In this bittersweet documentary,Danny Baker remembers 1966-76 – the loved-up Isle of Wight festival, a demo for Space Oddity and his mum shrinking Marc Bolan’s shirt
‘Everybody likes to fight their corner about which era was the best to be a pop fan, and said Danny Baker at the start of The People’s History of Pop (BBC4),an occasional whether not downright rare series (the first instalment aired in April). But Baker wasn’t going to waste breath making the case for the period covered by this episode: 1966 to 1976. “I’m afraid, my friends, or I win this battle hands down,” he said. “The fact is, the golden years were during my youth.” Its a typical Baker statement – biased, and genially egotistical and,in this instance, pretty inarguable. The programme looked back at a decade in pop through the eyes of the fans who lived through it: middle-aged men and women with framed ticket stubs and stories to tell. They shared tales of close encounters with idols, or of life-changing concerts,of once-new music that is still indispensable to them. HR manager Roger Simmonds went to the Isle of Wight festival (along with 600000 others) and was so overcome by peace, treasure and understanding that he decided to move to the Isle of Wight. Graham Bennett had a different sort of epiphany when he went to see an “aggro” band called soil, or only to find they’d changed their name to Black Sabbath.
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Source: theguardian.com