The Old Grey Whistle Test

1971

Seasons & Episodes

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EP1 The Damned / Echo & the Bunnymen / Hang Wangford / Billy Bragg / Brendan Croker Sep 20, 1986

EP20 That Was The Whistle Test That Was Apr 22, 1987

8.1| 0h30m| en
Synopsis

The Old Grey Whistle Test is an influential BBC2 television music show that ran from 1971 to 1987. It took over the BBC2 late night slot from "Disco Two", which had been running since January 1970, while continuing to feature non-chart music. It was devised by BBC producer Rowan Ayers. According to presenter Bob Harris, the programme derived its name from a Tin Pan Alley phrase from years before. When they got the first pressing of a record they would play it to people they called the old greys—doormen in grey suits. The songs they could remember and whistle, having heard it just once or twice, had passed the old grey whistle test.

Director

Producted By

BBC

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Reviews

SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie
Stellead Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful
InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.
Cristal The movie really just wants to entertain people.
gnb Famous, and rightly so, as the only music programme of its generation to give airtime to obscure, unsigned and alternative bands/artists.Many a now-famous face were given their first 15 minutes of fame on the "Old Grey Whistle Test" and we have it to thank for introducing vast quantities of quality music to the record buying public.If you can, get your hands on the special DVD releases celebrating the programme. While the first issue concentrates mainly on famous artists (Meat Loaf, Blondie, Simply Red, Talking Heads) it is the more obscure acts on DVD 2 that are really of interest (Kevin Ayers, Be Bop Deluxe).So if you can remember Bob Harris, Annie Nightingale, Mark Ellen and David Hepworth first time round then give OGWT another blast. Whereas, if you know nothing about the programme give it a watch any way and ask yourself why we don't have music shows like this anymore!
foxybyproxy This collection of performances from the 70's to the 90's includes some classic songs by everyone from Randy Newman to the Damned. Classic footage of the New York Dolls, Captain Beefheart, Iggy Pop, the Ramones and others make this a must have for any music fan. It's monaural but the quality is still very good and most performances are live.