John Gilliland's "The Pop Chronicles" | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

Conceptualized in 1967 after attending the Monterey International Pop Music Festival, John Gilliland’s “The Pop Chronicles” traces the history of popular music from the 1950’s through the 1960’s. Mr. Gilliland wrote, narrated and produced these 55 hours of broadcasting first airing at KRLA Pasadena, CA. in February 1969. The pop music history is told by an interleaving of Mr. Gilliland’s narration, music, and comments from the interviews of the people directly involved in the music scene of the day.

I came across this on the University of North Texas’ website over the weekend, and I thought it might interest. While not wholly Beatles, many of the episodes in the second half of the series (from episode 27 on) have a Beatles focus. Episode 27, for instance, looks at the history of The Beatles up to the end of 1963, while episode 28 details their arrival on American shores.

The first major American series examining the history of popular music, it’s interesting listening to an account that is so close to the events it’s chronicling.

All of the episodes can be found here. They aren’t in the correct order, but all episodes are there.

Here’s a list of all the episodes:

Episode 1 Play A Simple Melody: American pop music in the early fifties [Part 1]
Episode 2 Play A Simple Melody: American pop music in the early fifties [Part 2]
Episode 3 The Tribal Drum: The rise of rhythm and blues [Part 1]
Episode 4 The Tribal Drum: The rise of rhythm and blues [Part 2]
Episode 5 Hail, Hail, Rock ‘N’ Roll : The rock Revolution gets underway [Part 1]
Episode 6 Hail, Hail, Rock ‘N’ Roll : The rock Revolution gets underway [Part 2]
Episode 7 The All American Boy: Enter Elvis and the rock-a-billies [Part 1]
Episode 8 The All American Boy: Enter Elvis and the rock-a-billies [Part 2]
Episode 9 Tennessee Firebird: American country music before and after Elvis [Part 1]
Episode 10 Tennessee Firebird: American country music before and after Elvis [Part 2]
Episode 11 Tennessee Firebird: American country music before and after Elvis [Part 3], Big Rock Candy Mountain: Rock ‘N’ Roll in the late fifties [Part 1]
Episode 12 Big Rock Candy Mountain: Rock ‘N’ Roll in the late fifties [Part 2]
Episode 13 Big Rock Candy Mountain: Rock ‘N’ Roll in the late fifties [Part 3]
Episode 14 Big Rock Candy Mountain: Rock ‘N’ Roll in the late fifties [Part 4]
Episode 15 The Soul Reformation: More on the evolution of rhythm and blues [Part 1]
Episode 16 The Soul Reformation: More on the evolution of rhythm and blues [Part 2]
Episode 17 The Soul Reformation: More on the evolution of rhythm and blues [Part 3]
Episode 18 Blowin’ in the Wind: Pop discovers folk music [Part 1]
Episode 19 Blowin’ in the Wind: Pop discovers folk music [Part 2]
Episode 20 Forty Miles of Bad Road: Some of the best from Rock ‘N’ Roll ‘s dark ages [Part 1]
Episode 21 Forty Miles of Bad Road: Some of the best from Rock ‘N’ Roll ‘s dark ages [Part 2]
Episode 22 Smack Dab in the Middle on Route 66: A skinny dip in the easy listening mainstream [Part 1]
Episode 23 Smack Dab in the Middle on Route 66: A skinny dip in the easy listening mainstream [Part 2], The Music Men [Part 1]
Episode 24 The Music Men [Part 2]
Episode 25 The Soul Reformation: Phase two, the Motown story [Part 4]
Episode 26 The Soul Reformation: Phase two, the Motown story [Part 5]
Episode 27 The British Are Coming! The British Are Coming!: The USA is invaded by a wave of long-haired English rockers [Part 1]
Episode 28 The British Are Coming! The British Are Coming!: The USA is invaded by a wave of long-haired English rockers [Part 2]
Episode 29 The British Are Coming! The British Are Coming!: The USA is invaded by a wave of long-haired English rockers [Part 3]
Episode 30 The British Are Coming! The British Are Coming!: The USA is invaded by a wave of long-haired English rockers [Part 4]
Episode 31 Ballad in Plain D: An introduction to the Bob Dylan era [Part 1]
Episode 32 Ballad in Plain D: An introduction to the Bob Dylan era [Part 2]
Episode 33 Revolt of the Fat Angel: American musicians respond to the British invaders [Part 1]
Episode 34 Revolt of the Fat Angel: American musicians respond to the British invaders [Part 2]
Episode 35 The Rubberization of Soul: The great pop music renaissance [Part 1]
Episode 36 The Rubberization of Soul: The great pop music renaissance [Part 2]
Episode 37 The Rubberization of Soul: The great pop music renaissance [Part 3]
Episode 38 The Rubberization of Soul: The great pop music renaissance [Part 4]
Episode 39 The Rubberization of Soul: The great pop music renaissance [Part 5]
Episode 40 Ballad in Plain D: Bob Dylan [1966]
Episode 41 The Acid Test: Psychedelics and a sub-culture emerge in San Francisco [Part 1]
Episode 42 The Acid Test: Psychedelics and a sub-culture emerge in San Francisco [Part 2]
Episode 43 Revolt of the Fat Angel: Some samples of the Los Angeles sound [Part 3]
Episode 44 Revolt of the Fat Angel: Some samples of the Los Angeles sound [Part 4]
Episode 45 Sergeant Pepper at the Summit: The very best of a very good year [Part 1]
Episode 46 Sergeant Pepper at the Summit: The very best of a very good year [Part 2]
Episode 47 Sergeant Pepper at the Summit: The very best of a very good year [Part 3]
Episode 48 The British Are Coming! The British Are Coming!: With an emphasis on Donovan, the Bee Gees and the Who [Part 5]
Episode 49 The British Are Coming! The British Are Coming!: With an emphasis on Donovan, the Bee Gees and the Who [Part 6]
Episode 50 The Soul Reformation: Phase three, soul music at the summit [Part 6]
Episode 51 The Soul Reformation: Phase three, soul music at the summit [Part 7]
Episode 52 The Soul Reformation: Phase three, soul music at the summit [Part 8]
Episode 53 String Man
Episode 54 Hail, Hail, Rock ‘N’ Roll : Getting back to rock’s funky, essential essence [Part 3]
Episode 55 Crammer: A lively cram course on the history of rock and some other things