10 Classic Rock TV specials

Around The Beatles: transmitted 6th May 1964 (UK)

Classic Beatlemania-era special for ITV, which aired on Wednesday 6th May 1964 just after the Fab Four had conquered America and before their first film A Hard Day's Night. The hour-long show came as part of a dazzling evening of entertainment which also included Coronation Street and some Wrestling from Wolverhampton.

The Beatles - Shout! (Around The Beatles TV Special, 1964)

Guests on the show inccluded Cilla Black and Sounds Incorporated (who were also handled by Beatles manager Brian Epstein), plus Long John Baldry, PJ Proby and Millie (of My Boy Lollipop fame) and hyperactive American DJ Murray The K. Highlights included the Fabs performing a parody of A Midsummer Night's Dream and performing some big tunes from their first two albums, including Twist And Shout, Roll Over Beethoven, I Wanna Be Your Man, the then-brand new Can’t Buy Me Love and a cover of the classic stomper Shout. America had to wait until November before they could see it!

Elvis: transmitted 3rd December 1968 (US)

After spending the best part of a decade appearing in terrible, formulaic films, the King of Rock 'N' Roll made this astonishing return to form in this hour long programme, which history now calls the "68 Comeback Special". The show featured some extravagant production numbers, but the real gold came when Presley sat down in front of a small studio audience with his band - including old colleagues Scotty Moore and DJ Fontana - and reminded everyone why he'd been such a seismic force in music a decade earlier.

Elvis Presley-Heartbreak Hotel-1968-Comeback Special

The "sit down" jams saw Elvis revisit classics like Lawdy Miss Clawdy, Heartbreak Hotel, Hound Dog, All Shook Up and Jailhouse Rock, while dressed in a leather outfit that basically kick-started a rock'n'roll revival single-handedly.

The special ends with the King stood in front of a huge sign spelling ELVIS as the singer belted out the gospel-inspired song I Can Dream. British Elvis fans had to wait until New Year's Eve 1969 to see this landmark performance.

Elvis Presley - If I Can Dream ('68 Comeback Special)

The Rolling Stones Rock & Roll Circus (filmed December 1968)

1968 saw the Stones regain their mojo after a year of legal hassles and an underhwelming flirtationw ith psychedelia. The Beggars Banquet album saw the band reconnect with their blues roots and the single Jumpin' Jack Flash was their first Number 1 in two years.

Based around the rough concept of a, well, a circus with rock acts performing, the Stones lined up an impressive array of guests for a recording session on 11th December 1968, which included The Who, Jethro Tull, Marianne Faithfull and blues legend Taj Mahal. Their biggest coup was to get an actual Beatle in the shape of John Lennon with Yoko Ono and Eric Clapton in tow for a version of the brand new track Yer Blues, taken from the newly-released White Album.

The Dirty Mac - Yer Blues (Official Video) [4K]

However, the long studio day ended around 5am the next morning and the Stones was clearly not at their peak by the time the cameras rolled on their set, which included new songs Sympathy For The Devil and You Can't Always Get What You Want. There was also the embarrassing spectacle of a clearly-intoxicated Brian Jones lurking in the background - this would mark the musician's last public appearance as a member of The Rolling Stones, before his death in July 1969.

Jagger felt the Stones had been overshadowed by the dynamic performance of The Who on their mini-opera A Quick One While He's Away and the recording was shelved until 1996, when the archive footage was finally released on video. The show was helmed by former Ready Steady Go man Michael Lindsay-Hogg and the production clearly led to the director's involvement in The Beatles' own attempt to produce a TV special, the ill-fated Get Back project (see Peter Jackson's seven hour documentary of the same name for details).

The Rolling Stones - Sympathy For The Devil (Official Video) [4K]

33⅓ Revolutions Per Monkee: transmitted 14th April 1969 (US)

The American pop band were put together for a TV series in the first place, so it was only natural they'd break outside of the half-hour sitcom format and make a special of their own. This hour-long fantasy came after the series had wrapped in March 1968 and the band had completed their image-destroying feature film, Head and 33⅓ Revolutions Per Monkee followed a similar surreal storyline: musical guests Julie Driscoll and Brian Auger brainwash the four members into taking over the world.

THE MONKEES Listen to the Band

The plot climaxes with the four Monkees - Davy Jones, Mike Nesmith, Peter Tork and Micky Dolenz - reinvented as a 50s-style group, performing a medley of old school tunes with some stars of the era, including Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats Domino and Little Richard. The finale is an epic version of Listen To The Band featuring the entire guest cast alongside The Monkees, and the closing credits feature Tork singing California, Here I Come... ironic as he quit the group shortly after the TV special was filmed. The programme was shown on BBC-2 on Saturday 24th May 1969.

James Paul McCartney: transmitted 10th May 1973 (UK)

Macca got into a bit of a tussle with Sir Lew Grade, who bought the rights to The Beatles' song publishers Northern Songs, which would cover the four members' solo works into the 70s. Sir Lew claimed that McCartney couldn't have a co-credit for his wife Linda on a number of songs, citing her lack of writing experience and suggesting that this was some kind of dodge to get around the ongoing Beatles court case that was still rumbling on at the time. To placate the media mogul, Paul agreed to make a TV special for Grade's company ATV, one of the ITV franchises.

Paul McCartney & Wings — Yesterday (Acoustic, 1973)

The resulting hour long special was broadcast on 16th April 1973, which showcased Macca's recent singles (including the stinker Mary Had A Little Lamb), tracks from his albums McCartney and Ram, some old fashioned show tunes and the inevitable Beatles medley. The Melody Maker called it "over-blown and silly", but as an example of Macca's effortless talent, it's pretty much perfect.

The 1980 Floor Show: transmitted 16th November 1973 (US)

A boundary-pushing American TV special featuring David Bowie at his most provocative, effectively finishing the Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane era and ushering the Diamond Dogs period with an early version of 1984 and a couple of covers from the Pin Ups album.

It ends with guest Marianne Faithfull dressed as a nun, duetting with Dave on I Got You Babe, but only they mess with the male/female roles around in true gender-fluid style. It was shown in the US as part of the series The Midnight Special, but despite being shot at London's Marquee, it was never screened in full in the UK.

I Got You, Babe - David Bowie & Marianne Faithfull | The Midnight Special

The Kinks - Star Maker: transmitted 4th September 1974 (UK)

Since 1969's Arthur (Or The Decline And Fall Of The British Empire), Ray Davies had been drifting further into the realm of the concept album or rock opera and this 1974 special was probably the ultimate example of the form.

Davies plays the rock musicia Star, who attempts to swap places with an ordinart citizen Norman. Performed at Granada studios in Manchester in front of an audience, it's a deliberately artificial-looking piece of theatre and the whole thing was later decanted into the album Soap Opera.

The KinKs "Starmaker" (Live Granada TV)

Alice Cooper - The Nightmare: transmitted 25th April 1975 (US)

Alice Cooper plays "Steven", a man trapped within a nightmare from which he's struggling to escape. Of course, horror legend Vincent Price turns up - almost a decade before he appeared on Michael Jackson's Thriller album. The songs are taken from Cooper's album Welcome To My Nightmare, plus the track The Ballad Of Dwight Fry, dedicated to the star of the 1931 classic Dracula.

Alice Cooper . The Nightmare. 1975 TV special. /4/ Only Women Bleed.

Ringo Starr: transmitted 26th April 1978 (US)

If anything sums up the decadence and self-indulgence of the late 70s rock scene, it's this extravagant TV special from America's favourite Beatle. George Harrison tells the story of young Ringo Starr and his doppleganger Ognir Rrats (geddit?) who meet and swap lives, much like in the story The Prince & The Pauper.

Written by Pat Proft and Neal Isreal, who'd later mastermind Police Academy, this hour long TV special features Carrie Fisher, Angie "Police Woman" Dickinson, chat show host Mike Douglas and perennial guest star Vincent Price. Songs include many of Ringo's classics such as Act Naturally and I'm The Greatest and samples of his infamous flop album Bad Boy. George gives us a Rutles joke, which makes him the best Beatle.

1978 - Ringo (1 of 6)

Kate: transmitted 28th December 1979 (UK)

Kate Bush saw out the 70s with this ambitious, studio-shot special that featured her festive song December Will Be Magic Again, classics like The Man With The Child In His Eyes and Them Heavy People, and the dramatic Wedding List. Peter Gabriel turns up to perform Here Comes The Flood and joins Kate for the domestic drama of Another Day. It's super-artistic and Kate is fantastic, obviously.