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The Single Story: Episode 1

The Single Story

Episode 1

BBC Radio 6 Music - The Single Story, Episode 1

David Quantick charts music's love affair with the 45 rpm single.

In 1949, RCA Victor launched a small, round, plastic and - weirdly - green disc on the listening public, which heralded a revolution in popular music. David Quantick charts our love affair with the 45 rpm single.

Initially the result of what we might now call an "audio format war" between record companies, the single was always aimed at the younger generation. While the LP originally catered for a middle-aged, middle-class, well-heeled audience, the cheaper, cooler 45 took on the poorer, cooler youth market. The vinyl single launched rock and roll, pop and the teenager on the world and provided a lynchpin for Western popular culture. It has defined the popular music and shows no signs of dying.

David Quantick looks at the extraordinary impact the single has had on the way we've listened to music for over 60 years. This is a chance to examine one of the most important revolutions in the modern music business. 

In the first programme he looks at the war of the speeds and the early glory days of the vinyl single, which pitted stars like Judy Garland up against Frank Sinatra, then brought us Elvis and Bill Haley. All this set against a brave new world of cheap "portable" record players, exotic new vinyl juke boxes and the birth of the singles charts.

Contributors include Tom Jones, actor Martin Freeman, Myleene Klass, songwriter Diane Warren, musician Soweto Kinch, Bob Stanley from St. Etienne, Michael Bradley from the Undertones, the Reverend Run, DJ Cosmo, Pete Shelley from Buzzcocks, Pete Waterman, Mike Read, David Jensen, Johnnie Walker and Bob Harris. 

First broadcast in 2009.

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David Quantick looks at the extraordinary impact of the 45rpm single.

David Quantick looks at the extraordinary impact the 45rpm single has had on the way people have listened to music over the last 60 years.

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