It was a massive project involving over 200 interviews with the people who have made Rock and Roll history or who have made the subject so engrossing over the years. These included; musicians, performers, writers, TV/ Radio personalities etc., people who have had an important part to play in the business.
Then the focus moved to early psychedelic groups of the UK. One such group, was Pink Floyd. With narration by Sean Barrett, Roger Waters, and then Pink Floyd manager Peter Jenner, commented upon the era giving their perspective and account of Pink Floyd and the beginning of psychedelia in that time period of Rock and Roll history.
Sean:
oger made a rare TV appearance on British Television during the summer of 1996. The program was one in a series by the BBC covering the history of Rock and Roll called "Dancing In The Street."
The program episode Roger appeared in was entitled "Eight Miles High" and is about the psychedelic years of 1966/67. It was broadcast on 20 July 1996, and Roger was the only member of Pink Floyd to appear. Peter Jenner, manager of Pink Floyd at the time, also appeared. The episode was narrated by an S. Barrett. No not that one, Sean Barrett, no relation to Syd. The program started with the American psychedelic scene portraying artists like the Byrds, The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and Janis Joplin, etc.
Gradually London developed a home grown psychedelic scene with it's own distinctive sound. There were strange noises emanating from an old church hall at Ladbroke Grove. (During this introduction a video is played of Syd's Pink Floyd playing "Pow R Toc H".)
Roger:
There was a need to experiment in order to find another way of expressing ourselves that didn't involve practicing playing guitar for 10 years. That time people were standing there in little suits with Gibsons and bass guitars held against the chest going like that. (Roger demonstrates.), and although it wasn't very complicated stuff it wasn't something I was interested in doing. In fact if you turned the thing up loud and used a plectrum, and I had a Rickenbacher which I bought with a grant, in fact my entire terms grant, if you ganged it hard it made strange noises and I found if you pushed the strings against the pick-up's it made a funny clicking noise. (A video is played of Pink Floyd at Sound Techniques London and The UFO Club, playing "Interstellar Overdrive.")
Peter:
There was a sort of wildness about the British psychedelic scene that was a sort of freedom of expression which you didn't come across in America. We thought that was part of the psychedelic experience. I don't think anyone at that time did that, maybe The Grateful Dead did it in terms of guitar solo's but they tended to improvise in a far more conventional manner around conventional chord sequences, because I think a lot of the British stuff was ....what was a cord sequence? ...we're just playing man! They played one cord until everyone got bored then 1,2,3 back to the song.
Sean:
British record companies soon cashed in on the new underground scene. Pink Floyd were signed by E.M.I. and Syd Barrett penned the perfect slice of pop psychedelia for their first single.(Arnold Layne is played.)
Roger:
"Arnold Layne" and "See Emily Play" were both minor hits. We would not perform them live because we considered the three minute form to be irrelevant to the idea of live performances and so we did a lot of gigs where people would stand on the balcony and pour beer on us because we would not play "See Emily Play" or "Arnold Layne."
Sean:
In April 1967, 10,000 people crowded into Alexandre Palace for a night of psychedelic abandonment, billed as the 14 Hour Technicolour Dream. (Interstellar Overdrive is played.)
Peter:
I dropped a tab on the way to the gig and it started coming on as we were being directed in. I was having to steer the van through something very tiny and lots of people were wondering about all absolutely out of their crust. There were people climbing over scaffolding and it was an extraordinary building with all the glass in the Alley Palley... as the light came up, because it was the summer... it was a wonderful, really a psychedelic experience. The whole world was there and every band was playing and it was a magical occasion. Any more precise recollections I'm afraid have been wiped out.
Sean:
When Pink Floyd came to San Francisco in October 1967 there were disturbing signs that their lead singer had taken too much LSD. (A live version of "Apples and Oranges" is played.)
Roger:
By the time we went to America, Syd had gone by and large. We did the Pat Boone show, and we were taping the show, and he would do the run-through and Syd would stand with his telecaster with silver bits all over it and mime happily. (Roger doing an American accent) Cut, cut, we are going to do it now... He knew perfectly well what was going on, he was just being crazy and they did four or five takes like that. Eventually I mimed it. (Part of "Apples and Oranges" is played again.)
Roger was interviewed in a church hall, and it was certainly great to see him again on TV.
End