1
00:00:35,015 --> 00:00:38,756
It's early 1996,
and Britain's top rock star

2
00:00:38,815 --> 00:00:40,670
is searching the English countryside

3
00:00:40,728 --> 00:00:44,332
for a location to stage one of
the biggest gigs in British history.

4
00:00:45,679 --> 00:00:47,982
I got the call... Knebworth,
bla, bla, bla.

5
00:00:48,001 --> 00:00:51,364
And I was going, "How many people?"
"125,000." And I thought, "Fucking hell!"

6
00:00:51,394 --> 00:00:54,040
# I'm feeling supersonic

7
00:00:54,050 --> 00:00:56,447
# Give me gin and tonic

8
00:00:56,462 --> 00:01:00,681
# You can have it all
but how much do you want it?

9
00:01:00,781 --> 00:01:02,838
Knebworth, in rural Hertfordshire,

10
00:01:02,887 --> 00:01:05,922
is now the only place big enough
to accomodate Oasis

11
00:01:05,961 --> 00:01:08,044
and their army of supporters.

12
00:01:08,133 --> 00:01:11,505
1 in 20 of the population applied
to go to see Knebworth

13
00:01:11,534 --> 00:01:14,134
which meant that when you walked
down Oxford St. in London,

14
00:01:14,223 --> 00:01:16,937
every 3 seconds you were
passing someone

15
00:01:17,001 --> 00:01:19,231
who was a really big Oasis fan.

16
00:01:19,265 --> 00:01:20,583
Crazily big!

17
00:01:25,608 --> 00:01:28,692
Knebworth House is Batman's house
in the film, you know that?

18
00:01:29,368 --> 00:01:31,803
When you see the Batman films
and they drive through the big gates,

19
00:01:31,833 --> 00:01:32,843
that's Knebworth House.

20
00:01:32,887 --> 00:01:35,512
So you're going
in the Batman's fucking gaff

21
00:01:35,513 --> 00:01:37,553
in a Rolls Royce.
Off your head!*

22
00:01:38,131 --> 00:01:43,163
Knebworth is a long way from where Oasis
started out, the city of Manchester,

23
00:01:43,213 --> 00:01:45,944
whose council estates
and independent music scene

24
00:01:46,028 --> 00:01:48,302
had produced
clutch of maverick bands

25
00:01:48,351 --> 00:01:52,556
like the Smiths, who had a far more
modest definition of success.

26
00:01:53,233 --> 00:01:56,142
Where we came from,
making a record yourself

27
00:01:56,157 --> 00:01:58,051
was incredibly ambitious.

28
00:01:58,105 --> 00:02:00,692
To be in a band that
you were really into

29
00:02:00,737 --> 00:02:03,992
and that you had another guy
who had the same dreams as you,

30
00:02:04,249 --> 00:02:06,790
that was like nearlly
the whole feel for me.

31
00:02:07,258 --> 00:02:11,161
For years, the indie scene was British
music's best kept secret,

32
00:02:11,254 --> 00:02:14,008
home to a generation of rock misfits.

33
00:02:14,076 --> 00:02:17,488
'Indie', independente music,
represented

34
00:02:17,503 --> 00:02:21,547
almost like a membership card of
the ousider gang for a lot of people too.

35
00:02:21,591 --> 00:02:23,848
You know, taking on the pricks.
Kicking against the pricks.

36
00:02:23,897 --> 00:02:25,827
Kicking against that blandness.

37
00:02:26,700 --> 00:02:30,861
But as indie morphed into brit-pop,
Oasis and archrivals Blur

38
00:02:30,921 --> 00:02:34,631
stormed the barricades of daytime radio
and the British tabloids.

39
00:02:34,974 --> 00:02:36,789
So complete was their triumph

40
00:02:36,838 --> 00:02:40,156
that for a moment Noel Gallagher
owned British rock.

41
00:02:40,241 --> 00:02:43,782
I remember driving in this big field,
sitting on the Rolls Royce

42
00:02:43,837 --> 00:02:47,627
thinking I was Jimi Hendrix
at Woodstock, having a cigarette.

43
00:02:47,686 --> 00:02:50,238
And nearly had a panic attack
'cause I'd been up all night drinking.

44
00:02:50,449 --> 00:02:53,112
And then just going,
"Yeah. I'll take it."

45
00:02:53,162 --> 00:02:54,504
"Where do I sign?"

46
00:02:56,716 --> 00:03:00,112
This is the story of the overgrounding
of British indie music,

47
00:03:00,162 --> 00:03:04,063
a journey from Manchester nightclubs
to mansions in the home counties.

48
00:03:04,127 --> 00:03:06,774
A story of success, so overwhelming,

49
00:03:06,843 --> 00:03:09,888
that the next generation were
forced to reinvent the music

50
00:03:09,945 --> 00:03:12,089
to bring it into the 21st century.

51
00:03:11,900 --> 00:03:14,886
# now you concerned
about the way I feel

52
00:03:14,915 --> 00:03:20,850
# Tonight I'm a rock 'n roll star

53
00:03:27,687 --> 00:03:31,617
Early evening,
November the 24th, 1983.

54
00:03:32,283 --> 00:03:34,709
In the 'green room' of BBC TV Center,

55
00:03:34,784 --> 00:03:38,244
the band that would define
indie music in the 1980s

56
00:03:38,307 --> 00:03:41,950
are waiting to make their debut
appearance on 'Top of the Pops',

57
00:03:41,999 --> 00:03:46,749
the TV showcase for everything
bright and shiny in British music.

58
00:03:47,324 --> 00:03:51,330
The whole day for us was really
an extreme day in the life.

59
00:03:51,394 --> 00:03:55,870
We went down there and
felt like well and truly aliens,

60
00:03:56,722 --> 00:03:58,457
which was right.

61
00:03:59,052 --> 00:04:01,272
We weren't unhappy about that.

62
00:04:09,543 --> 00:04:11,915
It's seven long years since punk

63
00:04:11,930 --> 00:04:14,397
was supposed to have put the edge
back into music.

64
00:04:14,436 --> 00:04:16,274
But this particular Thursday,

65
00:04:16,352 --> 00:04:19,220
the lineup promises to be
worryingly safe.

66
00:04:21,522 --> 00:04:23,826
Tina Turner, Simple Minds!

67
00:04:23,890 --> 00:04:25,906
The Thomson Twins,
Shakin' Stevens...

68
00:04:25,965 --> 00:04:29,303
Packed with stars, it's entirely live
and our first act's Paul Young

69
00:04:29,357 --> 00:04:31,563
and 'The Love of the Common People'.

70
00:04:32,089 --> 00:04:35,087
# You can live in a love
of the common people

71
00:04:35,160 --> 00:04:37,700
# smile from the heart
of a family man.

72
00:04:37,779 --> 00:04:40,441
# Daddy's gonna buy
you a dream to cling to,

73
00:04:40,499 --> 00:04:42,975
# Mama's gonna love you just as
much as she can and she can.

74
00:04:43,053 --> 00:04:45,910
The bill, like the whole
of pop music at the time,

75
00:04:45,972 --> 00:04:49,842
is dominated by established acts
and major label stars.

76
00:04:49,896 --> 00:04:52,019
It was all about people
in headbands

77
00:04:52,072 --> 00:04:55,014
with a bright red jacket
and three backing singers

78
00:04:55,058 --> 00:04:57,965
and a keyboard player
and a... that kind of thing.

79
00:04:58,009 --> 00:05:02,335
Tina Turner or Paul Young or whoever
it was that was out at that time.

80
00:05:02,971 --> 00:05:04,702
Showtime is approaching

81
00:05:04,741 --> 00:05:08,463
and backstage The Smiths are
feeling more and more out of place.

82
00:05:08,507 --> 00:05:10,869
A couple of girls came up to me
and they said,

83
00:05:10,908 --> 00:05:13,074
"Are you in a band?"
"Yeah, I am."

84
00:05:13,129 --> 00:05:15,574
And they said, "What band?"
And I said, "The Smiths."

85
00:05:15,634 --> 00:05:17,893
And she said, "Oh, are you playing
on tonight?" I said, "That's right. Yeah."

86
00:05:17,937 --> 00:05:20,992
And she said, "Well, when are you
getting changed to go on?"

87
00:05:21,026 --> 00:05:23,325
Well, I kinda looked down
at my clothes,

88
00:05:23,364 --> 00:05:25,997
and I said, "This is it.
This is what I'm wearing."

89
00:05:26,051 --> 00:05:27,586
And she said, "But you're
going on TV!"

90
00:05:28,060 --> 00:05:31,117
To make matters worse,
singer Morrissey has made it clear

91
00:05:31,187 --> 00:05:33,892
that he will take the stage
with a bouquet of gladioli

92
00:05:33,936 --> 00:05:35,574
in place of a microphone.

93
00:05:36,538 --> 00:05:38,650
The producers of the show
were pulling their hair off

94
00:05:38,684 --> 00:05:41,189
because Morrissey was like,

95
00:05:41,269 --> 00:05:43,587
"I'm not gonna pretend
that I'm singing this.

96
00:05:43,667 --> 00:05:45,326
"I'll just might as well
make it obvious that I'm miming.

97
00:05:45,389 --> 00:05:46,947
"I'm not even gonna
use a microphone."

98
00:05:47,037 --> 00:05:49,301
And they didn't like that at all.

99
00:05:49,345 --> 00:05:52,425
At Number 30 this week,
these are The Smiths.

100
00:05:52,475 --> 00:05:56,625
The Smiths are there to perform
their single 'This Charming Man'.

101
00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:08,434
# A punctured bicycle

102
00:06:08,480 --> 00:06:12,450
# On a hillside desolate

103
00:06:13,324 --> 00:06:17,526
# Will nature make a man of me yet?

104
00:06:19,673 --> 00:06:22,257
# When in this charming car

105
00:06:23,236 --> 00:06:25,886
# This charming man

106
00:06:25,990 --> 00:06:29,973
It was like someone had gone
into an office party

107
00:06:30,003 --> 00:06:32,870
and thrown buckets
of cold water over everyone.

108
00:06:32,929 --> 00:06:38,725
That non-stop-party-feel-good vibe
which Top of the Pops had always had

109
00:06:38,750 --> 00:06:41,679
it was suddenly invaded
by these four people

110
00:06:41,680 --> 00:06:43,958
who claimed to be from Manchester

111
00:06:43,997 --> 00:06:47,394
but in the context of Top of the Pops
could've been from a different universe.

112
00:06:47,894 --> 00:06:55,260
# This man said "It's gruesome
that someone so handsome should care"

113
00:06:58,551 --> 00:07:00,688
# A jumped up pantry boy

114
00:07:00,767 --> 00:07:03,183
# Who never knew his place

115
00:07:03,212 --> 00:07:06,360
# He said "return the ring"

116
00:07:06,438 --> 00:07:11,046
# He knows so much about these things

117
00:07:11,085 --> 00:07:16,475
# He knows so much about these things

118
00:07:18,405 --> 00:07:21,627
The performance is remembered
for more than Morrissey's flamboyance,

119
00:07:21,725 --> 00:07:26,035
for a generation of musicians
it was an introduction to Johnny Marr.

120
00:07:26,098 --> 00:07:28,294
The young guitarist whose
intricate playing

121
00:07:28,348 --> 00:07:30,646
underpinned The Smith's sound.

122
00:07:33,531 --> 00:07:35,881
I remember seeing The Smiths
on Top of the Pops.

123
00:07:35,925 --> 00:07:39,930
I don't mean this in a kind of...
sick or funny way

124
00:07:39,983 --> 00:07:41,719
but I just wanted to be
Johnny Marr.

125
00:07:41,773 --> 00:07:45,915
He had the Brian Jones hairdo
and the turtleneck,

126
00:07:45,935 --> 00:07:49,527
and the big, red semi-accoustic guitar.
It was like cool as fuck!

127
00:07:49,591 --> 00:07:51,312
As the nation watched,

128
00:07:51,382 --> 00:07:55,612
a cab was waiting at the stage door
to ferry The Smiths to Euston Station.

129
00:07:55,667 --> 00:07:59,337
That same night, they had
a gig booked 200 miles away

130
00:07:59,377 --> 00:08:03,357
at the Hacienda Nightclub
in their hometown of Manchester.

131
00:08:03,471 --> 00:08:06,761
That journey must have taken...
it was like...

132
00:08:06,850 --> 00:08:10,246
7 minutes in our mind because
we were just like...

133
00:08:11,558 --> 00:08:14,232
We were all super hyped up.

134
00:08:14,292 --> 00:08:17,786
# This charming man

135
00:08:20,104 --> 00:08:22,647
Part homecoming,
part coronation

136
00:08:22,686 --> 00:08:26,347
the Hacienda crowd were treated to
their own version of 'This Charming Man'

137
00:08:26,412 --> 00:08:29,121
by Britain's most
unlikely new rock stars.

138
00:08:29,159 --> 00:08:30,534
# I would go out tonight

139
00:08:30,558 --> 00:08:34,438
# But I haven't got a stitch to wear

140
00:08:37,366 --> 00:08:43,291
# This man said "It's gruesome that
someone so handsome should care"

141
00:08:43,350 --> 00:08:45,541
People still talk of it
in hushed tones in Manchester

142
00:08:45,585 --> 00:08:46,978
and it was an incredible moment.

143
00:08:47,027 --> 00:08:48,728
It was like a festival,
it was like...

144
00:08:48,752 --> 00:08:51,275
we have breached the barricades
of the Thatcherite citadel

145
00:08:51,319 --> 00:08:53,314
and now our boys have
become pop stars,

146
00:08:53,325 --> 00:08:55,636
and they're coming back
to celebrate with their own people.

147
00:08:55,684 --> 00:08:59,593
# He knows so much about these things

148
00:08:59,637 --> 00:09:04,102
# He knows so much about these things

149
00:09:05,851 --> 00:09:07,471
Goodbye!

150
00:09:11,926 --> 00:09:14,645
Manchester loomed large
in The Smiths' music,

151
00:09:14,694 --> 00:09:17,935
with Morrissey's lyrics transforming
the crumbling city

152
00:09:17,979 --> 00:09:20,200
into a place of epic romance.

153
00:09:20,511 --> 00:09:24,339
Those who didn't get it,
wrote them off as miserable northerners.

154
00:09:25,298 --> 00:09:27,558
We did a song called
'Heaven knows I'm miserable now'

155
00:09:27,603 --> 00:09:28,755
so what do we expect?

156
00:09:28,789 --> 00:09:32,802
# I was happy in the
haze of a drunken hour

157
00:09:32,841 --> 00:09:36,577
# But heaven knows I'm miserable now

158
00:09:36,649 --> 00:09:40,867
# I was looking for a job,
and then I found a job

159
00:09:40,931 --> 00:09:44,935
# And heaven knows I'm miserable now

160
00:09:44,974 --> 00:09:46,407
There's ** even there.

161
00:09:46,466 --> 00:09:50,135
We had the understanding of what
it felt like to be surrounded

162
00:09:50,200 --> 00:09:54,001
by this Victorian
atmosphere in Manchester.

163
00:09:54,373 --> 00:09:57,313
For me, some of the actual sound
of the music

164
00:09:57,452 --> 00:10:03,679
comes out of my early impressions
of my environment.

165
00:10:04,142 --> 00:10:06,400
The people around me
weren't well off, you know.

166
00:10:06,488 --> 00:10:10,560
The women had beehives
and wore coats that were on HP.*

167
00:10:10,590 --> 00:10:14,526
# Two lovers entwined pass me by

168
00:10:14,583 --> 00:10:18,428
# And heaven knows I'm miserable now

169
00:10:18,771 --> 00:10:21,666
It was a hard life really,
but you have to find beauty.

170
00:10:21,700 --> 00:10:25,922
I think it's an innate human necessity,
so if you're in a grim place

171
00:10:25,975 --> 00:10:27,395
you would just find the beauty.

172
00:10:27,453 --> 00:10:31,027
# In my life

173
00:10:31,081 --> 00:10:35,121
# Oh, why do I give valuable time

174
00:10:35,389 --> 00:10:42,592
# To people who don't
care if I live or die?

175
00:10:42,947 --> 00:10:46,464
These records were so vivid
and romantic and joyous.

176
00:10:46,498 --> 00:10:51,065
They were the revenge of
the deserted northern places.

177
00:10:51,424 --> 00:10:53,550
There's lots of snogging
under bridges

178
00:10:53,604 --> 00:10:56,396
and feeling people up on leather*

179
00:10:56,494 --> 00:10:59,701
and 'There's ice in the sink
where we bathe'.

180
00:11:01,832 --> 00:11:05,301
What kind of line is that?
Where do you get that from?

181
00:11:07,595 --> 00:11:09,057
Together, Morressey and Marr

182
00:11:09,110 --> 00:11:12,258
were the most significant
song-writing partnership of the 80s.

183
00:11:12,321 --> 00:11:14,264
On top of their four studio albums

184
00:11:14,283 --> 00:11:16,909
they crafted a string
of stand-alone singles,

185
00:11:16,934 --> 00:11:19,037
including 'William it Was Really Nothing'

186
00:11:19,101 --> 00:11:22,401
'Shoplifters of the
World, Unite' and 'Panic'.

187
00:11:23,843 --> 00:11:26,298
They all skip along those tunes.
They're all ***

188
00:11:26,352 --> 00:11:28,795
I think that's the great thing
about that band,

189
00:11:28,849 --> 00:11:32,833
they had these really up* tunes
that Morrissey would then

190
00:11:32,908 --> 00:11:36,750
kind of put a slant on in there.
Morryssey's lyrics were very sarcastic.

191
00:11:36,780 --> 00:11:40,174
It's about being on the ***,
being kind of an outsider.

192
00:11:40,237 --> 00:11:43,568
That kind of collision
of those two things

193
00:11:43,618 --> 00:11:45,480
is what made The Smiths
***

194
00:11:46,525 --> 00:11:48,788
The hands-off approach
of Rough Trade,

195
00:11:48,827 --> 00:11:50,631
the band's independent
record label,

196
00:11:50,724 --> 00:11:53,326
allowed Morrissey and Marr
complete control

197
00:11:53,381 --> 00:11:55,920
over The Smith's music and image.

198
00:11:56,455 --> 00:11:58,283
Everything about them was
"We do it our way."

199
00:11:58,363 --> 00:12:02,965
You know, Morrissey did the sleeves,
Johnny was left to his own devices

200
00:12:03,010 --> 00:12:04,730
and not told by an A&R man,

201
00:12:04,774 --> 00:12:06,297
"That will be the next single
you're gonna record."

202
00:12:06,356 --> 00:12:09,066
It'd be up to Morrissey
and Marr to decide

203
00:12:09,105 --> 00:12:11,453
what song they wanted
to record as the next single.

204
00:12:11,895 --> 00:12:14,304
That's the kind of band we were.

205
00:12:14,860 --> 00:12:16,640
We didn't have an A&R man,

206
00:12:16,700 --> 00:12:18,759
we didn't have people interfering
in the music.

207
00:12:18,788 --> 00:12:21,012
So we were very in that
self-sufficient thing.

208
00:12:21,053 --> 00:12:23,229
I mean, we were really independent.

209
00:12:24,158 --> 00:12:25,873
In the mid-1980s,

210
00:12:25,951 --> 00:12:28,935
The Smiths were at the head
of an entire sub-culture.

211
00:12:29,464 --> 00:12:33,490
Indie music took in groups as diverse
as The Jesus and Mary Chain,

212
00:12:33,534 --> 00:12:37,377
The Fall, The Cocteau Twins
and The Wedding Present.

213
00:12:37,459 --> 00:12:40,378
The music itself was self-consciously
anti-commercial

214
00:12:40,429 --> 00:12:42,232
and difficult to seek out.

215
00:12:43,398 --> 00:12:46,045
It was really exciting.
To sample it

216
00:12:46,145 --> 00:12:49,390
I used to go at Piccadilly Records
in Manchester on a Saturday morning,

217
00:12:49,444 --> 00:12:52,937
with these slightly arrogant guys,
like in 'High Fidelity' behind the counter

218
00:12:52,981 --> 00:12:55,458
who would snigger
if you bought the wrong thing.

219
00:12:55,478 --> 00:12:57,340
But the idea that you were buying
into this world,

220
00:12:57,375 --> 00:12:59,011
it really felt like
you were on to something

221
00:12:59,055 --> 00:13:02,467
that 99% of people didn't know about.

222
00:13:08,547 --> 00:13:10,074
# Grass grows greener

223
00:13:10,144 --> 00:13:12,560
# On the other side

224
00:13:14,075 --> 00:13:18,702
Being involved in indie music meant
that you were kind of making a statement.

225
00:13:19,146 --> 00:13:21,329
Which is about how honest you are

226
00:13:21,378 --> 00:13:24,328
and where you feel like
you fit in the world.

227
00:13:24,377 --> 00:13:27,392
And being odd, and being weird
and being different,

228
00:13:27,431 --> 00:13:31,098
is good.
Let's celebrate that.

229
00:13:31,654 --> 00:13:34,200
# God spits on my soul

230
00:13:34,260 --> 00:13:36,137
# there's something dead

231
00:13:36,210 --> 00:13:38,412
# inside my hole

232
00:13:39,112 --> 00:13:41,953
Indie, independent music,
represented

233
00:13:41,978 --> 00:13:46,548
almost like a membership card of
the outsider gang for a lot of people too.

234
00:13:47,685 --> 00:13:49,957
By listening to that music
you were saying,

235
00:13:50,022 --> 00:13:52,991
"No, I'm one of these guys,
not one of those guys."

236
00:14:02,537 --> 00:14:04,678
Of all British indie bands in the 80s,

237
00:14:04,731 --> 00:14:07,428
it was The Smiths who inspired
the most devotion.

238
00:14:07,671 --> 00:14:11,375
Their army of fans, referred to
by Morrissey as his disciples,

239
00:14:11,439 --> 00:14:13,650
were the biggest outsider
gang of all.

240
00:14:20,368 --> 00:14:22,819
<i>We're celibate, girls!
We're celibate!</i>

241
00:14:24,675 --> 00:14:26,858
As The Smiths' popularity grew,

242
00:14:26,925 --> 00:14:30,117
the band were careful to stick
to modest sized venues.

243
00:14:30,159 --> 00:14:32,611
Their gigs always had a sense
of occasion,

244
00:14:32,685 --> 00:14:36,552
with the group marching onstage
to the strains of Prokofiev,

245
00:14:36,592 --> 00:14:40,043
as they greeted their audience
eyeball to eyeball.

246
00:14:40,164 --> 00:14:45,493
There was never a barrier of,
"We're up here, and you're down there."

247
00:14:45,551 --> 00:14:48,655
"We're great. Listen to this.
You belong down there."

248
00:14:50,228 --> 00:14:56,244
Quite often there was physically no gap
between the audience and the stage.

249
00:14:56,288 --> 00:14:58,950
Because every night
they ended up on it.

250
00:15:00,195 --> 00:15:01,548
We *** sometimes

251
00:15:01,632 --> 00:15:04,375
because we'd be trying
to give people what they wanted.

252
00:15:04,424 --> 00:15:08,867
They'd be coming back with...
screaming and crying, going crazy.

253
00:15:08,906 --> 00:15:12,049
And that spurred us on
to give it even more.

254
00:15:22,373 --> 00:15:25,288
I'm getting goose bumps
now talking about it.

255
00:15:25,560 --> 00:15:27,433
# Hand in glove

256
00:15:27,472 --> 00:15:30,679
# The sun shines out of our behinds

257
00:15:30,699 --> 00:15:33,390
# No, it's not like any other love

258
00:15:33,439 --> 00:15:36,316
# This one is different
- because it's us

259
00:15:36,389 --> 00:15:38,133
Rather than doing like
a massive stadium gig

260
00:15:38,192 --> 00:15:41,272
where you're 25 ft up and
you can't even see

261
00:15:41,302 --> 00:15:43,840
the heads of
the people in front of you,

262
00:15:43,890 --> 00:15:46,354
we use to prefer
the little sweaty ones,

263
00:15:46,433 --> 00:15:50,729
where you can see the whites
of the eyes of the audience.

264
00:15:54,223 --> 00:15:55,975
# Hand in glove

265
00:15:56,034 --> 00:15:58,279
# The Good People laugh

266
00:15:58,747 --> 00:16:02,117
# Yes, we may be hidden by rags

267
00:16:02,201 --> 00:16:05,647
# But we've something they'll never have

268
00:16:13,546 --> 00:16:18,306
By 1986, The Smiths had become
one of Britain's most established bands.

269
00:16:18,339 --> 00:16:21,525
A deal with major label EMI
had been agreed,

270
00:16:21,603 --> 00:16:25,276
and the band were playing
larger and larger venues in the US.

271
00:16:25,354 --> 00:16:29,505
But such success brought
its own pressures and doubts.

272
00:16:29,559 --> 00:16:32,316
The labels were always keen to say,

273
00:16:32,389 --> 00:16:35,032
"One more tour
and you're gonna be the next U2."

274
00:16:35,060 --> 00:16:37,486
Well, not everybody wants to be U2.

275
00:16:37,560 --> 00:16:46,814
# Oh Mother, I can feel
the soil falling over my head

276
00:16:48,854 --> 00:16:52,242
I remember when we were in America,
me and Morrissey having a conversation

277
00:16:52,286 --> 00:16:55,507
about how we did three nights
at Universal Amphitheater,

278
00:16:55,516 --> 00:17:00,017
and we were both talking about how
Roxy Music and T-Rex

279
00:17:00,076 --> 00:17:02,749
had never got to do that.

280
00:17:03,304 --> 00:17:05,859
And we were a bit scared then, really.

281
00:17:05,908 --> 00:17:09,802
It wasn't like, "Right. We're so big
we've gotta split up."

282
00:17:09,852 --> 00:17:11,229
'Cause we weren't that big.

283
00:17:11,288 --> 00:17:13,259
But we were bigger than our heros.

284
00:17:14,002 --> 00:17:15,999
In the summer of 1987,

285
00:17:16,069 --> 00:17:18,980
Johnny Marr shocked both
his band mates and the indie world

286
00:17:19,019 --> 00:17:20,912
when he walked out of The Smiths.

287
00:17:20,980 --> 00:17:23,340
I remember buying the NME
that Wednesday morning

288
00:17:23,341 --> 00:17:26,423
that said that The Smiths
had split up, and felt... orphaned.

289
00:17:26,468 --> 00:17:28,432
Like a lot of people did,
"That sounds ridiculous!"

290
00:17:28,487 --> 00:17:30,923
And it sounds like a very Smiths
fan thing to say.

291
00:17:30,953 --> 00:17:32,395
***

292
00:17:32,435 --> 00:17:34,743
But they had been our lifeline.

293
00:17:34,783 --> 00:17:36,703
They had been the thing
that we loved through

294
00:17:36,723 --> 00:17:40,460
an incredibly, uniquely miserable
period in British history.

295
00:17:40,520 --> 00:17:42,303
And they were our band.

296
00:17:44,186 --> 00:17:48,606
# Sad veiled bride please be happy

297
00:17:48,668 --> 00:17:51,915
The whole era of Manchester music
was coming to an end,

298
00:17:51,973 --> 00:17:54,023
and a new one just beginning.

299
00:17:54,082 --> 00:17:58,178
The Smiths demise conincided
with the coming of 'house' music.

300
00:17:58,248 --> 00:18:02,209
A sound fuelled by the new
drug of the moment, ecstasy.

301
00:18:04,523 --> 00:18:07,707
In the '80s we all hunched our shoulders
and thought everything was terrible.

302
00:18:07,761 --> 00:18:10,471
And then people started coming back
from The Hacienda

303
00:18:10,529 --> 00:18:13,177
having taken this drug
that everyone was talking about.

304
00:18:13,521 --> 00:18:16,120
And they seemed sort of
euphorically well adjusted.

305
00:18:16,180 --> 00:18:19,205
A real C change, actually.
The whole thing was turned on its head.

306
00:18:19,288 --> 00:18:20,464
It really felt like that.

307
00:18:20,513 --> 00:18:22,950
Logically we'd gone from one thing
to its opposite.

308
00:18:26,319 --> 00:18:29,619
It was kind of a psychedelic time,
it was the second summer of love.

309
00:18:29,688 --> 00:18:33,099
You couldn't really listen to acid house
relentlessly all the time.

310
00:18:33,137 --> 00:18:35,315
People going to raves
had a great time to acid house

311
00:18:35,373 --> 00:18:37,285
but still wanted guitar music
and songs

312
00:18:37,320 --> 00:18:39,185
they could sing along to
when they were home

313
00:18:39,234 --> 00:18:40,906
or they were coming back
from the raves.

314
00:18:42,112 --> 00:18:43,966
A new wave of Manchester groups

315
00:18:43,967 --> 00:18:46,658
would give indie music
a psychedelic twist.

316
00:18:52,003 --> 00:18:54,582
The Stone Roses led the way.

317
00:18:57,016 --> 00:19:00,896
# Chimes sing Sunday morn

318
00:19:01,456 --> 00:19:05,863
# Today's the day she's sworn

319
00:19:06,323 --> 00:19:10,423
# To steal what she never could own

320
00:19:11,309 --> 00:19:16,127
# And race from this hole
she calls home

321
00:19:20,807 --> 00:19:26,090
The Stone Roses' early songs...
there was a sense of The Birds.

322
00:19:26,164 --> 00:19:30,441
There was a sense of that
kind of west coast psychedelia.

323
00:19:30,519 --> 00:19:34,730
#So good to have equalised

324
00:19:34,789 --> 00:19:39,743
# To lift up the lids of your eyes

325
00:19:45,865 --> 00:19:49,360
And then the other thing which
The Stone Roses did

326
00:19:49,405 --> 00:19:54,002
was that they had rhythms
at the forefront of the music,

327
00:19:54,066 --> 00:19:57,174
which again, indie bands
tended not to.

328
00:19:57,238 --> 00:19:59,164
It's all about the rhythms

329
00:19:59,233 --> 00:20:02,507
just propelling you forward,
and the momentum.

330
00:20:07,339 --> 00:20:11,145
Frontman, Ian Brown,
walked with a Mancunian swagger,

331
00:20:11,479 --> 00:20:15,499
and surrounded himself with
band mates who were equally cocky.

332
00:20:16,810 --> 00:20:20,460
We always had amazing pants
and great haircuts.

333
00:20:21,077 --> 00:20:23,752
A bunch of absolute
cheeky monkeys.

334
00:20:24,303 --> 00:20:27,404
100% arrogant, self-confident,

335
00:20:28,229 --> 00:20:32,110
great musicians,
born to do it.

336
00:20:32,175 --> 00:20:34,828
So that's what we did, man.

337
00:20:38,337 --> 00:20:41,389
The Roses never apologized
for their arrogance.

338
00:20:41,448 --> 00:20:44,419
They declared themselves
the best band in the world

339
00:20:44,482 --> 00:20:47,797
and had little time for the indie music
that had come before them.

340
00:20:49,282 --> 00:20:51,224
Independence is a joke, innit?

341
00:20:52,103 --> 00:20:54,380
No good music came out of it really.

342
00:20:54,825 --> 00:20:56,076
Hardly any.

343
00:20:58,146 --> 00:20:59,660
Not in England, anyway.

344
00:21:05,060 --> 00:21:08,835
In 1989, The Stone Roses
gave indie music

345
00:21:08,909 --> 00:21:10,865
a completely fresh start.

346
00:21:10,939 --> 00:21:13,992
That summer they began limiting
their British performances

347
00:21:14,109 --> 00:21:15,837
to one-off spectaculars.

348
00:21:15,877 --> 00:21:19,819
The first of these was a legendary
concert at the Empress Ballroom,

349
00:21:19,872 --> 00:21:21,886
in Blackpool's Winter Gardens.

350
00:21:30,567 --> 00:21:32,557
The idea of the Stone Roses playing
in Blackpool was great anyway

351
00:21:32,635 --> 00:21:35,650
because if you're gonna be big in a band
you have to make it in London.

352
00:21:35,718 --> 00:21:38,090
And The Stone Roses had always been
such a Manchester band

353
00:21:38,136 --> 00:21:40,916
that going to Blackpool for your day out
it's such a Manchester thing, you know.

354
00:21:40,960 --> 00:21:42,483
That's what you did.

355
00:21:42,518 --> 00:21:44,798
Going to this big
breakthrough gig in Blackpool

356
00:21:44,843 --> 00:21:46,082
dragged the whole London up to it.

357
00:21:46,126 --> 00:21:47,490
It's perfect.

358
00:21:48,244 --> 00:21:49,876
Blackpool was a gamble.

359
00:21:49,918 --> 00:21:52,711
Outside of Manchester the band
had struggled to fill venues

360
00:21:52,731 --> 00:21:54,514
holding just a couple
of hundred people.

361
00:21:54,568 --> 00:21:57,882
The Empress Ballroom
held a crowd of over 3,000.

362
00:21:59,372 --> 00:22:01,946
We always considered that doing
gigs is a bit like

363
00:22:02,614 --> 00:22:04,084
walking a tight rope.

364
00:22:04,119 --> 00:22:05,858
You could fall off
any moment in time.

365
00:22:05,887 --> 00:22:10,181
But we just enjoyed the danger
of trying to overreach ourselves

366
00:22:10,240 --> 00:22:13,129
and just see exactly how far
we could stretch things.

367
00:22:13,144 --> 00:22:15,447
Booked places that we knew
we couldn't possibly fill,

368
00:22:15,490 --> 00:22:17,484
just to see if we could.

369
00:22:19,135 --> 00:22:21,795
Probably about 8 or 9 coaches
went down from Manchester

370
00:22:21,860 --> 00:22:23,108
and I was on one of them.

371
00:22:23,157 --> 00:22:27,289
And it was just a really funny
experience on the way down

372
00:22:27,353 --> 00:22:29,270
and then a fantastic gig.

373
00:22:30,115 --> 00:22:38,219
# I don't have to sell
my soul he's already in me

374
00:22:38,764 --> 00:22:46,797
# I don't need to sell my
soul he's already in me

375
00:22:46,870 --> 00:22:49,843
The thing about Empress Ballroom was
suddenly all of those kids turned up,

376
00:22:49,907 --> 00:22:51,248
and they all got it, you know.

377
00:22:51,307 --> 00:22:53,724
You stood there right
on the cusp of a wave

378
00:22:53,783 --> 00:22:55,832
of a whole new pop movement.

379
00:22:57,735 --> 00:23:01,822
# I wanna be adored

380
00:23:05,386 --> 00:23:07,097
The band knew they had the moment.

381
00:23:07,164 --> 00:23:09,111
It wasn't just another gig.

382
00:23:09,190 --> 00:23:11,557
The moment was there
and the band grasped it.

383
00:23:13,634 --> 00:23:22,133
# I don't have to sell
my soul he's already in me

384
00:23:22,226 --> 00:23:30,146
# I don't need to sell my
soul he's already in me

385
00:23:32,697 --> 00:23:37,170
# I wanna be adored

386
00:23:40,222 --> 00:23:42,394
We set out to be the biggest
band on the planet,

387
00:23:42,437 --> 00:23:44,604
or in Great Britain at least.

388
00:23:44,659 --> 00:23:46,676
And it was a springboard to know
if we were gonna achieve

389
00:23:46,726 --> 00:23:47,721
what we set out to do.

390
00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:51,390
We kind of moved up a gear from
playing at the smaller club things.

391
00:23:53,807 --> 00:23:56,500
It was just amazing.
I remember Ian had this t-shirt on

392
00:23:56,578 --> 00:23:59,313
with a lot of burnt
5 pound notes on his neck.

393
00:23:59,782 --> 00:24:03,455
He just commanded
the stage really well.

394
00:24:05,736 --> 00:24:07,224
Just the atmosphere was amazing.

395
00:24:07,248 --> 00:24:09,089
I thing it's got a sprung
dance floor as well there.

396
00:24:09,128 --> 00:24:11,194
So everyone was bouncing
up and down.

397
00:24:12,865 --> 00:24:16,581
The finale of the sellout show
was 'I Am the Resurrection',

398
00:24:16,674 --> 00:24:19,556
the band's showstopping anthem
where Ian Brown

399
00:24:19,636 --> 00:24:21,714
procclaims his own divinity.

400
00:24:22,184 --> 00:24:28,512
# I am the resurrection
and I am the light

401
00:24:28,600 --> 00:24:39,155
# I couldn't ever bring myself
to hate you as I'd like

402
00:24:45,577 --> 00:24:50,586
The song's instrumental climax
turned the gig into an enormous rave.

403
00:24:57,208 --> 00:24:59,981
That crossover with
the world of dance music

404
00:25:00,098 --> 00:25:02,955
was one of the great things
about The Stone Roses too.

405
00:25:03,038 --> 00:25:07,336
The fact that you could dance
to these records in clubs as well.

406
00:25:07,406 --> 00:25:09,191
That was so revolutionary.

407
00:25:09,253 --> 00:25:13,102
And if you listen to the long section
at the end of 'I Am the Resurrection',

408
00:25:13,171 --> 00:25:15,867
it is built... and it builds up
and then drops,

409
00:25:15,910 --> 00:25:19,062
and it builds up and it drops
like a good dance floor track does.

410
00:25:19,121 --> 00:25:20,018
And it's those techniques

411
00:25:20,092 --> 00:25:23,018
that are often forgotten by rock 'n roll
bands and the indie bands,

412
00:25:23,029 --> 00:25:24,611
the fact that you've got
to give it space.

413
00:25:28,945 --> 00:25:31,357
The Stone Roses seemed to be
the first band to kind of

414
00:25:31,456 --> 00:25:33,005
take that energy and...

415
00:25:34,132 --> 00:25:35,709
get you dancing.

416
00:25:39,772 --> 00:25:41,567
We were always a pretty
funky band anyway.

417
00:25:41,621 --> 00:25:43,322
We were the blackest
white guys on the planet.

418
00:25:43,356 --> 00:25:45,498
And I think we had more
people dancing there

419
00:25:45,533 --> 00:25:47,828
than the fucking Labour Party
Conference ever did.

420
00:25:48,560 --> 00:25:50,545
You know what I mean?
That was our *** manifesto:

421
00:25:50,605 --> 00:25:52,159
Get people out,
get 'em off their tits

422
00:25:52,204 --> 00:25:54,110
and give them a good night out.

423
00:25:55,036 --> 00:25:57,218
Blackpool transformed
The Sone Roses

424
00:25:57,266 --> 00:25:59,321
into the hottest indie
band in Britain.

425
00:25:59,384 --> 00:26:01,159
And the big time beckoned.

426
00:26:01,309 --> 00:26:03,086
What the Roses did was,

427
00:26:03,140 --> 00:26:07,022
they made it look like
the best thing in the world

428
00:26:07,081 --> 00:26:09,122
to be a successful band.

429
00:26:10,720 --> 00:26:13,984
They made it look like
better than being a footballer,

430
00:26:14,043 --> 00:26:15,812
better than playing for England.

431
00:26:15,877 --> 00:26:19,856
Once Blackpool had happened
the world was ready for them.

432
00:26:19,920 --> 00:26:23,298
'What the World is Waiting for',
that was The Stone Roses.

433
00:26:27,184 --> 00:26:30,019
Now the media spotlight
fell on Manchester

434
00:26:30,063 --> 00:26:32,500
helping the careers of the Roses'
contemporaries

435
00:26:32,534 --> 00:26:34,868
in particular, the Happy Mondays,

436
00:26:34,926 --> 00:26:37,260
and their unique brand
of Northern funk.

437
00:26:37,336 --> 00:26:41,310
# Don't you know he can make
you forget you're the man

438
00:26:41,369 --> 00:26:43,751
# You're a man

439
00:26:44,166 --> 00:26:47,565
# You speak so hip, man
You're twistin' my melon

440
00:26:49,026 --> 00:26:51,922
For a few years,
what became known as Madchester,

441
00:26:52,002 --> 00:26:54,358
was the pop culture capital
of Britain.

442
00:26:55,124 --> 00:26:58,099
The whole of the Manchester scene
in the late 80s,

443
00:26:58,196 --> 00:27:01,021
that came about because of
the attitude of independence.

444
00:27:01,108 --> 00:27:04,131
And some of the bands that are maybe
a little more forgotten from that time,

445
00:27:04,179 --> 00:27:07,664
like the Inspiral Carpets for example,
they were at the heart of that.

446
00:27:07,729 --> 00:27:09,649
And I always loved their push,
like doing it themselves,

447
00:27:09,733 --> 00:27:11,375
like sticking out
their own records.

448
00:27:11,454 --> 00:27:14,458
It seemed to be kind of at odds
with the rest of the world.

449
00:27:14,801 --> 00:27:18,280
# You should learn to walk,
should learn to walk before you crawl

450
00:27:18,329 --> 00:27:21,330
# You should learn to walk,
should learn to walk before you crawl

451
00:27:21,380 --> 00:27:25,385
# (HERE SHE COMES)
SHE COMES IN THE FALL

452
00:27:25,448 --> 00:27:29,065
# (AND YOU SHOULD LEARN)
TO WALK BEFORE YOU CRAWL

453
00:27:29,149 --> 00:27:33,370
# (HERE SHE COMES NOW)
ARMS DANCE TOGETHER IN THE FALL

454
00:27:33,463 --> 00:27:36,580
# YOU DON'T WALK, YOU CRAWL

455
00:27:37,062 --> 00:27:39,790
I was working for the Inspiral Carpets
in their office,

456
00:27:39,864 --> 00:27:43,168
and I used to go on the road with them
when I was part of their roadcrew.

457
00:27:43,528 --> 00:27:46,198
And it was just...
the thing about that scene,

458
00:27:46,836 --> 00:27:48,318
that became known as
the Manchester scene,

459
00:27:48,367 --> 00:27:50,087
is nobody knew what the fuck
they were doing.

460
00:27:50,151 --> 00:27:52,774
Everybody was just having
a great fucking time.

461
00:27:52,818 --> 00:27:55,038
It was like punk, really, you know.

462
00:27:55,086 --> 00:27:59,074
You were kind of part of it
and things were happening

463
00:28:00,963 --> 00:28:03,780
that have never happened since.
It was kind of wild.

464
00:28:03,880 --> 00:28:05,487
It was fucking brilliant!

465
00:28:08,302 --> 00:28:10,382
The Madchester sound
was soon everywhere,

466
00:28:10,455 --> 00:28:12,661
and everyone wanted
a piece of the action.

467
00:28:12,733 --> 00:28:14,269
Young pretenders Blur

468
00:28:14,332 --> 00:28:16,867
were on a record label backed
by the major EMI,

469
00:28:16,965 --> 00:28:20,205
who ensured that the new group
had the sound of the moment.

470
00:28:20,298 --> 00:28:22,049
# There's no other way

471
00:28:22,104 --> 00:28:24,216
# There's no other way

472
00:28:24,279 --> 00:28:28,335
# All that you can do
is watch them play

473
00:28:28,432 --> 00:28:30,171
Blur were first around

474
00:28:30,191 --> 00:28:33,494
when the Madchester so-called
'baggy' thing was still going on.

475
00:28:33,553 --> 00:28:35,077
And fairly cynically, I think,

476
00:28:35,146 --> 00:28:36,973
'There's no Other Way' had been
made with that in mind.

477
00:28:37,032 --> 00:28:39,826
I know that their record label
were quite keen that they cashed in.

478
00:28:39,884 --> 00:28:42,532
So it had this big
thumping breakbeat on it.

479
00:28:42,566 --> 00:28:45,866
The classic baggy...
kind of rhythm.

480
00:28:47,870 --> 00:28:49,821
We hated The Stone Roses at the time,

481
00:28:49,876 --> 00:28:54,906
but the record company, who
payed for the record and the video,

482
00:28:55,856 --> 00:28:58,040
wanted to get their money back.

483
00:28:58,120 --> 00:29:01,608
So they were like, "You can't have
backwards drums, that's stupid.

484
00:29:01,686 --> 00:29:03,499
"Get these drums like
The Stone Roses

485
00:29:03,558 --> 00:29:05,146
"to sell loads of records."

486
00:29:05,215 --> 00:29:07,308
# There's no other way

487
00:29:07,386 --> 00:29:09,171
# There's no other way

488
00:29:09,258 --> 00:29:13,382
# All that you can do
is watch them play

489
00:29:25,299 --> 00:29:27,764
'There's no Other Way'
was a top ten hit,

490
00:29:27,834 --> 00:29:29,559
but lead singer Damon Albarn,

491
00:29:29,652 --> 00:29:32,471
was still a long way
from finding his own voice.

492
00:29:32,573 --> 00:29:34,800
The only way I could kind
of explain, I suppose,

493
00:29:34,854 --> 00:29:38,796
is that I wasn't ready really
to be making music.

494
00:29:38,859 --> 00:29:42,205
I don't think really I classed
ourselves as songwriters then.

495
00:29:42,294 --> 00:29:45,744
There was like one or two little...
There was one or two good songs

496
00:29:45,804 --> 00:29:48,494
but I just wasn't confident
enough to really write.

497
00:29:49,938 --> 00:29:51,849
As Blur's career
was just starting

498
00:29:51,917 --> 00:29:55,202
the fortunes of The Stone Roses
had taken a downward turn,

499
00:29:55,271 --> 00:29:58,660
caught in a web of contractual
wrangling and litigation,

500
00:29:58,725 --> 00:30:01,107
the band was running out of steam.

501
00:30:01,146 --> 00:30:03,284
It was just horrible to be...

502
00:30:03,337 --> 00:30:07,136
to have created all that momentum
and get to the top of your game,

503
00:30:07,190 --> 00:30:09,595
and then have the rug swept out
from under your feet.

504
00:30:09,663 --> 00:30:12,661
'Cause basically we were in injuncted
for two and a half years,

505
00:30:12,699 --> 00:30:15,357
so we couldn't do gigs, record...

506
00:30:16,525 --> 00:30:19,704
We should've got a paper round,
or a job at a sweetshop, might as well,

507
00:30:19,727 --> 00:30:23,727
we just ended up sitting about
our rears and stuff and...

508
00:30:23,767 --> 00:30:27,247
There was no outlet for it
so basically your momentum's lost.

509
00:30:29,035 --> 00:30:32,010
Although the Roses would never
recapture their early magic,

510
00:30:32,090 --> 00:30:34,918
the group's legacy
is still considerable.

511
00:30:34,971 --> 00:30:36,917
We just wanted
to be able to show people

512
00:30:36,918 --> 00:30:39,301
that kids from council
estates or what have you,

513
00:30:39,374 --> 00:30:42,599
they can pick up guitars,
they can learn, they can go on and...

514
00:30:42,658 --> 00:30:45,339
grab the stars if they want.

515
00:30:45,403 --> 00:30:49,426
# Your knuckles whiten on the wheel

516
00:30:49,480 --> 00:30:53,465
# The last thing that
your hands will feel

517
00:30:53,504 --> 00:30:54,666
When the Roses came along,

518
00:30:54,788 --> 00:30:59,038
the goalpost kind of shifted
towards us.

519
00:30:59,117 --> 00:31:01,843
Because when you see people
like that onstage,

520
00:31:02,431 --> 00:31:04,428
it was really fucking inspiring.

521
00:31:04,493 --> 00:31:06,787
And if it wasn't for that
there wouldn't have been Oasis.

522
00:31:10,111 --> 00:31:13,645
Oasis were five lads
from Manchester with big dreams.

523
00:31:13,713 --> 00:31:16,674
In the early 90s,
they could always be found rehearsing

524
00:31:16,758 --> 00:31:19,675
down in the basement
of the city center concert venue,

525
00:31:19,743 --> 00:31:21,675
the Boardwalk.

526
00:31:24,311 --> 00:31:27,527
Having the rehearsal room there
and all the gear set up all the time,

527
00:31:27,585 --> 00:31:30,654
was a massive thing for us
and we were kind of there

528
00:31:30,717 --> 00:31:32,202
five nights a week.

529
00:31:32,246 --> 00:31:35,297
And even if we weren't...
didn't have a gig coming up,

530
00:31:35,364 --> 00:31:40,900
we'd be just writing new songs,
and more importantly, just hanging out.

531
00:31:41,167 --> 00:31:43,332
You know, being a band.

532
00:31:43,397 --> 00:31:47,019
It was a proper, little... it was
our little HQ, you know what I mean?

533
00:31:51,162 --> 00:31:53,906
It was just us as a unit
just gelled together.

534
00:31:53,970 --> 00:31:55,458
I think the time we put in...

535
00:31:55,507 --> 00:31:58,428
we developped our sound
downstairs there in the Boardwalk.

536
00:31:58,488 --> 00:32:01,218
And it was a real basic sound.

537
00:32:01,282 --> 00:32:05,079
There was nothing contrived,
so it wasn't really planned like,

538
00:32:05,098 --> 00:32:06,776
"Ok, I really need my guitar to...

539
00:32:06,821 --> 00:32:08,295
I wanna go for this
sound, I'm gonna do that."

540
00:32:08,335 --> 00:32:11,212
It was "in", turn it up,
go for it.

541
00:32:14,840 --> 00:32:16,742
We rehearsed next door.
You'd hear them in there

542
00:32:16,786 --> 00:32:20,948
doing one riff from 'I Am the Walrus'
over and over, an hour, to get it right.

543
00:32:20,991 --> 00:32:24,473
Noel worked that band to the ground.
You'd go away for two hours,

544
00:32:24,532 --> 00:32:27,194
come back and they'd still
be in there... doing this riff.

545
00:32:27,239 --> 00:32:29,909
He basically whipped them
into shape.

546
00:32:32,184 --> 00:32:39,492
# I am he as you are he as
you are me and we are all together.

547
00:32:40,301 --> 00:32:44,988
# See how they run like pigs
from a gun, see how they fly.

548
00:32:45,342 --> 00:32:47,583
# I'm crying.

549
00:32:47,651 --> 00:32:51,011
'I Am the Walrus' came about
'cause we didn't have so many songs

550
00:32:51,049 --> 00:32:53,942
when we were doing these gigs
and we had to play for...

551
00:32:53,990 --> 00:32:57,945
to earn the fucking 25 quid
that you were gonna get.

552
00:32:58,005 --> 00:32:59,957
To put in the van,
to get on.

553
00:32:59,996 --> 00:33:01,524
You had to play for half an hour.

554
00:33:01,578 --> 00:33:03,503
We didn't have half an hour's
worth of material.

555
00:33:03,548 --> 00:33:08,391
And we figured that we'd do a cover
and just make it really fucking long.

556
00:33:09,225 --> 00:33:11,141
# ... I am the walrus,

557
00:33:11,161 --> 00:33:12,563
# goo goo gajoob.

558
00:33:12,602 --> 00:33:15,078
# Mister City P'liceman sitting

559
00:33:16,070 --> 00:33:17,808
And then we just
used to stretch it up.

560
00:33:17,857 --> 00:33:19,234
Until someone would go...

561
00:33:21,505 --> 00:33:22,899
That's it.
You can finish now.

562
00:33:27,425 --> 00:33:29,881
And people would say to us,
"What's that last tune?"

563
00:33:31,662 --> 00:33:33,619
And I replied, "I just written
that yesterday."

564
00:33:33,932 --> 00:33:35,870
"Fucking hell!
That should be a single."

565
00:33:35,953 --> 00:33:37,860
"Shut up, you tit!"

566
00:33:41,967 --> 00:33:45,731
# Sitting in an English garden...

567
00:33:45,780 --> 00:33:48,652
But Oasis were more
than a Beatles covers band,

568
00:33:49,864 --> 00:33:53,153
group leader Noel Gallagher
had always written songs,

569
00:33:53,266 --> 00:33:56,369
and with the band in place
he was able to perfect his craft.

570
00:33:56,443 --> 00:33:59,457
I think the turning point
it was 'Live Forever'.

571
00:33:59,505 --> 00:34:04,589
And I wrote 'Live Forever'
one afternoon back in Manchester,

572
00:34:04,654 --> 00:34:07,315
took it down to the rehearsal
room that night...

573
00:34:09,271 --> 00:34:14,083
He said, "Paul, I've got this song.
Really simple chords, G, D, Em, C."

574
00:34:14,133 --> 00:34:17,138
It was 'Live Forever' and
he just sat and he played it.

575
00:34:17,191 --> 00:34:19,118
"What do you think?" and I was like...

576
00:34:20,095 --> 00:34:22,592
"Yeah. That's all right.
Should we have a go at that one?"

577
00:34:22,627 --> 00:34:27,445
# Maybe I don't really wanna know

578
00:34:27,486 --> 00:34:33,081
# How your garden grows
cos I just wanna fly

579
00:34:33,138 --> 00:34:36,823
And Bonehead's still convinced to this
day that I've not written that song.

580
00:34:36,867 --> 00:34:39,284
We played it and he was going,
"You've not... That's not yours."

581
00:34:39,314 --> 00:34:41,831
And he was convinced he was gonna
find it on some obscure

582
00:34:41,880 --> 00:34:43,730
fucking Byrds' B side
or something.

583
00:34:44,819 --> 00:34:48,359
The ex roadie from Burnage
had written his first classic.

584
00:34:48,388 --> 00:34:49,864
# ...I dont wanna die

585
00:34:49,922 --> 00:34:52,623
# Maybe I just want to breathe

586
00:34:52,712 --> 00:34:55,270
# Maybe I just don't believe

587
00:34:55,349 --> 00:34:57,928
# Maybe you're the same as me

588
00:34:58,011 --> 00:35:00,550
# We see things they'll never see

589
00:35:00,599 --> 00:35:04,011
# You and I are gonna live forever

590
00:35:04,231 --> 00:35:07,913
'Live Forever' has the feeling
of an anthem to it

591
00:35:07,986 --> 00:35:11,824
but it's subtle and small scale,
and has that feeling of...

592
00:35:12,173 --> 00:35:14,074
it's got that feeling of
'Born to Run'.

593
00:35:14,134 --> 00:35:16,673
It's that feeling of, "It's me
and you, kid, against the world."

594
00:35:16,721 --> 00:35:19,658
And through this music that we love,
through what we believe in,

595
00:35:19,687 --> 00:35:21,243
we're going to live forever.

596
00:35:23,126 --> 00:35:24,687
In a way it's saying,

597
00:35:24,741 --> 00:35:27,897
"We can do something.
We can mean something."

598
00:35:27,952 --> 00:35:34,305
And when they say "we", they're
talking about five lads off the estate.

599
00:35:34,364 --> 00:35:38,354
They're not talking about anyone
with special powers,

600
00:35:38,398 --> 00:35:41,815
they're not talking anyone
with privileged upbringing,

601
00:35:41,864 --> 00:35:44,054
they're just talking about "we", "us".

602
00:35:46,069 --> 00:35:49,441
# You and I are gonna live forever

603
00:35:50,910 --> 00:35:53,448
With songs like 'Live Forever'
up their sleeve,

604
00:35:53,547 --> 00:35:55,973
the band sensed they could
go all the way.

605
00:35:57,136 --> 00:35:59,005
Everybody knew what
'Live Forever' meant.

606
00:35:59,070 --> 00:36:02,647
When it's like, "you and me",
see things that nobody else sees.

607
00:36:02,688 --> 00:36:04,349
And we're gonna fucking
live forever, man.

608
00:36:04,383 --> 00:36:06,756
You know... people get that.

609
00:36:07,552 --> 00:36:11,003
In the summer of 1993,
Noel and brother Liam

610
00:36:11,068 --> 00:36:13,548
found themselver talking
contracts in London

611
00:36:13,592 --> 00:36:16,980
at the offices of legendary
indie label, Creation Records.

612
00:36:18,325 --> 00:36:21,441
I remember walking into
Creation Records and scrawled

613
00:36:22,221 --> 00:36:25,080
just on the woodchip wall paper,

614
00:36:25,917 --> 00:36:28,463
not even sprayed,
just in felt pen,

615
00:36:28,502 --> 00:36:31,075
in huge letters was,
"Northern Ignorants".

616
00:36:31,094 --> 00:36:33,580
And that was in the reception.

617
00:36:35,639 --> 00:36:39,190
I remember looking at that going,
"Just fucking give me the contract, man."

618
00:36:39,458 --> 00:36:41,489
"I've found my home."

619
00:36:43,363 --> 00:36:46,934
The top brass at Creation were just
as impressed with their new charges

620
00:36:47,003 --> 00:36:49,371
and their Mancunian work ethic.

621
00:36:50,435 --> 00:36:52,828
They were just good people,
funny people.

622
00:36:52,882 --> 00:36:54,446
And wanted to graft, you know.

623
00:36:54,501 --> 00:37:01,012
I don't think... no band ever walked
through that office with a plan of work.

624
00:37:01,065 --> 00:37:05,140
It was, "Right. Give us some dough.
We wanna goout and play live."

625
00:37:07,053 --> 00:37:09,149
From the moment they signed
their record deal

626
00:37:09,198 --> 00:37:10,618
Oasis hit the road.

627
00:37:10,672 --> 00:37:13,843
Their relentless gigging built them
a following across the country

628
00:37:13,903 --> 00:37:16,708
with fans soon fighting each other
to be allowed in.

629
00:37:18,065 --> 00:37:20,204
Basically it was just like,
"Right. We're gonna get down

630
00:37:20,469 --> 00:37:23,585
"and we're gonna slug it,
you know, do it."

631
00:37:23,716 --> 00:37:26,957
You're gonna tour from London,
up to the midlands,

632
00:37:27,015 --> 00:37:29,272
you're gonna do North of England,
you're gonna do Scotland,

633
00:37:29,321 --> 00:37:31,185
and then you're gonna go
right back off without a day off.

634
00:37:31,214 --> 00:37:32,338
Get back down there in the van.

635
00:37:32,388 --> 00:37:34,781
Of course, 150 people two weeks ago

636
00:37:35,135 --> 00:37:37,239
came out,
they'd seen us, they'd heard it,

637
00:37:37,289 --> 00:37:40,311
they'd told their mates, "Should've
checked this band last night, Oasis."

638
00:37:40,360 --> 00:37:42,634
And of course, two weeks later
we'd be back.

639
00:37:42,658 --> 00:37:45,641
This minibus would rolling
into town with us in it.

640
00:37:45,729 --> 00:37:48,544
The poster would be on the wall,
Oasis were back on again.

641
00:37:49,432 --> 00:37:51,876
With their fan base
building and building

642
00:37:51,964 --> 00:37:55,293
Noel took a decision that The Stone Roses
had backed away from,

643
00:37:55,394 --> 00:37:57,802
they upped stakes
and moved to London.

644
00:37:58,934 --> 00:38:00,629
I was living with a girl at the time,

645
00:38:01,740 --> 00:38:07,955
and I said, "Well, I'm going to London.
Are you coming?"

646
00:38:08,023 --> 00:38:09,634
And she said, "I've got a job."

647
00:38:10,410 --> 00:38:12,101
And I said, "Well, I'm out of here."

648
00:38:12,150 --> 00:38:14,310
And I went initially for the weekend
and never went back.

649
00:38:14,358 --> 00:38:16,212
I didn't even take any of my stuff.

650
00:38:16,295 --> 00:38:22,062
I think I brought my guitar and
maybe an old ** full of clothes,

651
00:38:22,142 --> 00:38:24,196
and that was it.
I left everything.

652
00:38:24,251 --> 00:38:27,456
And it just turned out that
I've never been back since.

653
00:38:27,505 --> 00:38:28,828
Fucking brilliant!

654
00:38:39,194 --> 00:38:41,085
Gallagher's timing was perfect.

655
00:38:41,163 --> 00:38:43,149
Indie music's center of gravity

656
00:38:43,232 --> 00:38:45,772
had also migrated from
Manchester to London,

657
00:38:45,840 --> 00:38:48,619
largely down to the impact
of one band.

658
00:38:49,669 --> 00:38:53,283
# Well she's show showing it off then

659
00:38:53,366 --> 00:38:57,738
# The glitter in her lovely eyes

660
00:38:57,817 --> 00:39:01,679
# Show show showing it off then

661
00:39:01,752 --> 00:39:05,351
# And all the people
shake their money in time

662
00:39:05,424 --> 00:39:08,125
It was one of the most
exciting things I'd ever heard.

663
00:39:08,164 --> 00:39:10,733
It was like the cavalry
coming over the hill, Suede.

664
00:39:10,773 --> 00:39:14,609
"Ah! That again!"
What British groups are good at.

665
00:39:14,663 --> 00:39:18,024
But more importantly, it was just
stuff you could just get lost in.

666
00:39:18,078 --> 00:39:20,574
# ...driving me mad, come see

667
00:39:25,221 --> 00:39:28,823
# Show show showing it off then

668
00:39:29,171 --> 00:39:32,447
I felt independent music
just showed no ambition.

669
00:39:33,194 --> 00:39:36,230
I just thought, if you were Phil Collins
at the time, you'd be thinking,

670
00:39:36,309 --> 00:39:37,745
"Well, that's not gonna
bother me, is it?"

671
00:39:37,799 --> 00:39:39,739
And that's all we wanted to do,
was to have...

672
00:39:39,822 --> 00:39:45,299
one of our great songs replacing
the rubbish that we heard on the radio.

673
00:39:46,525 --> 00:39:49,840
# She sells lips

674
00:39:50,044 --> 00:39:56,091
# Oh dad, she's driving me mad,
come see

675
00:40:03,015 --> 00:40:05,035
Suede's frontman,
Brett Anderson,

676
00:40:05,115 --> 00:40:08,266
was a provocative figure
who traded in dark glamour,

677
00:40:08,364 --> 00:40:10,364
and sexualy ambiguous lyrics.

678
00:40:10,483 --> 00:40:13,306
I'd always seen sex as something

679
00:40:13,365 --> 00:40:18,060
that wasn't healthy and
joyous and celebratory.

680
00:40:18,438 --> 00:40:23,252
I'd always seen it as something
that was sinister.

681
00:40:25,707 --> 00:40:27,755
So I was trying to reflect that.

682
00:40:30,750 --> 00:40:35,466
I know I was quite obsessed
with this idea of having

683
00:40:35,543 --> 00:40:40,687
a song that was quite sexually
subversive in the top ten.

684
00:40:40,745 --> 00:40:45,278
It was almost like a little
challenge I had with myself.

685
00:40:45,588 --> 00:40:50,720
In 1993, Suede got a chance
to launch an assault on mainstream music.

686
00:40:50,793 --> 00:40:54,759
The NME campaigned for the band
to be allowed to play at the Brit Awards,

687
00:40:54,852 --> 00:40:58,269
traditionally a showcase
for British music's old guard.

688
00:40:59,191 --> 00:41:02,579
Everybody who was nominated
hadn't put a record out for 10 years.

689
00:41:02,629 --> 00:41:04,669
It was Annie Lennox,
eternally Annie Lennox,

690
00:41:04,751 --> 00:41:08,414
eternally Rod Stewart,
eternally Phil Collins,

691
00:41:08,487 --> 00:41:11,621
and NME just launched
this little campaign where we said,

692
00:41:11,655 --> 00:41:14,749
"This is rubbish.
We shouldn't be doing this.

693
00:41:14,813 --> 00:41:17,357
"We should be representing
all this new exciting music."

694
00:41:18,782 --> 00:41:22,985
And effectively we made the Brits
put Suede on.

695
00:41:23,029 --> 00:41:27,667
They basically ambushed Suede
and begged them to be on their show.

696
00:41:29,260 --> 00:41:32,718
Please welcome, the already
legendary, Suede.

697
00:41:34,179 --> 00:41:39,065
The band performed their new single,
the thrillingly sinister, 'Animal Nitrate'.

698
00:41:39,130 --> 00:41:41,634
We crashed the party,
that was the thing.

699
00:41:42,674 --> 00:41:45,120
I don't think I've ever felt
more out of place

700
00:41:45,199 --> 00:41:48,026
than that time that
we performed in the Brits.

701
00:41:48,090 --> 00:41:51,261
It was so ridiculously corporate.

702
00:41:51,365 --> 00:41:56,348
# Like his dad you know that he's had

703
00:41:56,412 --> 00:41:59,960
# Animal nitrate in mind

704
00:42:00,810 --> 00:42:03,681
It was kind of like,
these snotty little kids

705
00:42:03,741 --> 00:42:05,211
getting up there
and ripping it up,

706
00:42:05,256 --> 00:42:09,433
and singing a song about sex
in council houses and stuff like that.

707
00:42:09,481 --> 00:42:18,161
# Oh it turns you on,
on, on, now he has gone

708
00:42:18,440 --> 00:42:26,857
# Oh what turns you on, on, on,
now your animal's gone?

709
00:42:27,120 --> 00:42:29,689
I was staying at my girlfriend's house
at the time, in Devon,

710
00:42:29,772 --> 00:42:32,376
and the family was sitting round
for dinner, and I said,

711
00:42:32,765 --> 00:42:34,027
"Drop your knives and forks.

712
00:42:34,028 --> 00:42:35,890
"Come through and see this.
This is amazing."

713
00:42:35,934 --> 00:42:38,156
And we were just gawping
at the TV.

714
00:42:39,407 --> 00:42:42,775
I think the audience didn't
really know what to make of us.

715
00:42:43,470 --> 00:42:44,711
I remember finishing the song

716
00:42:44,751 --> 00:42:49,077
and just looking at this sea
of tuxedoed people kind of... like this.

717
00:42:49,181 --> 00:42:51,412
Which was great.
It was always the point of that.

718
00:42:51,679 --> 00:42:57,207
It was never our intention to play
some nice, little, happy-clappy song

719
00:42:57,242 --> 00:42:58,571
and make everyone smile.

720
00:42:58,735 --> 00:43:00,331
Quite the opposite.

721
00:43:01,003 --> 00:43:03,428
When 'Animal Nitrate' was released
the following week,

722
00:43:03,501 --> 00:43:05,227
it charted at #7.

723
00:43:05,285 --> 00:43:07,888
Suede had got their
top-ten hit.

724
00:43:08,778 --> 00:43:11,842
The following month,
Select magazine declared Suede

725
00:43:11,902 --> 00:43:14,863
the outriders of a new wave
of British indie rock.

726
00:43:15,556 --> 00:43:17,819
With a cover featuring
its first figurehead

727
00:43:17,907 --> 00:43:20,171
superimposed on a Union Jack.

728
00:43:20,236 --> 00:43:21,593
I hated it.

729
00:43:22,006 --> 00:43:23,268
Absolutely hated it.

730
00:43:23,706 --> 00:43:25,151
I was really angry about it.

731
00:43:25,195 --> 00:43:31,278
I thought it was a really...
No, it wasn't cool.

732
00:43:31,312 --> 00:43:34,624
I've never wanted to be
photographed in front of a flag,

733
00:43:34,668 --> 00:43:38,534
and I'm always finding myself
superimposed on top of fucking flags.

734
00:43:39,198 --> 00:43:40,780
I just hated it.

735
00:43:40,839 --> 00:43:43,991
I was offered this, the little
England role, d'you know what I mean.

736
00:43:44,048 --> 00:43:45,999
"You want this? Here it is.
It's yours if you want it."

737
00:43:46,039 --> 00:43:47,838
And I'd... You must be joking.

738
00:43:48,116 --> 00:43:51,597
Suede's debut album
unwittingly marked the start

739
00:43:51,641 --> 00:43:54,197
of what would come to be known
as Britpop.

740
00:43:54,470 --> 00:43:57,049
But it was another
group's sound and attitude

741
00:43:57,152 --> 00:43:59,643
that would define this
as a new movement.

742
00:43:59,706 --> 00:44:03,035
# He's a twentieth century boy

743
00:44:04,415 --> 00:44:07,704
# With his hands on the rails

744
00:44:09,429 --> 00:44:12,438
# Trying not to be sick again

745
00:44:14,127 --> 00:44:17,337
# And holding on for tomorrow

746
00:44:20,284 --> 00:44:23,059
Blur's second album,
'Modern Life is Rubbish'

747
00:44:23,128 --> 00:44:25,486
was the sound of a band reborn.

748
00:44:25,550 --> 00:44:30,791
'Modern Life is Rubbish',
I suppose, to try to sum it up,

749
00:44:30,890 --> 00:44:35,387
was me attempting to write
in a classic English vein

750
00:44:35,436 --> 00:44:40,544
using imagery and words
that were much more modern.

751
00:44:40,618 --> 00:44:43,392
So it was a weird combination,

752
00:44:43,393 --> 00:44:47,738
a quiet sort of nostalgic
sounding melodies

753
00:44:47,793 --> 00:44:52,095
and chord progressions
by these weird caustic lyrics about

754
00:44:53,049 --> 00:44:54,682
England as it was at that moment.

755
00:44:54,731 --> 00:45:00,722
The way that it was getting
this sort of mass americanized refit.

756
00:45:01,991 --> 00:45:05,443
# She's a twentieth century girl

757
00:45:07,007 --> 00:45:10,135
# With her hands on the wheel

758
00:45:11,880 --> 00:45:15,718
# Trying not to make him sick again

759
00:45:16,479 --> 00:45:20,150
And then suddenly you realise
that within Damon's writing

760
00:45:20,175 --> 00:45:26,399
here was someone who had the lyrical
sharpness of Ray Davies of The Kinks,

761
00:45:26,499 --> 00:45:31,492
and also the kind of psychedelic
outlook of Syd Barrett and so on.

762
00:45:31,541 --> 00:45:33,918
So it was like,
"This is something really special."

763
00:45:36,918 --> 00:45:40,760
# And we can wait until tomorrow

764
00:45:42,089 --> 00:45:45,674
Damon Albarn had found
a lyrical focus, Britishness,

765
00:45:45,742 --> 00:45:49,186
and how it was under attack
from American consumer culture.

766
00:45:49,235 --> 00:45:55,030
*** was actually about
these areas of England, like Essex,

767
00:45:55,083 --> 00:45:59,799
where he was from, sort of caught
in this cultural twilight zone,

768
00:45:59,981 --> 00:46:02,314
that all this American stuff
was flooding over.

769
00:46:02,373 --> 00:46:05,984
So everyone was building shopping malls,
like Blue Water and all these places,

770
00:46:06,093 --> 00:46:09,067
and obviously McDonalds,
KFC and all that.

771
00:46:10,778 --> 00:46:14,820
British people sort of didn't really
know where they were any more,

772
00:46:15,650 --> 00:46:20,122
and were living in this sanitised,
corporatised environment.

773
00:46:20,623 --> 00:46:22,126
Here you have your sugars

774
00:46:23,497 --> 00:46:25,722
and here, you have your culture.

775
00:46:27,526 --> 00:46:30,954
I just felt that the country
I lived in was very confused

776
00:46:31,008 --> 00:46:33,439
and I was just another person
who lived there

777
00:46:33,504 --> 00:46:37,855
and I just happened
to be able to express it

778
00:46:37,856 --> 00:46:41,529
in a probably more blatant
way than most people.

779
00:46:41,623 --> 00:46:44,285
And then 'Parklife' came
and then obviously

780
00:46:44,359 --> 00:46:47,259
everyone felt the same
way as I did.

781
00:46:47,972 --> 00:46:50,256
'Parklife' was the group's third album,

782
00:46:50,326 --> 00:46:53,881
with lead off single, the irrepressible
'Girls & Boys'.

783
00:46:54,895 --> 00:46:56,650
As soon as the guy started
to play around with it,

784
00:46:56,733 --> 00:46:58,302
and playing it in the studio,

785
00:46:58,371 --> 00:47:01,639
Alex put on that ridiculously funky
back baseline.

786
00:47:03,379 --> 00:47:05,456
# Street's like a jungle

787
00:47:06,759 --> 00:47:08,623
# So call the police

788
00:47:08,701 --> 00:47:11,255
It was one of those things you just
felt straightaway is right.

789
00:47:11,313 --> 00:47:13,289
This is definitely something
we should go on with.

790
00:47:14,236 --> 00:47:15,803
# Down to Greece

791
00:47:17,220 --> 00:47:18,510
# On holiday -

792
00:47:18,564 --> 00:47:24,016
Disco drums, Duran Duran base,
nasty guitars and

793
00:47:25,084 --> 00:47:28,496
singing about shagging plus
it sounded great when you were drunk.

794
00:47:29,137 --> 00:47:33,628
# Take your chances looking for

795
00:47:33,672 --> 00:47:34,804
# Girls who are boys

796
00:47:34,829 --> 00:47:36,465
# Who like boys to be girls

797
00:47:36,535 --> 00:47:39,765
The chorus was just so hooky,
'Girls who like boys, who like boys...'

798
00:47:39,849 --> 00:47:42,980
as soon as I heard that I just though,
"This is gonna be...

799
00:47:43,019 --> 00:47:46,163
"Everyone's gonna relate to this
straightaway."

800
00:47:48,390 --> 00:47:50,477
# Avoiding all work

801
00:47:52,020 --> 00:47:55,061
# Because there's none available

802
00:47:55,620 --> 00:47:58,049
# Like battery thinkers

803
00:47:59,085 --> 00:48:03,569
# Count your thoughts
on 1 2 3 4 5 fingers

804
00:48:03,619 --> 00:48:05,530
# Nothing is wasted

805
00:48:07,625 --> 00:48:10,253
'Girls & Boys' was written
after Damon Albarn

806
00:48:10,346 --> 00:48:14,047
witnessed the hedonism of British
18 to 30 holiday makers

807
00:48:14,096 --> 00:48:15,762
while he was out in Mallorca.

808
00:48:16,169 --> 00:48:18,427
# But we haven't been introduced

809
00:48:18,500 --> 00:48:19,599
# Girls who are boys

810
00:48:19,701 --> 00:48:21,441
# Who like boys to be girls

811
00:48:21,513 --> 00:48:23,060
# Who do boys like they're girls

812
00:48:23,089 --> 00:48:27,310
That was written 'cos I had spent
a night in Magalluf in Mallorca,

813
00:48:28,919 --> 00:48:34,115
and the next night in Dei�,
which is a totally different atmosphere.

814
00:48:34,164 --> 00:48:36,459
But I just sort of, for fun,

815
00:48:36,547 --> 00:48:39,170
I find it easy to go between the two.

816
00:48:40,876 --> 00:48:45,806
# Always should be someone
you really love

817
00:48:47,394 --> 00:48:49,871
He's watched these crowds
of young holiday makers

818
00:48:49,915 --> 00:48:53,464
getting drunk and having sex
with each other,

819
00:48:54,092 --> 00:48:55,628
and he's drawn to it

820
00:48:55,629 --> 00:49:00,468
but he's also absolutely
appalled by it at the same time.

821
00:49:01,892 --> 00:49:04,868
It's a kind of desire
and also disgust.

822
00:49:05,991 --> 00:49:10,338
Half of me would really would like
to get in there right in the middle of it.

823
00:49:10,401 --> 00:49:15,627
# Always should be someone
you really love

824
00:49:17,191 --> 00:49:20,516
The poppinness of 'Girls & Boys'
broadened Blur's appeal

825
00:49:20,600 --> 00:49:24,276
and helped 'Parklife' make its way
to the top of the album charts.

826
00:49:24,311 --> 00:49:26,781
Overnight 'Parklife' revolutionises

827
00:49:26,846 --> 00:49:30,684
not just their fortunes, but started
to revolutionise British indie music.

828
00:49:30,778 --> 00:49:34,293
We're talking now No. 1 albums,
No. 1 records,

829
00:49:34,356 --> 00:49:37,327
your face all over the TV,
all over the newspapers,

830
00:49:37,395 --> 00:49:39,851
it crosses over in such a massive way.

831
00:49:40,323 --> 00:49:41,631
Times were changing,

832
00:49:41,701 --> 00:49:43,671
and when it was Parklife's
turn at the Brits,

833
00:49:43,758 --> 00:49:45,535
Blur weren't just invited to play

834
00:49:45,611 --> 00:49:47,807
but also walked off
with four awards.

835
00:49:47,855 --> 00:49:49,865
Blur and 'Parklife'!

836
00:49:50,801 --> 00:49:55,413
The winner of Best British Single
goes to Blur, 'Parklife'.

837
00:49:56,623 --> 00:49:59,148
Blur, Parklife!

838
00:50:00,211 --> 00:50:03,567
And ladies and gentlemen,
the winner are...

839
00:50:03,636 --> 00:50:05,268
Blur!

840
00:50:14,471 --> 00:50:16,857
In their moment of triumph,
there was one other band

841
00:50:16,940 --> 00:50:19,240
that Damon Albarn felt
he ought to recognise.

842
00:50:20,132 --> 00:50:21,146
Very good!

843
00:50:21,458 --> 00:50:22,383
This should have been...

844
00:50:23,145 --> 00:50:25,324
I think this should have been
shared with Oasis.

845
00:50:27,294 --> 00:50:29,042
Much love and respect to them.

846
00:50:30,481 --> 00:50:33,252
'Definitely Maybe', the debut
album from Oasis,

847
00:50:33,336 --> 00:50:35,571
had followed four months
after 'Parklife'.

848
00:50:35,611 --> 00:50:38,112
A perfect distillation
of their casual genius,

849
00:50:38,166 --> 00:50:42,220
it connected with an audience
that lay far outside the indie getho.

850
00:50:42,666 --> 00:50:44,265
There was no one else
doing it at the time.

851
00:50:44,299 --> 00:50:47,293
No one was out there with guitars
as a band... as a gang, really,

852
00:50:47,367 --> 00:50:49,427
and sort of talking and playing
from the heart.

853
00:50:49,670 --> 00:50:53,177
And singing about things
that people were feeling.

854
00:50:53,316 --> 00:50:56,424
All songs on that Album
are Noel's best, really.

855
00:50:56,482 --> 00:51:04,662
# I'd like to be somebody else
and not know where I've been

856
00:51:05,438 --> 00:51:14,509
# I'd like to build myself
a house out of plasticine

857
00:51:15,695 --> 00:51:21,842
# Shake along with me

858
00:51:22,020 --> 00:51:24,636
With songs like 'Live Forever'
and 'Cigarettes and Alcohol'

859
00:51:24,710 --> 00:51:29,078
Oasis had crafted an album
that captured the spirit of the 1990s,

860
00:51:29,180 --> 00:51:32,294
yet worshipped
at the altar of rock history.

861
00:51:32,350 --> 00:51:34,199
The key to Oasis is they are

862
00:51:34,228 --> 00:51:37,018
the sound of every great moment
of British pop rolled into one.

863
00:51:39,212 --> 00:51:40,946
'Cigarettes and Alcohol'.

864
00:51:48,838 --> 00:51:51,808
They're Slade and The Kinks...
you can find even a bit of Bowie,

865
00:51:51,873 --> 00:51:53,789
The Who pulls in there a few times.

866
00:51:55,589 --> 00:51:59,025
It's kind of got the melody to
The Beatles and the power of the Pistols,

867
00:51:59,093 --> 00:52:01,290
and it's got Liam to sing
that sneer of John Lydon,

868
00:52:01,357 --> 00:52:03,428
the coolness of The Stone Roses.

869
00:52:03,623 --> 00:52:07,318
# Is it worth the aggravation

870
00:52:07,436 --> 00:52:12,894
# To find yourself a job when
there's nothing worth working for?

871
00:52:13,302 --> 00:52:16,689
It had that sort of "devil-may-care"
irresponsibility about it.

872
00:52:16,718 --> 00:52:17,811
'Is it worth the aggravation

873
00:52:17,884 --> 00:52:21,011
to find yourself a job when
there's nothing worth working for?'

874
00:52:21,041 --> 00:52:22,086
It's just brilliant.

875
00:52:22,160 --> 00:52:25,438
That's the stuff that will make
100,000 jump up and down.

876
00:52:25,520 --> 00:52:27,609
'Cause he's singing about you.

877
00:52:28,983 --> 00:52:32,864
It's not ***,
it's not Leonard Cohen,

878
00:52:32,947 --> 00:52:36,263
it's Oasis, it's a gig.
All it's fun, it's like

879
00:52:36,302 --> 00:52:39,948
punch the air, get whacked,
life's great.

880
00:52:40,480 --> 00:52:42,119
Sore head the next day.

881
00:52:43,369 --> 00:52:46,300
# You might as well do the white line

882
00:52:46,369 --> 00:52:49,202
# Cos when it comes on top...

883
00:52:49,296 --> 00:52:52,790
# You gotta make it happen!

884
00:52:52,884 --> 00:52:55,785
Songs like 'Cigarettes & Alcohol'
will last forever.

885
00:52:55,875 --> 00:52:59,144
You could recite those words
and it's not fucking poetry but

886
00:52:59,202 --> 00:53:02,688
it applies to every 16 year-old
in every generation.

887
00:53:02,718 --> 00:53:05,119
'Cos really all you need
is a bit of action.

888
00:53:05,168 --> 00:53:10,032
And some fucking fags and booze,
and that's it. You're having it.

889
00:53:14,311 --> 00:53:17,041
# I wanna do great things

890
00:53:17,100 --> 00:53:19,820
# I don't wanna compromise

891
00:53:19,917 --> 00:53:22,781
By now, Campden Town,
home of britpop

892
00:53:22,864 --> 00:53:25,506
was host to one enormous party.

893
00:53:26,757 --> 00:53:30,438
For the first time probably since '76,

894
00:53:30,518 --> 00:53:32,472
when The Clash and The Pistols
and people were hanging out,

895
00:53:32,526 --> 00:53:35,781
you could walk down virtually
any street in London

896
00:53:35,856 --> 00:53:37,762
and bump into a pop star.

897
00:53:37,807 --> 00:53:40,749
And by a pop star I mean somebody
who'd been on 'Top of the Pops' that week.

898
00:53:40,813 --> 00:53:45,064
You could go in any pub in Campden
and know that you could buy a drink

899
00:53:45,108 --> 00:53:47,137
for somebody who'd been on
Top of the Pops

900
00:53:47,204 --> 00:53:49,891
and whose records you had bought.
It was amazing.

901
00:53:50,971 --> 00:53:52,510
Good evening. We're Pulp.

902
00:53:52,583 --> 00:53:54,279
Hello. We're Elastica.

903
00:53:54,318 --> 00:53:57,726
# Than you can count
the bullets in a war

904
00:53:58,016 --> 00:54:01,362
# Oh what do I know

905
00:54:02,377 --> 00:54:07,651
# There's gotta be
so much I don't know

906
00:54:07,736 --> 00:54:10,227
It was just a celebration of being
young and it was an unwritten thing,

907
00:54:10,281 --> 00:54:12,567
you feel it,
you can't put your finger on it,

908
00:54:12,626 --> 00:54:14,273
but you know it's fucking great.

909
00:54:14,337 --> 00:54:15,591
It was just people out
on the streets.

910
00:54:15,650 --> 00:54:17,768
Saturday nights in Campden
were amazing.

911
00:54:17,828 --> 00:54:19,204
And the summer was great.

912
00:54:19,250 --> 00:54:21,689
The summer of 94 and 95
were amazing.

913
00:54:21,743 --> 00:54:22,979
I don't think it rained once.

914
00:54:23,335 --> 00:54:24,636
I sorted that out.

915
00:54:25,969 --> 00:54:28,906
# I wanna know what love is,

916
00:54:28,935 --> 00:54:32,259
# Is it something I do to myself,

917
00:54:32,332 --> 00:54:35,822
# Something I do to myself.

918
00:54:36,323 --> 00:54:38,915
***
Rock 'n roll of the fucking 90s

919
00:54:39,004 --> 00:54:40,263
Forget the 60s, forget the past.

920
00:54:41,862 --> 00:54:44,987
Indie music was no longer about
being outside the mainstream,

921
00:54:45,051 --> 00:54:47,124
it was the mainstream.

922
00:54:47,932 --> 00:54:49,867
They were appealing
right across the board.

923
00:54:49,942 --> 00:54:55,260
To all the students, to all the guys
that were working on building sites

924
00:54:55,330 --> 00:54:58,172
and in vans around the country.

925
00:55:00,055 --> 00:55:01,933
And their records were going
multi-platinum.

926
00:55:01,998 --> 00:55:06,385
No one had heard of this before.
That was the domain of Celine Dion,

927
00:55:06,434 --> 00:55:09,571
and Tina Turner and Phil Collins.
It was unheard of.

928
00:55:09,992 --> 00:55:11,974
And suddenly ***
"I should know"

929
00:55:12,029 --> 00:55:15,310
this kind of alternative music, the stuff
that we'd always been working on,

930
00:55:15,365 --> 00:55:18,208
and always thought was a kind of
secondary, if not third, market

931
00:55:18,282 --> 00:55:20,344
has now become the premier market.

932
00:55:20,413 --> 00:55:22,261
It's what people want
to listen and buy.

933
00:55:23,908 --> 00:55:26,990
If there was any doubt about
how far indie music had come,

934
00:55:27,030 --> 00:55:31,452
it was all made clear in the week
of August the 14th, 1995.

935
00:55:34,720 --> 00:55:38,333
Another battle. Two of Britain's
most popular pop groups

936
00:55:38,386 --> 00:55:41,667
have begun the biggest
chart war in 30 years.

937
00:55:41,740 --> 00:55:45,308
The Manchester band Oasis,
and their archrivals Blur

938
00:55:45,362 --> 00:55:46,750
released new singles today,

939
00:55:46,794 --> 00:55:49,333
each hoping to reach
the #1 spot next week.

940
00:55:49,382 --> 00:55:50,978
The music history
hasn't seen anything like it

941
00:55:51,018 --> 00:55:54,773
since The Beatles fought it out
with the Rolling Stones in the '60s.

942
00:56:10,064 --> 00:56:13,584
We bumped into Oasis in London
at some launch party,

943
00:56:13,634 --> 00:56:16,881
and at the time the relationship
between the bands wasn't that bad.

944
00:56:16,930 --> 00:56:18,965
So Blur went along.

945
00:56:19,005 --> 00:56:23,488
I remember Liam coming up
to Damon and right in his face,

946
00:56:23,554 --> 00:56:26,582
"Fucking #1", and Damon
was like, "Wow!".

947
00:56:26,621 --> 00:56:29,215
And the guy was being
quite aggressive.

948
00:56:29,308 --> 00:56:32,988
And I think Damon felt,
"Well... Let's see."

949
00:56:46,494 --> 00:56:47,686
# City dweller

950
00:56:47,755 --> 00:56:49,039
# Successful fella

951
00:56:49,102 --> 00:56:50,327
# Thought to himself:

952
00:56:50,403 --> 00:56:52,153
# "Oops, I've got a lot of money

953
00:56:52,240 --> 00:56:56,710
Damon... Bless him!
He don't like not being

954
00:56:56,763 --> 00:56:59,166
fated as the greatest living
songwriter in England.

955
00:56:59,220 --> 00:57:00,274
He can't stand that.

956
00:57:01,847 --> 00:57:04,869
And, of course, he wasn't
at the time and I was.

957
00:57:04,958 --> 00:57:07,159
And he wanted a bit of the action.

958
00:57:07,221 --> 00:57:09,526
And, to be honest,
he's a very clever dude

959
00:57:09,585 --> 00:57:12,090
because we're still sat here,
how many years now,

960
00:57:12,138 --> 00:57:14,521
and still talking about
the Blur-and-Oasis thing.

961
00:57:14,550 --> 00:57:16,683
And, you know what annoys
me the most about it all?

962
00:57:17,143 --> 00:57:20,937
It's Blur and Oasis,
why did they got to be put first?

963
00:57:20,991 --> 00:57:22,624
It's fucking Oasis and Blur.

964
00:57:22,912 --> 00:57:24,256
For fuck's sake!

965
00:57:25,110 --> 00:57:27,172
But, you know,
hats off to him for that.

966
00:57:27,855 --> 00:57:31,907
The battle lines were drawn over the
songs 'Country House' and 'Roll with it'.

967
00:57:31,976 --> 00:57:35,486
Indie music, which had one set
its face against commercialism,

968
00:57:35,564 --> 00:57:39,295
was using sales figures
to decide who was top dog.

969
00:57:39,990 --> 00:57:45,136
The point is, the Blur-Oasis war
signified where this music had gone.

970
00:57:45,219 --> 00:57:48,441
If you'd imagine that happening
seven years before, it never would.

971
00:57:48,480 --> 00:57:49,860
No one would have gone in and said,

972
00:57:49,899 --> 00:57:52,784
"Let's do The Smiths V The Wedding Present
for the king of the indie crown."

973
00:57:52,846 --> 00:57:54,249
It just wouldn't have happened.

974
00:57:54,303 --> 00:57:57,958
It would've been seen as being
crass and kind of hucksterish,

975
00:57:57,998 --> 00:57:59,898
and all a bit of a swindle.

976
00:58:00,011 --> 00:58:03,287
# But you know I think
I recognize your face

977
00:58:03,345 --> 00:58:07,464
# But I've never seen you before

978
00:58:08,709 --> 00:58:10,468
# You gotta roll with it

979
00:58:10,562 --> 00:58:12,425
# You gotta take your time

980
00:58:12,522 --> 00:58:14,416
# You gotta say what you say

981
00:58:14,464 --> 00:58:17,097
# Don't let anybody get in your way

982
00:58:17,170 --> 00:58:21,469
# 'Cause it's all too much
for me to take

983
00:58:22,421 --> 00:58:24,769
I suppose it was just a way
of upping the ante.

984
00:58:24,865 --> 00:58:28,409
With 'Parklife' we'd swept
the board at the Brits,

985
00:58:29,693 --> 00:58:32,610
and you need
this ongoing momentum.

986
00:58:33,209 --> 00:58:36,473
That's important, you know,
success is a function of success

987
00:58:36,567 --> 00:58:40,262
and it needs to be seen getting
bigger and bigger. That's important.

988
00:58:46,072 --> 00:58:47,947
Hello, we're Blur.
We're #1

989
00:58:48,006 --> 00:58:50,364
and we're gonna be camping out
later on Top of the Pops.

990
00:58:51,135 --> 00:58:52,638
It was all good fun, weren't it?

991
00:58:53,824 --> 00:58:55,291
# I'm a professional cynic

992
00:58:55,364 --> 00:58:56,707
# But my heart's not in it

993
00:58:56,766 --> 00:58:59,727
# I'm paying the price of
living life at the limit

994
00:58:59,761 --> 00:59:03,231
# Caught up in the century's anxiety"

995
00:59:03,296 --> 00:59:05,472
# Yes, it preys on him

996
00:59:06,379 --> 00:59:08,951
# He's getting thin
(Try the simple life)

997
00:59:09,021 --> 00:59:10,482
# He lives in a house

998
00:59:10,522 --> 00:59:11,707
# A very big house

999
00:59:11,767 --> 00:59:13,457
# In the country

1000
00:59:15,173 --> 00:59:17,717
It was Blur who won
the race to #1

1001
00:59:17,771 --> 00:59:20,320
but the Oasis camp
weren't at all shaken.

1002
00:59:20,394 --> 00:59:22,772
The band's second album
had been completed

1003
00:59:22,845 --> 00:59:25,840
and those that heard it
knew that the game wasn't over.

1004
00:59:26,860 --> 00:59:30,444
I was quite proud of it, though,
in one way, I suppose, as well.

1005
00:59:31,489 --> 00:59:33,136
Even though we came second.

1006
00:59:33,166 --> 00:59:35,736
'Cause I knew we were just
gonna do 'em on the album.

1007
00:59:35,803 --> 00:59:37,718
Just beat 'em to bits on the album.

1008
00:59:37,771 --> 00:59:41,228
So it was like, "***
we're gonna sell more."

1009
00:59:42,251 --> 00:59:44,793
The songs on 'What's the Story,
Morning Glory'

1010
00:59:44,843 --> 00:59:48,283
saw the group move away
from the raw sound of their debut.

1011
00:59:49,420 --> 00:59:52,438
What happened with
the second Oasis album

1012
00:59:52,507 --> 00:59:57,595
was that Noel began to take seriously
being the voice of a generation,

1013
00:59:57,659 --> 01:00:00,096
or the lyricist of a generation.

1014
01:00:00,135 --> 01:00:03,316
And started to self-consciously
write anthems.

1015
01:00:03,369 --> 01:00:04,968
He wanted the music to be bigger.

1016
01:00:05,558 --> 01:00:07,394
Of all the anthems on the album,

1017
01:00:07,442 --> 01:00:10,525
one song would come to define
the new Oasis.

1018
01:00:10,604 --> 01:00:12,624
My earliest memory of
'Wonderwall' was...

1019
01:00:12,856 --> 01:00:18,255
There was these drums accoustic **,
a guide base that Noel had put down.

1020
01:00:18,902 --> 01:00:23,025
And to hear it stripped down like that
it really sounded as a reggae song.

1021
01:00:23,059 --> 01:00:25,729
It's got a real reggae feel to it.

1022
01:00:25,773 --> 01:00:28,900
I remember Liam coming in like,
"What's?! I'm not singing on that.

1023
01:00:28,944 --> 01:00:32,313
"It's like a reggae song." And Noel
was like, "Well, it's not a reggae song.

1024
01:00:32,347 --> 01:00:35,215
"When I've finished it, it's drums,
base and guitar. Chill out."

1025
01:00:35,250 --> 01:00:37,157
So this big argument.
Liam storming out.

1026
01:00:37,198 --> 01:00:39,757
That's my earliest memory,
really, of the song.

1027
01:00:39,801 --> 01:00:42,895
Liam running and saying
he's not playing reggae songs.

1028
01:00:43,611 --> 01:00:45,890
# Today is gonna be the day

1029
01:00:45,929 --> 01:00:48,307
# That they're gonna
throw it back to you

1030
01:00:49,317 --> 01:00:51,405
# By now you should've somehow

1031
01:00:51,489 --> 01:00:53,876
# Realized what you gotta do

1032
01:00:54,479 --> 01:00:57,220
# I don't believe that anybody

1033
01:00:57,250 --> 01:01:01,328
# Feels the way I do about you now

1034
01:01:05,910 --> 01:01:07,955
# Backbeat, the word is on the street

1035
01:01:08,024 --> 01:01:10,714
# That the fire in your heart is out

1036
01:01:11,426 --> 01:01:13,529
# I'm sure you've heard it all before

1037
01:01:13,602 --> 01:01:16,195
# But you never really had a doubt

1038
01:01:16,558 --> 01:01:19,298
# I don't believe that anybody

1039
01:01:19,391 --> 01:01:22,709
# Feels the way I do about you now

1040
01:01:22,804 --> 01:01:24,813
I don't know why that song...

1041
01:01:26,755 --> 01:01:29,483
kind of took on a life of its own.

1042
01:01:31,817 --> 01:01:33,791
You have to ask
somebody that likes it.

1043
01:01:35,779 --> 01:01:38,847
I think it's a really good song.
I wish I'd written it.

1044
01:01:41,860 --> 01:01:45,438
Great song. Great vocals on it.
It's a good voice, Liam.

1045
01:01:47,395 --> 01:01:49,305
I think that's their finest moment.

1046
01:01:49,378 --> 01:01:53,371
# Because maybe

1047
01:01:53,445 --> 01:01:57,391
# You're gonna be
the one that saves me

1048
01:01:58,886 --> 01:02:02,435
# And after all

1049
01:02:04,136 --> 01:02:07,710
# You're my wonderwall

1050
01:02:11,241 --> 01:02:15,261
It wasn't called Wonderwall
for a fucking long, long time.

1051
01:02:15,345 --> 01:02:19,667
It was called something appalling like
"Wishing Stone", or something stupid.

1052
01:02:21,971 --> 01:02:23,778
There it was,
the George Harrison film.

1053
01:02:24,273 --> 01:02:25,139
Brilliant.

1054
01:02:25,160 --> 01:02:26,972
What's a "wonderwall"?
Who cares?

1055
01:02:27,021 --> 01:02:27,904
It sounds great.

1056
01:02:27,938 --> 01:02:29,757
# I don't believe that anybody

1057
01:02:29,806 --> 01:02:33,789
# Feels the way I do about you now

1058
01:02:34,947 --> 01:02:38,192
'Wonderwall' brought Oasis
an entirely new fan base,

1059
01:02:38,260 --> 01:02:41,599
most of whom had never bought
an indie record before in their life.

1060
01:02:43,296 --> 01:02:44,954
The squares got involved.

1061
01:02:45,469 --> 01:02:47,465
And when the squares get
involved with your music,

1062
01:02:47,529 --> 01:02:49,407
you fucking become massive.

1063
01:02:51,257 --> 01:02:52,408
Seriously.

1064
01:02:52,479 --> 01:02:55,531
'Wonderwall' is not
an edgy tune, is it?

1065
01:02:55,973 --> 01:02:58,295
I can't believe how
many records it sold.

1066
01:02:59,188 --> 01:03:00,537
It was incredible.

1067
01:03:01,935 --> 01:03:04,385
I became a millionaire four times
in one week.

1068
01:03:06,155 --> 01:03:07,414
One week.

1069
01:03:09,586 --> 01:03:12,747
# And after all

1070
01:03:14,399 --> 01:03:19,089
# You're my wonderwall

1071
01:03:20,051 --> 01:03:21,530
And Damon Albarn told stories

1072
01:03:21,610 --> 01:03:24,953
that he would go out to the pub,
or into a shop, or whatever.

1073
01:03:25,027 --> 01:03:28,616
And as soon as people saw him
they'd either start singing Oasis songs,

1074
01:03:28,665 --> 01:03:30,057
or they put one on the stereo.

1075
01:03:30,311 --> 01:03:31,690
It just became inescapable.

1076
01:03:31,749 --> 01:03:35,436
# And after all

1077
01:03:36,373 --> 01:03:39,133
# You're my wonderwall

1078
01:03:39,201 --> 01:03:43,916
And then six months later,
Damon and all that lot were saying,

1079
01:03:43,955 --> 01:03:47,765
"This is fucking hard. I've got people
shouting at me in the streets.

1080
01:03:47,845 --> 01:03:50,334
"And everywhere I go into a pub
someone puts an Oasis..."

1081
01:03:50,378 --> 01:03:52,955
Well... That's what it fucking is, man.

1082
01:03:54,775 --> 01:03:56,747
That's how fucking hot
it is in the kitchen.

1083
01:03:56,797 --> 01:03:59,586
Those nancy boy all got a bit
fucking freaked out by fame.

1084
01:03:59,659 --> 01:04:04,157
Went to a priory, and rehab,
and all got psychiatrists and all that.

1085
01:04:05,539 --> 01:04:07,615
I kept going straight back to the bar.

1086
01:04:08,127 --> 01:04:09,603
We were just fucking having it.

1087
01:04:13,118 --> 01:04:15,301
'What's the Story' propelled Oasis

1088
01:04:15,365 --> 01:04:18,375
into the orbit of stadium rock acts
such as U2.

1089
01:04:18,459 --> 01:04:22,094
Having sold out indoor arenas
and then football stadiums,

1090
01:04:22,163 --> 01:04:25,167
they were soon running out of
venues that could contain them.

1091
01:04:29,142 --> 01:04:30,957
And so in early 1996,

1092
01:04:31,025 --> 01:04:34,812
Noel Gallagher found himself traveling
up the drive to Knebworth.

1093
01:04:34,875 --> 01:04:38,491
A concert venue synonymous
with the biggest names in rock.

1094
01:04:38,547 --> 01:04:41,584
Noel came back and said,
"You wanna see the size of this site.

1095
01:04:41,638 --> 01:04:43,604
"It's huge, but we're gonna do it."

1096
01:04:44,539 --> 01:04:47,274
We were confident we could do it.

1097
01:04:47,524 --> 01:04:49,684
I didn't know what to expect of it.

1098
01:04:49,738 --> 01:04:53,067
It was like, "Ok, we're gonna do this
huge, big gig in a great, big field."

1099
01:04:53,212 --> 01:04:56,561
"How many does that hold?"
"It's like 125,000 people."

1100
01:04:56,600 --> 01:04:59,853
"And we're gonna do two nights?
That's a quarter of a million people."

1101
01:04:59,989 --> 01:05:02,601
And it was just like, "My God!"

1102
01:05:04,007 --> 01:05:05,922
It was decided that
we were gonna do it,

1103
01:05:05,965 --> 01:05:08,194
and I was like, "Right. If we're gonna
do it, we're gonna do it properly.

1104
01:05:08,214 --> 01:05:10,849
"It's gonna be all day.
It's gonna be a festival.

1105
01:05:10,893 --> 01:05:12,021
"It's gonna be a fair ground

1106
01:05:12,065 --> 01:05:15,426
"and we're gonna get the best bands
that there is around at the minute."

1107
01:05:15,456 --> 01:05:16,936
Do it fucking properly.

1108
01:05:16,970 --> 01:05:19,503
Not just print a load of tickets
and hope everybody turns up.

1109
01:05:19,547 --> 01:05:21,889
Just to make it an event.
And make a statement.

1110
01:05:21,992 --> 01:05:23,826
It was just beyond...

1111
01:05:24,165 --> 01:05:27,702
I think there was actually ticket
applications for the concert,

1112
01:05:27,761 --> 01:05:31,420
there was about 2.7 million
ticket applications.

1113
01:05:31,473 --> 01:05:33,997
We could have sold night after night
after night after night.

1114
01:05:34,046 --> 01:05:36,842
They had the anthems for it.
They had the Wanderwalls and stuff.

1115
01:05:36,892 --> 01:05:41,922
And it felt like a huge mass
coming together for the nation.

1116
01:05:42,658 --> 01:05:46,259
So you had grown men with their
arms around each other,

1117
01:05:46,295 --> 01:05:48,814
crying and hugging each other
singing along to songs

1118
01:05:48,868 --> 01:05:50,634
in a mass communal field.

1119
01:05:50,663 --> 01:05:53,960
People wanted to be part of a mass
communal successful thing.

1120
01:05:54,006 --> 01:05:56,650
They wanted to feel big,
and they wanted to feel successful.

1121
01:05:56,700 --> 01:05:58,800
'Champagne Supernova'.

1122
01:05:58,878 --> 01:06:01,921
From the start, Knebworth
was all about setting records.

1123
01:06:02,176 --> 01:06:06,320
The group's management boasted
that the PA system and video screens used

1124
01:06:06,388 --> 01:06:08,333
were the largest
ever constructed.

1125
01:06:08,713 --> 01:06:12,260
I had a set of amplifiers
that when we played the gig

1126
01:06:12,323 --> 01:06:14,975
it was officially louder
than a rocket.

1127
01:06:15,563 --> 01:06:19,231
A rocket when it takes off
it's 104dB.

1128
01:06:19,286 --> 01:06:21,972
I had a fucking amp rig
that was 108.

1129
01:06:24,019 --> 01:06:27,401
This is only three years after
fucking being in the Boardwalk.

1130
01:06:27,465 --> 01:06:28,426
Three years!!

1131
01:06:28,574 --> 01:06:30,223
That's how fucking mad it got.

1132
01:06:30,267 --> 01:06:32,750
# How many special people change?

1133
01:06:32,789 --> 01:06:35,407
# How many lives are living strange?

1134
01:06:35,457 --> 01:06:39,452
# Where were you while
we were getting high?

1135
01:06:41,123 --> 01:06:43,569
# Slowly walking down the hall

1136
01:06:43,628 --> 01:06:46,271
# Faster than a cannonball

1137
01:06:46,319 --> 01:06:50,211
# Where were you while
we were getting high?

1138
01:06:50,311 --> 01:06:53,077
# Someday you will find me

1139
01:06:53,120 --> 01:06:56,657
# Caught beneath the landslide

1140
01:06:56,702 --> 01:07:00,362
# In a champagne supernova in the sky

1141
01:07:00,420 --> 01:07:02,447
Even the best technology available

1142
01:07:02,501 --> 01:07:05,118
struggled to cope
with the sheer scale of the event.

1143
01:07:05,818 --> 01:07:08,907
The place was so big that
when you heard some music

1144
01:07:08,946 --> 01:07:10,869
it was after they'd sung it
on the screen.

1145
01:07:10,933 --> 01:07:11,958
That's how big it was.

1146
01:07:11,987 --> 01:07:15,208
It was a fairly unsatisfactory
experience for most people, I think.

1147
01:07:23,005 --> 01:07:25,502
You couldn't get hardly anywhere
near the stage.

1148
01:07:26,717 --> 01:07:29,457
I remember being half a mile away
or something like that,

1149
01:07:29,530 --> 01:07:30,775
it was as close as we could get.

1150
01:07:30,799 --> 01:07:32,918
And when Oasis
were playing 'Wonderwall',

1151
01:07:33,152 --> 01:07:37,083
there was a load of people standing
around us that were singing along

1152
01:07:37,112 --> 01:07:39,801
on their shoulders and people
**

1153
01:07:39,859 --> 01:07:41,835
# Today is gonna be the day

1154
01:07:41,912 --> 01:07:44,712
# That they're gonna
throw it back to you

1155
01:07:44,757 --> 01:07:46,946
# By now you should've somehow

1156
01:07:46,987 --> 01:07:49,084
# Realized what you're not to do

1157
01:07:49,123 --> 01:07:51,522
And all I could hear around
was a load of cockneys going,

1158
01:07:51,551 --> 01:07:54,700
"And after all, you're my wonderwall."

1159
01:07:55,254 --> 01:07:58,432
And I was standing there like,
"Look, I prefer Liam's version actually."

1160
01:07:59,321 --> 01:08:02,027
# And after all

1161
01:08:03,239 --> 01:08:06,304
It wasn't what we were about.
We were like the band of the people.

1162
01:08:06,368 --> 01:08:07,673
People could relate to us.

1163
01:08:07,705 --> 01:08:10,082
That's exactly what
I couldn't relate to.

1164
01:08:10,146 --> 01:08:12,602
If I was a kid out there standing
at the back just squinting

1165
01:08:12,646 --> 01:08:15,664
by the delay towers,
I'd just... I think, well,

1166
01:08:16,139 --> 01:08:19,187
it's not the same band we saw
at our city a couple of years ago.

1167
01:08:20,090 --> 01:08:22,580
Brilliant. I'm sure it was
all spine-tingling.

1168
01:08:22,581 --> 01:08:24,328
It was for me up there but...

1169
01:08:24,809 --> 01:08:26,414
I don't think we should've done it.

1170
01:08:27,198 --> 01:08:28,766
They're supposed to be
working class lads.

1171
01:08:28,810 --> 01:08:30,703
Why don't they ***

1172
01:08:31,047 --> 01:08:33,005
Lower the prices a bit.

1173
01:08:33,261 --> 01:08:36,622
Once the fans had left
and the clear up of the site began,

1174
01:08:36,676 --> 01:08:39,780
it became clear that Oasis
had taken indie music

1175
01:08:39,857 --> 01:08:41,740
as far as it was possible to go.

1176
01:08:42,374 --> 01:08:44,956
I suppose Oasis at Knebworth
is like, if we're going to say,

1177
01:08:45,005 --> 01:08:48,656
this is as big as it got.
It sort was of like... I don't know,

1178
01:08:48,738 --> 01:08:50,842
the last days
of the Roman Empire, isn't it.

1179
01:08:50,930 --> 01:08:53,347
It's how far has indie come,
you know what I mean,

1180
01:08:53,419 --> 01:08:55,906
they could play that gig, which
I believe is something like

1181
01:08:55,940 --> 01:08:59,399
the biggest single, concert audience
that's ever been on British soil.

1182
01:08:59,433 --> 01:09:00,541
Something like that.

1183
01:09:01,416 --> 01:09:04,741
And for an indie band... and at that
point you'd just start to think,

1184
01:09:04,804 --> 01:09:06,602
these terms now are meaningless.

1185
01:09:07,162 --> 01:09:10,544
By definition an indie band cannot play
to 200,000 people.

1186
01:09:11,041 --> 01:09:15,266
I think there was a general feeling
the next week that, "Well. That's it.

1187
01:09:15,546 --> 01:09:16,798
"What next?"

1188
01:09:18,745 --> 01:09:20,779
Playing a riff at Buckingham Palace?

1189
01:09:22,271 --> 01:09:26,555
The Britpop years saw indie music
move out of specialists record shops

1190
01:09:26,608 --> 01:09:28,828
and onto the shelves
of supermarkets.

1191
01:09:28,887 --> 01:09:31,350
From now on, it would
be a 'catch-all' term,

1192
01:09:31,404 --> 01:09:34,005
for the sound of mainstream
British rock.

1193
01:09:34,233 --> 01:09:36,770
There was a sense of market
chasing after a while.

1194
01:09:37,527 --> 01:09:39,639
That if setting on an accoustic guitar,

1195
01:09:39,698 --> 01:09:42,978
playing a redemptive
ballad like 'Wonderwall',

1196
01:09:43,017 --> 01:09:44,744
seemed to be the surest
route to making

1197
01:09:44,764 --> 01:09:47,141
125,000 people stick their
cigarette lighters in the air,

1198
01:09:47,160 --> 01:09:48,789
and 2 million buying your album,

1199
01:09:48,817 --> 01:09:50,798
then everybody started to do it.

1200
01:09:50,838 --> 01:09:53,714
And you got this very, very
insipid records.

1201
01:09:54,589 --> 01:09:56,184
They're quite nice but,

1202
01:09:56,224 --> 01:09:58,283
' Why Does It Always Rain On Me?'
by Travis,

1203
01:09:58,347 --> 01:10:01,827
or those early Embrace singles.

1204
01:10:01,924 --> 01:10:03,749
I mean, Coldplay, a little bit
further down the line,

1205
01:10:03,823 --> 01:10:05,509
I would associate with all this.

1206
01:10:05,592 --> 01:10:09,197
# Look how they shine for you

1207
01:10:11,082 --> 01:10:14,225
# And everything you do

1208
01:10:16,849 --> 01:10:19,222
# Yeah they were all yellow

1209
01:10:19,378 --> 01:10:24,933
Like anything that's exciting,
it gets commercialised.

1210
01:10:24,972 --> 01:10:32,454
It happened to every single movement,
from hippy to punk,

1211
01:10:32,532 --> 01:10:35,665
to acid house and to indie.

1212
01:10:35,922 --> 01:10:39,537
All of a sudden people in boardrooms

1213
01:10:39,538 --> 01:10:42,952
see that kids are buying records

1214
01:10:43,131 --> 01:10:48,429
and will move in on that territory
and sanitise it and commertialise it,

1215
01:10:48,492 --> 01:10:50,454
and take its soul away.

1216
01:10:51,129 --> 01:10:54,206
<i>Jamie Oliver's Cookin',
music to cook by.</i>

1217
01:10:55,927 --> 01:10:58,973
<i>It's a sweet album of 18 modern
anthems including</i>

1218
01:10:59,018 --> 01:11:02,254
<i>The Manic Street Preachers,
The Charlatans and La's.</i>

1219
01:11:04,849 --> 01:11:07,875
<i>It's music to cook by,
music to eat by,</i>

1220
01:11:07,929 --> 01:11:09,514
<i>and music to have a laugh by.</i>

1221
01:11:09,562 --> 01:11:13,212
# So have a nice day

1222
01:11:13,652 --> 01:11:17,329
# Have a nice day

1223
01:11:17,457 --> 01:11:21,388
# So have a nice day

1224
01:11:21,432 --> 01:11:24,529
# Have a nice day

1225
01:11:24,588 --> 01:11:26,291
The millenium came and went,

1226
01:11:26,350 --> 01:11:29,266
and the party in Campden
was well and truly over.

1227
01:11:29,340 --> 01:11:31,419
For a genuinely maverick band,

1228
01:11:31,481 --> 01:11:33,810
it was harder than ever
to get a record deal.

1229
01:11:33,884 --> 01:11:36,450
We used to get to
Blur's record label,

1230
01:11:36,494 --> 01:11:39,607
every day with a new demo tape.

1231
01:11:39,662 --> 01:11:41,821
I think we were the laughingstock
of the office really.

1232
01:11:41,880 --> 01:11:44,729
"I'll see what I can do.
Yeah, leave it with me.

1233
01:11:44,793 --> 01:11:46,871
"I'll get back to you. Don't push it.
I'll get back to you."

1234
01:11:46,971 --> 01:11:49,516
That kind of reaction.
So we did that for a long time, really.

1235
01:11:49,565 --> 01:11:51,239
And it was almost
enough to lose faith.

1236
01:11:51,765 --> 01:11:56,230
Then the old band fell apart
and me and Pete put a new band together.

1237
01:11:57,326 --> 01:12:00,764
And we just decided that
it was death or glory.

1238
01:12:03,899 --> 01:12:06,069
The Libertines,
a gang of renegades

1239
01:12:06,123 --> 01:12:08,300
led by Pete Doherty
and Carl Bar�t

1240
01:12:08,334 --> 01:12:12,177
would be the first British group
to bring indie music back down to earth.

1241
01:12:13,770 --> 01:12:15,682
# It's all so rudimentary

1242
01:12:15,736 --> 01:12:20,310
# but tell me baby how does it feel

1243
01:12:20,349 --> 01:12:24,220
# I know you like the roll
of the limousine wheel

1244
01:12:24,988 --> 01:12:28,288
# And they all get them out for
(they all get them out)

1245
01:12:28,341 --> 01:12:31,978
# The boys in the band
(only for the boys in the band)

1246
01:12:32,037 --> 01:12:35,430
# They twist and they shout for
(twist and scream and shout)

1247
01:12:35,522 --> 01:12:38,821
# For the boys in the band
(only for the boys in the band)

1248
01:12:38,885 --> 01:12:41,806
There's great bands and then
there's fucking great bands

1249
01:12:41,859 --> 01:12:47,347
that change the way people wear clothes
and talk and speak and affect things.

1250
01:12:47,421 --> 01:12:49,869
That's why The Libertines
connected with people.

1251
01:12:50,579 --> 01:12:53,694
Because there was a void
after Oasis.

1252
01:12:53,762 --> 01:12:56,003
The Oasis generation kind of moved on.

1253
01:12:56,086 --> 01:12:58,301
And the new one pops up,

1254
01:12:58,337 --> 01:13:00,420
and they were even more
fucking mental than we were.

1255
01:13:00,979 --> 01:13:04,417
Our kind of going out,
cigaretes and alcohol, a bit of coke,

1256
01:13:04,482 --> 01:13:07,962
a bit... some pills and fucking
having it till 7 AM,

1257
01:13:08,021 --> 01:13:13,290
turned into heroin and crack,
and... self harm.

1258
01:13:16,038 --> 01:13:19,411
# And they all get them out for
(they all get them out)

1259
01:13:19,470 --> 01:13:22,238
# For The boys in the band
(only for the boys in the band)

1260
01:13:22,272 --> 01:13:26,368
They say Oasis is the sound of
a council estate singing its heart out,

1261
01:13:26,774 --> 01:13:30,292
then The Libertines was the sound
someone who is like...

1262
01:13:30,342 --> 01:13:33,706
a bit just been put in the bin chute
down the back of the estate,

1263
01:13:33,745 --> 01:13:35,855
just trying to work out
what day it was.

1264
01:13:37,890 --> 01:13:39,455
# Everybody goes...

1265
01:13:48,823 --> 01:13:50,265
And they were great to watch.

1266
01:13:50,318 --> 01:13:52,647
They used to throw out
little fist fights onstage,

1267
01:13:52,706 --> 01:13:53,972
bang into each other.

1268
01:13:54,025 --> 01:13:57,057
They could barely hold the music together
but it was great by the same token,

1269
01:13:57,135 --> 01:13:58,690
because it was kind of unhinged.

1270
01:14:02,955 --> 01:14:05,731
Everyone in the band were
just singing and playing

1271
01:14:05,813 --> 01:14:08,135
like it's the last time of their lives.

1272
01:14:08,174 --> 01:14:10,127
And that's how it felt to me
to be in the band, doing that.

1273
01:14:10,195 --> 01:14:12,160
And I think that definitely
rubbed off,

1274
01:14:12,190 --> 01:14:16,219
and it was felt by the fans and that's
what made so many of these gigs special.

1275
01:14:19,059 --> 01:14:20,726
# Everybody goes...

1276
01:14:31,069 --> 01:14:32,732
# The boy looked at Johnny

1277
01:14:32,820 --> 01:14:35,658
# Said "Don't you know
who I think I am"

1278
01:14:35,810 --> 01:14:37,242
Like The Smiths before them,

1279
01:14:37,281 --> 01:14:40,731
Libertines' concerts were based
around a sweaty and direct interaction

1280
01:14:40,819 --> 01:14:42,515
between band and audience.

1281
01:14:42,632 --> 01:14:48,615
They completely broke down
the barriers between a band and fans.

1282
01:14:48,697 --> 01:14:52,741
The thing with The Libertines is
from day 1 it was a communal thing.

1283
01:14:52,860 --> 01:14:56,326
And they had this thing, you know,
anybody could be a Libertine,

1284
01:14:56,375 --> 01:14:57,808
it doesn't matter whether
you're in the band or not,

1285
01:14:57,876 --> 01:15:00,228
if you want to be a Libertine,
all you have to do is declare it,

1286
01:15:00,326 --> 01:15:02,757
and you can be part of
this thing that's going on.

1287
01:15:03,796 --> 01:15:06,638
The intimacy that the band offered
did have a cost.

1288
01:15:06,712 --> 01:15:10,478
The Libertines had a unique method
of testing the loyalty of fans.

1289
01:15:10,532 --> 01:15:14,630
We used to line them up
and have a word around

1290
01:15:14,674 --> 01:15:17,619
and take them down a tattoo
parlour and brand them.

1291
01:15:18,908 --> 01:15:20,891
Just in case they were fickle.

1292
01:15:23,905 --> 01:15:26,023
So there's a few of them
knocking about.

1293
01:15:27,304 --> 01:15:29,097
And there's a few of them
knocking about.

1294
01:15:31,174 --> 01:15:33,540
The band's connection
with their growing fan base

1295
01:15:33,593 --> 01:15:35,167
didn't just take place
at their concerts,

1296
01:15:35,231 --> 01:15:36,976
it also happened online.

1297
01:15:38,363 --> 01:15:40,481
After a while it turned out
that we could just

1298
01:15:40,569 --> 01:15:42,794
go on the Internet at midnight
and there were people talking.

1299
01:15:42,838 --> 01:15:44,647
Essentially they talked about us.

1300
01:15:44,691 --> 01:15:46,414
So in my point of view

1301
01:15:46,415 --> 01:15:50,126
that was something which
we loved the money to milk.*

1302
01:15:50,141 --> 01:15:52,965
And we sort of got on and,
"Eh, it's me."

1303
01:15:54,563 --> 01:15:58,248
The Libertines pioneered new ways
for bands to use the Internet.

1304
01:15:58,362 --> 01:16:00,199
Not least when they posted invites

1305
01:16:00,263 --> 01:16:02,588
the last minutes
singalongs on their website.

1306
01:16:03,474 --> 01:16:08,857
# For to spend our
money along with Sally Brown

1307
01:16:09,871 --> 01:16:12,979
# Shipped on board
off a Liverpool liner

1308
01:16:13,018 --> 01:16:15,176
Such gigs would take place
in pub backrooms,

1309
01:16:15,220 --> 01:16:19,455
or at the houses of fans,
or even more extraordinary locations.

1310
01:16:20,684 --> 01:16:23,022
They played a gig in their own house.

1311
01:16:23,086 --> 01:16:25,361
They advertised it
on the Internet and said,

1312
01:16:25,424 --> 01:16:28,528
"Come tomorrow. We're playing
a gig at our house."

1313
01:16:29,366 --> 01:16:34,704
This was actually after they'd played
this tour,  ** 2,000 people of this tour.

1314
01:16:34,753 --> 01:16:36,390
They came and advertise it.

1315
01:16:36,444 --> 01:16:39,336
Nobody believed it. Why would anyone
play a gig in their own house?

1316
01:16:39,379 --> 01:16:40,606
It's insane!

1317
01:16:42,365 --> 01:16:46,148
Yeah, sure. A few quid,
you just get the audience in a caf*,

1318
01:16:46,220 --> 01:16:50,789
whack it up, teners on the door tonight,
and so last minute gigging,

1319
01:16:50,832 --> 01:16:54,412
work our half an hour set,*
clear the flat and then

1320
01:16:54,712 --> 01:16:58,129
you can pay your rent
and your grocery bills.

1321
01:17:00,446 --> 01:17:03,189
I'd have paid a tenner to go
on Noel Gallagher's house

1322
01:17:03,254 --> 01:17:07,155
and see him play but
apparently he's a bit moody.

1323
01:17:08,694 --> 01:17:11,724
Not everyone thought that
'Guerrilla' gigs were a good idea.

1324
01:17:13,392 --> 01:17:16,608
<i>I'm one of your neighbours,
and I'm sick of your bloody noise,</i>

1325
01:17:16,647 --> 01:17:18,696
<i>just like all the other neighbours
around here.</i>

1326
01:17:18,769 --> 01:17:22,034
Of course, a couple ** in
and broke ** at the end

1327
01:17:22,122 --> 01:17:25,251
But even that would turn into
a magnificent gesture,

1328
01:17:25,316 --> 01:17:27,923
because as the police
are running up the stairs,

1329
01:17:27,993 --> 01:17:31,173
Pete and Carl look at each other
and they start singing

1330
01:17:31,237 --> 01:17:34,336
'Guns of Brixton' by The Clash.

1331
01:17:41,135 --> 01:17:43,362
# When they kick out your front door

1332
01:17:43,804 --> 01:17:45,598
# How you gonna come?

1333
01:17:45,774 --> 01:17:48,122
# With your hands on your head

1334
01:17:49,587 --> 01:17:50,901
<i>Whose place is this?</i>

1335
01:17:55,301 --> 01:17:57,714
This was it. It was not
about marketing

1336
01:17:57,749 --> 01:18:01,686
nor about the Britpop style of, you know,
you pose, you get up onstage,

1337
01:18:01,768 --> 01:18:03,508
you sneer a bit
and then you're done.

1338
01:18:03,583 --> 01:18:04,941
This was genuine.

1339
01:18:06,500 --> 01:18:07,719
<i>Same time next week.</i>

1340
01:18:07,823 --> 01:18:10,857
The group were happy to play
up to their lawless image,

1341
01:18:10,931 --> 01:18:14,476
but when Doherty's rock 'n roll
lifestyle started to spin out of control,

1342
01:18:14,525 --> 01:18:16,795
it led to tensions within the band.

1343
01:18:18,520 --> 01:18:19,852
The band became difficult.

1344
01:18:20,656 --> 01:18:25,383
Pete was into drugs, what he was into,
that's common knowledge.

1345
01:18:25,451 --> 01:18:27,582
His emotions were always up and down

1346
01:18:27,621 --> 01:18:30,634
and I was genuinely worried for
his health as well. If not anything else.

1347
01:18:30,684 --> 01:18:34,487
And then he started telling me that
he was doing crazier and crazier things.

1348
01:18:34,751 --> 01:18:36,804
Which were dangerous, dangerous things.

1349
01:18:38,411 --> 01:18:40,682
It's not like I don't know how
to enjoy myself,

1350
01:18:40,716 --> 01:18:44,084
but that's just the way I am
and I've become immune to

1351
01:18:44,138 --> 01:18:47,115
everything else.
I can't afford to...

1352
01:18:47,782 --> 01:18:50,071
I can't afford to worry about what
other people think too much.

1353
01:18:50,144 --> 01:18:52,846
The Libertines' second album
would be their last.

1354
01:18:52,913 --> 01:18:54,060
The opening song

1355
01:18:54,105 --> 01:18:57,714
was an explicit portrait of
a band in the process of splitting up,

1356
01:18:57,795 --> 01:18:59,973
and possibly their finest moment.

1357
01:19:03,616 --> 01:19:06,305
# An ending fitting for the start

1358
01:19:06,345 --> 01:19:07,537
# You twist ...

1359
01:19:07,581 --> 01:19:08,919
I fucking can't remember it.

1360
01:19:08,944 --> 01:19:09,954
Sorry about that.

1361
01:19:10,012 --> 01:19:12,589
# An ending fitting for the start

1362
01:19:12,633 --> 01:19:15,747
# You twist and tore our love apart

1363
01:19:15,797 --> 01:19:18,845
# Your light fingers threw the dart

1364
01:19:18,883 --> 01:19:22,046
# Shattered the lamp into
darkness it cast us...

1365
01:19:22,075 --> 01:19:24,939
# No, you've got it the wrong way round

1366
01:19:25,003 --> 01:19:28,733
# You cut me out and
tried to blame it on the brown

1367
01:19:28,793 --> 01:19:31,317
# Cornered the boy
kicked out at the world,

1368
01:19:31,375 --> 01:19:34,336
# The world kicked back
a lot fuckin' harder...

1369
01:19:34,385 --> 01:19:37,655
# If you wanna try, If you wanna try

1370
01:19:37,713 --> 01:19:41,032
# There's no worse
you could do (oh oh oh)

1371
01:19:41,067 --> 01:19:43,298
It's a bit like a
Becket-like piece of dialogue.

1372
01:19:43,391 --> 01:19:49,819
This grand dramatic statement of
intent on both Carl and mines's part,

1373
01:19:49,853 --> 01:19:55,260
but really it was just like a little
play for today.

1374
01:19:55,294 --> 01:19:58,460
# You can't stand me now
(Oh, you can't stand me now)

1375
01:19:58,524 --> 01:20:01,528
# You can't stand me now
(No, you can't stand me now)

1376
01:20:01,606 --> 01:20:04,610
# You can't stand me now
(No, you can't stand me now)

1377
01:20:04,683 --> 01:20:07,487
# You can't stand me now
(No, you can't stand me now)

1378
01:20:07,542 --> 01:20:10,581
I remember exactly where I was
in the NME office when we got the CD in,

1379
01:20:10,599 --> 01:20:13,636
and we listened to it and,
me and everyone else who was listening

1380
01:20:13,689 --> 01:20:16,342
couldn't believe that they'd
laid there this tension

1381
01:20:16,400 --> 01:20:17,808
that everybody knew was going on.

1382
01:20:19,407 --> 01:20:23,565
# You tried to pull the wool,
I wasn't feeling too clever

1383
01:20:25,281 --> 01:20:28,369
# And you take all that they're lending

1384
01:20:29,041 --> 01:20:31,118
# Until you needed mending...

1385
01:20:31,497 --> 01:20:33,106
*** in the Internet.

1386
01:20:33,145 --> 01:20:35,919
It didn't feel like there was anybody
who didn't know how exactly

1387
01:20:35,974 --> 01:20:37,978
how things were all along.

1388
01:20:38,017 --> 01:20:40,088
It also felt like it was everyone
else's business as well,

1389
01:20:40,112 --> 01:20:42,529
since everyone was talking
about it anyways.

1390
01:20:42,568 --> 01:20:44,669
So, if you're not gonna
put truth in song,

1391
01:20:45,419 --> 01:20:48,970
then what else to put anyway,
what are you gonna put in there?

1392
01:20:49,127 --> 01:20:51,495
# I'll take you anywhere you wanna go!

1393
01:20:51,549 --> 01:20:54,882
# Oh, you can't stand me now
(No, you can't stand me now)

1394
01:20:54,965 --> 01:20:57,926
# You can't stand me now
(Oh, you can't stand me now)

1395
01:20:58,000 --> 01:21:00,971
# You can't stand me now
(No, you can't stand me now)

1396
01:21:01,429 --> 01:21:03,673
Sometimes you just realise
you're singing is

1397
01:21:03,757 --> 01:21:06,148
some of the saddest things that
you'll be ever be able to sing.

1398
01:21:06,625 --> 01:21:08,235
It was ***
so hard.

1399
01:21:08,285 --> 01:21:11,696
** a lyric like a knife.
It's already come out of your heart*

1400
01:21:11,755 --> 01:21:14,975
and now you stick it in ***,
and pull it all out.

1401
01:21:15,024 --> 01:21:16,762
It's bound to **

1402
01:21:18,439 --> 01:21:20,801
Yeah, it was a very awkward
song to sing.

1403
01:21:20,840 --> 01:21:23,507
I remember once Pete thought
I looked at him funny during that song,

1404
01:21:23,561 --> 01:21:28,185
and he put down his guitar...
no, he threw down his guitar, ***

1405
01:21:28,253 --> 01:21:30,018
and then run out down
the high street...

1406
01:21:30,081 --> 01:21:31,840
out the back door.

1407
01:21:31,894 --> 01:21:34,729
So it did kind of get to be
a fever pitch.

1408
01:21:37,568 --> 01:21:40,677
The Libertines finally
imploded in 2004,

1409
01:21:40,741 --> 01:21:42,296
but not before they paved the way

1410
01:21:42,337 --> 01:21:44,708
for a new generation of
young British rock bands

1411
01:21:44,758 --> 01:21:46,214
starting to break through.

1412
01:21:47,169 --> 01:21:49,232
Like most influential bands,

1413
01:21:49,305 --> 01:21:52,319
The Libertines started
off as a solitary voice.

1414
01:21:52,373 --> 01:21:56,314
So yes, quite rightly everybody said
"Let's all run that way."

1415
01:21:56,353 --> 01:21:57,701
And they did.

1416
01:21:58,279 --> 01:22:02,230
We're Arctic Monkeys and this is
'I bet you look good on the dance floor'.

1417
01:22:02,260 --> 01:22:03,931
Don't believe the hype.

1418
01:22:04,010 --> 01:22:07,686
You can clearly draw a line from
Libertines to The Arctic Monkeys,

1419
01:22:07,740 --> 01:22:09,054
they sound quite alike.

1420
01:22:09,093 --> 01:22:11,736
The Arctic Monkeys sing in a colloquial
voice from the North of England,

1421
01:22:11,801 --> 01:22:14,551
but to some extent
it's the same kind of idea.

1422
01:22:17,347 --> 01:22:19,170
# Stop making the eyes at me,

1423
01:22:19,228 --> 01:22:21,655
# I'll stop making the eyes at you

1424
01:22:21,694 --> 01:22:23,488
# And what it is that surprises me

1425
01:22:23,533 --> 01:22:25,321
# is that I don't really want you to

1426
01:22:25,380 --> 01:22:27,326
# And your shoulders are frozen
(cold as the night)

1427
01:22:27,400 --> 01:22:29,689
# Oh, but you're an explosion
(you're dynamite)

1428
01:22:29,753 --> 01:22:32,047
# Your name isn't Rio,
but I don't care for sand

1429
01:22:32,096 --> 01:22:35,057
# And lighting the fuse might
result in a bang, b-b-bang, go!

1430
01:22:35,076 --> 01:22:37,596
# I bet that you look
good on the dancefloor

1431
01:22:37,620 --> 01:22:39,812
# I don't know if you're
looking for romance or

1432
01:22:39,822 --> 01:22:42,341
# I don't know what you're looking for

1433
01:22:42,394 --> 01:22:46,082
Now we seem a long, long
way away from britpop

1434
01:22:46,146 --> 01:22:50,073
and bands that are coming through now
are looking back at a time when

1435
01:22:50,117 --> 01:22:54,955
indie music and rock music
didn't expect to sell out stadia.

1436
01:22:55,034 --> 01:23:00,163
Just expected to make a statement
and reflect life

1437
01:23:00,206 --> 01:23:01,763
and be oppositional.

1438
01:23:01,807 --> 01:23:03,121
# I wish you'd stop ignoring me,

1439
01:23:03,178 --> 01:23:05,361
# because it's sending me to despair

1440
01:23:05,414 --> 01:23:07,528
# Without a sound,
yeah, you're calling me,

1441
01:23:07,577 --> 01:23:09,273
# and I don't think it's very fair

1442
01:23:09,311 --> 01:23:11,213
# That your shoulders are frozen
(cold as the night)

1443
01:23:11,273 --> 01:23:13,610
# Oh, but you're an explosion
(you're dynamite)

1444
01:23:13,634 --> 01:23:16,254
Groups like The Arctic Monkeys,
that's what they're about,

1445
01:23:16,302 --> 01:23:19,018
they're about starting all over again.

1446
01:23:19,056 --> 01:23:21,522
# I bet that you look good
on the dancefloor

1447
01:23:21,587 --> 01:23:23,728
# I don't know if you're
looking for romance or

1448
01:23:23,773 --> 01:23:26,337
# I don't know what you're looking for

1449
01:23:26,371 --> 01:23:29,379
By the middle of the first decade
of the 21st century

1450
01:23:29,429 --> 01:23:31,934
a new age of rock was
getting under way.

1451
01:23:31,983 --> 01:23:34,420
Guitar sales and concert
attendance were up,

1452
01:23:34,487 --> 01:23:37,783
and key bands such as Arctic Monkeys
and Franz Ferdinand

1453
01:23:37,840 --> 01:23:40,910
could be found on the same
independent record label.

1454
01:23:41,871 --> 01:23:44,938
Independent labels give the bands

1455
01:23:44,983 --> 01:23:49,385
space to be as weird and freakish
as they naturally would be.

1456
01:23:49,449 --> 01:23:51,601
And that's the case with us, you know,

1457
01:23:51,660 --> 01:23:55,889
we're a bunch of feaks and
that's why we sound they way we do.

1458
01:23:55,928 --> 01:23:58,371
And really glad to be, as well.

1459
01:23:59,670 --> 01:24:02,152
I hate to be bland.

1460
01:24:04,308 --> 01:24:06,577
# When I woke up tonight

1461
01:24:06,621 --> 01:24:11,765
# I said I'm gonna make
somebody love me

1462
01:24:11,823 --> 01:24:15,175
# I�m Gonna make somebody love me

1463
01:24:15,234 --> 01:24:17,799
# And now I know, now I know,

1464
01:24:17,872 --> 01:24:20,686
# Now I know that it's you

1465
01:24:20,735 --> 01:24:23,608
# You�re Lucky, lucky, you're so lucky

1466
01:24:24,856 --> 01:24:26,521
This was a diverse scene,

1467
01:24:26,566 --> 01:24:31,370
one that happily drew from
the best of art rock, punk and indie.

1468
01:24:35,372 --> 01:24:38,593
# Well do ya, do ya, do ya wanna

1469
01:24:38,627 --> 01:24:41,974
# Well do ya, do ya, do ya wanna

1470
01:24:42,009 --> 01:24:43,162
# Wanna go...

1471
01:24:43,195 --> 01:24:44,642
For those in the thick of it

1472
01:24:44,703 --> 01:24:47,591
British rock could still
be sharp and dynamic.

1473
01:24:47,675 --> 01:24:50,117
It's hard to really say when
you're involved in it.

1474
01:24:50,156 --> 01:24:55,484
It is in a great state but
it just comes natural to us.

1475
01:24:55,554 --> 01:25:02,716
I think if we were 17, we'd think
it was the best time of our lives

1476
01:25:02,798 --> 01:25:04,804
because of loads of great bands.

1477
01:25:04,848 --> 01:25:07,941
But also the best thing is that
they're not just doing the same formula.

1478
01:25:08,029 --> 01:25:09,509
No, nothing sounds the same.

1479
01:25:09,544 --> 01:25:11,103
Like what happened when
at the *** and the britpop

1480
01:25:11,171 --> 01:25:12,834
when everything was the same.

1481
01:25:12,907 --> 01:25:15,373
# She does not listen

1482
01:25:15,431 --> 01:25:18,858
# She�s too wrapped up
with all of her things

1483
01:25:25,108 --> 01:25:27,314
# This does not get to me

1484
01:25:27,378 --> 01:25:30,936
# Cause shes not
the kind of girl that I like

1485
01:25:31,029 --> 01:25:34,074
The radio is full of great songs

1486
01:25:34,138 --> 01:25:37,216
and there's more attendance
at concerts than ever before.

1487
01:25:37,280 --> 01:25:40,421
This is probably the greatest,
most healthy time for British music.

1488
01:25:40,455 --> 01:25:45,093
Probably since punk.
Probably since 1976-77.

1489
01:25:46,812 --> 01:25:48,738
Today's bands are playing a music

1490
01:25:48,783 --> 01:25:51,940
that comes with nearly
half a century of history behind it.

1491
01:25:51,999 --> 01:25:54,366
Rock is now like other art forms

1492
01:25:54,395 --> 01:25:58,101
where innovation happens under
the influence of what has gone before.

1493
01:26:02,872 --> 01:26:05,107
For most of its history
the best of this music

1494
01:26:05,146 --> 01:26:06,990
was incontestably new.

1495
01:26:07,048 --> 01:26:09,382
It was innovative
unquestionably.

1496
01:26:09,451 --> 01:26:11,123
When the Beatles recorded
'Tomorrow never knows'

1497
01:26:11,175 --> 01:26:12,582
using all those tape loops

1498
01:26:12,646 --> 01:26:14,459
nobody had heard
anything like that before.

1499
01:26:14,543 --> 01:26:18,308
When the Velvet Underground recorded
'Venus in Furs' with a droning viola

1500
01:26:18,371 --> 01:26:20,612
nobody had ever heard a rock
record like that before.

1501
01:26:20,660 --> 01:26:23,919
It's difficult, clearly,
after all that history,

1502
01:26:23,992 --> 01:26:26,968
with all those CDs
in the re-issue racks in the shop,

1503
01:26:27,028 --> 01:26:29,742
to make music which
is unquestionably original.

1504
01:26:29,791 --> 01:26:33,225
Actually, in the minds of the people
making it, this is not a problem.

1505
01:26:39,492 --> 01:26:45,641
If you're creating something,
whether it's music or art or writing,

1506
01:26:45,709 --> 01:26:50,150
whatever you're doing, you are going
to be affected by what's gone before you.

1507
01:26:50,239 --> 01:26:55,007
And to try and pretend that
that's not the case is...

1508
01:26:55,282 --> 01:26:57,096
insincere and artifitial.

1509
01:26:57,320 --> 01:26:59,728
# So if you're lonely

1510
01:27:00,836 --> 01:27:03,827
# You know I'm here waiting for you

1511
01:27:03,870 --> 01:27:06,342
# I'm just a crosshair

1512
01:27:06,681 --> 01:27:08,450
I think, for me it's much healthier

1513
01:27:08,451 --> 01:27:10,776
to be able to acknowledge
what's come before

1514
01:27:10,835 --> 01:27:12,701
and then try to do something
different with it.

1515
01:27:13,166 --> 01:27:14,827
So you can listen to something and go,

1516
01:27:14,828 --> 01:27:16,707
"Wow! That makes me
feel was so excited."

1517
01:27:16,767 --> 01:27:19,728
Or... I know that when
we do our music together

1518
01:27:19,791 --> 01:27:21,689
there are reference points

1519
01:27:21,747 --> 01:27:25,235
and you do sort of talk about things.
But we never really talk about...

1520
01:27:25,531 --> 01:27:29,622
sounds or tunes, it's more like the way
that record makes you feel.

1521
01:27:30,346 --> 01:27:37,791
# I know I won't be leaving
here with you

1522
01:27:37,910 --> 01:27:39,991
Now, over 40 years on,

1523
01:27:40,040 --> 01:27:42,991
rock hasn't lost the power
to excite and challenge.

1524
01:27:43,025 --> 01:27:47,191
It has provided the youth of
every generation since 1960s

1525
01:27:47,250 --> 01:27:49,971
with its own heroes
and soundtrack.

1526
01:27:50,035 --> 01:27:52,270
Once the domain only
of the young,

1527
01:27:52,343 --> 01:27:54,097
it now belongs to us all.

1528
01:27:54,148 --> 01:27:57,447
I think now it's part of our DNA,
it's kind of encoded in us.

1529
01:27:57,510 --> 01:28:00,191
So when I see a great new
band that I like

1530
01:28:00,265 --> 01:28:03,839
I remember how great it was
when I first heard The Smiths.

1531
01:28:03,889 --> 01:28:06,090
It's been knocking around
** to be like film,

1532
01:28:06,139 --> 01:28:08,688
a kind of theater of dreams.

1533
01:28:08,756 --> 01:28:11,124
An escapist thing that can
go through your life.

1534
01:28:11,178 --> 01:28:13,139
And you can get older now
and not put it down.

1535
01:28:14,133 --> 01:28:17,747
It may not be necessarily a good
thing, but we're all in it together.

1536
01:28:17,800 --> 01:28:20,005
So you get 15 year-olds
and their dads

1537
01:28:20,069 --> 01:28:22,432
talking about
the Franz Ferdinand records.

1538
01:28:22,471 --> 01:28:23,738
And there will be some purists
who'll just say,

1539
01:28:23,815 --> 01:28:26,870
"That's not how it should be, man."
But that's how it is.

1540
01:28:28,023 --> 01:28:29,821
# If I move this could die

1541
01:28:29,875 --> 01:28:31,928
# If I move this could die

1542
01:28:31,983 --> 01:28:34,070
# Come on...

1543
01:28:34,885 --> 01:28:36,958
# take me out!

1544
01:28:36,959 --> 01:28:37,959
Transcription and
synchronisation by Fry.