This is a review of the live archive footage show
Heavy Metal Britannia at the BBC. The BBC have had all the big UK bands play on some program or the other both before and after they were famous. This show was about half an hour long.
First on was
Deep Purple playing Black Night on the UK chart single show, Top of the Pops, from October 1970. Ian Gillian was behind the drum kit singing and Ritchie Blackmore was in the front playing guitar with his signature Bard hat.
Next on was
Judas Priest playing their first single Rocka Rolla in April 1975. They were playing on the Old Grey Whistle Test, a very serious music program from the seventies. Rob Halford had long hair and they were dressed in a glam pop style with platforms. You would believe they would become leather clad metal gods in the future. The song Rocka Rolla did have glimmers of what was to come, you could hear what might influenced bands like Def Leppard.
The welsh band
Budgie were next up on the Old Grey Whistle Test from June 1975 playing Who Do You Want for Love. I had never heard them really before. They are not exactly metal but had a good rock sound with a good groove. Metallica covered two of their songs, Breadfan and Crash Course in Brain Surgery. Iron Maiden covered I Can't See My Feelings.
Uriah Heep played Wise Man from April 1977 on Top Of The Pops. It was a slow song with a story for lyrics (felt like a country and western song). Uriah Heep are renowed as the first western rock band to play Russia.
Motorhead, Lemmy, Fast Eddie and Phil, 1978.
Motorhead were on with Louie Louie from September 1978. There was Lemmy, Fast Eddie and Phil. A good performance. They were at number 75 in the charts on 16 September 1978 and then went up to number 68.
A modern
Black Sabbath were on next with Paranoid. No year given. It looked to be an actuall concert so it may have been Top of the Pops. The original lineup were there, Ozzy, Tony Iommi, Bill Ward and Geezer Butler. They did film live bands for TOTPs, like Maiden and inserted them into the show in the 90's. Footage was fuzzy at thimes, becuase of the lighing.
Iron Maiden came on then with their first single Running Free in February 1980 on Top of the Pops. They insisted they play live on the show as artists usually mimed to their song normally. They were one of the first band to play live on the show. The band was Pail Di Anno, Denis Stratton, Clive Bur, Dave Murray and Steve Harris. The studio turned the sound down on them and they didn't play the show again for years.
Next up was
Saxon with Wheels of Steel in April 1980. Looked to be in a studio with no audience so not sure what the show was. Of note, Biff Byford had dark hair back then. The drums, Pete Gills were out in front, bassist Steve Dawson to the left, Graham Oliver to the right, Paul Quin guitarist and Biff to the back.
Second last on the show were
Gillan with Trouble from October 1980. May have been Top of The Pops as the album hit the charts. This was Ian Gillan solo band. The song was old style rock n roll but with heavy guitars. Was a pretty good performance.
To close the show were
Diamond Head playing To Heaven From Hell in October 1982 with Sean Harris
(vocals) and Brian Tatler (Guitar). Not sure what the show was either, looked to be a studo again with no people but with a large stage and loads of Marshall amps. A very good metal performance from NWOBHM era. Again Metallica covered Diamond Head's Am I Evil and Blitzkrieg (Lars was a huge fan of theirs).
I enjoyed the half hour show, with all the great music it felt longer (in a good way). There are a lot of the clips available on Youtube if you do a search for the band and the date so you could see a lot of it yourself.
Hope you enjoyed reading this,
Cheers,
Steve.
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