The BBC’s venerable pop-music outlet, Radio 1, turns 40 years old later this month, and to celebrate, the network is featuring ten days of special shows hosted by major figures in music. The series, called “Radio 1 Legends,” kicks off on September 17th with Sir Paul McCartney, then continues with more guest DJs:
Dave Grohl (9/18)
Gwen Stefani (9/19)
Paul Weller (9/20)
Paul Oakenfold (9/21)
Noel Gallagher (9/24)
Debbie Harry (9/25)
Arctic Monkeys (9/26)
Ozzy Osbourne (9/27)
Norman Cook (9/28)
Okay, first of all, of course dance music is central to Radio 1’s history, but Oakey and Fatboy Slim?! Were, um, Rob Da Bank and Jive Bunny not available? Secondly, I know I just posted about the trouble with demanding social realism from our art, and I also know this is the BBC, but I’ll go out on a limb and say that non-whites have made some contributions to music in the last 40 years. Perhaps one of them could have been included?
