When people think of Rock music, they, of course, have a different picture in their mind than ‘Joe Bob’ next to them. And for that exact reason VH1 and the BBC have teamed up to bring you “7 Ages Of Rock”; a collective series of everyone and everything important in Rock history.
The series, which started on December 17th in the US, uses archived material and interviews to describe each period of Rock through the years. Packed with interviews from Ozzy to Bruce Springsteen, you’re guaranteed to see a band you admire.
The Seven Ages
The series is made up of six 60-minute episodes and one 90-minute finale. Here are the lists of episodes with their corresponding genre and time period. As you can see, some of them overlap.
- (1963-1970) The Birth of Rock (Blues-based Rock)
- (1966-1980) White Light, White Heat (Art Rock)
- (1973-1980) Bank Generation (Punk)
- (1970-1991) Never Say Die (Heavy Metal)
- (1965-1993) We Are The Champions (Stadium Rock)
- (1980-1994) Left Of The Dial (US Alternative Rock)
- (1980-2007) What the World Is Waiting For (British Indie)
Personally, I think that the series is a bit one-sided (on the British side). They claim that the birth of rock was when Jimi Hendrix came to London in 1966. I found it a bit odd that they didn’t acknowledge previous Rock N’ Roll acts from America. So I guess Elvis wasn’t Rock?
Even at the series finale, they go as far as to call the current age of Rock the “British Indie Rock” era. What about Skater-Punk bands like Green Day and Rock-Rap acts like Linkin Park? Sure bands like Radiohead and Oasis are big in the UK, but they don’t get the same amount of play across the world.
On the other hand, I guess flaws are to be expected in a broad documentary such as this one. After all, you and I have a different picture of Rock in our minds than ‘Joe Bob’.
Full Episode Six
Various episodes and clips of the show are available on the both the VH1 and BBC website, however, Due to Licensing issues, not everyone can view them. So I’ve taken the liberty of finding some clips that aren’t exclusive to one country. Here is the entire 6th episode “Left Of The Dial” in seven parts:
