Friday Rock Show

The Friday Rock Show was a radio show in the United Kingdom that was broadcast on BBC Radio 1 from 2200 to 0000 on Friday nights from 1978 to 1993. Throughout most of its run it was hosted by Tommy Vance. Ostensibly for the genre of rock in general, it was most closely associated with heavy metal. In the early 1980s it was the only nationally available outlet for this genre of music, and Vance's enthusiasm for showcasing new bands and his rapport with fans made the show essential listening for rockers. For most of its run, its intro and closing theme tune was the Dixie Dregs instrumental "Take it Off the Top", and the quiz in the show "the Friday Night Connection" used the Van Der Graaf Generator number "Theme One", (a cover of the theme tune originally written for Radio 1 by George Martin in 1967).

The show generally included a studio session or live performance each week, arguably being the main reason fans tuned in. Many were recordings from the BBC radio archives, both live and studio-sessions, from as far back as the late 1960s . This material included bands such as Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Jethro Tull, Uriah Heep, The Nice, Rush and Genesis amongst others. At the time the majority of this material was not available on general release and even today, in the current era of the deluxe edition CD album featuring bonus tracks, some remains unavailable to the general public.

Other features included "The Friday Night Connection", a quiz in which listeners had to identify three pieces of music and the connection between them, and the "Rock War" (later renamed "Rock Challenge" during the 1991 Gulf War), in which listeners were asked to vote for the best of three demo tapes sent in by aspiring bands. Another feature was the listeners all-time chart which took place once a year on the shows anniversay/ birthday (Now We Are 1, Now We Are 2 etc), during which were played the most popular rock tracks, as voted for by the listeners. (This invariably finished with Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" at #1.)

The show played a significant role in the rise of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal. It had the additional good fortune of being able to "borrow" the 88-91 MHz FM transmitters of BBC Radio 2, allowing listeners to enjoy the music in the best available quality for the time, before Radio 1 finally acquired its own FM frequency in 1988.Before this happened, the show was temporarily given an extra hour from 2100 to 2200. This was heard on mediumwave only except in London and parts of the south east, where it was relayed by BBC Radio London's FM transmitter.After Radio 1's move to 24-hour FM broadcasting, the show's time slot was put back half an hour to 2230 to 0030.

By 1993 the introduction into Britain of a much wider choice of television and radio channels had made heavy metal more accessible and the show less important, and Tommy Vance left Radio 1 to join the original line-up of Virgin Radio.

The show was taken over by Claire Sturgess, who had been Radio 1 DJ Simon Bates' secretary prior to her appointment, but ceased soon after. The die-hard fans saw the appointment of Sturgess to front the programme as 'cancellation by the back-door'. The format of the programme fundamentally changed when she took over, firmly setting out its stall in the 'contemporary thrash' genre and ignoring the programme's strengths, which lay in a balance between the classic and the contemporary.

Rock icons such as Axl Rose of Guns N' Roses; Lemmy Kilmister of Motörhead; Ian Gillan of Deep Purple and many others no longer had any faith in the programme that had championed them and their music for so long.

The death knells of the Friday rock show were already sounding prior to the programme being moved to a slot on Sunday afternoon.

Recently there has been a come back with Bruce Dickinson (of Iron Maiden) who fronts the new Friday Rock Show on Radio 6 DAB between 9 pm and twelve midnight.

NWOBHM band Saxon payed tribute to the show in their song "Denim and Leather".

A number of recordings, made when Tommy Vance fronted the Friday Rock Show, were issued on an independent record label Raw Fruit Records in the early 1990s.