Rock Goes to College

by Pete Clemons

Rock Goes to College was a BBC series that ran between Sept 1978 and March 1981. The programme showcased a variety of up-coming rock oriented bands who were given the opportunity to perform live from small venues and broadcast simultaneously on television and radio during a 40-50 minute live performance.

The venues were typically university, polytechnic or college halls that had small stages. The halls held a few thousand people with tickets often given to the Students Union to distribute out for free. The bands chosen were also, in some cases, bands which, at that time, did not have a particularly strong mainstream following. Although many went on to be very successful.

A BBC DJ, normally Pete Drummond, would also be present to introduce the band for the television audience.

I have put a few words together about a couple of Coventry connections to the series.

The first was on January 21st 1980. In this episode the student taunting Specials performed at the Colchester Institute in 1979, playing hits such as Rat Race, Too Much Too Young and Gangsters. The band are caught throwing tambourines at the bouncers and indulging in a little moon stomping during a stage invasion. This appearance definitely captured Coventry’s Magnificent 7 at their finest.

Set listing: Do the Dog, Monkey Man, Rat Race, Blank Expression, Rude Boys Outta Jail, Doesn’t Make It Right, Concrete Jungle, Too Much Too Young, Guns of Navarone, Nite Club, Gangsters, Longshot Kick De Bucket, Madness, You’re Wondering

Next up was when Rock Goes to College visited Coventry. On 19 March 1981 Siouxsie and the Banshees were filmed live at the nearby Warwick Arts Centre, for the BBC music show.

From the concert came a tune called Israel, a dazzling walk between the symbolic and the emotional. The song was released and issued as a stand-alone single between the albums ‘Kaleidoscope’ and ‘Juju’.

The concert was enticing in its ethereal darkness, from Steve Severin’s irresistibly menacing bass and Budgie’s ceremonial drums to the eerie choral backing. John McGeoch’s dazzling guitar spirals and Siouxsie’s beautifully mournful delivery.

This 40-minute set, which was also the last ever Rock Goes to College, was filmed a few months before the band released Juju, their fourth studio album and several of the tracks featured in the setlist.

Set listing: Intro (Clockface), Israel, Spellbound, Arabian Knights, Halloween, Christine, Night Shift, Red Light, But Not Them, Voodoo Dolly, Eve White/Eve Black.

In general, many of these RGTC performances have only have been shown a very limited number of times on TV and in some cases only once. Very few of these concerts seem to have made it to legal DVD.

Bootlegs exist created from original TV and radio broadcasts as well as subsequent repeats. The Specials, for example, are commonly found advertised on trader's sites.

Some of the shows have been recently broadcast on VH1 Classic on the show BBC Crown Jewels.