When I was a kid, we had a black and white TV and two TV stations. BBC and ITV. That changed in the seventies, of course. However, from the beginning, music played a part in my tele watching. From very early on, I was a fan of Gerry Anderson's puppet shows. Fireball XL5 was my favourite and I can still sing that closing theme tune. Written by the genius Barry Gray and sung by children's TV presenter, Don Spencer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8C8pyuOO5U
Top of the Pops was the show to watch if you liked pop music. It ruled the charts. An early appearance would rocket your record way up the charts. Usually, of course, you had to be somewhere in the charts to start with, just to be considered. That was the point of the show. It reflected the charts, but also influenced the sales of records. It is difficult to remember my earliest memory of the show. Most memories are from the 70's. However an earlier one that sticks out, is Little Children by Billy J Kramer and the Dakotas. Funnily enough, it was their first hit, not written by Lennon/McCartney.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GxEcYI09eI
Of course, the big TV show, for pop fans, came from America when they decided they needed their own Beatles. The Monkees was a huge show in the UK. Great songs, daft characters, lots of fun. And, for a pre-teen, it was very funny. They had several hits, but why bother with them? They had their own theme tune for goodness sake! And it was a corker! Here they come, walking down the street.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKs43dHBSWA
Of course, we had our own version. Ahem. Not really, of course. Pinky and Perky had a music show, where puppets sang the latest pop hits. Lot of weird characters with odd eyes that seemed to have a life of their own. Not many clips available, but this one isn't bad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VFiX-w1LBc
The biggest TV influence on my music tastes was The Old Grey Whistle Test. A once-a-week, late-night show. They would have interviews and music videos. Live bands in a bare studio and album tracks played over odd-looking silent movies. The styles were all over the place. It's where I fell in love with Emmylou. It was also my introduction to Bob Marley. I always loved reggae, but that guy was something else. This wasn't just lightweight pop music, this was the real thing with real musicians and a charismatic lead singer. Concrete Jungle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIoBi1U-ASo
There were other music tv shows. One of which was a classical music quiz, where a team of celebrity "experts" answered a bunch of questions. One round included the team having to identify a piece of music that the host played on a dummy piano. It was amazing how many times they got it. I loved the show, but was useless at it. I very rarely got anything right. I did once recognise a piece from Bach's Magnificat, my favourite classical piece ever.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo1x-62WmrI
Folk featured a lot. There were two programmes I remember. One featured an all male folk group
called The Spinners [not the Detroit ones]. I used to watch and enjoy it, but the tall guy would really annoy me by getting the audience to sing along by saying the words quickly at the start of each line. That really bugged me and still does. Fortunately I had Steeleye Span, an electric folk band, with the wonderful Maddy Prior on vocals. Their show was a must see for me. Can't find any individual tracks of the show, but this will suffice. Thomas The Rhymer is still one of my favourites.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyQy-ixV36A
Country music is now a big part of my listening experience. Part of the reason is a canadian singer called George Hamilton IV. He had a show on the BBC for a while. A gentle voice, very relaxed.
Early Morning Rain is a Gordon Lightfoot song, but I had George's version before I heard the original. The first version is usually the one you stick to, original or not.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU-Ks-ES5bA
I had never heard of John Denver until his TV show came on. He was like nothing I'd ever seen. A huge smile that seemed to come through in his beautiful clear voice. He always seemed to be having a lot of fun on that show. Just laughing and having a blast. It was very infectious. But oh that voice! Sunshine On My Shoulders.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5aQ2dLzzXs
In the early sixties a very strange show appeared and became quite popular and influential. Juke Box Jury had David Jacobs, the host, play records on a juke box, while a live audience and a panel of celebrity judges sat and listened, then voted it a hit or a miss. In the absence of video, you would watch the reactions of a very calm audience and a very stiff jury. The one with David McCallum is especially weird. It did have a kickass theme tune by the John Barry Seven, titled Hit or Miss. Yes, that John Barry. He of the James Bond theme tunes fame.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Whk-v90b3Rg
Another great source of music, was The Muppet Show. Not only the muppets themselves, but also
some of the wonderful music stars they had on. People like Elton John, Rita Moreno, John Denver. However, the one song that sits at the top of my favourite Muppet tunes, is Rainbow Connection as sung by Kermit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaxoaKwx8tU
A huge once-a-year music show, The Eurovision Song Contest came to be loved and ridiculed at the same time. The ridicule came a little later, as the show opened up and let judges, and then voters, see the acts as they were performing. In the early days, there was just a panel of judges in each country, who listened and voted, without seeing the acts and sometimes without prior knowledge of the song. My first memory of seeing the contest was in 1967 when Sandie Shaw won with an atypical, for her, song, called Puppet on a String.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xnzPnyyWbY
Next time, science fiction and music.
