Rock and Roll

Archive footage of the golden age of rock and roll

From the mid-1960s explosion of beat bands through to the late 1970s Northern Irish punk scene, this collection gathers together the movers and shakers of the age as seen by Ulster Television, as well as amateur footage shot by some of the bands themselves.

The arrival of such global megastars as The Beatles and The Rolling Stones were obvious attractions for the UTV cameras, but they also caught a host of other stars of the 60s scene with stars from The Kinks and local band Them interviewed for television. And it wasn't just the giants of beat, blues and rock stopping by - there was also a host of other names from the wider pop world such as Tom Jones, Lulu and the Bachelors and the resurgance in folk music popularised by Bob Dylan is captured at a Hootenanny in Ballycastle.

By the 1970s, the situation in Northern Ireland meant that the steady stream of top billing acts visiting our shores began to reduce to a trickle. However, local bands took up the mantle and by the late 70s Northern Ireland had a thriving punk scene with acts such as Stiff Little FIngers, Rudi and The Undertones, the latter of which quite a bit of footage was captured of.

And we also have band's eye views of these fantastic musical decades as local bands such as The Exiles, The Carpetbaggers, Margo and the Marvettes and The Undertones were all captured either by their own 8mm film cameras or by those of their family and friends. One such camera even captured one of the very final performances of Elvis Presley, just prior to his death, which is also included in this collection.