Sadly, Mike Appleton, the man behind the Old Grey Whistle Test has died. From David Hepworth’s blog
“I’m regularly asked to name the records that changed my life. If I’m perfectly honest records never changed my life. However, a handful of people did. Mike was one of that handful.”
Whistle test has a vital part of my musical education, screened at a time when access to music wasn’t easy. I’m sure we will all have memorable moments from the shows.
This is one of mine
https://youtu.be/u2srYNkA0N0
Christ, I had no idea that David Hepworth’s blog was lethal!
That clip is immensely ace; the thought that this kind of depraved filth was made freely available to young men and women by a national broadcaster speaks volumes of a time when the Beeb was not living in abject fear of a bunch of tosspot asshole politicians; an enlightened position largely due to the efforts of people exactly like Mike Appleton.
Respect is due.
Up arrow in the post – great comment. 👍
That’s really sad. That name on the credits is absolutely part of my teenage musical education
It cannot be mentioned enough that Mike Appleton personally vetoed all the attempts (that he knew about) to wipe and destroy the OGWT tapes. Otherwise a whole visual history of music and artists rarely seen elsewhere would have been lost alongside all those,TOTP episodes.
Including of course, this Bill Withers performance that has been posted many times today.
Lone Justice 1985
Marvellous!
This for me changed everything https://youtu.be/PRvJtJtno6k
Yes. The sound of the finest rock band of all time firing on all cylinders. Unbeatable.
Deffo
Good God no.
I hope the operation goes well. Ears are so important.
Nice one Foxy.
Very sad. SAHB was my “WTF” moment – and many years later, my band did a gig at BBC Scotland and the senior sound guy told us that SAHB doing Next was day 3 of his trainee program at the BBC. This was very early in the BBC policy of “send things out around the country” , and BBC Scotland was not really geared up for the rock and roll. They had set things up, as best they could, but after 15 minutes of trying to get the vocals sounding right, Alex dropped the BBC mike and roared “ROADIE! Bring me the ROCK AND ROLL MIKE!”. The SM57 was applied, and 20 seconds later, the entire BBC sound team gathered in awe around Alex to clarify what this magical item was. Before close of play, they ordered 8 of them.
The day of my 47th birthday was a strange one – when I was a boy, Alex was Everything That A Man Could Possibly Be. And there I was, older than he ever got to be.
Still an inspiration.
By the time I started watching it, it was no longer Old or Grey, and not hidden away at the end of the schedules – 6pm BBC2?
Remember The Damned and Big Country, and this lot
and this one created a lot of interest and investment
Robyn Hitchcock – Brenda’s Iron Sledge
Please don’t call me Reg, it’s not my name…….not yet…..
Superbo!!! As you say, this performance has cost me a lot in purchasing over the years….
So many to remember – I taped the Time Waits performance of Burma Shave” off the telly speaker and had it for years but sadly it doesn’t seem to be on YouTube. This one turned my head around too – been a fan ever since. Those suits! The horn section and their moves! The backing vocals! The bass singing drummer! The harmonica! Brilliant.
I think this video was a nice 21st century tribute to the whole OGWT vibe.
Trying to recall great moments from the magical part of one’s life when parents begin to relax the rules on bedtimes a bit. I must have been 12 and I remember this very well.
I was sure that Beds Too Big was part of this but YouTube just offers footage from a live show.
Why was Sting wearing sunglasses?
Because a can of hairspray exploded in his face earlier that day.
(This nugget of trivia from the Andy Summers documentary. It’s very honest, so I believe it to be true. Either that, or Sting is just a massive poser)
Yes, I read that in the YouTube comments – apparently he was filming Quadrophenia at the time.
I have it in my head that Annie Nightingale told us about this, though I can’t remember where. They’re her sunglasses if I remember correctly.
I think you’re right @bigstevie. I’m pretty sure she told this story on one of the Whistle Test compilation DVDs.
I also thought she told it on a Whistle Test DVD. I love the way Sting looks so uncomfortable with those shades, you can see him flicking his head back in an attempt to prevent them from sliding down his nose (there’s a couple of good ones at 3.26 and 3.32), his hands being otherwise occupied with his bass.
You’d think his head would be bigger than Annie’s. Perhaps he wore that stripy jumper to encourage the nickname Sting because his school friends called him “peanut”!
Believe me, Sting’s head is very big!
Many fans of the Church cite their brief appearance on OGWT with Unguarded Moment as their entry point for the Boys from Bondi.
And this of course…a whole generation of schoolboys fell in love with Skynyrd in 6 minutes. I taped the whole show (which was a concert special). It’s available as an extra in one of the reissues and still sounds great.
https://youtu.be/G8tHAsFYySY
There’s also the very excellent OGWT Johnny Winter special.
Johnny is always great but I never liked that trio very much for some reason. I think Johnny is best with another guitarist – Rick Derringer particularly but Floyd Radford too. This clip is fantastic. The associated JW Captured Live is a brilliant live album and And Live even better. (We’ve discussed this many times….).
Rare clip of Johnny Winter And live…
And thus it was that a whole generation of teenage boys and young men fell in love….
Oh, gosh. Yes. I did.