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''Beat-Club'' is a West Germany, West German music programme that ran from September 1965 to December 1972. It was broadcast from Bremen (city), Bremen, West Germany on Das Erste, ''Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen'', the national public TV channel of the ARD (broadcaster), ARD, and produced by one of its members, Radio Bremen, later co-produced by Westdeutscher Rundfunk, WDR following the 38th episode.
The show immediately caused a sensation and achieved cult status throughout West Germany among the youth, while the older generation hated it. The show's earlier episodes featured live performances, and was set in front of a plain brick wall. It underwent a revamp in 1967, when a more professional look was adopted with large cards in the background displaying the names of the performers. Around this time, a troupe of young women billed the "Go-Go-Girls," were introduced to dance to songs when their performers couldn't appear.
In early 1969, Travis was replaced by Dave Dee, of Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich. On 31 December 1969, ''Beat-Club'' switched to colour and again featured live performances. Dee departed in 1970, leaving Nerke as the lone host.
In the later years of its run, the series was known for incorporating psychedelic visual effects during many performances, many concentrating on images of the performers in the background. When the show switched to colour, the effects became much more vivid.
The Grateful Dead performed on the show on 21 April 1972, halfway through their European Tour (selections of which would make up the live album ''Europe '72''). The band played a shorter set than usual, but still included crowd favourites such as "Truckin'". The set is believed to be the last professionally filmed appearance of Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, who retired from the band following his final gig at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles shortly after the end of the tour owing to medical reasons and he later died in March 1973. In 2014, the footage had its first theatrical screening in theatres across the US.
TV.com: Beat-Club
- complete list with all tracks (in English)
Beat-Club
channel on YouTube * {{ARD Radio Bremen German music television series Pop music television series 1965 German television series debuts 1972 German television series endings German-language television shows Das Erste original programming
History
''Beat-Club'' was co-created by Gerhard Augustin and Mike Leckebusch. The show premiered on 25 September 1965 with Augustin and Uschi Nerke hosting. German TV personality Wilhelm Wieben opened the first show with a short speech. After eight episodes, Augustin stepped down from his hosting role and was replaced by DJ Dave Lee Travis.
The show immediately caused a sensation and achieved cult status throughout West Germany among the youth, while the older generation hated it. The show's earlier episodes featured live performances, and was set in front of a plain brick wall. It underwent a revamp in 1967, when a more professional look was adopted with large cards in the background displaying the names of the performers. Around this time, a troupe of young women billed the "Go-Go-Girls," were introduced to dance to songs when their performers couldn't appear.
In early 1969, Travis was replaced by Dave Dee, of Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich. On 31 December 1969, ''Beat-Club'' switched to colour and again featured live performances. Dee departed in 1970, leaving Nerke as the lone host.
In the later years of its run, the series was known for incorporating psychedelic visual effects during many performances, many concentrating on images of the performers in the background. When the show switched to colour, the effects became much more vivid.
The Grateful Dead performed on the show on 21 April 1972, halfway through their European Tour (selections of which would make up the live album ''Europe '72''). The band played a shorter set than usual, but still included crowd favourites such as "Truckin'". The set is believed to be the last professionally filmed appearance of Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, who retired from the band following his final gig at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles shortly after the end of the tour owing to medical reasons and he later died in March 1973. In 2014, the footage had its first theatrical screening in theatres across the US.
Acts on the show
In its seven-year run before being replaced by ''Musikladen'' the show featured artists such as the following: *Alice Cooper (band), Alice Cooper *Amon Düül II *The Animals *Arthur Brown (musician), Arthur Brown *Atomic Rooster *Badfinger *Barry St. John *The Beach Boys *Bee Gees *Black Sabbath *Blue Cheer *Can (band), Can *Canned Heat *Captain Beefheart *Caravan (band), Caravan *Cherry Wainer *Chicago (band), Chicago *Chuck Berry *Cream (band), Cream *David Bowie *Deep Purple *The Doors *The Easybeats *Emerson, Lake & Palmer *The Equals *Eric Burdon and War (band), War *Family (band), Family *Fanny (band), Fanny *Fleetwood Mac *Fotheringay *Frank Zappa *Free (band), Free *Frumpy *Gene Pitney *Grateful Dead *Guru Guru *Harry Nilsson *The Hollies *Ike & Tina Turner *Iron Butterfly *James Gang *Jethro Tull (band), Jethro Tull *Jimi Hendrix *Joe Cocker *King Crimson *The Kinks *Kraftwerk *The Liverbirds *Led Zeppelin *Lucifer's Friend *Lulu (singer), Lulu *Manassas (band), Manassas *Manfred Mann *The Moody Blues *MC5 *Mountain (band), Mountain *The Move *Popol Vuh (band), Popol Vuh *P. P. Arnold *Redbone (band), Redbone *Richie Havens *Robin Gibb *The Rolling Stones *Rory Gallagher *Santana (band), Santana *Sharon Tandy *Small Faces *Sonny & Cher *Spirit (band), Spirit *Steppenwolf (band), Steppenwolf *Stone the Crows *Ten Years After *Third World War (band), Third World War *T. Rex (band), T. Rex *UFO (band), UFO *Vanilla Fudge *The Who *Yes (band), Yes *Zager and Evans Performances from the show were seen on VH1 Classic, and reruns air in several European countries. Several DVD collections have also been released.Relaunch
''Beat Club'' is now broadcast on Sunday afternoons between 1 and 3 pm as a weekly radio programme on Radio Bremen 1 and on a web channel offered by the radio station. The radio show is still hosted, rather nostalgically, by Nerke, reprising her role as presenter for the series. The 2008 Video on demand web portal launched for ''Beat-Club'' and ''Musikladen'' was replaced by a YouTube channel in 2010.References
External links
TV.com: Beat-Club
- complete list with all tracks (in English)
Beat-Club
channel on YouTube * {{ARD Radio Bremen German music television series Pop music television series 1965 German television series debuts 1972 German television series endings German-language television shows Das Erste original programming