It has been viewed, especially in retrospect, as something of a watershed moment – an incoming of punk rock, a realisation that John Peel really did and could move with the times. It featured the first ever session from the Damned. It was previewed in the Melody Maker and the paper interviewed John Walters, who said: “It’s not meant to be a history of punk, but a presentation of the music, after all the remarks about the sociology of the players. It’s not like the BBC is jumping on the punk bandwagon, but just some examples of what the actual artists sound like.”
The Damned session featured classics Neat Neat Neat and New Rose, alongside the supercharged, delightfully messy So Messed Up and underrated Stab Your Back. Elsewhere there’s a smattering of classic early punk in the shape of Eddie & The Hot Rods, Richard Hell & The Voidoids Blank Generation (couldnt’ be anything else) as well the Pistols Anarchy in the Uk. There’s also a fair amount American punk (or certainly souped up rock and roll) with the Stooges ‘Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell’, Television, New York Dolls, Saints and Pere Ubu. Interestingly, there’s a couple of lesser known records that feature in the programme in the shape of Tuff Darts and a great track from The Fast, as well as a hard psych number from Seeds, taken from one of the nugget LP’s
Full Track Listing
Damned: So Messed Up (session)
Seeds: Pushin’ Too Hard (LP – Nuggets) Elektra
Iggy & The Stooges: Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell (LP – Raw Power) Embassy
Eddie & The Hotrods: Horseplay (Weary Of The Schmaltz) (single) Island
Damned: Neat Neat Neat (session)
Richard Hell & The Voidoids: Blank Generation (EP) Stiff
Television: Little Johnny Jewel Part 1 (single) Ork
Tuff Darts: Slash (LP – Live At CBGB’s) Atlantic
Pere Ubu: Final Solution (LP – Max’s Kansas City 1976) Ram Stereo
Damned: New Rose (session)
Sex Pistols: Anarchy In The UK (single) EMI
Fast: Boys Will Be Boys (LP – Max’s Kansas City 1976) Ram Stereo
New York Dolls: Personality Crisis (LP – New York Dolls) Mercury
Saints: (I’m) Stranded (single) Power Exchange
Damned: Stab Your Back (session)
Shadows Of Knight: ‘Light Bulb Blues (7 inch)’ (Dunwich)
Ramones: ‘California Sun/I Don’t Wanna Walk Around With You (7 inch-B side of I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend)’ (Sire)
