On the minus side, the format--clips of musical performances cut short by a parade of talking heads--while typical of the genre, will frustrate those who come for the music alone. Nor is it likely that anyone who studies such things will find much here that hasn't already been seen. To be sure, there are some terrific moments, like the profile of Bob Dylan (in part 5, "Plugging In"), some cool clips of relatively obscure legends like James Burton and T-Bone Walker (in part 7, "Guitar Heroes"), and rarely seen live bits with Jimi Hendrix, Steely Dan, Iggy Pop (goofing on the Dinah Shore Show in '77), and many others scattered throughout the set. Part 8, which chronicles the '70s, is surprisingly compelling (one forgets how many major artists--Bruce Springsteen, Bob Marley, Stevie Wonder--came into their own in a decade remembered largely for disco and faceless arena rock), while part 9, "Punk," is arguably the most entertaining of the lot.

In the end, it's the lack of complete musical performances that is the set's Achilles' heel. Then again, with their appetites whetted here, perhaps viewers will move on to other, more detailed looks at their heroes--beginning with, say, The Beatles Anthology. --Sam Graham

Product Description
A survey of rock 'n' roll covering a forty-year span, from the fifties to Generation X includes actual performances, interviews and peripheral material.
Item Type: DVD Movie
Item Rating: NR
Street Date: 05/23/06
Wide Screen: no
Director Cut: no
Special Edition: no
Language: ENGLISH
Foreign Film: noSubtitles: no
Dubbed: no
Full Frame: yes
Re-Release: no
Packaging: Sleeve

The whole feeling of the thing is cheap and exploitative. I didn't care for the way ALL the same musicians were quoted about ALL periods and ALL types of music. So you get Tom Petty and Elvis Costello (both of whom I love, don't get me wrong) talking about the Beatles AND Elvis AND punk, etc., as opposed to in "Rock & Roll", where as much as possible the people on camera are the people who were there -- Chuck Berry, Sam Phillips, the earliest rock and roll DJs. Also, other than trying to pander to lowest common denominator segment of the audience, what's the point of singling out rap and disco for the "fair and balanced" treatment -- i.e., giving equal time to musicians who hate that kind of music? Skunk Baxter and Gregg Allman, weighing in on rap ("...short for CRAP!") come off as smug hillbilly bigots.

Pandering is evident in the structure of the show as well. Although the idea of starting in the middle (Bob Dylan goes electric) and then proceeding from the beginning is interesting, I can't be too impressed with later chapters like "The 70's" -- again, I'm biased toward the thematic episodes of "Rock and Roll" rather than the grab-bag approach. The last chapter is almost embarassing in the way it rushes through the final 15-odd years post-1980 to get to Green Day (very hot in 1995, but can you imagine they'd make the cut if this series were made today?).

Long story short, wait for the next PBS pledge drive and watch "Rock and Roll" instead.


Some material may not be suitable for younger viewers.   February 1, 2001
David S. Merrill (Colorado)
98 out of 110 found this review helpful

I purchased this video series for my high school History of Rock and Roll class. I was thoroughly impressed by a majority of the material in this series.

Good points: Excellent footage of rock and roll heroes (Beatles, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis, Led Zepplin, etc.) as well as lesser known groups (The Hollies, Gerry and the Pacemakers, etc.). Outstanding interviews from artists and figures such as Hank Ballard, Carl Perkins, Ozzie Osborn, Dick Clark, Bono, Eddie Van Halen, Jackson Browne, Bruce Springsteen, Little Richard, Mick Jaggar, Tom Petty, Lindsey Buckingham, and countless others. Footage of various historical events help put the music in perspective (civil rights, Vietnam, sexual revolution, etc.).

Bad Points: Some material may not be for younger audiences. Nearly all volumes (2 & 3 excluded) have some PG-13 language (including Pete Townsend's liberal use of the F-word). A couple of tapes (I'm thinking of volume 6 & 8 in particular) have some female nudity. Anyone thinking about letting a class view this should keep that in mind. Some movements in Rock and Roll are touched on too lightly: Soul, Motown and funk are kind of grouped together, Jazz Rock is barely mentioned, etc.

Final Verdict: Probably the best Rock and Roll series out there now. We need Ken Burns's take on this subject.


A Superficial Examination of Something Extraordinary   June 10, 2005
Shannon
20 out of 21 found this review helpful

I am a 17 year old rock music fan but I love absolutely everything about rock and roll music. My love has led me to the purchase of many, many CDs and the constant studying of everything from the '50s through the '90s. I know a great deal about music but I wanted to learn even more, so I did a project on music for my AP American History class. To help me study, I watched this documentary. I was only partially satisfied and I'd like to review the set by episode:

Episode 1: Rock 'n' Roll Explodes
This episode was basically without form or structure. It set out the explore the roots of rock and roll music but ended up being a 45 minute introduction to the rest of the set. First off, I take offense to the fact that U2 of all bands is the first artist shown performing in the set. I don't understand WHAT they have to do with the early origins of music, and if they are supposed to represent modern music (at the time of the set) why weren't more artists featured? Certainly there are many better than U2. The rest of the hour is spent talking about the very early musicians, such as Bo Diddley and Hank Williams, Sr. who influenced future generations. However, the lack of film from this period necessitates more talking than actual music clips.
GRADE FOR EPISODE ONE: 2/5

Episode 2: Good Rockin' Tonight
This episode is a definite step up from the first one, but not by much. The reasons for the improvements are because there is more footage of actual artists performing, so we don't have to listen to an endless stream of artists hemming and hawing about Elvis. And the comments that are made are much more successful, largely because they are made by the artists who actually lived it such as Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins. In particular, I found Don Everly's comments to be wonderful. This episode also walked a nice line between praising the artists of the past and being critical and fair. However, the episode is still quite slow and especially petters out near the end.
GRADE FOR EPISODE TWO: 3/5

Episode 3: Britain Invades, America Fights Back
This was one of my favorite episodes in the series, not only because I love the music of the British Invasion, but because the episode was presented very, very well. We got lots of great performance clips from well-known artists like the Rolling Stones and the Who, as well as the spotlight shining on artists like Herman's Hermits who have been forgotten with the passing of time. I must, however, complain about the lack of Beatles footage. In fact, throughout the entire episode the Beatles are tossed aside as great pop icons but without the musical merit of other bands. Still, the episode featured a lot of great music and was highly informative, as well as enjoyable.
GRADE OF EPISODE THREE: 4/5

Episode 4: The Sounds of Soul
This episode was actually the most useful for my project in school. I am very fond of soul music (especially Motown) but I don't own a lot of it and I am not as familiar with its artists as that of rock. Therefore, I found "The Sounds of Soul" to be very interesting because of the insight it shed on an entire genre of music. The performances were great (especially those of Smokey Robinson and the Miracles and the Temptations) and I was very interested in what the musicians had to say. At times the episode got a little too focused on praising past artists rather than offering insightful commentary, but the emotion was there.
GRADE FOR EPISODE FOUR: 4/5

Episode 5: Plugging In
The 5th episode of the series was one of the best three (along with 6 and 9). It started off as basically a documentary about Bob Dylan, but I think he probably deserves it. However, I must question why Dylan gets a good half hour about himself and the Beatles got merely a passing glance. Anyway, Bob was great form in all the performances and I was delighted to see that he was a funny guy in all of his interviews. After the section on Bob, the episode morphed into the tale of folk music and the beginnnings of the true '60s sound. We touch off with bands like the Byrds and the Beach Boys and then spend a long time talking about the incredible Monteray Pop Festival in 1967, featuring historic performances by Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. This episode was fantastic, with real insightful commentary.
GRADE OF EPISODE FIVE: 5/5

Episode 6: My Generation
Just as good as "Plugging In" on the performance and commentary side of things, and even better on the emotional side, "My Generation" was fantastic. The episode covers the late '60s sound including the San Francisco sound, Woodstock, blues, and folk. The episode was beautifully structured as well. It built up and built up with the energy intensifying and the music just contuning to get better and better and then it descended in a spiral of drugs and death as the musicians discuss those that didn't make it. Pete Townsend in particular was incredibly emotional as he discussed the deaths of his friends and colleagues.
GRADE OF EPISODE SIX: 5/5

Episode 7: Guitar Heroes
I really didn't like this episode. It seemed like an excuse to show lots and lots of guitar solos and I didn't like that it seemed to encompass decades and decades of musical material at random. I didn't learn anything new and I got tired of seeing the same people talk about guitars over and over again.
GRADE OF EPISODE SEVEN: 1/5

Episode 8: The '70s- Have a Nice Decade
This episode tried to cram an entire decade worth of music into an hour and it really didn't work. A lot got left out and some of the most important artists ever were barely mentioned. After the extensive coverage of the '60s, this episode felt really skimpy. It also dismissed a lot of music and ended up sounding very negative and bitter about the '70s. Yeah, there was disco, but there was also David Bowie and Bob Marley and Led Zeppelin and so much more. I also got really sick of the people talking because it seemed they interviewed about six people on the '70s.
GRADE FOR EPISODE EIGHT: 2/5

Episode 9: Punk
Now this is much more like it. This episode felt like a completely different documentary. It was gritty and dark and downright fascinating. I also loved how punk bands that don't get a lot of due were completely covered and talked about. I learned A LOT this episode, but I would have liked to see a few more comments from artists outside of punk talking about it. What did they think of it? There was a lot of great music in this episode and a lot of really excellent performances. This episode was just expertly done.
GRADE FOR EPISODE NINE: 5/5

Episode 10: Up from the Underground
By far the worst episode of the bunch, this episode didn't seem to be about anything. It had the '80s and half of the '90s to cover and we ended up with a depressing mishmash about MTV and rap. A lot of the rap artists, such as Chuck D, talked about how rap music is dismissed as crap by people but I felt like ROCK AND ROLL MUSIC (the title of this documentary remember!) was getting dismissed in this hour. There was absolutely no mention of groundbreaking rock artists like Joy Division, The Cure, or Sonic Youth. And, as others have said, some random horrible band called the Goats end the whole documentary.
GRADE FOR EPISODE TEN: 1/5

Buy or rent this DVD collection only for the few episodes I have liked. However, don't expect in depth coverage. This is just a glance at rock and roll, as well as some other styles of music (I'm sorry, but rap music isn't rock and roll).