The Seven Ages of Rock (2007) BBC

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n 1975, New York City was near bankruptcy and no fun at all. London was little better. In this tale of two cities, from the worst of times came the best of times: punk rock. Punk went back to the roots. If people saw a show they should get the feeling that they could do that themselves; that is what rock & roll is all about. Punk was DIY; the bands invented themselves and the punkers made their own clothes. The Ramones sang about the street life experiences of kids in Queens. The Sex Pistols started with covers of mod classics by The Who, but of course they soon went DIY too in that respect, although that didn't prevent Glen Matlock from letting ABBA's "SOS" inspire him for the guitar riff in Pretty Vacant. Punk was class rage. "The New York punks were bohemians or aspired to be, and the London punks were yobs or aspired to be." According to Sex Pistol Johnny Rotten the indignation wasn't put on; "We suffer and you can fuck off for it." Punk was about doing new things and punk girl bands like Siouxsie and the Banshees and the Slits were new in a new way; Viv Albertine said "We wanted to do our own girlie whalloping thing and punk was open enough for us to do that." And Patti Smith wasn't only about music, but about language too, almost like a free style rapper; "Spitting out something that goes right into your head."

When the Sex Pistols went to the US, they wanted to show them what punk was really about, but instead it destroyed them. They had no fun, so they decided to take that to the extreme in their last show in San Francisco in 1978, playing a typically raucous show, and ending (as an Encore) with a cover of The Stooges song 'No Fun'. Before going off stage, Johnny Rotten remarked "Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?" Rotten later commented: "That was directed to the whole world, including us."

In this episode some of the featured songs on the BBC website were not the same as featured in the episode. These include the episode not opening with Iggy and the Stooges-No Fun but the Sex Pistols version (although is not named until the end of the episode), the Buzzcocks also played Boredom and Ever Fallen in Love, The Slits only featuring one song Typical Girls, rather than the three featured on the website, and Public Image Ltd-Poptones appearing in the episode. The VH1 broadcast was substantially different to the BBC. No discussion was made of Johnny Rotten joining the Sex Pistols, their Bill Grundy interview and the press coverage or New Rose. Also there was no mention of The Buzzcocks, The Clash's White Man in Hammersmith Palais, the Punk girl bands or Public Image Limited, instead the episode playing out to London Calling by the Clash.
Source: Wikipedia

even Ages of Rock was a BBC Two series, co-produced by BBC Worldwide and VH1 Classic in 2007 about the history of rock music. It comprised six 60-minute episodes (reduced to 48 minutes for VH1 Classic), with a final episode of 90 minutes, and was broadcast on Saturdays at 21:00 (repeated on BBC One on Sundays). Each episode focused on one type of rock music, each typified by one or two artists or bands. The series producer was William Naylor, and the executive producer for the BBC was Michael Poole, a former editor of the 1990s BBC music, arts and culture programme The Late Show. The production was based at BBC Bristol and each programme was narrated by Julian Rhind-Tutt on the BBC and Dennis Hopper on VH1 classic. The series also included additional material broadcast on BBC radio and available on the BBC website.

The series makes heavy use of archive material. These early performances of musicians are interspersed with interviews with various other musicians. Naylor could use interviews from various other music series he had made for the BBC, such as with David Bowie, who was not available for an interview this time. In an interview about the series, Naylor says that he has noticed the time is ripe for a revival of rock because he sees a growing popularity of slightly uncomfortable music and a somewhat arrogant attitude, precisely what rock needs. He also claims the series finally says what needed to be said, that England made Jimi Hendrix. He even states that rock music started on 24 September 1966 in London, when Jimi Hendrix went there. The series did receive some criticism from the press as it ignored rock and roll's contribution to the birth of rock. Neil McCormick, music critic for the Daily Telegraph (who appeared in one of the episodes as an interviewee) said: "...popular music only really gelled into what we now know as rock when Hendrix arrived in London in 1966."
Source: Wikipedia