I had never seen this film before. Supposedly, Anotonioni wanted The Who, hence the guitar smashing by Beck. Great 60s movie with plenty of Swinging London locales. The main character was modeled on photographer David Bailey.

Have the DVD for years and watched it a number of times.
It's not the story, but the film really captures the atmosphere from back
then in the sixties.

And yes, you are right, they wanted the Who first. Jeff Beck said it.
For reasons I don't know the Who refused. Probably the money.

Those were the days!!!

Great clip and one I have seen many times. The track they are 'performing' is Stroll On - a re-working of Train Kept-A Rolling - one of only two recordings to feature the Beck/Page dual lead-guitar line-up. There should have been more!

Wiki:

Sundry people known in 1966 are in the film; others became famous later. The most widely noted cameo was by The Yardbirds, who perform "Stroll On" in the last third. Antonioni first asked Eric Burdon to play that scene but he turned it down. As Keith Relf sings, Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck play to either side, along with Chris Dreja. After his guitar amplifier fails, Beck bashes his guitar to bits, as The Who did at the time. Antonioni had wanted The Who in Blowup as he was fascinated by Pete Townshend's guitar-smashing routine. Steve Howe of The In Crowd recalled, "We went on the set and started preparing for that guitar-smashing scene in the club. They even went as far as making up a bunch of Gibson 175 replicas ... and then we got dropped for The Yardbirds, who were a bigger name. That's why you see Jeff Beck smashing my guitar rather than his!" Antonioni also considered using The Velvet Underground (signed at the time to a division of MGM Records) in the nightclub scene, but, according to guitarist Sterling Morrison, "the expense of bringing the whole entourage to England proved too much for him".
Michael Palin of Monty Python can be seen briefly in the sullen nightclub crowd and Janet Street-Porter dances in stripy Carnaby Street trousers.
A poster on the club's door bears a drawing of a tombstone with the epitaph, Here lies Bob Dylan Passed Away Royal Albert Hall 27 May 1966 R.I.P., harking to Dylan's switch to electric instruments at this time. Beside the Dylan are posters bearing a caricature of Prime Minister Harold Wilson.

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71Tele
I had never seen this film before. Supposedly, Anotonioni wanted The Who, hence the guitar smashing by Beck. Great 60s movie with plenty of Swinging London locales. The main character was modeled on photographer David Bailey.

Much about this scene looks fairly ridiculous. Notice how the crowd (except for the one couple dancing) just stands there, stone-faced and motionless, even while Beck is smashing the guitar, but the moment he throws it into the crowd, they riot. Supposedly, Beck was reluctant to do the smashing, but the director, a huge Who fan, insisted that somebody was going to smash a guitar in his movie. I've met Dreja and McCarty a few times, but never thought to ask them about Blow Up. I did ask them once why "Beck's Bolero", recorded in 1966, isn't technically considered to be property of the Yardbirds, and Chris responded, "Because they didn't tell us about it!"



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-06-24 16:17 by tatters.

It does the heart good to see guys this old making this much noise, doesn't it? Hard to believe, but there was once a time when everyone thought rock musicians would all have to pack it in when they got to be around 32 years old or so, and become insurance salesmen or something like that.






Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 2012-06-24 23:08 by tatters.

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tatters

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71Tele
I had never seen this film before. Supposedly, Anotonioni wanted The Who, hence the guitar smashing by Beck. Great 60s movie with plenty of Swinging London locales. The main character was modeled on photographer David Bailey.

Much about this scene looks fairly ridiculous. Notice how the crowd (except for the one couple dancing) just stands there, stone-faced and motionless, even while Beck is smashing the guitar, but the moment he throws it into the crowd, they riot. Supposedly, Beck was reluctant to do the smashing, but the director, a huge Who fan, insisted that somebody was going to smash a guitar in his movie. I've met Dreja and McCarty a few times, but never thought to ask them about Blow Up. I did ask them once why "Beck's Bolero", recorded in 1966, isn't technically considered to be property of the Yardbirds, and Chris responded, "Because they didn't tell us about it!"

Yes, at first glance I thought the scene looked ridiculous too, especially the audience. However, I really think this film is meant to be a dream...the way the scenes flow and move from one to the next is very dreamlike. So I look at the strange behavior and dialogue in the film in that context.

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71Tele

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tatters

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71Tele
I had never seen this film before. Supposedly, Anotonioni wanted The Who, hence the guitar smashing by Beck. Great 60s movie with plenty of Swinging London locales. The main character was modeled on photographer David Bailey.

Much about this scene looks fairly ridiculous. Notice how the crowd (except for the one couple dancing) just stands there, stone-faced and motionless, even while Beck is smashing the guitar, but the moment he throws it into the crowd, they riot. Supposedly, Beck was reluctant to do the smashing, but the director, a huge Who fan, insisted that somebody was going to smash a guitar in his movie. I've met Dreja and McCarty a few times, but never thought to ask them about Blow Up. I did ask them once why "Beck's Bolero", recorded in 1966, isn't technically considered to be property of the Yardbirds, and Chris responded, "Because they didn't tell us about it!"

Yes, at first glance I thought the scene looked ridiculous too, especially the audience. However, I really think this film is meant to be a dream...the way the scenes flow and move from one to the next is very dreamlike. So I look at the strange behavior and dialogue in the film in that context.

English audiences are known to be very subdued, though. Think of Live At Leeds, where the most incendiary performances are greeted with what you and I would consider "tennis applause". Maybe what we're seeing in Blow Up is completely normal English behavior.






Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 2012-06-24 18:49 by tatters.

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tatters

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71Tele
I had never seen this film before. Supposedly, Anotonioni wanted The Who, hence the guitar smashing by Beck. Great 60s movie with plenty of Swinging London locales. The main character was modeled on photographer David Bailey.

Much about this scene looks fairly ridiculous. Notice how the crowd (except for the one couple dancing) just stands there, stone-faced and motionless, even while Beck is smashing the guitar, but the moment he throws it into the crowd, they riot. Supposedly, Beck was reluctant to do the smashing, but the director, a huge Who fan, insisted that somebody was going to smash a guitar in his movie. I've met Dreja and McCarty a few times, but never thought to ask them about Blow Up. I did ask them once why "Beck's Bolero", recorded in 1966, isn't technically considered to be property of the Yardbirds, and Chris responded, "Because they didn't tell us about it!"

On Beck's Bolero, that's Keith Moon on the drums and John Paul Jones on bass, isn't it? So the Yardbirds really didn't play on it.

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stonesnow

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tatters

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71Tele
I had never seen this film before. Supposedly, Anotonioni wanted The Who, hence the guitar smashing by Beck. Great 60s movie with plenty of Swinging London locales. The main character was modeled on photographer David Bailey.

Much about this scene looks fairly ridiculous. Notice how the crowd (except for the one couple dancing) just stands there, stone-faced and motionless, even while Beck is smashing the guitar, but the moment he throws it into the crowd, they riot. Supposedly, Beck was reluctant to do the smashing, but the director, a huge Who fan, insisted that somebody was going to smash a guitar in his movie. I've met Dreja and McCarty a few times, but never thought to ask them about Blow Up. I did ask them once why "Beck's Bolero", recorded in 1966, isn't technically considered to be property of the Yardbirds, and Chris responded, "Because they didn't tell us about it!"

On Beck's Bolero, that's Keith Moon on the drums and John Paul Jones on bass, isn't it? So the Yardbirds really didn't play on it.

Well, two of them play on it, and they were both members of the Yardbirds at the time. Record company contracts being what they were in those days, it's not unrealistic to think it could have been legally claimed as a Yardbirds track. Here's the rare alternate version with the backwards ending.






Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-06-24 18:54 by tatters.

Beck's amp trouble in that clip reminds me of Nigel's amp difficulties in This Is Spinal Tap. I wonder if that's where they got that idea from.

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tatters

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stonesnow

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tatters

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71Tele
I had never seen this film before. Supposedly, Anotonioni wanted The Who, hence the guitar smashing by Beck. Great 60s movie with plenty of Swinging London locales. The main character was modeled on photographer David Bailey.

Much about this scene looks fairly ridiculous. Notice how the crowd (except for the one couple dancing) just stands there, stone-faced and motionless, even while Beck is smashing the guitar, but the moment he throws it into the crowd, they riot. Supposedly, Beck was reluctant to do the smashing, but the director, a huge Who fan, insisted that somebody was going to smash a guitar in his movie. I've met Dreja and McCarty a few times, but never thought to ask them about Blow Up. I did ask them once why "Beck's Bolero", recorded in 1966, isn't technically considered to be property of the Yardbirds, and Chris responded, "Because they didn't tell us about it!"

On Beck's Bolero, that's Keith Moon on the drums and John Paul Jones on bass, isn't it? So the Yardbirds really didn't play on it.

Well, two of them play on it, and they were both members of the Yardbirds at the time. Record company contracts being what they were in those days, it's not unrealistic to think it could have been legally claimed as a Yardbirds track. Here's the rare alternate version with the backwards ending.

Actually, as Beck's Bolero was recorded in May and Jimmy Page didn't join until subsequent to Paul Samwell-Smith's departure in June, originally with the intention of becoming the new bassist, Page wasn't actually a member at the time and so this qualifies as a Beck side project, which management was encouraging band members at the time to do.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beck's_Bolero

Chris Guest must have seen Blow Up and Beck smashing his guitar so he used a similar scene in the movie.
On Beck's Bolero, Nicky Hopkins is on piano. What a supergroup that would have been! Read that Moon played in secret because he didn't want any of the other Who members finding out.

Anudder '60s odd moment that's grown in "stature" with time,
so it's loaded with all kinds of trivia that's at least a little
fishy. Such as:

1) An early Marc Bolan band, John's Children, also is rumored
to have been in Antonioni's crosshairs for the scene;

2) Despite The Yardbirds' brief moment, the REAL star of this
soundtrack is actually Herbie Hancock's score, which makes
The Yardbirds' song seem shoehorned and a bit of a fish
out of water.

Regardless, I LOVE "Stroll On" because of that great swashbuckling
solo, though it is a throwaway rewriting of "Train".

As for "Beck's Bolero", it's true that The Who were fighting at the
time and Entwhistle and Moon were seriously considering bolting then,
though it's not clear why Entwhistle didn't contribute bass duties.
It's possible then that this is just one more bit of hearsay that
people have passed around for fun.

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stonesnow

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tatters

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stonesnow

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tatters

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71Tele
I had never seen this film before. Supposedly, Anotonioni wanted The Who, hence the guitar smashing by Beck. Great 60s movie with plenty of Swinging London locales. The main character was modeled on photographer David Bailey.

Much about this scene looks fairly ridiculous. Notice how the crowd (except for the one couple dancing) just stands there, stone-faced and motionless, even while Beck is smashing the guitar, but the moment he throws it into the crowd, they riot. Supposedly, Beck was reluctant to do the smashing, but the director, a huge Who fan, insisted that somebody was going to smash a guitar in his movie. I've met Dreja and McCarty a few times, but never thought to ask them about Blow Up. I did ask them once why "Beck's Bolero", recorded in 1966, isn't technically considered to be property of the Yardbirds, and Chris responded, "Because they didn't tell us about it!"

On Beck's Bolero, that's Keith Moon on the drums and John Paul Jones on bass, isn't it? So the Yardbirds really didn't play on it.

Well, two of them play on it, and they were both members of the Yardbirds at the time. Record company contracts being what they were in those days, it's not unrealistic to think it could have been legally claimed as a Yardbirds track. Here's the rare alternate version with the backwards ending.

Actually, as Beck's Bolero was recorded in May and Jimmy Page didn't join until subsequent to Paul Samwell-Smith's departure in June, originally with the intention of becoming the new bassist, Page wasn't actually a member at the time and so this qualifies as a Beck side project, which management was encouraging band members at the time to do.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beck's_Bolero

Amazing that Bolero was recorded in May 1966. It was so far ahead of its time, Jeff was able to include it on an album (Truth) not released until Aug. 1968, and still not have it sound out of place. It's certainly the greatest rock instrumental ever recorded. Its power and musical virtuosity surpasses anything that had been recorded up to that time (though the Byrds single Eight Miles High, recorded in Jan. '66 and released in March, comes close).







Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 2012-06-25 07:05 by tatters.

Very much enjoyed that flick, and I remember being surprised seeing the Yardbirds scene. I think I recognized Jimmy Page first and then realized it was the Yardbirds.

Jimmy Page said they were all set to play TRAIN KEPT A-ROLLIN', and when Anotonioni wanted to change the lyrics, Jimmy Page said, "We can't change the lyrics! TRAIN KEPT A-ROLLIN' is a rock and roll classic!" He was really angry and disgusted. But they ended up doing what the director asked.

Love Becks Bolero - first released in early '67 as the B-side to Hi-Ho Silver Lining. Great stuff

I can't find Michael Palin in there, can someone pinpoint it for me?

So many cool things about this movie - his clothes, the womans clothes, the threesome scene where he ruins all the backdrops, I love the big propeller he buys in the antique shop. Verushka at the party in that cool catsuit, with the big hair looks fantastic! "I am in Paris".

That party is exactly how I picture the parties that the Mick/Keith/Brian would have gone to in say '65/'66 - all the dark wood, wasted young aristocrats.

Wasn't looking too good, but I was feeling real well.