Rock History

Unique stories from the British Music scene

The Stories

  • Richard Ames got one over that Noddy Holder

    Richard Ames got one over that Noddy Holder

    The games that were played by groups on the road to keep themselves amused through the boredom of touring in the Seventies – or then again just the fun of playing pranks on fellow musicians.

  • The Teenage Rage starts a new label

    The Teenage Rage starts a new label

    Falling out with Dick James when he started his own label, DJM, Larry struck out with a whole new world wide label called Penny Farthing Records with considerable success. They enjoyed many hits in many countries with the likes of Johnny Pearson Orchestra’s track, “Sleepy Shores”, let alone “Blue Is The Colour” by the Chelsea…

  • how Neil Rock went from Gonks to Beatles

    how Neil Rock went from Gonks to Beatles

    Hear the saga of how trying to manufacture those lovely Sixties soft toys called Gonks led them to acquiring the rights to merchandise those Beatles

  • Rock is the name

    Rock is the name

    Ibiza in a day was the brief as we headed off to film Neil Rock for the ongoing Davy Graham documentary. Neil was Davy’s busking mate in the early days and they went all over Europe so it is not surprising that Neil lives on this Spanish island. So lots more fascinating facts about the golden…

  • Terry Slater the eternal musician

    Terry Slater the eternal musician

    The stories from musician / publisher / manager of his life in the British and American music industry are the envy of many of those of us who are just a touch younger. Talk about right place, right time as a young market apprentice caught the the Rock ‘n’ Roll bug which swept him into…

  • from piano tuner to Abbey Road chief engineer

    from piano tuner to Abbey Road chief engineer

    Today’s treat was meeting up again with Haydn Bendall and that has been a while. He started at EMI’s Abbey Road studio in the early Seventies and rose through the ranks receiving as he says, a fantastic education working with all types of music, classical, pop, rock, middle of the road. The all round insight…

  • Johnny Remember Me – Great British Record labels – Top Rank

    Johnny Remember Me – Great British Record labels – Top Rank

    In hindsight, the shortlived TOP RANK label would appear to have been a magnificent folly, perpetrated by the mighty Rank Organisation. Launched in 1959, at their peak they were pumping out a vast amount of material, clocking up hits with both licensed-in US repertoire and UK artists, The man whose initials prefixed the label’s catalogue…

  • Teenager In Love – Great British Record labels – Philips

    Teenager In Love – Great British Record labels – Philips

      Launched under the proud slogan “The Records Of The Century”, their first UK releases appeared in January 1953, via a series of Popular 78rpm singles, with 331/3rpm LPs following in July ’54 and 45rpm EPs a year later. Surprisingly, perhaps, Philips would be the last major label to issue 45rpm singles in the UK,…

  • the guitar pickin’ interview

    the guitar pickin’ interview

    Just back from interviewing the hugely knowledgeable musician, Stefan Grossman for the ongoing film about Davy Graham. Stefan met him when he came over in 1967 as a young American avoiding the draft although Davy’s reputation had preceded him. In fact of course Stefan met all the British greats of the time: Eric Clapton, John Renbourn, Roy…

  • Buying a guitar in the Sixties

    Buying a guitar in the Sixties

    Don Craine here describes his guitar buying experience experience: I’d seen Keith Richard playing a Harmony over at the Eel Park Island, and I absolutely adored the sound. I scraped the money together, and I went along to Jim Marshall’s, because Albert’s Music Shop in Twickenham didn’t go as far as foreign guitars, or anything like this.…