over the London theatres until 1967, and even as late as1974 we were still expected to get clearances for the films accompanying our live concerts from the British Board of Film
Censors (including, bizarrely, getting a special dispensation not to have to show the censor’s licence on screen before the
films, which would rather have spoilt the effect).
In any case, getting played on the radio was difficult, as available airtime was still very limited. The Musicians Union had
negotiated a deal with the BBC that restricted the amount of records that could be broadcast on the radio to forty hours a
week. This left hours of music to be performed by the jobbing musicians who made up the radio orchestras. This was fine when
the songs were a nice bit of crooning with a trumpet solo, but when they tried to recreate ‘Purple Haze’ it was the aural
equivalent of a one-armed paper hanger.
Faced with these obstacles one option open to us – and any other band hoping to enjoy Top Twenty success – was to hype the
record. In an age before electronic point of sale data, the system was very simple: it was fairly well known which shops supplied
their returns to indicate record sales, and various persons would be sent in to the relevant outlets to buy the chosen single
incessantly. Apparently you had to be very careful in one hyper’s office. An inadvertently opened cupboard could cause serious
injury as a cascade of unplayed records came spilling out. One particular specialist, in return for £100, would load up his
sports car with flowers and chocolates and set off around the record shops to convince the girls behind the counter to adjust
the sales figures, which they were delighted to do.
‘Arnold Layne’, released in March 1967, had reached Number Twenty in the UK charts. For the follow-up, ‘See Emily Play’ was
chosen, and we tried recording it at Abbey Road. However, we just could not reproduce the sound of ‘Arnold Layne’, and so
we all trailed back to Sound Techniques to recreate the magic formula, which gave Joe Boyd a certain wry pleasure.
By the time ‘Emily’ came out, we had gained some additional benefits from the banning of ‘Arnold Layne’. I think the stations
were a little shamefaced, and it looked as though their street cred might take a turn for the worse if they were not seen
to be accommodating the new bright young things. All the radio stations played the record and we reached Number Seventeen
after two weeks. This Top Twenty chart position entitled us to an appearance on
Top Of The Pops.
This marked an important new rung in the upward ladder, and gave us real exposure. Being seen by a national television audience
would directly affect our drawing power and thus our earning capacity as a live band. ‘AS SEEN ON TV!’ was worth at least
another hundred quid a night.
Most of the day was spent with run-throughs, make-up, pressing of fancy clothes, hair washing and trimming, all at the BBC’s
well-equipped facility at Lime Grove. What the road crew quickly found out was that since the hair and make-up departments
did not know who any of the new bands were, they could also go in, chat up the girls, and get their hair washed, trimmed and
blow-dried. Rarely have I seen such deliciously gleaming road crew as those roaming the corridors of the BBC that night.
However, I felt the show itself was pretty much of an anticlimax. Miming feels pretty daft at the best of times, and this
was not even the best of times. It was always a chore to mime, especially for a drummer. To keep the sound level down you
had to avoid hitting the drum skins completely or just use the drum sides. Both methods looked very awkward. In later years
the whole ghastly exercise included using plastic cymbals and pads. In addition, you had all the adrenalin of performance
with no physical activity or real audience response to absorb it. Compared to the show, though, the complete lack
Censors (including, bizarrely, getting a special dispensation not to have to show the censor’s licence on screen before the
films, which would rather have spoilt the effect).
In any case, getting played on the radio was difficult, as available airtime was still very limited. The Musicians Union had
negotiated a deal with the BBC that restricted the amount of records that could be broadcast on the radio to forty hours a
week. This left hours of music to be performed by the jobbing musicians who made up the radio orchestras. This was fine when
the songs were a nice bit of crooning with a trumpet solo, but when they tried to recreate ‘Purple Haze’ it was the aural
equivalent of a one-armed paper hanger.
Faced with these obstacles one option open to us – and any other band hoping to enjoy Top Twenty success – was to hype the
record. In an age before electronic point of sale data, the system was very simple: it was fairly well known which shops supplied
their returns to indicate record sales, and various persons would be sent in to the relevant outlets to buy the chosen single
incessantly. Apparently you had to be very careful in one hyper’s office. An inadvertently opened cupboard could cause serious
injury as a cascade of unplayed records came spilling out. One particular specialist, in return for £100, would load up his
sports car with flowers and chocolates and set off around the record shops to convince the girls behind the counter to adjust
the sales figures, which they were delighted to do.
‘Arnold Layne’, released in March 1967, had reached Number Twenty in the UK charts. For the follow-up, ‘See Emily Play’ was
chosen, and we tried recording it at Abbey Road. However, we just could not reproduce the sound of ‘Arnold Layne’, and so
we all trailed back to Sound Techniques to recreate the magic formula, which gave Joe Boyd a certain wry pleasure.
By the time ‘Emily’ came out, we had gained some additional benefits from the banning of ‘Arnold Layne’. I think the stations
were a little shamefaced, and it looked as though their street cred might take a turn for the worse if they were not seen
to be accommodating the new bright young things. All the radio stations played the record and we reached Number Seventeen
after two weeks. This Top Twenty chart position entitled us to an appearance on
Top Of The Pops.
This marked an important new rung in the upward ladder, and gave us real exposure. Being seen by a national television audience
would directly affect our drawing power and thus our earning capacity as a live band. ‘AS SEEN ON TV!’ was worth at least
another hundred quid a night.
Most of the day was spent with run-throughs, make-up, pressing of fancy clothes, hair washing and trimming, all at the BBC’s
well-equipped facility at Lime Grove. What the road crew quickly found out was that since the hair and make-up departments
did not know who any of the new bands were, they could also go in, chat up the girls, and get their hair washed, trimmed and
blow-dried. Rarely have I seen such deliciously gleaming road crew as those roaming the corridors of the BBC that night.
However, I felt the show itself was pretty much of an anticlimax. Miming feels pretty daft at the best of times, and this
was not even the best of times. It was always a chore to mime, especially for a drummer. To keep the sound level down you
had to avoid hitting the drum skins completely or just use the drum sides. Both methods looked very awkward. In later years
the whole ghastly exercise included using plastic cymbals and pads. In addition, you had all the adrenalin of performance
with no physical activity or real audience response to absorb it. Compared to the show, though, the complete lack
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