UK people!! Story of Guitar is on BBC1

[211dave112]

It's on and it's good.

[csm]

Messy and incoherent, but with some great clips and interviews ...

 

David Gilmour discussing vibrato and bends, saying that one of the things he liked about the guitar was that you could personalise each and every note ... and adding, on the subject of 'soloing for hours', that it's a lot of fun to do but that he wouldn't necessarily want to be an auditorium listening to it.

 

Townshend on his early dealings with Jim Marshall finding common ground in a sensibility of sonic aggression ... and that the development of controllable distortion and the new, powerful amps with the possibility of major sustain altered his compositional approach because 'it was now possible to work with VERY LONG NOTES.'

 

Johnny Marr demonstrating how he would take a simple chord sequence and embellish it with arpeggios, and saying that his dream rig would be 'a Rickenbacker 12-string twenty feet long going through a Fender amp twenty feet high.'

 

Discovering that Matt Bellamy of Muse is the son of the guitarist from The Tornados, who had a worldwide Number One with Telstar back in the late palaeolithic era.

 

Iggy Pop announcing that he's now practically deaf thanks to his devotion to great rock guitar and that guitarists are 'pampered pricks who you have to tolewrate because they give you something wonderful' (or words to that effect). Malcolm McLaren saying that the guitarist is always the sexiest guy in the group.

 

Several guitarists(including Marr and Gilmour) saying that they can express through the guitar what they can't say in words.

 

And Slash telling us (as if we didn't know) that he's always been a sucker for a tasty, expressive guitar solo.

 

So: probably less than the sum of its parts, but some v. cool parts indeed.

[Mid Life Crisis]

Definitely had some good stuff in it alright. Enjoyed the Johnny Marr interview in last night's show.

 

One major flaw though - they should have given the presenting job to csm!

[csm]

 

One major flaw though - they should have given the presenting job to csm!

 

 

Oh, I agree, I agree ...

 

Forgot to mention Tony Iommi, lit like a pantomime Mephistopheles, talking about Django Reinhardt and how he originally downtuned to make it easier for his injured fingers to bend the strings ... and that in the immediate aftermath of the accident he leaned to play chords with two fingers (index and pinkie) -- and still does.

[jonPhillips]

 

Townshend on his early dealings with Jim Marshall finding common ground in a sensibility of sonic aggression ...

 

 

Aside from the fact that I find Townsend a completely objectionable prick with a fondness for questionable pics of small children, I found it amusing that all the while he was talking about his relationship with Jim Marshall, the intercut clips of him playing showed him using Vox and Hiwatt amps...

[jonPhillips]

^^ Did we really need to see that three times? ^^

[csm]

 

Aside from the fact that I find Townsend a completely objectionable prick with a fondness for questionable pics of small children

 

 

Urban myth. Pete is NOT a paedo -- after examining all his computers and interviewing just about everybody who knows him, the cops (who are NOT paedo-tolerant AT ALL) found that there was no case to answer. It's amazing how tenaciously mud sticks, though -- like the old saying: a lie can be halfway around the world before the truth can get its boots on.

 

As for 'objectionable prick' -- I've interviewed PT many times over the past thirty-some years and I've always found him splendidly pleasant, perceptive, articulate and entertaining. YMMV.

 

And yeah, you're right about the amps -- even though Pete was instrumental (pun intended) in the development of Marshall amps, he didn't use them for very long. He had a falling-out with Jim Marshall over something incredibly trivial and switched to HiWatt, which gave him volume, sustain AND the Fendery clarity he liked.

 

If you look at REALLY old pix of The 'Oo live, he's generally using Fender heads with Marshall or Vox cabs, the latters generally draped with Union Jacks.

 

And when he first went to see Jim M, he lugged in an old Fender amp and told JM, 'I want something like this only ten times as loud.'

[Hanglow]

Wow, looks like alan yentob has signed up to HC and is spamming his show

 

I thought it was pretty decent. Still not watched the Les Paul BBC4 documentary that was on last week though, I have high hopes for that

[Super Bass]

I was half expecting to see you on it CSM!

 

I think the first two episodes were much much better, it was very interesting to see the earlier development of the guitar. The best part was in the previous episode they showed footage of the Fender factory in the 50's.

[Professor Tom]

 

Urban myth. Pete is NOT a paedo -- after examining all his computers and interviewing just about everybody who knows him, the cops (who are NOT paedo-tolerant AT ALL) found that there was no case to answer. It's amazing how tenaciously mud sticks, though -- like the old saying: a lie can be halfway around the world before the truth can get its boots on. As for 'objectionable prick' -- I've interviewed PT many times over the past thirty-some years and I've always found him splendidly pleasant, perceptive, articulate and entertaining. YMMV. And yeah, you're right about the amps -- even though Pete was instrumental (pun intended) in the development of Marshall amps, he didn't use them for very long. He had a falling-out with Jim Marshall over something incredibly trivial and switched to HiWatt, which gave him volume, sustain AND the Fendery clarity he liked. If you look at REALLY old pix of The 'Oo live, he's generally using Fender heads with Marshall or Vox cabs, the latters generally draped with Union Jacks. And when he first went to see Jim M, he lugged in an old Fender amp and told JM, 'I want something like this only ten times as loud.'

 

 

Good for you csm, it's nice to see someone fighting in Pete's corner. He did nothing wrong and you did well to remind us of it.

[jonPhillips]

 

Urban myth. Pete is NOT a paedo -- after examining all his computers and interviewing just about everybody who knows him, the cops (who are NOT paedo-tolerant AT ALL) found that there was no case to answer. It's amazing how tenaciously mud sticks, though -- like the old saying: a lie can be halfway around the world before the truth can get its boots on. As for 'objectionable prick' -- I've interviewed PT many times over the past thirty-some years and I've always found him splendidly pleasant, perceptive, articulate and entertaining.

 

 

I apologise for my earlier post and am happy to stand corrected.

[ArKay]

^^ Did we really need to see that three times? ^^

 

What do you expect from a forum spammer?

[csm]

And Edge was fun also ... his rig is a weird combination of truly ancient amps (tweed Deluxes, early 60s AC30s) and an effects rack that looks like it came straight from the bridge of the Enterprise. He played a nice twinkly arpeggiated high-string lick completely dry, then kicked in his delays, echoes, 'verbs etc and transformed it into a huge glistening soundscape ...

[alfsboy]

I enjoyed ,but then wadoo I know .

[Doctor49]

 

And Edge was fun also ... his rig is a weird combination of truly ancient amps (tweed Deluxes, early 60s AC30s) and an effects rack that looks like it came straight from the bridge of the Enterprise. He played a nice twinkly arpeggiated high-string lick completely dry, then kicked in his delays, echoes, 'verbs etc and transformed it into a huge glistening soundscape ...

 

 

I never understood why people say he is useless. Musicianship in the context of his band (sorry, Larry's band) is undeniable. Maybe he doesn't stand on pianos when he solos but its effective.

 

Look at what John Cage did with polystyrene.............

[csm]

 

Look at what John Cage did with polystyrene.............

 

 

Didn't know they'd ever worked together.

[TheDove]

 

Good for you csm, it's nice to see someone fighting in Pete's corner. He did nothing wrong and you did well to remind us of it.

 

 

+ Lots

[TheDove]

I must admit I thought it was a bit pants overall. Like others, I agree some of the clips were OK but I was not sure who the target audience was. If it was non guitarists then maybe it had more appeal. Seasoned gear heads, gas pros and tone hounds like the folks here at HC probably new a lot of this stuff and more. I fancy a 24/7/365 dedicted BBC channel showing guitar based documentaries, live performances, interviews, historic gigs etc - a bit like a visual Planet Rock (UK DAB radio station) - any takers ? CSM as controller of musical programming ?

[dattebayo1]

For those that have missed episodes. There's only 6 or so days left until it's lifted from the bbc website

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00dyhyt

 

ENJOY!!

[iron chicken]

Urban myth. Pete is NOT a paedo -- after examining all his computers and interviewing just about everybody who knows him, the cops (who are NOT paedo-tolerant AT ALL) found that there was no case to answer. It's amazing how tenaciously mud sticks, though -- like the old saying: a lie can be halfway around the world before the truth can get its boots on. As for 'objectionable prick' -- I've interviewed PT many times over the past thirty-some years and I've always found him splendidly pleasant, perceptive, articulate and entertaining. YMMV. And yeah, you're right about the amps -- even though Pete was instrumental (pun intended) in the development of Marshall amps, he didn't use them for very long. He had a falling-out with Jim Marshall over something incredibly trivial and switched to HiWatt, which gave him volume, sustain AND the Fendery clarity he liked. If you look at REALLY old pix of The 'Oo live, he's generally using Fender heads with Marshall or Vox cabs, the latters generally draped with Union Jacks. And when he first went to see Jim M, he lugged in an old Fender amp and told JM, 'I want something like this only ten times as loud.'

 

Glad you jumped into Pete's defence there, CSM.

 

Pete Townsend and thousands of other men were rounded up and accused of child pornography offences, in one of the most incompetently run police operations ever; Operation Ore.

 

Here is a quick summary of the investigation carried by a UK journalist called Duncan Campbell, from wikipedia.

 

"In 2005 and 2007, Campbell investigated and wrote criticisms of the Operation Ore child pornography prosecutions in the U.K., which exposed police errors and "revealed how computer evidence used against 7,272 people in the UK accused of being paedophiles had been founded on falsehoods." These articles were "Operation Ore Exposed" and "Sex, Lies and the Missing Videotape," both published in PC Pro magazine."

 

Quite a few of the men accused of these crimes commited suicide, as the accusations were publicised at the time.

 

I realise that this is not really the place for this type of info, but in this case I think deserves to be aired.

 

As for the programme, I have a feeling that they put each programme onto tape, cut the tape into 3 or 5 minute segments, threw the segments into the air, and then randomly spliced them together. Lots of interesting info and footage, but very little coherence, and huge gaping holes in their coverage. Pete Townsend was brilliant throughout the series, and his comment about Hendrix had me in tears.

 

Anyway, if anyone is interested the BBC website has a load of outtakes from the series which can be viewed here.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/musictv/guitars/video/

 

 

[stooge]

On the Townshend "paedophile" question, let's take a look at the facts: he paid to view child pornography and was placed on the child protection register for five years. While he wasn't charged by police, he accepted a caution. As for the "I was only looking at child porn for research purposes" defence, it's up to you whether you buy it or not, I know many people were not convinced.

[Professor Tom]

 

On the Townshend "paedophile" question, let's take a look at the facts: he paid to view child pornography and was placed on the child protection register for five years. While he wasn't charged by police, he accepted a caution. As for the "I was only looking at child porn for research purposes" defence, it's up to you whether you buy it or not, I know many people were not convinced.

 

 

I trust Pete, he's a good guy and of He say's he's innocent that's good enough for me.

[jonPhillips]

Jeez, I thought csm had put this one to bed.

 

I was at fault here for even bringing the whole thing up, but I've apologised publicly for doing so and am happy to apologise again

[SuproSuper Man]

opps ...see my next post edit note for explanation...opps

[csm]

 

On the Townshend "paedophile" question, let's take a look at the facts: he paid to view child pornography and was placed on the child protection register for five years. While he wasn't charged by police, he accepted a caution. As for the "I was only looking at child porn for research purposes" defence, it's up to you whether you buy it or not, I know many people were not convinced.

 

 

Look --

 

Some people seem to have a real need to believe that PT is a paedo, and display extreme reluctance to allow facts to blur their vision. PT was abused as a kid by a relative, and the resulting trauma has manifested itself in the form of the Tommy characters Uncle Ernie and Cousin Kevin, both songs actually written by John Entwistle, handed the assignments after PT found it too upsetting to approach the topic of child abuse himself.

 

In later life, as a result of psychotherapy, PT has attempted to explore the ramifications of what happened to him in the form of a book, which is what led to the spur-of-the-moment dumb{censored} decision to view this unpleasant material. It happened once and once only, since PT found what he saw so repellent and disturbing that he never wanted to view anything like it ever again.

 

No-one who actually KNOWS Pete considers him a danger, either directly or indirectly, to any child on the surface of the earth. One mutual friend, who knows him a damn sight better than I do, phoned him after the story broke and said, 'I'd trust you to mind my own kids any time.'

 

The police, as already noted, decided that there was no case to answer. His caution and place on the register were routine and mandatory formalities, and should not be considered as either confirmation that there was any truth to the suggestion, or as punishment for any actual offence.

 

Them's the facts, for those who consider facts to be relevant or important.

 

Still, believe whatever you want, and don't worry your pretty litle heads about whether or not there's any truth to it. We here in the reality-based community know full well that there isn't, but we also know that it can be very difficult to cut yourself adrift from an urban myth which in some way confirms your treaured prejudices.

 

Sorry to shout, but for what I hope will be the final time:

 

PETE TOWNSHEND IS NOT AND NEVER HAS BEEN A PAEDOPHILE OR A CHILD ABUSER.

 

END OF.