User Reviews

In 1978 UK television had two major shows devoted to popular music, both produced by the BBC: Top of the Pops, which was the televisual equivalent of girls dancing round their handbags at the local dancehall (while being groped by the DJ, as we now know), and; The Old Grey Whistle Test, for those who took music *really seriously*, (superbly parodied by Eric Idle on Rutland Weekend Television as featuring Stan Fitch, "the first all dead singer", literally a corpse propped up in a chair with a guitar).

Then the commercial broadcaster came up with 'Revolver'. It had a deliberately unprofessional, ramshackle look (a tatty nightclub), and a deliberately provocative presenter who didn't give a stuff about the music, despised the kids who turned up to listen, and was openly in it for the money. The presenter was no less than Peter Cook, the Cambridge-educated darling of sophisticated satire.

No wonder people didn't 'get' the concept or appreciate the programme - TV was supposed to be slick and professional, not a bit of a mess with presenter and audience trading insults ("I fought two world wars for you to be alive!"). Looking back, the mistake was to have Cook separate from the audience. If they had been together, and Cook's improvisation skills had been engaged, the results could have been even more memorable.

By the early 80's we had 'The Tube' on Channel 4 which had something of the same look as Revolver, and the same slightly shambolic air, but not afraid of putting out really new and different music. Revolver just missed its target and was just a few years ahead of its time.

This show was a breath of fresh air. People have to realise that before this all we had in the way of popular music programming was the pop-tastic approach of patronising Radio 1 DJs and the desperately earnest Whispering Bob on the Old Grey Whistle Test. Revolver was edgy, unapologetic, irreverent, challenging and most of all it was original. And not only that but I recall seeing some of the best live performances I have ever seen on TV - how could anyone forget Ian Dury's extended and angst-ridden version of What a Waste and I also recall even Rod putting in a good performance. It gets top marks from me for the happy memories I have of it and those times.

This short-lived late-night TV music series (7 episodes) aired in summer 1978 and featured a range of bands interspersed with pre-recorded links by Peter Cook, these being projected on a large overhead screen above the studio audience. The setup was supposedly a rundown club having hit hard times, with Cook playing the disapproving, sneering host deliberately trying to antagonise everyone on set. He needn't have bothered pretending. Pretty awful, but worth a few stars if only for getting such a bizarre idea past the pitch stage, plus of course the UK punk bands (Ian Dury, X Ray Spex, Buzzcocks, Siouxsie & The Banshees etc) had not done a lot of TV at this time and are worth seeing. Made by ATV, and produced by pop impresario Mickie Most, of all people.