Episode 2: 22:00, Friday 11 Jan, 2008
In 1963, Britain went pop. The architects of this revolution were a group of managers and producers - starmakers who turned the world upside down.
A Well Respected Man
Together with their artists, the likes of Brian Epstein, Andrew Loog Oldham, Chris Stamp et al, would prise British pop out of the grasp of old school showbiz interests and turn it into the spearhead of a youthful revolution into style.
Yet they also prepared the way for a new, more corporate rock business that allowed big money and corporate lawyers to move in. Glam stole back the impetus for the kids, putting colour, youth and sexuality back into pop after the rock revolution of the late 60s. Glam struggled between two tendencies - one lead by the art-school brigade of Bowie and Ferry who used glam as provocation, the other fuelled the charts as professional songwriters and producers like Chinn and Chapman who sold million of records with the likes of Mud, The Sweet etc. It would take punk to lay the groundswell for a new generation of young pop dreamers.
Produced by Ben Whalley