So many movies these days disappoint, I rarely look forward to seeing one. But I can hardly wait to see Pirate Radio!
It’s inspired by the true story of the British government (which still owns and operates the BBC or British Broadcasting Corporation) trying to ban rock’n’roll in the mid-sixties.
Bands like Cream, The Kinks and The Rolling Stones (and later, Pink Floyd, Genesis and Led Zeppelin) were viewed as subversive influences on teenagers, inciting them to rebellion.
An American DJ started broadcasting the banned bands from a ship just beyond the edge of Britain’s territorial waters. The rest is history and a promising premise for a movie.
Just as the internet has changed the way the world communicates and does business, rock’n’roll changed the world from its very beginnings.
And the changes weren’t only cultural. Many were technological.
Frank interviewed several on-air radio personalities and a media historian from Emerson College. Professor Donna Halper has actually been credited with having discovered the Canadian rock group, Rush!
She said Zeppelin, Floyd and Genesis would never have existed if FM radio hadn’t developed at the same time. In the ‘60s, Top 40 AM radio ruled. (The Beatles were often featured on the BBC’s programme, Top of the Pops).
But in the United States, the Federal Trade Commission was insisting that station owners develop separate formats for AM and FM or risk losing their licence.
The classical music being played on FM just wasn’t making money. The audience was too small. So the station owners went to the largest demographic, the Baby Boomers. They were in their teens and in college. What kind of music did they want to hear? Rock’n’roll!
Rock’n’roll’s musicians were lining up in opposite camps, just as radio itself was. The Beatles were among “The Mods”; The Stones, Pink Floyd and Zeppelin were among “The Rockers”.
Robert Godwin, another of Frank’s book interviewees, was attending boarding school in Britain at the time. He said fans of one type wouldn’t be caught dead in the same room as fans of the other! The example he cited compared those who liked Zep to fans of the Archies singing Sugar Sugar.
But as Bob Dylan observed, “the times they are a-changin’”.
As hot a band as Led Zeppelin was, in the mid 1970s, it too would become “uncool” when punk and new wave started in England. Even Robert Plant referred to Zep as “dinosaur rock” when he addressed their nevertheless adoring fans at Knebworth in August 1979.
If you’ve already seen Pirate Radio, write a post here and tell us what you thought!
PS – “Rockin’ in the Free World” is Neil Young’s actual song title, modified for this post title. You probably knew that, but we’re giving credit where it’s due. We love Neil, Rush AND Zep!
Gotta love those subversive influences!