25 Years of Rock

25 Years of Rock was a 25-part radio series broadcast on BBC Radio 1 from 22 June to 7 December 1980. Each hour-long episode featured music and news stories from a year, starting with 1955 and finishing with 1979. This format - notable for having no presenter - transferred to television via the BBC series The Rock 'n' Roll Years.

The series encapsulated the period from the birth of rock and roll in 1955 to the post-punk era of the late seventies, and charted social and political events with a rock soundtrack. The series was repeated in 1981 between 4 April (1955) and 19 September (1979).

The series was produced by Trevor Dann. Its theme music was the instrumental section of "Oh Well" by Fleetwood Mac.

Original broadcast dates: 1955 - 22/06/80 1956 - 29/06/80 1957 - 06/07/80 1958 - 13/07/80 1959 - 20/07/80 1960 - 27/07/80 1961 - 03/08/80 1962 - 10/08/80 1963 - 17/08/80 1964 - 24/08/80 1965 - 31/08/80 1966 - 07/09/80 1967 - 14/09/80 1968 - 21/09/80 1969 - 28/09/80 1970 - 05/10/80 1971 - 12/10/80 1972 - 19/10/80 1973 - 26/10/80 1974 - 02/11/80 1975 - 09/11/80 1976 - 16/11/80 1977 - 23/11/80 1978 - 30/11/80 1979 - 07/12/80

Taking 1955 as its start – the year “Rock Around The Clock” by Bill Haley and his Comets hit the British Top 20 – the series focussed on music and the events up to 1979.

An extended version, 30 Years of Rock, was on Radio 1 in 1985. This consisted of the original series plus five new episodes covering 1980 to 1984. “30 Years Of Rock” was broadcast on BBC Radio 1 from 1-2pm each week, between 20 April (1955) and 16 November (1984). A one-week gap was made due to the live broadcast of “Live Aid” on 13 July.

Also a companion book was published by Hamlyn in 1980. (ISBN 0-600-37638-9)