Move over Rover, and let Jimi take over

Been watching the Seven Ages of Rock on BBC2 on Saturaday nights, or more often than not, downloaded from the tinternet.

The first episode was terrific - using Hendrix as a narrative thread to trace the birth and development of what we now know as 'rock' music. Some great clips, some insightful commentary, it was a very good programme.

The most recent two editions have been less satisfying, in fact the whole idea of 'Seven Ages of Rock' seems a bit flimsy. The episode dedicated to 'art rock' flitted between the Velvet Underground, Pink Floyd, Roxy Music and Bowie, without supplying a coherent theory about where they came from, who they influenced, and what exactly they had in common. I would have thought that Pink Floyd might have sat more comfortably int the Stadium Rock episode.

'Seven Ages of Rock' seems to imply a chronological theory of the development of rock music, but the episodes have a distinct overlap which would appear to undermine this theory. There were events happening in the punk episode which were concurrent with those happening in the art rock episode, and for me the idea behind the series seems a lot less convincing than 'Dancing In The Street', which was procduced by the same folks 14 years ago - in fact some of the interview footage used in this series is lifted from DITS.

The latter series made many interesting insights into the - dare I say it - socio-political history of popular music, especially observations around attitudes towards race and class. For instance, the impact on black American artists of the British Invasion of the mid 60's, and the successful cover versions by white artists of songs written by black groups who were subsequently sidelined by acts more palatable to a conservative white American market.

Seven Ages of Rock doesn't appear to make such insights, and is more preoccupied with a linear account of how Hendrix paved the way for Bowie, then the Pistols, with a random episode about Heavy Metal thrown in, followed by an apparently redundant feature on Stadium Rock, then hey presto a tidy finish with Britpop - job done. All seems a bit convenient really, although there has been some undoubtedly great footage used so far.