The Seven Ages of Rock (2007) BBC

Never Say Die

Heavy metal is the music critics love to hate, but also the longest lasting mainstay of rock music. More than any other band at the time, Black Sabbath were influenced by their surroundings, heavily industrialised Birmingham. This was even more true for guitarist Tony Iommi, who cut off the tips of two fingers in a steel factory. When he tried to solve this problem by melting a washing up liquid bottle, and forming two 'thimbles' for his fingers, he found that by tuning his guitar down three tones (to C#), he could play just as easily, and also get a very different, altogether much darker sound (although this wasn't used until their third album). Another inspiration for the band came from the movie theatre across the street. Sabbath decided that if people were eager to pay money to be scared, then maybe they should play scary music.

In 1971, when Deep Purple were in Montreux to record the album Machine Head, they were themselves scared by a fire in the casino when "some stupid with a flare gun burned the place to the ground" during a concert by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. Since their recording studio was also in the casino, they decided to make the album in their hotel. On the last day they needed to record one more song and decided to simply tell the story of their recording session, which became the lyrics to Smoke on the Water. Judas Priest introduced twin lead guitars in rock music. When in 1976 Punk dominated the rock scene, they adopted a leather and studs look, which they thought went rather well with their macho look, not knowing the gay background it came from - singer Rob Halford, who suggested it, hadn't yet 'come out of the closet'. Priest were rewarded for continuing Heavy Metal when it slumped in the late 1970s. But a few years later, the New Wave of British Heavy Metal was spearheaded by Iron Maiden. In the US, a new twist emerged with Glam metal, with a fluffy hair spray look inspired by Hollywood and made known by Mötley Crüe. Sabbath's Ozzy Osbourne made the most unexpected return in rock, despite his 'recreational pursuits' (involving lots of alcohol and cocaine).

By the end of the 1980s, Metal had become too commercial for some fans, with groups like the W.A.S.P., Hanoi Rocks and Poison having huge success. Influenced by the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, another new sound had risen to prominence in the US, where metal had a huge following: thrash metal, a style that went beyond in many respects, being faster and heavier than anything that had come before. But playing the guitar ever faster had reached a ceiling and at the turn of the decade, Metallica, one of the inventors of thrash, decided to turn that around and adopt a very slow, heavy, sound. The result was 'The Black Album' which went on to sell over 15 million copies and "proved that metal, never in fashion, but never out of fashion, will always just keep on going".

It should also be noted the VH1 broadcast was different to the BBC. No discussion was made of Sabbath Bloody Sabbath being recorded or played. Breaking the Law did not feature and nothing was discussed about punk. After the death of Randy Rhodes instead of playing I Don't Know from Live in Salt Lake City it features Shot In The Dark, there is also no mention Ozzy Osbourne's off stage antics such as decapitating birds and bats or urinating on the Alamo.
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