BBC Four - Do it Yourself: The Story of Rough Trade
sorry this was posted earlier...
2 programmes on BBC Four next Friday (Mar 13 from 9pm) that look really good and will no doubt be of interest to many here. The documentaries on Factory Records and Stiff Records were brilliant so the Rough Trade one could be really interesting. The documentary is followed by Rough Trade at the BBC...
Do it Yourself: The Story of Rough Trade
13 Mar 2009, 21:00 on BBC Four
The Rough Trade story begins more than thirty years ago on 20th February 1976. Britain was in the grip of an IRA bombing campaign; a future prime minister was beginning to make her mark on middle England, where punk was yet to run amok; and a young Cambridge graduate called Geoff Travis opened a new shop at 202 Kensington Park Road, just off Ladbroke Grove in West London. The Rough Trade shop sold obscure and challenging records by bands like American art-rockers Pere Ubu, offering an alternative to the middle-of-the-road rock music that dominated the music business.
In January 1977, when a record by Manchester punk band Buzzcocks appeared in the shop, Rough Trade found itself in the right place at the right time to make an impact far beyond that of a neighbourhood music store. When Spiral Scratch was released in 1977, the idea of putting out a single without the support of an established record company was incredible. But Rough Trade was to become the headquarters of a revolt against this corporate monopoly - it was stocking records by bands inspired by the idea that they could do it themselves.
But selling a few independent records over the counter was not going to change the world. Early independent labels had to hand over their distribution to the likes of EMI or CBS. But one man at Rough Trade challenged that monopoly. Richard Scott joined Rough Trade in 1977 and became the architect of a grand scheme that was nothing short of revolutionary: independent nationwide distribution.
Rough Trade at the BBC
13 Mar 2009, 22:30 on BBC Four
Since 1978, indie label Rough Trade has been backing ground-breaking artists of every sensibility. From the post-punk girls who sound like they've been overheard singing to themselves at a bus stop, to the raw rock'n'roll of the Strokes and the Libertines, this compilation of BBC performances draws together some of the music that has made Rough Trade the institution it is.
Includes the Smiths, Robert Wyatt, Violent Femmes, Pulp and Antony and the Johnsons.
