In a recent article in The Independent I was quietly thrilled to learn of the return of several classic episodes of The Old Grey Whistle Test, the programme which “will always have a special place in the heart of British music fans, as it was the programme that established serious rock music on our TV screens”, to BBC2 in the UK this autumn. The show will feature many memorable studio performances, including those from David Bowie, Elton John, John Lennon, Patti Smith and Talking Heads.
This story also has an eight page spread in the September 01 edition of Record Collector, which features a black and white screen grab of David and Mick, appearing in the first series on 02/08/72, and captioned : Show includes the classic performance of ‘Five Years’, ‘Queen Bitch’ and ‘Oh You Pretty Things’ taped just two days before the start of the very first Ziggy Stardust UK tour. For the evening transmission, only the first two tracks are aired. There have subsequently been several opportunities to see the recording of ‘Oh You Pretty Things’, but there are still some versions of these tracks which have never been aired.
For those (including me) who have always been puzzled by the origins of the show’s title, Richard Williams (presenter of the first series) gave Record Collector this explanation : “Before a new record is released, a rough mix is played to the grey haired doorman. If he can whistle the tune after hearing it once, it passes ‘The Old Grey Whistle Test’ and is released.”
The presenter of the second and many subsequent series, and the man whose name is synonymous with the show, and indeed with Rock TV altogether, ‘Whispering’ Bob Harris, has completed his autobiography to co-incide with the 30th anniversary celebrations, and also, his website tells us, with a ‘Whistle Test Week’ on BBC 2, a six part ‘Whistle Test Years’ series on Radio 2 and a double DVD release containing over six hours of sessions, interviews, clips and commentary from the entire 15 year history of the show…
More details as we get them…
:))