It contained a haunting and unforgettable organ solo that appeared to have been copied from a J.S. They claimed that pirate radio transmissions interfered with signals from emergency shipping channels, broke international agreements, and of course made a mockery of the BBC’s broadcasting monopoly.Īnyway, in the spring of 1967 while I was working on my thesis research, Radio Caroline began playing a fascinating new pop song. It was interesting to see the fury that pirate radio evoked from British lawmakers. As a result, the stations had rather tense relations with the music industry: by broadcasting songs, pirate radio increased record sales, but they avoided paying royalties for the songs they played. Apparently they did not pay royalties to record producers, composers or artists. The bad news was that to some degree the ‘pirate radio’ stations lived up to their nickname. The good news was that Radio Caroline broadcast an interesting mix of rock and roll music most of the day, and featured American-style DJs who rapidly gained a following. ‘Radio Caroline’ consisted of a couple of ships anchored outside the 3-mile limit (the limit at that time of Britain’s territorial waters). However, for me the most enjoyable rock music came from Radio Caroline. Radio Luxembourg had a gigantic transmitter located in Luxembourg, that broadcast to much of western Europe.
TURNED A WHITER SHADE OF PALE LYRICS MEANING TV
There were a couple of weekly TV programs such as Top of the Pops, but I did not own a TV.īecause of the lack of rock music on BBC radio, various ‘pirate’ stations had sprung up. The BBC had a monopoly on both radio and TV in the UK, and they used their power to tightly control broadcast content. I was stunned to discover that, to first order, there was precious little rock music on BBC Radio! In the 60s, ‘progressive’ rock stations began playing entire albums or, they would play blocks of rock music that focused on one specific genre (folk-rock, heavy metal, etc).Ĭoming from this atmosphere to England was a real eye-opener.
However, American rock music stations were becoming ever more specialized. In those days, one could still find “mainstream” radio stations that would play big-band records and Perry Como tunes, and there were a number of country stations that featured the Nashville sound. But on a good night, my old AM radio could pick up faint traces of some of the 50,000-watt giant radio stations broadcasting from Nashville and even occasionally Shreveport, LA. where I grew up, I would listen to Buffalo’s powerful WKBW station.
So, in the evenings back in Niagara Falls, N.Y. In the US, rock music could be found all over the radio dial. and England was in the availability of rock music on the radio. I experienced a number of culture shocks in the UK however, one of the most dramatic differences between the U.S. In the fall of 1965, I arrived in Oxford to begin graduate work on my doctoral thesis. We will start with the original, and then we will review covers from Joe Cocker and also Annie Lennox. This is a haunting and mysterious pop song by Procol Harum.
Hello there! In this week’s blog we consider the song A Whiter Shade of Pale.
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