is about them.
posted on Jan 11, 2008 - View this thread

Punk Guitar Heroes - Television's Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd Television, and its guitar pas de deux between Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd, fit into the punk scene only because they are the ones basically responsible for CBGB becoming a punk rock club. Verlaine convinced Hilly Kristal to let them practice there and play shows, and the rest is history.
posted on Dec 17, 2007 - View this thread

It's Telly Friday, baby.
posted on Dec 14, 2007 - View this thread

Name That TV Theme Song
Need help? Television Tunes has 3000+ themes available in mp3 format.
posted on Dec 1, 2007 - View this thread

In 1956, Time Magazine wrote, "He is the summit of sex—the pinnacle of Masculine, Feminine and Neuter. Everything that He, She or It can ever want." (Wait. Seriously???) Behold the evolution of The Liberace Show: from dapper virtuoso to sequined, wacky showman.
posted on Oct 30, 2007 - View this thread

The year 1964 was a watershed period in British music. Before that year, British popular music was barely heard outside of the U.K. But when the Beatles achieved American success, a seemingly endless number of British bands and singers were suddenly able to crack the American market.

By the end of 1964, some enterprising filmmakers decided to create a cinematic year-in-review to highlight this new wave of British music talent. The result was “Pop Gear,” a strange but jolly little production that serves as a celluloid time capsule for that remarkable musical year.
The features opens with footage from a November, 1963 Beatles concert in Manchester - She Loves You
posted on Oct 28, 2007 - View this thread

Ronnie Hazlehurst RIP. Who? Well if you've seen any of the BBC's sitcoms and light entertainment programmes from the 70s onwards, you would have probably heard his work...
posted on Oct 3, 2007 - View this thread

Sunday Night, later named Michelob Presents Night Music, was an NBC late-night television show hosted by Jools Holland and David Sanborn which aired for two seasons between 1988 and 1990 as a showcase for jazz and eclectic musical artists. [YouTubeFilter, via]
posted on Sep 16, 2007 - View this thread

The Smothers Brothers are a folk-singing comedy duo whose television show, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour featured music, comedy, and political satire. CBS abruptly canceled the show in 1969 due to continued arguments about censorship.
posted on Sep 14, 2007 - View this thread

Harlem Variety Revue. Pre-rock & roll TV show featuring swing from Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Lionel Hampton, Cab Calloway, and Sarah Vaughan. Rhythm & blues from Amos Milburn, Ruth Brown, Joe Turner, Martha Davis and Larry Darnell. Jazz & calypso from Nat Cole. Ballad by Dinah Washington. Doo wop from The Clovers. Harmony from the Larks and the Delta Rhythm Boys (complete with exciting choreography). Comedy provided by Nipsey Russell & Mantan Moreland, tapdancing by Coles & Atkins and Bill Bailey (check out that 1955 Moonwalk at the end!) Hosted by Willie Bryant.
posted on Jun 16, 2007 - View this thread

A new series called The Seven Ages of Rock has spilling out of idiot boxes all over the UK recently. Get your overseas fix with some YT clips of episode two (Art Rock): 1 2 3
posted on May 28, 2007 - View this thread

The World's Greatest Live Music Show is back on the air [warning: YT-heavy first sentence]. Friday's season premiere featured inspired performances by Arctic Monkeys, CSS and The Hold Steady. Next week: Joanna Newsom, Grinderman, Travis, and more.
posted on May 6, 2007 - View this thread

Night Flight aired Friday and Saturday nights on the USA Network from 1981-1988 in the heady early days of cable. It was one of the first places to see shorts old and new, music documentaries, and conceptual, artistically-intended music videos -- not to mention MST3K-style parody, general weirdness, and 420-addled wonderfulness.
posted on Apr 23, 2007 - View this thread

MTV turns 25 today. Music Television, otherwise known as MTV, was launched with its first broadcast on 1 August 1981, 25 years ago today. Famously, the first video broadcast was the Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star." Ironically, MTV evidently isn't going to acknowledge its anniversary on-air in any way, with a spokeswoman saying that "We made the decision when MTV was founded to always stay young and evolve with our audience. To do that, it has been important to serve our audience at that moment, not our audience of yesterday." This is about par for the course, though, since when was the last time that MTV actually broadcast music videos? A broader question: does anybody who wasn't weaned on MTV (or anybody who was, for that matter) care anymore?
posted on Aug 1, 2006 - View this thread

Richard Hell & the Voidoids play CBGB's, 1977 (youtubefilter). Check out the crowd interviews between the two songs. Also, Richard Hell tries to learn a Television song from Tom Verlaine parts One and Two.
posted on Jul 9, 2006 - View this thread

Be my echo. (Be my echo)

Sing what I sing. (Sing what I sing)

Follow the leader and sing after me. (Sing after me) [YoutubeFilter]
posted on Jun 27, 2006 - View this thread

On May 14th, 1967, the new British pop group The Pink Floyd makes one of their first ever TV appearances. Despite a stellar performance of the song Astronomy Domine, the pretentious host of the show, Hans Keller, has nothing good to say about the band. During the interview (youtube, performance comes first, interview starts about 5:50 in. transcript here.), he chastises the band for their "continuous repetition", "terribly loud" volume, and their "proportionately a bit boring" sound.

However, it seems that all Hans' show will ever be remembered for is this single interview. Pink Floyd, on the other hand.. Well, we all know what happened to them. Syd Barrett, on the other hand, was not so lucky.
posted on May 29, 2006 - View this thread

Sinatra & Jobim. 6 minutes of Bossa Nova beauty, for your viewing pleasure. (Youtube link)
posted on May 12, 2006 - View this thread

American Idol 5 on Popmatters. "There are two pre-audition selection rounds before contestants are allowed to meet the judges. Clearly then, the show's army of "talent" spotters deliberately sent Derek, Crystal and the others crashing and burning onto national television, in the sure and certain knowledge that humiliation means ratings." Some insights into the corporate machinery behind American Idol, as well as thoughts on the current season.
posted on Jan 25, 2006 - View this thread

The Golden Girls Sing
posted on Jul 23, 2005 - View this thread

The best bits (RealVideo) of the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest, complete with a sampling of UK's Terry Wogan's legendary commentary.
posted on May 16, 2004 - View this thread

Pancake Mountain presents Ian MacKaye performing "Vowel Movement" for the kiddies. As a friend said, this site has "pancakes and indie rock and bob mould as a corporate goon all in one package." [via sullivan]
posted on Apr 8, 2004 - View this thread

Kurt Nilsen wins World Idol. Gap-toothed and described by judges as "with the looks of a hobbit," the Norwegian plumber with the voice of an angel proves that there's hope for all of us to become popstars. True talent triumphs!
posted on Jan 1, 2004 - View this thread

Memorable TV themes A short but interesting rumination. Blissfully it mentions composers W. Snuffy Walden who along with Mike Post writes the best in the business. I haven't seen thirtysomething in years but I know Walden's tie-in CD inside out. What's your favourite TV theme?
posted on Oct 22, 2003 - View this thread

A Guide To Music Changes In "WKRP IN CINCINNATI" (via The Morning News)
posted on Sep 1, 2003 - View this thread

Radiohead TV: Welcome To The Most Gigantic Lying Mouth Of All Time! Yes, fans and detractors - it's that time of the year again. But look before you hear, mind! My favourite band The world's most lyrically evolved band Radiohead is about to unleash, after the wonder that is There, There [Full videoclip here] a new long-playing record and with it, on May 26th, a new television channel [Please scroll down a bit for details]. They're going: "I haven't had this much fun in years". Well, indeed! I wonder how many fans get the dark, gallows humour of Radiohead. And what beautiful songs! I put it to you Thom Yorke is the new Leonard Cohen, another much-funnier-than-he-sounds songwriter and performer.[Windows Media req. Quicktime version of TV channel here; Real version of "There, There" video here. Please go to the website for other details and lower res alternatives..]
posted on May 13, 2003 - View this thread

The White Stripes will be appearing on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, for the entire week, starting tonight. The band is promoting their new album called Elephant.
posted on Apr 22, 2003 - View this thread

The Cowbell Project Inspired by the SNL/Christopher Walken sketch, a database of recordings that feature the cowbell, and a list of other songs that maybe should have considered it...
posted on Nov 7, 2002 - View this thread

The solemn, the dignified, the high-profile marketing. On September 11th, the national anthem will be sung on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. By the recent winner of Fox's American Idol. Days before the release of her new album. Two weeks before the winner's next, though obviously equally significant, "American Idol in Las Vegas" show. You will also note that this was reported before last night's finale. Meaning, this important symbolic event was arranged without even knowing who the winner was. In other words, Kelly Clarkson is not signing the National Anthem on September 11. "The Winner of Fox's American Idol" is.
posted on Sep 5, 2002 - View this thread

Growing up in the MTV generation. Reading the earlier Eminem link just reminded me how much MTV has been part of my socialization as a child of the 80's. MTV is a business that has effected not only how i look at the world, but also how i view myself. I'm just curious if there's anyone else out there who have felt so strongly shaped by (through reaction to or following of) MTV.
posted on Aug 22, 2002 - View this thread

Will wins Pop Idol - the contest to win a recording contract finally comes to a conclusion. To me, this programme just about showed how easy it is for anyone to end up in the charts. Now it's time for them to find out what the music industry is really like...
posted on Feb 10, 2002 - View this thread

MTV Canada plays too many videos, says rival When is the last time you heard that MTV plays too many videos, if ever?OK, crappy videos, but still...
posted on Jan 21, 2002 - View this thread

Every Third Word Is A Bleep Hey, hey, it's The Osbournes.Yep, Ozzy has his own TV show now.I just thought America needed to see what a normal family was really like says Mrs. Osbourne.Ozzy won't be getting subtitles, though.
posted on Jan 16, 2002 - View this thread

The Rocklopedia Fakebandica is an exhaustive compendium of non-existent musical acts from television and film. Need to know the complete lineup of Evar Orbus and His Galactic Jizz-Wailers? It's here (via Grouse!).
posted on Dec 21, 2001 - View this thread

Now, I've never been a BIG fan of either Frank Sinatra or Robbie Williams. Sure, I've a lot of respect for the former, and the latter's a great singer and entertainer from the UK. But last nite, I was converted. Anyone see A Night With Robbie Williams on TV in the UK last night? (more inside)
posted on Nov 18, 2001 - View this thread

I'll fix your heart, your achy breaky heart. Billy Ray Cyrus gets a TV show. A drama. He plays a doctor. Uggh.
posted on Sep 4, 2001 - View this thread

Accordion Dreams is a great new PBS show that I just got to see a preview of on my local Texas station. Try to catch it when it comes out nationally on August 30.
posted on Aug 21, 2001 - View this thread

You know you have truly made your mark on rock history when VH1 makes a TV movie about your band's catastrophic life. If this prompts me to re-buy Hysteria, I'll just cry.
posted on Jul 18, 2001 - View this thread

and the world gets just a little more confusing... Wait 'till you read who Elton John, who last year was honored by GLAAD with an award for his efforts in fighting homophobia, has decided to perform a duet with at the Grammys!
posted on Feb 10, 2001 - View this thread