From Brighton’s The Argus and the BBC.

A Whole Lotta Love on the way for

Royal Blood

WHEN you think of Top Of The Pops you can’t help but hum the opening few bars of Led Zeppelin’s Whole Lotta Love, well a cover by C.C.S (Collective Consciousness Society), a British musical group, led by blues guitarist Alexis Korner.

The catchy rock and roll tune, which was the show’s theme music for decades, is ingrained in our minds. Later replaced by Phil Lynott’s Yellow Pearl & Paul Hardcastle’s The Wizard.

Brighton rock band Royal Blood are hoping for the same effect with their new tune – which has been recorded for the BBC’s follow-up to the legendary live music show.

The show, named Sounds Like Friday Night, will air on BBC prime time 11 years after the end of Top Of The Pops.

This week the hosts were announced as Radio One’s Greg James and Radio 1Xtra’s Dotty.

And Royal Blood, made up of Ben Thatcher and Mike Kerr, have composed and performed the theme tune.

The band were presented with the Best British Group gong by music legend Jimmy Page at the 2015 Brit Awards and has also scooped up Q, Kerrang and GMA awards.

On writing the theme tune, Royal Blood say: “It’s a dream come true for us because we always imagined doing something like this one day. It’s great that a new show celebrating live music is back at the BBC and creating a home for new bands to build a bigger audience. We’re excited to be a part of it!”.

Bob Shennan, Director BBC Radio and Music says: “BBC Music is thrilled to be launching Sounds Like Friday Night on BBC One this autumn, putting music centre stage for our audience and featuring the biggest UK and international stars.”

Gabe Turner, partner at Fulwell 73, says: “We’re really excited and honoured to be bringing back music to BBC One prime time. The support from labels and wider music industry has blown us away and now we just can’t wait for the series to begin.”

Fulwell 73 has been commissioned to produce the series for BBC One by Charlotte Moore, Director BBC Content, Jan Younghusband for BBC Music and Kate Phillips for BBC Entertainment. Commissioning Executive for BBC Entertainment is Rachel Ashdown. Executive Producers for Fulwell 73 are Gabe Turner and Suzi Aplin; Paul Wright will be the Exec/Showrunner; and Toby Brack is Series Producer.

The show will launch in October and will broadcast live from the iconic BBC Television Centre in White City, the home of so many classic TV shows. The six programmes will be fronted by Radio 1 DJ and presenter Greg James with Radio 1 Xtra’s Dotty. Each week they will be sharing presenting duties with a different major music artist who will complete the hosting line up. The star host for programme one and the future episodes will be revealed nearer the time.

The artist host will be sprinkling their own stardust over proceedings and making every episode a complete one-off. As well as performing live, they will be joining in with the topical entertainment and fun sketches as well as presenting a smorgasbord of the very best in live music from other artists performing in that night’s show. Greg will be interviewing the bands and featuring alongside the lead hosts in sketches. Dotty will be chatting with the guests and the audience and curating the show’s interaction with viewers live on social media during each show, as well as getting out and about meeting music fans across the country.

Host Greg James said: “We have been missing a prime time music show from our TV screens for far too long, so it’s fair to say being part of Sounds Like Friday Night is something I’m really, really excited about.

“One thing that’s fantastic about the show is being able to provide new and emerging acts a home alongside the megastars, introducing them to a new audience.”

Kerr, who grew up in Worthing, and Thatcher, from Rustington, formed in Brighton in 2013 and are now regarded as one of the biggest bands in the country.

C.C.S. – Whole Lotta Love

Phil Lynott – Yellow Pearl

Paul Hardcastle – The Wizard

But they were not the original theme’s used, here is a clip compiling seven different open sequences for the show.

And how about a reminder how Royal Blood sound.

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