rage goes retro 3: Not great.....


THE MELDRUM TAPES Elton John Special - Nov 1st, 1986

ROCK ARENA: March 6 1984
A ONE HOUR MUSIC SHOW HOSTED BY GLENN SHORROCK WHO BRIEFLY INTRODUCES THE VARIOUS ARTISTS. THIS WEEKS SHOW FEATURES AN INTERVIEW WITH BERNIE TAUPIN, ELTON JOHNS SONGWRITER AND EXCERPTS FROM THE CONCERT FOR BANGLADESH.;ARTISTS/TITLE:;
ROCK ARENA PROMO 1 BY BERNIE TAUPIN(0.00);ROCK ARENA PROMO 2 BY BERNIE TAUPIN(0.40)
;ROLLING STONES 'SHE WAS HOT'(1.39)
;NENA '99 LUFT BALLOONS'(7.16)
;BRIAN MAY AND FRIENDS 'STAR FLEET'(11.01)
;CONCERT FOR BANGLADESH, INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING ARTSISTS:
;GEORGE HARRISON 'AWAITING ON YOU ALL'(16.41)
;BILLY PRESTON 'THAT'S THE WAY GOD PLANNED IT(17.54)
;GEORGE HARRISON 'HERE COMES THE SUN'(18.42)
;DYLAN 'IT TAKES A LOT TO LAUGH'
(19.26);GEORGE HARRISON 'MY SWEET LORD'(19.57)
;GLEN SHORROCK BRIEFLY TALKS ABOUT THE CARREER OF JOHN COUGAR AND INTRODUCES HIS SONGS;JOHN COUGAR 'MIAMI'(20.42);JOHN COUGAR 'JACK AND DIANNE(24.06);JOHN COUGAR MELLENCAMP 'PINK HOUSES'(28.21)
;ELTON JOHN 'I'M STILL STANDING'(37.50);GLEN SHORROCK IV WITH BERNIE TAUPIN, HE TALKS ABOUT HOW HE AND ELTON JOHN COMBINE TO CREATE THEIR SONGS AND HOW THEY STARTED WORKING TOGETHER(40.47);ELTON JOHN 'EMPTY GARDEN'(44.45);ELTON JOHN 'KISS THE BRIDE'(53.58);
JO JO ZEP AND THE FALCONS 'HONEY DRIPPER'(58.20)

COUNTDOWN:
Year: 1977
Date:3/4/1977
Show no: 100
Summary: FIREWORKS AT BEGINNING OF THIS SHOW TO INTRODUCE COUNTDOWN'S 100TH BIRTHDAY "INTERNATIONAL EDITION"
PROGRAM HOSTED BY MOLLY MELDRUM (WITHOUT HAT) IN MELBOURNE AND LEO SAYER IN LONDON, WITH CROSSES TO
SYDNEY (FJ HOLDEN) AND EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND (BAY CITY ROLLERS). AUSTRALIAN SEGMENT INCLUDES LIVE PERFORMANCES BY NUMEROUS AUST ARTISTS, COUNTDOWN FOOTAGE OF THEIR FIRST PERFORMANCES ON THE SHOW AND THEM ACTING AS (CASUAL) CO-HOSTS, THESE INCLUDED: TED MULRY GANG, JOHN PAUL YOUNG (SQUEEK), DARYL BRAITHWAITE, RENEE GEYER AND LITTLE RIVER BAND. THE PRERECORDED LONDON END OF THE SHOW FEATURES SEVEN INTERNATIONAL ACTS. IAN MELDRUM CONDUCTS INTERVIEWS WITH: BRYAN FERRY (INCL SOME SHORT CLIPS), PAUL & LINDA MCCARTNEY (MUSIC IDEAS AND LINDA'S CAREER) AND ELTON JOHN (STUDIO RECORDING, KIKI DEE, AND TV PERFORMING IN ENGLAND). THE TOP TEN HITS OF THE WEEK ARE NOT SHOWN ONLY THE NO. 1 HIT 'THAT'S ROCK AND ROLL' BY SHAUN CASSIDY.
AUSTRALIAN FOOTAGE:
SKYHOOKS 'EGO IS NOT A DIRTY WORD', 'PARTY TO END ALL PARTIES' (LIVE)
OL 55 'ON THE PROWL', 'COME ON LET'S DO IT' (LIVE)
LITTLE RIVER BAND 'CURIOSITY KILLED THE CAT', 'HELP IS ON THE WAY' (LIVE)
RENEE GEYER 'IF LOVING YOU IS WRONG', 'STARES AND WHISPERS' (LIVE)
SUPERNAUT 'I LIKE IT BOTH WAYS', 'YOUNG AND INNOCENT' (LIVE)
TED MULRY GANG 'JAMAICA RUM' (LIVE)
MARK HOLDEN 'NEVER GONNA FALL IN LOVE AGAIN', 'HEY MY LOVE' (LIVE)
MARCIA HINES 'I JUST DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH MYSELF' (AUSTRALIAN TRIBUTE)
HUSH 'NOTHING STAYS THE SAME FOREVER' (AUSTRALIAN TRIBUTE)
TASTE 'A LITTLE ROMANCE'
AIR SUPPLY 'EMPTY PAGES'
DEBBIE BYRNE 'YOU PROMISED ME THE LOVE' (AUSTRALIAN TRIBUTE)
STARS 'WITH A WINNING HAND'
AVALANCHE 'GOOD FOR YOU'
DRAGON 'GET THAT JIVE' (AUSTRALIAN TRIBUTE)
JPY 'YESTERDAYS HERO', 'I WANNA DO IT WITH YOU' (LIVE WITH THE ALLSTARS)
SHERBET 'HOWZAT'
DARYL BRAITHWAITE 'LOVE HAS NO PRIDE' (LIVE)
ENGLISH FOOTAGE:
KIKI DEE 'FIRST THING IN THE MORNING'
SMOKIE 'LIVING NEXT DOOR TO ALICE'
AC/DC 'DOG EATS DOG'
LEO SAYER 'WHEN I NEED YOU'
SHOWADDYWADDY 'WHEN'
SUZI QUATRO 'TEAR ME APART'
DAVID DUNDAS 'ANOTHER FUNNY HONEYMOON'
OVERSEAS CLIP:
SHAUN CASSIDY 'THAT'S ROCK N ROLL'

ROCK ARENA: July 3 1984
THIS IS THE FIRST SHOW BY THE NEW HOST SUZANNE DOWLING,WHO INTRODUCES AND TALKS ABOUT,ULTRAVOX(14.01),MALCOLM MCLAREN(23.30),THE PRETENDERS(40.22).;ARTISTS;EURYTHMICS 'THIS IS THE HOUSE'(0.18);REDGUM 'I'VE BEEN TO BALI TOO'(7.12);REDGUM 'FRIDAY NIGHT'(10.55);ULTRAVOX 'DANCING WITH TEARS IN MY EYES'(14.35);ULTRAVOX 'ONE SMALL DAY'(18.57);MALCOLM MCLAREN 'BUFFALO GALS'(24.11);WORLD FAMOUS SUPREME TEAM 'HEY D,J,'(27.48);ROCK STEADY CREW 'UPROCK'(34.40);THE PRETENDERS 'BRASS IN POCKET'(40.57);THE PRETENDERS 'MIDDLE OF THE ROAD'(43.48);THE PRETENDERS 'BACK ON THE CHAIN GANG'(47.46);THE PRETENDERS '2000 MILES'(51.33);THE PRETENDERS 'THIN LINE BETWEEN LOVE & HATE'(55.01);SILENT RUNNING 'EMOTIONAL WARFARE'(59.01);SILENT RUNNING 'WHEN THE TWELFTH OF NEVER COMES'(1.03.00)
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March 6 1984
A ONE HOUR MUSIC SHOW HOSTED BY GLENN SHORROCK WHO BRIEFLY INTRODUCES THE VARIOUS ARTISTS. THIS WEEKS SHOW FEATURES AN INTERVIEW WITH BERNIE TAUPIN, ELTON JOHNS SONGWRITER AND EXCERPTS FROM THE CONCERT FOR BANGLADESH.;ARTISTS/TITLE:;
ROCK ARENA PROMO 1 BY BERNIE TAUPIN(0.00);ROCK ARENA PROMO 2 BY BERNIE TAUPIN(0.40)
;ROLLING STONES 'SHE WAS HOT'(1.39)
;NENA '99 LUFT BALLOONS'(7.16)
;BRIAN MAY AND FRIENDS 'STAR FLEET'(11.01)
;CONCERT FOR BANGLADESH, INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING ARTSISTS:
;GEORGE HARRISON 'AWAITING ON YOU ALL'(16.41)
;BILLY PRESTON 'THAT'S THE WAY GOD PLANNED IT(17.54)
;GEORGE HARRISON 'HERE COMES THE SUN'(18.42)
;DYLAN 'IT TAKES A LOT TO LAUGH'
(19.26);GEORGE HARRISON 'MY SWEET LORD'(19.57)
;GLEN SHORROCK BRIEFLY TALKS ABOUT THE CARREER OF JOHN COUGAR AND INTRODUCES HIS SONGS;JOHN COUGAR 'MIAMI'(20.42);JOHN COUGAR 'JACK AND DIANNE(24.06);JOHN COUGAR MELLENCAMP 'PINK HOUSES'(28.21)
;ELTON JOHN 'I'M STILL STANDING'(37.50);GLEN SHORROCK IV WITH BERNIE TAUPIN, HE TALKS ABOUT HOW HE AND ELTON JOHN COMBINE TO CREATE THEIR SONGS AND HOW THEY STARTED WORKING TOGETHER(40.47);ELTON JOHN 'EMPTY GARDEN'(44.45);ELTON JOHN 'KISS THE BRIDE'(53.58);
JO JO ZEP AND THE FALCONS 'HONEY DRIPPER'(58.20)

Just awful. Perhaps they should have replaced the whole thing with hockey.

A rather blah weekend of Rage, but "you can't always get what you want", and we know it was going to be crap with the hockey intermission anyway.

I actually think this is a really good night of Retro Month. If we set aside *our* collective preference for unplayed eps of Countdown, for the average punter, there's a lot of really good stuff here.

It's worth remembering there are always new people coming on board with Retro Month (which is a good thing, if the audience doesn't continue to grow and enjoy, Retro Month will be a thing of the past). Elton was a huge, huge star during the era that Retro Month highlights and he deserves the focus, even though I personally find him pretty boring as a performer (but I do love a lot of his music).

I don't know when the '77 Countdown ep was last shown, but I believe it was pre-digital recording days, so I'm very happy to have the opportunity to capture it digitally, and it's a fantastic episode. There will be lots of people who have never seen it before and it's a really great showcase of just how fantastic the '70s was in Australia...and how incredible Countdown was in the '70s. Lot's of ticked boxes there.

The only thing I'm really unhappy about this Saturday is the hockey interruption which is, quite frankly, absurd.

I personally think there is TOO much Elton John. If the hockey wasn't on and rage played another Countdown etc in that time it would at least balance out the Elton.

If at least the Rock Arena with all that Elton wasn't played, it's just too much to focus on oen artist. rage could have done a night of Elton on a non rage goes retro night, he isn't just a 'RETRO' artist so why play during January?

As Is aid, the fact that the hockey is on just throws the variety out the window, it would have been much better in that hockey time with something other than Elton

hehehehehehehe

Wow, nothing to get excited about this week.

I like Elton John's music, but a whole night is a bit too much.

the '77 Countdown hasn't been shown on RAGE since the 90s, but its still a repeat of a repeat.

This is the episode where the birthday cake blows up at the start of the show.

Yep, the episode with the cake that blows up.


Ah dear, anyhow ....

Good point Jason, perhaps rage should start looking at doing artist specials like this throughout the year. Once again, rage are playing to the majority.

The Rock Arena's are good and I can't believe they are kicking off with The Meldrum Tapes - didn't they show this episode when VH1 was showing them all a few years back?

Nathan, aren't you excited about the Eurythmics 'The Walk' being featured on Saturday mornings playlist and 'This Is The House' from one of the Rock Arena's? I know I am.

and...I wish retro month never grew and it remained 'Countdown'! and episode after episode. Ahh the bliss. We didn't know we were on a good thing and then others had to stick their fingers in the pie.

'The Walk' (which isn't the unreleased promo video anyway, but rather, a live performance) aired in 2012 after Dave Stewart's guest programming, and I've got 'This Is the House' (assuming it's also the live performance) on their Sweet Dreams DVD (a copy I received), so no

Plus there's repeats galore with the Bob Marley videos on Saturday morning, plus the Ultravox & Malcolm McLaren videos on Sunday night. Such a missed opportunity yet again. But I won't gripe (apart from this).

well, i guess i'm in the same boat as you. D a m n you rage.

I've got a (very poor quality sound) copy of the promo video for 'The Walk', sourced from VHS tape (you can also see the vid on youtube). Now if Rage were somehow playing that instead (we can hope, I suppose, but it's extremely unlikely as I don't think it was ever properly released/broadcast anywhere), I'd be impressed.

Yep, agree, and I'm one of them who missed out the first time it was shown sometime in 1995. I didn't start recording the rage goes retro months until January 1997, the first night I was taping was when they were showing a whole heap of countdowns from October 1979.

Incredibly I mentioned last week that I wanted to see the 100th episode in one of this boards threads. I wouldn't be surprised if rage do go through these boards, so in a sence I take back the hard grilling I gave them in the "hockey interruption" thread. I've always wanted this particular episode from 1977.

http://1970scountdown.atspace.com/exists.html

I'm not so bothered about the Countdown repeat (I didn't see it first time around in retro month either), but just the Elton theme. As I've said before, I much prefer a random retro month full of variety/surprises, rather than these themes rage seem to love imposing on it in recent years. They seem to repeat/play more-common stuff too when they try to do things themed, it seems.

I know, the Saturday Morning slot from 10:30 to 11:30 looks like it has been picked by a heap of dipsticks doing job experience - Bob Marley.......... again..... for the 15 millionth time? As much as I like 80s Elton John, I too agree this is way over the top on Saturday night.

Agreed on both points. The Bob Marley interview might be vaguely interesting, but c'mon, those videos have been aired on Rage umpteen times before, and they pop up all year round. It makes no sense to give them yet another re-hash during a one-month-a-year chance to play something different in retro

I will focus on the positives:
2 Rock Arena's including Suzanne Dowling's first show.
More clips from the damaged 1978 Adelaide Countdown being shown
The Groove items from For Swingers Only which I have never heard of.
Bob Marley interview April 1 1979 - must be from a storage tape as it comes from a lost Countdown episode No. 187 - therefore more lost Countdown footage found.

Not a fan of single artist specials but there are a few items of interest amongst it with GTK, Press conference and This Day Tonight.

The Meldrum Tapes were all shown on VH1 about 7 years ago.

The 100th episode (April 1977) was shown in Jan 1997. Have never been a fan of repeats when there are still over 160 episodes that have never aired on Rage.

The 100th episode is older than that. It was actually shown on the first ever Retro night in Jan 1993.

As far as the over the top Elton John stuff goes, Rage feel they have to barge in on Retro Month one week each year with some OT crap. Remember the infamous Madonna special a few years back? Then there were the three hour blocks of Recovery and the infamous "90s night" a few years back.

But the grandaddy of them all were the infamous Big Day Out specials which ran for several years. We complained loud and long on the Rage messageboard about them but Rage remained firm and would not get rid of them. I got sick of the same crap we have to put up with every weekend of the year barging into Retro Month so I wrote to the producer of Rage pointing out that The Big Day Out was (and is) a privately owned commercial venture, and the ABC running a Big Day Out special and promoting it as such on the website is, in fact, advertising which - as everybody knows - is forbidden by law and under the ABC Charter. I also sent a copy of the letter to the Minister for Communications. Lo and behold the following January there was no Big Day Out special and it has never returned.

I recorded the 100th episode in 1997. According to Jason's listings they played the 10th Anniversary episode in 1993. As 1993 was the only retro I have missed - as I didn't know it was on - you may well be right in that they may have also played that episode then. Brett(2) once mentioned that they played Retro on 2 nights that year. If that is the case then this would be the 3rd showing of this episode.


Wow, I remember protesting BDO for several years as well and was happy when they finally moved it to February. I would think though that your actions may well have been what caused that change. I owe you a big thanks for getting that abomination out of January.

The Meldrum Tapes were shown on VH1 7 years ago, but they were edited. The interview segments remained in tact, but VH1 stepped in and played the artists videos from their sources, not the videos that were originally in the episodes.

rage retro Saturday mornings has been appalling! I haven't tuned in and watched any.

On a brighter note, I enjoyed last nights Rock Arena's. I have to admit that Suzanne is a natural at hosting, even on her first episode. Where I felt Glenn should stick to music.

I agree ... Suzanne was perfect on the first episode. i love the way she simply with not fear said 'I am the new presenter of Rock Arena'. She did THE best job, actually, she seemed more comfortable than some later episodes when she muddled up her speech. She looked glorious and was so darn COOL on that first ep!

The 100th episode (April 1977) was shown in Jan 1997. Have never been a fan of repeats when there are still over 160 episodes that have never aired on Rage.

[/quote]

I know it's a pain when the 100th episode from April '77 has been repeated again, but to be fair to the ABC, Jan1997 (when it was last shown, in analogue of course, was a WHOPPING 17 YEARS AGO!! Scary, but true! I am at least glad to now have a cleaner digital version of the show to effectively replace my old analogue to VHS to DVD copy.

It is nice to get a digital upgrade but given the option between an upgrade and something new I would rather see something different.

Yes, that is very true that it has been 17 years. It is also unfortunate that there was the great Malcolm Fraser "razor gang" that forced the deletion of most of the 70's episodes and fans keep wanting to see 70's material that does not exist so it is necessary to repeat for that purpose.

Retro has been going for 21 years now but it is worth noting a few things.

Firstly, fans of Countdown are predominantly those who grew up with the show. They are now mainly aged from their late 30's through to their 60's. 17 years is not that long ago to this generation. It is neither whopping (upper or lower case) nor scary, unless you've had to be in jail or live in the middle east for that period.

The 160 odd episodes from 1980-1987 that Rage have not yet aired, have not been shown for between 27 and 34 years. If 17 years is whopping, then what is 34 years? A Double Whopper perhaps, although Hungry Jacks may have that copyrighted. Fans of GTK and Hitscene have not seen their unaired shows for between 38 and 44 years - that would be a life sentence. These fans would be aged around 50-70 years. If the same shows get repeated every 17 years then they will die without ever getting to see it. I don't think that would be fair to those fans who don't care about digital upgrades when they don't have any copy of anything to look at that they are interested in.

I just think it is a shame to allow this footage to be lost to society so, for that reason, I like to see as much variety as possible. In turn that means to limit repeats or increase the airing of Retro material. Since the latter is unlikely then I would like to see action on the former.

Retro is only shown on average 4 weeks per year (sometimes 5 times but other times it is, or has been, lost to Big Day Out, Tennis, Hockey etc so about 4 weeks a year has been the average). Therefore it is effectively 17 x 4 Retro weeks ago - 68 weeks ago. Yes, that is rubbery logic but effectively you would be asking for Retro episodes to be repeated at that frequency which would only make sense if there was nothing else to play. I don't want to relive my last 17 January's just for an upgrade - I would be 61 and bored by the completion of that project.

The ability to record and keep material that was broadcast is much easier to do these days and basically since the late 80's when video tapes became much more affordable and you didn't just tape highlights and then tape over them again. In 1970 it was virtually impossible. In 1975 a video recorder cost more than an Escort or a Datsun. By the early 80's video tapes cost about $15, a video recorder around $800, interest rates were at 18% and the average weekly wage was about $200. It wasn't financially viable to do that then. By 1993 when Retro started it wasn't a problem so fans who weren't able to record it originally now have had no problem for the last 21 years - whopping or otherwise.

Therefore, to be fair to the ABC, I don't entirely begrudge the repeating of the odd 70's Countdown to meet that end but would not support that action when there is so much unaired material, although it is still better than common clips being shown which is a bigger bugbear to me. There definitely should not be any 80's repeats though due to the other material available.

I couldn't have put it any better...and to be frank I don't know if I would have had the patience to. Cheers.

True, I probably could have let it go through to the keeper.

Perhaps I should have just posted this:


I used to protest repeats on the Rage Messageboard (although I haven't bothered for a few years now) in an effort to see variety on Retro.

I could never understand why people want the same episodes instead of just recording it and watching it whenever you want to, or finding someone with a copy so as not to force everyone else to endure a repeat. It's not that hard. I actually went a step further, after living in an area of poor reception for the 1994 and 1995 Retro seasons, I actually moved into a house that I had been using as a rental property just so I could get good reception Retro from 1996 onwards. I moved house for Retro season.

Analogue is/was perfectly fine quality and if you lived in an area of lesser quality reception it was actually better than digital which has a habit of pixelating and freezing when the signal is weaker compared to analogue with mild ghosting.

On the whole Rage have been very good. There have been few repeats, they have listened to requests and they have made an effort to uncover some rare footage. No other station does anything like this so I am extremely appreciative of what they do put together. If they could replace all the common clips, that keep creeping in, with an episode or two of Hitscene to cater for the 60's/70's fans then they would just about have the formula right.

Ultimately it is not life and death but just a missed opportunity. I am not the only one to lament repeats and common clips, I'm just not a fan of it. As I said in my original post, I will focus on the positives.