The History of Rock 'n' Roll (TV Mini Series) Up from the Underground (1995) User Reviews

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Rock 'n' Roll!"

[classicsoncall · 8/10 · 24 September 2017]

This is about the only entry in "The History of Rock 'n' Roll" series where I was saying to myself, let's get over with it already. That's not to say it was bad, but I found it veering off into rap and hip-hop territory which I'm not particularly fond of. A good portion of the early going keys in on the influence of MTV as the first global TV network, and with it, the controversy created by programming that denied a voice to black artists until Michael Jackson broke that strangle hold with videos of 'Billie Jean' and 'Thriller'.

What I found interesting in hindsight is that the documentary did not show or even mention the very first video shown on MTV - 'Video Killed the Radio Star' by The Buggles. Given all the emphasis on how MTV transformed the musical landscape and the industry, one would think a mention at least would have been in order, especially since what the song was about was essentially true, Top 40 Radio was already a dinosaur.

Beyond MTV, the program delves into the burgeoning musical styles of rap and hip-hop, with a fair amount of time given over to groups like Run-D.M.C. and Public Enemy. Chuck D of Public Enemy and Darryl 'D.M.C.' McDaniels were the primary on-screen exponents of their style. Brief mention is made of the alternative rock scene that followed on the heels of rap music, but not enough to be definitive. Being 1995 when this series was produced, and the film makers were nearing the end of that period, there's a bit of a rushed feeling to it all. But for an overview of the late Eighties/early Nineties music scene, it serves it's purpose given the constraints involved.

Episode 10: Up from the Underground

[ebiros2 · 5/10 · 24 October 2005]

With the rise of MTV and Rap music, rock music have come as far as they can be from its roots which was electric guitar, and grass roots artists. Now artists are all polished and produced so they'll look like a rock star, and virtuosity of playing the instrument isn't even an issue with scratching, and sampling of other people's music.

This final episode deals with how Rap music came into the scene with Melle Mel employing two record players so he can play music non-stop, and how he found out how people got excited when he played the best part of the music repeatedly.

There's a cursory section on Michael Jackson, and some '80s and '90s band such as Greenday, but the final section of this mini-series is lacking any in-depth coverage of rock bands from that era.

As a whole, you shouldn't expect this series to be any kind of serious documentary about rock history (despite its title), or expect even treatment of various phenomenon during the course of its history, but more as an entertainment that's based on rock music. For a deeper look into the history of rock n roll, I recommend the other 10 hour mini-series, "Rock & Roll" which was shown on PBS.

Series entry covers rise of MTV and hip hop

[pooch-8 · 29 July 1999]

Up From the Underground begins with the birth of music television, and its resultant frustrations and exultations as articulated by the artists who perhaps benefited from video the most. The show quickly and adeptly picks up on MTV's early (and obviously racist) failure to play any African-American artists, and the accompanying interviews with KRS-One and Chuck D adroitly skewer the channel's inappropriate status quo. Many seminal videos are breezily covered (Devo's "Whip It," Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)," Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean," to name a few), but it is the attention to hip hop that is the best feature of the installment. Major influences from Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five to Kurtis Blow and the groundbreaking Run-DMC trace the hip hop style and culture from its New York progenitors to its West Coast practitioners, with the vast majority of the best commentary coming from the aforementioned spokesmen for Boogie Down Productions and Public Enemy. By no means authoritative, Up From the Underground is still worth a look.

oh, whatever!

[postmanwhoalwaysringstwice · 5/10 · 16 April 2007]

After nine hours of the occasionally spotty, but nonetheless quality, documentary series "The History of Rock & Roll" things fall apart with the final installment, "Up from the Underground". Surely it paves the path that the series began with Fats Domino and James Brown to the contemporary hip-hop scene, but not only does it completely abandon it's own definition of rock music (Madonna is rock?) it also spends some time exploring MTV's impact on the music industry. This cursory examination of MTV and groundbreaking hip-hop leaves out a sizable chunk of rock music, especially "underground" and college radio music that might have been expected by the title. This is disjointed, uninspired, and downright boring viewing that is a poor excuse for a final act to the series.