Motorblog Blast Furnace And The Heatwaves: The first part of 'Seven Ages of Rock' was televised on Saturday evening and dealt, largely, with the incredible impact Jimi Hendrix had upon the music scene and those of us who were there and of an impressionable age. I say that because my brother is 4 years older and completely missed anything resembling The Who, The Beatles, Jimi, The Stones, you name them, but instead enjoys 'music' like The Yetties and Nancy Sinatra. On the other side you have my wife, Jane, who has always been a huge Rolling Stones fan, sees very little in Jimi's music yet by the same token enjoys Neil Young immensely. This I find odd because Neil Young and Jimi aren't too far apart, but that's women for you (as you might be aware).
But the Seven Ages of Rock defined that particular era when Jimi turned the world on its head, and the following 6 programmes will hightlight a few more bands whom, in some people's opinion, did the same at later dates and in different eras.
Charles Shaar Murray was (and will be over the next 6 parts) interviewed quite frequently during this first episode, and remembering his name from an MHB's fanzine interview by Mick Farren as being the (then) NME scribe who'd started a band named Blast Furnace and the Heatwaves, who in turn supported Motorhead at the 'Iron Fist and the Hordes From Hell' gig when 'What's Words Worth?' was recorded; so I checked him out within Amazon's 'Books' section.
And 'Charly Murray,' as Mick Farren referred to him, has been and is quite a prolific author and won an award for his book on Jimi Hendrix; knockout! As the titles rolled on this Saturday evening programme I noticed his name at the very top of the listing as 'creative consultant' or whatever. And seeing his listings, this ties in with a book he wrote along the lines of the Seven Ages of Rock and has now, with a BBC budget, turned it into an easily digestible opus for TV; (and no doubt the DVD box set at a later date), which is again, knockout!
I feel sure the next 6 parts will be just as good, but I don't think they'll be quite the same as Jimi's was for me personally. They will feature personalities and bands who were icons for those a little younger than I, but for my age, Jimi was the man.
But then of course we have Motorhead who have an 'across-the-board' musical style who seem to cater for and embrace the Jimi buffs and the punk fans, which fits in nicely as that's pretty much what Lemmy has always aimed for.