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The 100 Greatest BBC Musical Performances

I linked to this in the recent David Bowie post, but it’s worth pulling out separately: the 100 greatest BBC musical performances. This is an incredible trove of late 20th and early 21st century musical greatness. Some selections just off the top of my head:

Blondie โ€“ Atomic/Heart of Glass (The Old Grey Whistle Test, 1979):

Talking Heads โ€“ Psycho Killer (OGWT, 1978):

Daft Punk โ€“ Essential Mix (Radio 1, 1997):

Hole โ€“ Doll Parts/He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss)/Violet (Later, 1995):

Joy Division โ€“ Transmission (Something Else, 1979):

Radiohead - Paranoid Android (Later Archive 1997):

The Jimi Hendrix Experience โ€“ Sunshine of Your Love (Happening for Lulu, 1969):

Patti Smith Group โ€“ Because the Night (OGWT, 1978):

Arlo Parks and Phoebe Bridgers โ€“ Fake Plastic Trees (Radio 1 Piano session, 2020):

Bob Dylan โ€“ live at BBC studios (BBC One, 1965), apparently Dylan’s last acoustic concert:

Dizzy Gillespie โ€“ Chega de Saudade (Jazz 625, 1965). Don’t miss the musician intro at the ~13:15 mark:

Nirvana โ€“ Smells Like Teen Spirit (TOTP, 1991):

And Rihanna (Umbrella, 2008) and Prince (1993) and Lorde (Royals, 2013) and and and… If you’re anything like me, this list will keep you busy for a few hours.

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