Sounds of the Seventies

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Sounds of the Seventies was a BBC radio programme broadcast on weekdays, 2200-0000, on Radio One during the early 1970s. Among the DJs were Alan Black, Pete Drummond, Anne Nightingale, John Peel (who alone had two shows per week), and Bob Harris. For contractual reasons one of Peel's two weekly shows was known as Top Gear, but the format and content of the show on every weekday were in essence identical for most of the early 1970s.

Unlike most other Radio One programmes, Sounds of the Seventies concentrated on albums rather than singles, and rock rather than pop. Sessions recorded exclusively by the BBC and featuring major musicians of the day were a regular feature; the Musicians' Union insisted that "needle time"--time given to playing recorded music--should be limited.

In 1974 the Thursday show was replaced by a show without DJs known as the "Thursday Night Sequence". Album tracks were played without interruption or introduction, and Pete Drummond gave the artist name, album name and track name after the piece.

In early 1975 Sounds of the Seventies was dropped. In September of that year the loss of a nightly slot for progressive rock music was restored by the introduction of the nightly John Peel show, which initially broadcast from 2300 to 0000. Peel carried on and expanded the practice of hosting exclusive sessions by major musicians. The Peel show format lasted until Peel's death in 2004.

Theme Tune

The theme tune for the programme was usually a George Martin piece known as "Theme One", played in baroque style on a church organ. Martin had written the piece some years earlier as a theme tune for Radio 1. Variations included Alan Black's regular closing theme, which was the piano and voice coda from Pilgrim's Progress by Procol Harum.

External links

* [http://www.radiorewind.co.uk/sounds_of_the_70s_page.htm A steam radio site] featuring brief clips from the show.