Rock Family Trees

First in a six-part series on the last 30 years of pop history, based on music journalist
Pete Frame's intricate, Hand-drawn genealogical trees.

Formed in 1967, Fleetwood Mac has survived in various line-ups for 28 years and achieved great artistic and commercial success - at a price to its members.

From the early sixties, Birmingham produced some of the most successful and enduring bands in British pop. Tonight's programme traces the careers of musicians such as Roy Wood , Jeff Lynne , Denny Laine and Bev Bevan from their earliest days in the business as they formed bands, had theirfirst successes, fell out and went on to form new groups.

Tonight's programme charts the tempestuous history of one of the greatest hard rock bands of all time. In the early seventies, Deep Purple could claim to be the biggest band in the world in terms of record sales and the size of their live audiences. Yet tensions between the five members were neverfarfrom the surface and the history of the band is littered with splits. One of the many stories tells of the events which led to singer Ian Gillan leaving Deep Purple in 1973, an event which keyboard player Jon Lord describes as "the biggest shame in rock 'n' roll". Members of Deep Purple and offshoots such as Rainbow, Whitesnake and Gillan describe with remarkable frankness the highs and lows of three decades of life in the music business.

Tracing the roots of the New York music scene of the mid-seventies that produced bands such as Blondie, the Ramones, Talking Heads, Patti Smith and the New York Dolls, from the sleazy Bowery club CBGBs to international success. Among those interviewed are Debbie Harry (Blondie), David Byrne (Talking Heads) and David Johansen (New York Dolls).

In the early sixties, young people in Britain bored with the blandness of home-grown pop started listening to American blues.
They absorbed it, made it their own and in the process created a new type of rock music.
This week's programme charts the careers of groups as diverse as Manfred Mann and Cream as they turned black music into white rock.

The last in the pop history series harks back to Liverpool, where the basement club Eric's provided the venue for an explosion of music. Not since the Beatles had the city known such intense musical activity, and Liverpool bands went on to enjoy considerable chart success in the 80s and 90s, among them Wah!, Dead or Alive, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, the Lightning Seeds and the KLF.