Celebration of Great British groups coming to BBC Sounds
The success of Great British groups will be celebrated in a range of programmes from BBC Radio 2 on BBC Sounds.
For National Album Day – the theme of which this year is Great British Groups, listeners can vote for their five favourites to find Radio 2’s Ultimate British Group to mark the annual all-day celebration of the album format.
A special panel, including Radio 2 presenters, have voted from a long list of nearly 100 bands to produce a final list of 54 spanning the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s and 10s. The list has been compiled from played on Radio 2 and the Most Successful British Groups on the Official Albums Chart.
The Top 30 most popular will be revealed in a countdown show with Mark Goodier available on BBC Sounds from Friday 11 October and then aired on Radio 2 on Saturday 19 October, 1-3pm, to coincide with National Album Day 2024.
Also in celebration of National Album Day, Sophie Ellis-Bextor will handpick an hour of her all-time favourite Great British Groups for a Kitchen Disco special, featuring Eurythmics, Oasis, Faithless, The Last Dinner Party and The Darkness. It will be on BBC Sounds from Friday 11 October.
Johnny Marr’s Great British Groups is a curated four-part playlist series in which Johnny takes listeners on a journey through Great British bands, from the 1960s through to the contemporary era focusing on artists who have not only resonated with him but have also left an indelible mark on the music scene.
Johnny said: “The nice people at Radio 2 have invited me along to play some music by British bands from albums that I really like and maybe a couple of albums I’ve been involved in myself!
“I’ll be choosing all kinds of things from long-players by British bands of all kinds, as long as they go around at 33 revolutions per minute.
“Part of wanting to be a great group is wanting to be as good as the people you think are great and not necessarily just copying or being in those shadows.
“All of the great bands that I know of and that I love, have all managed to stand shoulder to shoulder with the people who came before them.
“The stuff I like has a certain kind of quirk to it – everyone I can think of that I’ve been playing either has an unusual lead singer or a very identifiable guitar player or a very identifiable songwriting partnership.”
Johnny Marr’s Great British Groups will be on BBC Sounds on Friday 11 October and then on Radio 2 on 13, 20, 27 October and 3 November, from midnight-1am.
The Great British Groups That Broke America is a four-part series showcasing British groups that found success in the US.
From The Beatles and The Rolling Stones in the 60s, Led Zeppelin and Supertramp in the 70s to Queen and Genesis in the 80s and Radiohead and Spice Girls in the 90s, this programme explores into the music, stories, and cultural impact of these iconic GB groups as it reveals how these bands conquered the US charts.
The full series will be on BBC Sounds on Friday 11 October, and all four parts will be broadcast on Radio 2 on Saturday 19 October between 1-3am.
Finally, as previously reported, Scott Mills and Rylan’s Pop Top 10, the new 10-part podcast launches on BBC Sounds on Wednesday 18 September, and is also being filmed for BBC iPlayer.
The first episode, to coincide National Album Day, sees Katherine Ryan join Scott and Rylan to debate their Top 10 Greatest British Girlbands.
Chatting to Scott and Rylan, Katherine Ryan said: “I was heavily influenced by Britney and Christina [Aguilera], but then when the girl band swept in and it was led – I know I’m a controversial guest being Canadian – but the British girl band is King!”