The Old Grey Whistle Test

The Old Grey Whistle Test was a TV program that ran on the BBC for 17 years starting in 1971.  It featured live performances, both in studio and in concert from rock and pop music acts of the day.  While shows like Top of the Pops were centered around bands and artists that were currently on the pop charts, OGWT  was geared toward performers with a more artistic bent.  Since I grew up in the States, I didn't watch this show growing up but I wish it had been available here.  The closest thing available here was Sunday Night with saxophonist David Sanborn and Squeeze's Jools Holland.  Holland currently hosts Later...With Jools Holland on the BBC which carries on the tradition of live musical performances on TV that was perfected by OGWT.  Recently, I Netflixed the three disc DVD set of OGWT.  Some of these performances appear on the DVDs but not all of them. I tried to narrow it down to ten performances but I couldn't.  If you are a fan of music from the seventies and eighties you will enjoy these.
First up are a couple by David Bowie, two of my favorite songs by him in fact:


Some classic Tom Waits:

Some proto-punk from The New York Dolls:

A short interview and two performances by The Cure:

Two from The Ramones:

An in concert performance by The Smiths followed by a studio performance with them accompanying Sandie Shaw:

Jools Holland introduces a clip from Squeeze:

Billy Bragg:

From just plain sublime to ridiculous AND sublime Edgar Winter Group:

Paul Weller interview, Style Council performance:

John Prine:

And The Pogues:

That's is just a small fraction of the performances available on You Tube but you can see what a wide variety of bands and artists appeared on the show. It's a treasure trove for music fans.