March 05, 2010

"Heavy Metal Britannia" on BBC Four 03/05 21:00-00:00

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BBC Four gets loud tonight, kicking off with 90 minutes documentary entitled Heavy Metal Britannia, followed by half an hour archival footage of Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath and Judas Priest and wrapping thing up with the one hour "Iron Maiden: Live in Concert".

Nigel Planer narrates a documentary which traces the origins and development of British heavy metal from its humble beginnings in the industrialised Midlands to its proud international triumph. In the late 60s a number of British bands were forging a new kind of sound. Known as hard rock, it was loud, tough, energetic and sometimes dark in outlook. They didn't know it, but Deep Purple, Uriah Heep and, most significantly, Black Sabbath were defining what first became heavy rock and then eventually heavy metal.

Inspired by blues rock, progressive rock, classical music and high energy American rock, they synthesised the sound that would inspire bands like Judas Priest to take metal even further during the 70s.

By the 80s its originators had fallen foul of punk rock, creative stasis or drug and alcohol abuse. But a new wave of British heavy metal was ready to take up the crusade. With the success of bands like Iron Maiden, it went global.

Contributors include Lemmy, Sabbath's Tony Iommi, Ian Gillan from Deep Purple, Judas Priest singer Rob Halford, Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden and Saxon's Biff Byford.
  • 21:00–22:30 Heavy Metal Britannia
    Documentary which traces the origins and development of British heavy metal.
  • 22:30–23:00 Heavy Metal Britannia at the BBC
    Performances from the BBC archive, including Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath and Judas Priest.
  • 23:00–00:00 Iron Maiden: Live in Concert
    A 60-minute concert filmed in different cities around the world in early 2008.

» bbc.co.uk

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