History Rocks

Infobox Television
show_name = "History Rocks"


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genre = Educational, Non-Fiction
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num_seasons = 1
num_episodes = 3
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executive_producer = Bruce David Klein
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producer = Atlas Media Corporation
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runtime = 60 minutes
network = The History Channel
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last_aired = December 17, 2007
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website = http://www.history.com/minisite.do?content_type=mini_home&mini_id=54488
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imdb_id = 0447199
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"History Rocks" was a non-fictional, educational television program shown on The History Channel. Each episode explains eight historical events, arranged by decade, through multimedia presentations consisting of photographs, archival footage, popular music and pop-up trivia. Six episodes were produced, with two focusing on the 1960's, 1970's and 1980's. At one time, the History Channel website discussed a fourth special on the topic of Sex, but the official "History Rocks"' website at the History Channel no longer mentions it.

Although the show was originally hosted by Meat Loaf, subsequent airings of the videos edited Meat Loaf out and removed his segues between videos.

List of Segments

1960's

*1968 Democratic National Convention / My Generation
* The Draft Lottery / Get Together as performed by The Youngbloods
*Pontiac GTO / Born to Be Wild
*Marilyn Monroe / Nights in White Satin
* Smoking is Hazardous / Ring of Fire
*The Pill / Time of the Season
*G.I. Joe / Bend Me, Shape Me
*Summer of Love / Sunshine of Your Love

More 1960's

*Cassius Clay changes his name / Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)
* Castro Must Die! / Feelin' Alright
*Growing up in the 1960's / Sunshine Superman
* The JFK Conspiracy / I Can See for Miles
*LSD and Timothy Leary / White Room
* Race for Space / Magic Carpet Ride
* Vietnam Soldier / A Whiter Shade of Pale (Procol Harum)
* Volkswagen in the 1960's / Venus (The Shocking Blue)

1970's

* Munich massacre / Hold Your Head Up
* The Beginning of Video Games / You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet
*Fall of Saigon / Free Bird
*CB Radio / Jessica (Allman Brothers Band song)
*Jonestown / (Don't Fear) The Reaper
* Disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa / Takin' Care of Business
* History of the Concorde / Come Sail Away
*Watergate / Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting
* History of the Muscle Car / Cars
*Elvis meets Nixon / Why Can't We Be Friends?
*Iranian Revolution/The Logical Song
*Three Mile Island accident / Message in a Bottle

1980's

Future Airings

Although the History Channel frequently aired the series during the summer of 2007, the official website states that there are no plan to air the episodes in the immediate future. Most of the videos are available, however, for on-demand online viewing.The full set of segments from the 1960's are currently available. [ [http://www.history.com/minisite.do?content_type=Minisite_Generic&content_type_id=57034&display_order=3&mini_id=54488 1960's videos at the official site] ] The shop at the History Channel's website has a section devoted to "History Rocks", but the videos available for purchase are only related to the individual segments and do not contain the actual videos aired on television.

imilarities to other shows

"History Rocks" shares many similarities with the BBC television show "The Rock 'n' Roll Years" aired between 1985 and 1994. The format of the programme, which was based on the BBC Radio 1 series "25 Years of Rock", was primarily of news clips with narrative subtitles set to music of the time with no presenters or voice-overs.

"History Rocks" is also close in format to the VH1's program "Pop-up Video". Although "Rocks" frequently discusses more serious topics than does "Video", both programs have videos with identical form and structure; both videos use "info nuggets" and popular music as their central premise. "Video" predates "Rocks" by several years. "Rocks" has occasionally been criticized for its similarity to "Video", but many of its fans support "Rocks"'s appeal to a wider audience than other documentary shows.

Awards

In 2007, "History Rocks" was awarded "Best short form audiovisual entertainment made for mobile and/or Internet lifestyle/music" at Mipcom's Mobile and Internet TV Awards [ [http://www.milia.com/App/homepage.cfm?linkid=22529&moduleid=436&pram=376&k_np_id=12456&locparam=y&appname=100495 MIPCOM - The world's audiovisual content market ] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.history.com/minisite.do?content_type=mini_home&mini_id=54488| History Channel's "History Rocks" website with links to videos.]
* [http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2003726519&zsection_id=2002113064&slug=the70s30&date=20070530| Article about "History Rocks" in the Seattle Times]