Get extended access to 1600+ episodes, binge watch your favorite shows, and stream anytime - online or in the PBS app.
Already a Maine PBS member?
You may have an unactivated Maine PBS Passport member benefit. Check to see.
Clip: Episode 1 | 1m 29s | Video has closed captioning.
Def Leppard lead singer Joe Elliott shows us his vintage flexidisc of Fanny's song "Blind Alley," which he has saved since he discovered the band as a pre-teen. Joe says, "I had no idea who they were, but this four minutes of music, and I was hooked. I would play that thing until literally the needle would've gone through it."
Aired: 05/22/23
(bluesy rock guitar music) - It was very popular back in those days.
They would give out free flex disc singles so that you'd buy their magazine and not their rival one.
They gave away a song by Fanny, and it was a song called "Blind Alley."
I remember putting it on and hearing it for the first time and just thinking how powerful it was.
(bluesy rock piano music) The way it starts off with this fading, kind of muted guitar, (imitates guitar) and then just the simplest keyboard motif, ♪ Bow bow bow bow, bow bow dah dah dah ♪ ♪ And then the right hand comes in ♪ (bluesy rock music) And then the big block, you know, very Glam Rockish kind of two chord thing comes bursting in and the drums and then the vocal.
♪ Take care of yourself ♪ ♪ This is your story ♪ ♪ Your voice is shakin' the walls ♪ ♪ And they're crumbling down ♪ - I mean, I had no idea who they were, but this four minutes worth of music, I was like, hooked.
I would play that thing till it was literally, the needle would've gone through it.
♪ With visions of tomorrows swept away ♪ ♪ And someone's gonna get burned ♪
