RFI/CD/SD: The Old Grey Whistle Test

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The Old Grey Whistle Test!!! Discuss.

― Andy K, Monday, 29 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I ask 'cause I've heard plenty about the show but I've never seen it. More importantly, there's a DVD available and it looks like it just might be 'worth it'.

― Andy K, Monday, 29 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

historically interesting definitely, some nuggets of preposterousness escaping round prog, great footage of talking heads doing "psycho killer" and the absolute madness that was "whispering" bob harris - if you've ever seen the rutland weekend television thing with the musician "dead" in the studio, eric idle and neil innes manage to skewer it in under a minute FOR LIFE...

― chris browning, Monday, 29 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

When I first heard of the title years back, I thought it was a joke. That's a comedy show name, not a music show name, surely.

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 29 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

i forget where the name comes from, but it's a pun or something. unfortunately (like a lot of these clever names) it's become more famous than the original inspiration.

― michael, Monday, 29 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The Wailers' appearance on OGWT had to have been one of the coolest musical moments on teevee ever. Sorry, EVAH! Any old-timers recall watching the original broadcast? Must have been a WTF moment for many.

― briania, Monday, 29 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The name comes from the old show biz saying, "If the old grey doorman is whistling your tunes, then you have a hit."

No, I never heard it either, but that's where the name apperently comes from.

― Christine "Green Leafy Dragon" Indigo, Monday, 29 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

as in Bob Marley or Seattle garage?

― michael, Monday, 29 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

that's it! cheers Christine.

― michael, Monday, 29 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Here's what's on the two-disc DVD set:

Disc 1:
Alice Cooper "Under My Wheels"
Elton John "Tiny Dancer"
Curtis Mayfield "We Gotta Have Peace"
Randy Newman "Political Science"
Kris Kristofferson & Rita Coolidge "Help Me Make it Through the Night"
Bill Withers "Ain't No Sunshine"
Focus "Sylvia/Hocus Pocus"
Rory Gallagher "Hands Off"
John Martyn "May You Never"
The Wailers "Stir it Up"
Roxy Music "Do the Strand"
The Edgar Winter Group "Frankenstein"
New York Dolls "Jet Boy"
Tim Buckley "Dolphins"
Captain Beefheart "Upon the My O My"
Little Feat "Rock 'n' Roll Doctor"
Dr Feelgood "Roxette"
John Lennon "Stand By Me"
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band "Give My Compliments to the Chef"
Lynyrd Skynyrd "Freebird"
Emmylou Harris "Amarillo"
Bonnie Raitt "Too Long at the Fair"
Tom Waits "Tom Traubert's Blues"
Otway & Barrett "Really Free"

Interviews: Elton John and Bernie Taupin with Richard Williams
Mick Jagger with Richard Williams
Keith Richards with Bob Harris
Robert Plant with Bob Harris
John Lennon with Bob Harris
Audio Commentary by Mike Appleton
Artists' Gallery
Presenters' Choice

Disc 2:
Talking Heads "Psycho Killer"
XTC "Statue of Liberty"
Blondie "(I'm Always Touched by Your) Presence Dear"
Val Doonican & Charlie McCoy "Stone Fox Chase"
Meatloaf "Paradise by the Dashboard Light"
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers "American Girl"
The Police "Can't Stand Losing You"
Bruce Springsteen "Rosalita"
Iggy Pop "I'm Bored"
Tubeway Army "Are Friends Electric"
The Specials "Message to You Rudi"
The Damned "Smash It Up/I Just Can't Be Happy Today"
The Ramones "Rock 'n' Roll High School"
PiL "Careering"
The Teardrop Explodes "Reward"
U2 "I Will Follow"
Nine Below Zero "Stone Fox Chase"
Japan "Ghosts"
Robert Wyatt "Shipbuilding"
REM "Moon River/Pretty Persuasion"
Simply Red "Holding Back the Years"

Interview: Bruce Springsteen with Bob Harris
OGWT Museum
Artists' Gallery
Presenters' Choice

― Andy K, Monday, 29 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

criminey!
Roxy Music "Do the Strand"
Tubeway Army "Are Friends Electric"
The Specials "Message to You Rudi"
PiL "Careering"
Robert Wyatt "Shipbuilding"

― jess, Monday, 29 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Yeah.

― Andy K, Monday, 29 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

If the old grey doorman is whistling your tunes, then you have a hit.

*befuddled* Astounding.

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 29 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

focus!!??¡¡¿¿ norman phay to thread!

pil were good (but rush were bettah)

(there is another ogwt thread, becuz i got into a debate wiv dr c about the goodness or otherwise of little feat...) (the tim buckley and the capt beefheart are v,disappointing, imo)

― mark s, Monday, 29 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

and otway and fucking barrett can fucking fuck off

― mark s, Monday, 29 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

reggae. doubt the "tall cool one" wailers were on OGWT.

― briania, Monday, 29 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

and otway and fucking barrett can fucking fuck off

It seems the cook tainted Mr Sinker's Double Meat Palace today and made him all testy as a result.

― Andy K, Monday, 29 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Ned: Yes, I think it's a strange saying, too.

― Christine "Green Leafy Dragon" Indigo, Thursday, 2 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I remember the PiL. Amazing. DVD almost worth it for that alone. (Pity there's no Altered Images doing "Insects" tho'. I might even have bought it then.)

I saw a few others of these clips quite recently when the BBC did an OGWT celebration. A lot of it's pretty average stuff. The Meatloaf is um, interesting tho' - seems to go on forever, a rock operetta almost.

― Jeff W, Thursday, 2 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The OGWT compilations the BBC showed were pretty dreadful, apart the from the Talking Heads clip. Beefheart and Buckley were miles below their best and there was nothing else that interesting. Unless a whole Billy Joel concert and the most apallingly longwinded version of Freebird ever are of interest to you, that is.

― RickyT, Thursday, 2 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

This looks pretty good. The Focus thing is hilarious - Jan Ackerman (sp?) bursting into a very high falsetto in the middle of 'Hocus Pocus'. The Tubeway Army clip is fantastic, the Damned is thuggishly funny, but the best thing by far is Dr. Feelgood's 'Roxette'. They should have gone from Roxy's Ladytron instead of Do The Strand.

OGWT had a BIG influence on the young Dr. C. Pre-punk, it was the only way you could see any non-chart stuff on the telly apart from short-lived regional programs like 'The Geordie Scene' (anyone remember that?). It featured a pretty catholic selection of stuff too - I remember seeing (IIRC) the Average White Band, National Health and Bill Withers on the same show. Post 76 it lost something of it's wierdness for me, but the punk/new wave acts were well represented.

― Dr. C, Thursday, 2 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

...gone FOR Roxy's Ladytron......

― Dr. C, Thursday, 2 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

As a young teenage secret viewer of OGWT in the early/mid seventies I have two main memories, apart from all those antiquated cartoons and trippy shape animations that used to accompany the playing of rock songs; a stunning performance by Nico with her harmonium (I'd never seen anything like that before!) and The Sensational Alex Harvey Band. I'm glad that TSAHB made it onto the DVD. I would have liked Delilah but you can't have everything!

― Amarga, Thursday, 2 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I remember seeing the Wailers when they appeared! I'm that old!

If you seek copies of Sounds from early 1977 (no, I don't know why), you'd find one has a lead letter from me in it. Readers had been moaning that TOTP was ignoring punk. My letter was saying that it was pointless expecting TOTP to do anything other than its job, to play what was in the charts, and punk hadn't been, then. I moaned about OGWT, which was supposed to be the alternative, and this was ignoring punk.

― Martin Skidmore, Thursday, 2 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

eight years pass...

Surprised there isn't a YouTube thread for these.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_duNqDMSQDU

― From the guys who brought you Fay Weldon (Eazy), Thursday, 20 January 2011 06:19 (fifteen years ago)

there is now
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gh5DuR5FBQA

― hey boys, suppers on me, our video just went bacterial (Hurting 2), Thursday, 20 January 2011 06:26 (fifteen years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPJHQmJAiKA

― Your cousin, Marvin Cobain (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 20 January 2011 06:39 (fifteen years ago)

lol Sting (but damn the Police were good early on)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEJH6clqfUI

― Your cousin, Marvin Cobain (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 20 January 2011 06:44 (fifteen years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkTQUtx818w

― From the guys who brought you Fay Weldon (Eazy), Thursday, 20 January 2011 06:48 (fifteen years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-PKWeAMQBI&feature=related

― Your cousin, Marvin Cobain (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 20 January 2011 06:53 (fifteen years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cbd-BcuPvLA&feature=fvw

― Your cousin, Marvin Cobain (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 20 January 2011 06:59 (fifteen years ago)

I'm going all classic-rock canon tonight.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsrI_mIT6PQ&feature=related

― From the guys who brought you Fay Weldon (Eazy), Thursday, 20 January 2011 07:03 (fifteen years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcCPNHIwRK8&feature=related

― Your cousin, Marvin Cobain (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 20 January 2011 07:05 (fifteen years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cz9JNDlcTgA&feature=related

― Your cousin, Marvin Cobain (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 20 January 2011 07:09 (fifteen years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iS33yAqMeCc

― Your cousin, Marvin Cobain (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 20 January 2011 07:12 (fifteen years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJOf6ZJ8uR0

I'll stop now.

― Your cousin, Marvin Cobain (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 20 January 2011 07:17 (fifteen years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXBnAhMDFdI

Just awesome...

― NYCNative, Thursday, 20 January 2011 08:01 (fifteen years ago)

I have the double dvd and its utterly marvellous - lots of beautifully shot great performances, also I just love Bob Harris' conspiratorial whisper.

― Marco Damiani, Thursday, 20 January 2011 09:47 (fifteen years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vSLZs3kq2M

― Les centimètres énigmatiques (snoball), Thursday, 20 January 2011 09:49 (fifteen years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dq6fCOGyVJg

― Les centimètres énigmatiques (snoball), Thursday, 20 January 2011 09:50 (fifteen years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKgyjw478B8

― seminal fuiud (NickB), Thursday, 20 January 2011 09:54 (fifteen years ago)

^ that was the first time I ever heard Television btw, totally thrilling.

― seminal fuiud (NickB), Thursday, 20 January 2011 09:55 (fifteen years ago)

This is a little silly, but it gives a good idea of the vaguely spooky, very 70's British tv atmosphere in the studio: the bits from 6.33 look straight out of a sci-fi movie!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bz6sGIzeoJc

― Marco Damiani, Thursday, 20 January 2011 09:57 (fifteen years ago)

xpost
There are no words to describe how great was Alex Harvey

― Marco Damiani, Thursday, 20 January 2011 09:58 (fifteen years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chaP4MCXp4w

― From the guys who brought you Fay Weldon (Eazy), Thursday, 20 January 2011 15:23 (fifteen years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZmqbcBsTAw

― ban this sick stunt (anagram), Thursday, 20 January 2011 15:29 (fifteen years ago)

one year passes...

Found the first two volumes of this in a 2/$10 bin today. I've been skipping around a bit, and recognize Bob Harris and Richard Williams from that old Paul Gambaccini Top 200 book.

― clemenza, Saturday, 18 February 2012 03:20 (fourteen years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdwUY7TknS4

― ‘Neuroscience’ and ‘near death’ pepper (Eazy), Saturday, 18 February 2012 06:17 (fourteen years ago)

That Beefheart clip is always on Whistle Test comps. Kind of sticks out like a sore thumb in a sea of badfinger boogie and prog in shiny lapels.

― Dr X O'Skeleton, Sunday, 19 February 2012 22:12 (fourteen years ago)

six years pass...

Happened on this today: Loads of Full Eps, individual clips/sets, and other treats from the Beeb: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMKkw87LSSoyKjVadIVRRSg/videos

― Infidels, Like Dylan In The Eighties (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 23 January 2019 03:44 (seven years ago)

six years pass...

I don't know if I've ever seen a more Whistle test-y clip than this one, it's amazing what a load of old toot it is (despite some of the individual acumen of it's participants), it's almost Jazz Odyssey.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfmR-O-qELA

― Maresn3st, Wednesday, 5 March 2025 19:16 (one year ago)

That’s awesome

― brimstead, Thursday, 6 March 2025 02:12 (one year ago)

Featuring the future drummer of the Knack! He looked like he was enjoying himself at least.

― Please play Lou Reed's irritating guitar sounds (Tom D.), Thursday, 6 March 2025 07:38 (one year ago)

First time I've seen OGWT filmed before a live audience. Did that happen often?

― bored by endless ecstasy (anagram), Thursday, 6 March 2025 08:19 (one year ago)

Yes, they had in concert performances.

― Please play Lou Reed's irritating guitar sounds (Tom D.), Thursday, 6 March 2025 09:16 (one year ago)

a thing that has been annoying me a little recently is ppl saying "punk had to happen bcz prog songs were all about goblins"

no they weren't!

― mark s, Thursday, 6 March 2025 11:40 (one year ago)

Not enough of them were, that was the problem.

― Please play Lou Reed's irritating guitar sounds (Tom D.), Thursday, 6 March 2025 11:48 (one year ago)

Ironically it was the guys punks liked were the ones who wrote about gnomes, elves and pixies: Syd Barrett, Marc Bolan, Bowie.

― Please play Lou Reed's irritating guitar sounds (Tom D.), Thursday, 6 March 2025 11:51 (one year ago)

Prog songs could be as much about societal pressure, tension, paranoia all that chewy stuff.

― Maresn3st, Thursday, 6 March 2025 12:05 (one year ago)

THERAPIST: and is this societal pressure in the room with us?
SYD: its called grimble gromble

― mark s, Thursday, 6 March 2025 12:46 (one year ago)

Mind you, maybe it was just VDGG lol

― Maresn3st, Thursday, 6 March 2025 13:01 (one year ago)

no yr completely right, i just like bagging on syd

― mark s, Thursday, 6 March 2025 13:07 (one year ago)

Punk had to happen because of Soft Machine Seven more like

― the patron saint of epilepsy and beekeepers (Matt #2), Thursday, 6 March 2025 13:08 (one year ago)

Any fans of the 80s iteration of the Whistle Test? Ellen, Hepworth, er Kershaw. Lots of Long Ryders as I recall it.

― the patron saint of epilepsy and beekeepers (Matt #2), Thursday, 6 March 2025 13:09 (one year ago)

Me! Kershaw comes across as a proper dick in Mark Ellen's book though, which was not his intention.

The clip of The Long Ryders playing Lights of Downtown is maybe worth seeking out as near the end, Syd bangs the headstock of his guitar and plays the last 30 seconds so hideously out of tune it's remarkable.

― Maresn3st, Thursday, 6 March 2025 13:21 (one year ago)

As one of few popular outlets for modern music, OGWT *must* have had something to do with the advent of Punk. Younger people seeing Genesis, Elkie Brooks, Stackridge, and all the rest in 1976 and thinking that there's got to be something punchier, cause Be Bop Deluxe wasn't cutting it.

― Maresn3st, Thursday, 6 March 2025 13:30 (one year ago)

I remember seeing Suzanne Vega's début TV appearance on Whistle Test in 1985 which immediately made me a fan.

― bored by endless ecstasy (anagram), Thursday, 6 March 2025 13:34 (one year ago)

(xp) I think Bob Harris sniggering at the New York Dolls had more to do with it.

― Please play Lou Reed's irritating guitar sounds (Tom D.), Thursday, 6 March 2025 13:38 (one year ago)

Also when the main news stories in the NME week after week were ex-Tull bassist joins Tucky Buzzard... and the like.

― Please play Lou Reed's irritating guitar sounds (Tom D.), Thursday, 6 March 2025 13:41 (one year ago)

counterpoint: be bop deluxe *was* cutting it, younger ppl be being wrong abt that

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQObhdTPJqI

― mark s, Thursday, 6 March 2025 13:47 (one year ago)

We could poll 1975 (worse/best?)

https://archive.bobharris.org/programmes/the-old-grey-whistle-test/t/1975

― Maresn3st, Thursday, 6 March 2025 13:49 (one year ago)

and the turn to punk happened in and through the rock press? a lot of it (as i recall) was about live access to the acts being discussed (viz in pubs etc: where "punchier" probably just means crappier little sound systems lol)

OGWT i think had a rule that no one appeared on it who'd not released a LP? acts this was true of were mostly no longer playing small local cheap venues

― mark s, Thursday, 6 March 2025 13:52 (one year ago)

a thing that has been annoying me a little recently is ppl saying "punk had to happen bcz prog songs were all about goblins"
no they weren't!
― mark s

why would people even say that in 2025, everybody i know loves goblins, who are these no-fun anti-goblin brigaders

― Kate (rushomancy), Thursday, 6 March 2025 14:07 (one year ago)

"no fun to be a goblin"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3K3uAlyNL5o

― mark s, Thursday, 6 March 2025 14:16 (one year ago)

oh god now i'm thinking about lord of the rings but with 70s/80s youth cults

― Clock DVLA (NickB), Thursday, 6 March 2025 14:24 (one year ago)

this is the correct way to categorise them

starting with the 60s: hippies? hobbits that think they're elves

― mark s, Thursday, 6 March 2025 14:32 (one year ago)

I recommended a book along these lines called The Borribles long ago to mark s and he thought it was proper arsetissue.

― Mrs. Ippei (Steve Shasta), Thursday, 6 March 2025 20:05 (one year ago)

― mark s, Thursday, 6 March 2025 21:47 (one year ago)

i was just thinking about the song gentle giant wrote that was inspired by camus

it's better than i remember it being

― Kate (rushomancy), Friday, 7 March 2025 00:09 (one year ago)

They only got one song apiece from Camus and R. D. Laing, but two from Rabelais. Then I guess they stopped reading?

― Halfway there but for you, Friday, 7 March 2025 00:36 (one year ago)

Or maybe Phil did all the reading in the Shulman family.

― Halfway there but for you, Friday, 7 March 2025 01:12 (one year ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVgLUGfdW1U

― Please play Lou Reed's irritating guitar sounds (Tom D.), Monday, 10 March 2025 18:58 (one year ago)

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