We were so much older then, but we're younger than that now - that's the only way to view a television warhorse music programme like The Old Grey Whistle Test. Introduced into the BBC schedules at the beginning of the 1970s, pop music was then viewed with a distinct lack of respect; it was a phase sons and daughters, nephews and nieces had to go through before they came out the other end of their teenage years bright, shiny and ready for a career in the diplomatic corps. It was also an era when rock music was seen as a niche commodity pertaining only to people of a certain age and attitude.
Enter, then, OGWT, a late-night music show on BBC2. Presented by the hobbit-like Bob Harris (pictured above) - "Whispering" Bob Harris, as he was dubbed due to his almost inaudible introductions and between-act links - OGWT was seen as the older brother of Top of the Pops, the kind of programme directed towards people who bought albums when albums were bought as a statement of serious intent.
Looking back from these enlightened times, it seems ludicrous that Harris took it all so seriously - here was a programme that irony did not shine on, where smart-arse soundbites were a thing of the future, and where one was never too far away from a very long guitar solo played by a man with very long hair. Founding producer Mike Appleton recently disclosed that the show's original budget was in the region of £500, and that early episodes were broadcast from a continuity studio designed to contain one person, one microphone and a desk, rather than the egos of budding rock stars.
Although absurdly weighted towards US rock (Harris loved the likes of Steely Dan, Little Feat, Lynyrd Skynyrd and ZZ Top) and although stupidly late in covering punk rock (I still remember the look of horror on Harris's hirsute face after the New York Dolls performed; his loathing of punk allowed newer presenters such as Andy Kershaw, David Hepworth and Annie Nightingale to come on board, paving the way for extensive coverage of post-punk acts), OGWT nevertheless displayed a huge wealth of rock talent and icons.
John Lennon, Bob Marley, Captain Beefheart, Elton John, Mick Jagger, Bruce Springsteen and David Bowie each came under the interviewing spotlight, while the likes of Tim Buckley, XTC, U2, The Ramones and many other past and current superstars trod the little sound stages until the programme was axed in 1987. It hasn't gone away for good either, because a 30th-anniversary DVD of the show has just been released, complete with mullets, beards and those wonky five-minute guitar solos. As "Whispering" Bob Harris might say - niiiiccce.
