Documentary / Musical Youth (1982 - Only transmitted once)

You`ll have to be of an certain age to really dig this. A couple of lads from Birmingham and a determined father set out to form a successful band. This was back in the Early eighties, amid the grim backdrop of a recession they hit a chord with kids of all colours and managed to reach the top spot with a song about smoking weed - even though all but one were still in school. For those who are not familiar with Musical youth, that short description might lead you to think that they were some novelty band, which they weren`t. Well,they might have been seen as novelty by some: black kids playing reggae but, especially to us from the midlands - the county where the band come from - they represented fun, youth, and pride (this is WAY before we all got post-modern)

This is was filmed in 1982, and was aired only once with a few copies given out to people who appeared in the programme. It`s a great piece of 80`s TV, and even though there has been documentaries made since that tell a more up-to-date story of the band, this s still enjoyable. The band saw a fair share of tragedy, an early death and one band member becoming mentally ill - this doc, for obvious reasons has none of it, simply as it hadn`t happened yet - which leaves you with 45 minutes of five young lads experiencing the world through innocent eyes.

They travel to Jamaica in this film, the island of their parents birth, for the very first time and we hear their thoughts on the differences between Birmingham and San Antonio (a parish in Jamaica) and how they feel about it

You`ll also you get to hear little snippets of dub versions of their songs - which I haven`t heard since the time of the original 12" releases.

FEATURING APPEARANCES FROM EEK A MOUSE, WINSTON JARRETT, SCIENTIST, TOOTS HIBBERT.
Rebbit.