The Old Gray Whistle Test

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The Old Gray Whistle Test was a BBC entertainment program and aired on BBC 2 , a second British television channel , from 1971 to 1987 . The broadcast was recorded in London's Hammersmith Odeon . Mainly album titles were presented live by rock musicians and then discussed with the guests. The name was derived from an anecdote according to which in the New York center of the music industry Tin Pan Alley , a record was only released if the song was so well liked by a committee of music connoisseurs, the gray old men that they whistled along to the tune.

program

Moderators with in-depth journalistic knowledge were chosen for the show and costly decorations were avoided. The latter happened not only because you wanted to exude a certain seriousness, but because you had to get by on a low budget . The bands played in front of a wall of simple wooden floorboards and people sat on bar stools to talk; there was also little pay for the artists. Even so, the music magazine was very successful, and many bands saw album sales skyrocket after performing there.

Richard Williams was the presenter in the first year, after which Bob Harris shaped the program for the seventies. But Steve Howe , Jon Anderson , Chris Squire , Annie Nightingale , Rick Wakeman , Stuart Adamson , Tony Butler also performed various shows.

Guests include musicians such as Mick Jagger , Robert Plant , John Lennon , Billy Joel , Tom Waits , Graham Nash , Edgar Winter , Elton John , Bruce Springsteen , Queen , U2 , Dire Straits , David Bowie , Alice Cooper and REM Bob Marley and the Wailers gave their first performance on British television at The Old Gray Whistle Test . Many punk and new wave groups were also presented , such as Talking Heads , The Police , Blondie , Iggy Pop , Ramones , New York Dolls , The Damned , Siouxsie and the Banshees , The Boys , Simple Minds , The Specials , Prefab Sprout , Ultravox , Huang Chung , Judas Priest, and The Adverts .

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