Ready Steady Go!
This article needs additional citations for verification. (May 2012) |
Ready Steady Go! | |
---|---|
Also known as | RSG! |
Created by | Elkan Allan |
Starring | Keith Fordyce and Cathy McGowan |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
Production | |
Producers | |
Production company | Associated Rediffusion |
Original release | |
Network | ITV |
Release | 9 August 1963[2] – 23 December 1966 |
Ready Steady Go! (or RSG!) was a British rock/pop music television programme broadcast every Friday evening from 9 August 1963 until 23 December 1966. It was conceived by Elkan Allan, head of Rediffusion TV. Allan wanted a light entertainment programme different from the low-brow style of light entertainment transmitted by ATV. The programme was produced without scenery or costumes and with a minimum of choreography and make-up. Allan recruited a fellow journalist, Francis Hitching, as producer. Hitching became a major figure in light entertainment in the 1960s. Robert Fleming was the first director, followed by the documentary director Rollo Gamble, then Michael Lindsay-Hogg, Daphne Shadwell and Peter Croft.
The programme was produced by Associated-Rediffusion, the weekday ITV contractor for London, called Rediffusion-London after 1964. The live show was eventually networked nationally. The show gained its highest ratings on 20 March 1964 when it featured the Beatles being interviewed and performing "It Won't Be Long", "You Can't Do That" and "Can't Buy Me Love" – the latter being a hit at the time.
In the 1980s Dave Clark of the Dave Clark Five acquired the rights to the 1960s UK music show and bought the rights to the surviving recordings.[3]
On 10 January 2018, BMG Rights Management announced that it had acquired the ancillary rights to Ready, Steady, Go![4]
Description
The show went out early on Friday evenings with the line "The weekend starts here!", and was introduced by
Owing to scheduling of local news in parts of the UK, several ITV regions joined the show part-way through.
Initially, RSG! artists mimed but by late 1964 some performed live and the show switched to all-live performances in April 1965.[5] It was noted for allowing artists to perform the full version of songs rather than short versions demanded by other shows. The programme was never broadcast in the United States, perhaps because it was in black and white when ABC, CBS and NBC were converting to full colour.
The show was recorded at small studios in
RSG was originally from Studio 9 in Kingsway when artists mimed; it later moved to Studio 5 at Wembley, enabling artists to perform live. Artists' own recorded backing tracks were not allowed by the
The show was popular among young people. It had a particular following among the mod youth subculture of the 1960s.[7]
In late 1966, when the "beat boom" was fading, the show was cancelled, despite its popularity. Compilations were broadcast on
Origin of "The Weekend Starts Here"
After the recording of the pilot episode on Tuesday 16 July 1963, Keith Fordyce approached a group of Mods who had travelled from Sheffield's King Mojo club and asked 'so you chaps have come all the way from Sheffield on a Tuesday no less. I expect you'll be eager to go home and get back to work, what with the weekend coming up and all.'
John Varney, Sheffield 'Ace Face' replied 'are you kidding mate - the weekend starts here' and the slogan was born. Over the next three years, Pete Stringfellow and the Sheffield Mojo crowd were regulars on the now renamed 'Ready Steady Go'.[6]
Presenters and producers
The best known presenters were Keith Fordyce and Cathy McGowan, though early shows were introduced by Dusty Springfield. The show was occasionally presented by David Gell and Michael Aldred. Both McGowan and Aldred joined after answering an advertisement for "a typical teenager" as adviser. They found themselves presenting the show, and McGowan's status as a fan was evident in her style; stumbling over lines and losing her cool, her inexperience made her more rather than less popular, and by the end she was presenting alone. She also joined in fun and games, including miming with the Rolling Stones to other people's records, including "I Got You Babe".
Featured artists
It featured most successful artists of the era, among them
It also featured Sandie Shaw, Burt Bacharach, Jerry Lee Lewis, Paul Simon (who would later[when?] cite his appearance as his worst experience while living in England),[citation needed] Kenny Lynch, the Small Faces, the Shirelles, James Brown & the Famous Flames, the Yardbirds, Them, Jim Reeves and the Four Pennies.
During the 4 October 1963 episode – The Beatles' first appearance – Paul McCartney judged four teenage girls miming to Brenda Lee's "Let's Jump the Broomstick" (the group had opened for Lee before becoming famous), choosing 14-year-old Melanie Coe as winner. Three years later, after Coe's disappearance made the front page of the Daily Mirror, McCartney used the article as the basis for "She's Leaving Home".[8]
Jimi Hendrix made his first television appearance in Britain on RSG! with "Hey Joe", performing live. After this, his club tour sold out and he was added to a nationwide tour by the Walker Brothers.
The Who proved particularly popular, making the most appearances of any artist – a total of 18 between January 1965 and December 1966. The band had an episode to themselves entitled Ready Steady Who, broadcast in October 1966. The band also released an EP of the same name; despite the title all of the tracks were studio recordings which had been made previously.[10] The Walker Brothers were also popular and had a live edition in 1966 but the tape was wiped, although extracts surfaced on YouTube in 2009.[citation needed]
On 20 March 2020, BBC Four broadcast a documentary about Ready Steady Go!, with original clips, plus interviews with Martha Reeves, Mary Wilson, Paul Jones, Chris Farlowe, Vicki Wickham, Annie Nightingale and Michael Lindsay Hogg.[11]
In popular culture
- In 1965 the programme was parodied in Peter & Gordon and a singer named P. J. Orbison (an amalgam of the names of P. J. Proby and Roy Orbison).
- Although not mentioned by name, Ready, Steady, Go! was parodied in the 1967 film Bedazzled, featuring comedians Peter Cook and Dudley Moore (who both appeared on RSG!) - The song was filmed on the actual RSG set in late 1966.
- In the mod film Quadrophenia, the main character is watching the Who perform on Ready Steady Go!.
- English group Generation X wrote a song about the show "Ready Steady Go" in 1978, which made various references and had the lyric "because I'm in love with Cathy McGowan".
- As part of the Southbank's
References
- ^ "Ready, Steady, Go! (TV Series 1963–1966)". IMDb.com. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
- ^ Ian Inglis, Popular Music And Television in Britain (Ashgate Publishing, 2010) pp71-72
- ^ Fiddy, Dick. "Ready, Steady, Go! (1963-66)". Screenonline. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
- ^ "UK: BMG acquires rights to iconic 60's TV show Ready Steady Go!". Bmg.com. 10 January 2018.
- ^ Tv.com Ready Steady Goes Live! Episode Number: 88 Season Num: 2 First Aired: 2 April 1965, Tv.com. Retrieved February 2007.
- ^ a b c Baker, Rob (30 September 2017). "The Weekend Starts Here! Fabulous Photos of Classic Pop TV Show - Ready Steady Go!". Flashbak.com.
- ^ "Modculture.com - Ready Steady Gone by Johnnie Taylor". Archived from the original on 26 November 2010. Retrieved 4 April 2011.
- ^ "Beatles' 'Sgt. Pepper' at 50: Meet the Runaway Who Inspired 'She's Leaving Home'". 23 May 2017 – via rollingstone.com.
- ^ "Ready Steady Go! Special Edition - The Sounds of Motown". Amazon.co.uk.
- ^ "Ready Steady Who (EP)". Thewho.com. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
- ^ "The Story of Ready Steady Go!, BBC Four review - when life was fab". Theartsdesk.com. 21 March 2020.
- ^ Caspar Llewellyn Smith (24 March 2011). "Ray Davies reveals lineup for 2011 Meltdown festival". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 May 2012.
- ^ "Meltdown First Anouncement [sic]". Festivalsforall.com. 25 March 2011. Retrieved 21 May 2012.
External links
- Ready Steady Go at IMDb
- Feature on RSG! from Retrosellers.com With archive pictures.
- Ready Steady Win
- The King Mojo Sheffield history of the mojo