# The Boat that Rocked **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 9, 2009, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boat-that-rocked/492582 "2009-04-09T23:30:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![I\_Have\_Hippos\_In\_My\_Garden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/4491bb/32.png) [@I\_Have\_Hippos\_In\_My\_Garden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Have_Hippos_In_My_Garden)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boat-that-rocked/492582/1 "2009-04-09T23:30:10Z")
With Bill Nighy and Emma Thompson. Has this film come to the US yet? If you have seen it what did you think? I saw it last night and loved it! It gave me a fresh love for 70s music! I need to do more ipod updating… ---
**Author:** ![ToeJam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dfb087/32.png) [@ToeJam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToeJam)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2009, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boat-that-rocked/492582/2 "2009-04-10T00:57:37Z")
I haven’t heard about this film, but I’ll keep an eye out, I like both actors, and hey- who doesn’t love 70’s music? ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2009, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boat-that-rocked/492582/3 "2009-04-10T02:12:55Z")
I hope it opens here! I fear that some chowderhead at a studio will think that the subject matter is “too English” and not release it here. The cast looks amazing: Bill Nighy, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rhys Ifans, Kenneth Branagh and Nick Frost? I am SO there. Assuming that I am allowed to watch it here. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2009, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boat-that-rocked/492582/4 "2009-04-10T02:32:34Z")
Ah, the grand old pirate radio days! A fantastic time for pop music in England. It wasn’t the 70s, by the way, it was the mid-60s. The Who did an entire album on the theme, with jingles and radio announcements scattered throughout… [The Who Sell Out](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Who_Sell_Out). MOJO just ran a feature article on the album in their 60s psychedelic music issue. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Have\_Hippos\_In\_My\_Garden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/4491bb/32.png) [@I\_Have\_Hippos\_In\_My\_Garden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Have_Hippos_In_My_Garden)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2009, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boat-that-rocked/492582/5 "2009-04-10T07:58:07Z")
> [@](#): > > It wasn’t the 70s, by the way, it was the mid-60s Opps sorry! I guess that shows my age! But I love it how amazing pirate radio was for you all (Radio Caroline?!). There are so many amazing scenes in the flim. I love the random shots of people listening to radios in public places like the beach and the park and just dancing around together. That never happens anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2009, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boat-that-rocked/492582/6 "2009-04-10T12:24:44Z")
A new romantic comedy from the maker of Love Actually? That’s like a new nerve gas from the makers of Sarin. Richard Curtis must be stopped before he strikes again. ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2009, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boat-that-rocked/492582/7 "2009-04-10T13:04:29Z")
It’s due to open in the States on August 28th (according to IMDB). I loved the film, but beware, it is Richard Curtis’s lightest film - and that’s saying something. I was a great fan of pirate radio; Radio London, in particular. But I do wonder whether it will have the same resonance anywhere else, because I expect you’d see it as just the regular radio that you’ve always had. Before 1967, the only UK based source of music was the BBC. Partly because of their policies, and partly because the Musician Union insisted that recorded music should have very limited airtime, the BBC played very little recorded pop music. Richard Curtis says only 45 minutes a week, but I seem to remember it was a little more than that. They were frightened that live music, as played by tea-room type bands and orchestras, would be squashed out. They were right. When the wildly enthusiastic disk jockeys, with their transatlantic accents first appeared in 1965, playing the wonderful music of the mid 60s, first on Radio Caroline, and then Radio London, it was a revelation. They were relaxed anough to allow programs like John Peel’s Perfumed Garden, where he played the underground music of the day: the Dead, the Airplane, the Floyd and the like. I was heartbroken in August 1967 when the Labour government (not the Conservatives, as shown in the film) closed them down. I still have, and listen to, Big L’s final hour, and John Peel’s final show which was broadcast from midnight to 5am on the last day. No radio has ever been quite the same. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2009, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boat-that-rocked/492582/8 "2009-04-10T15:54:42Z")
I remember listening to Caroline before R1 started up, but my main memories of pirate radio were of [Radio Nordsee International](http://www.offshore-radio.de/RNI/index.html)! It broadcast well into the 70s. Reading some of that link reminded me of Veronica, as well! We got pretty good reception of RNI in Edinburgh… around the same time I remember there was a local pirate broadcasting only on Sundays, iirc, from various spots around the city… Took ages for them to catch up with him… ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2009, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boat-that-rocked/492582/9 "2009-04-10T15:59:01Z")
> [@Meurglys](#): > > I remember listening to Caroline before R1 started up, but my main memories of pirate radio were of [Radio Nordsee International](http://www.offshore-radio.de/RNI/index.html)! It broadcast well into the 70s. Reading some of that link reminded me of Veronica, as well! > > We got pretty good reception of RNI in Edinburgh… around the same time I remember there was a local pirate broadcasting only on Sundays, iirc, from various spots around the city… Took ages for them to catch up with him… I listened to Radio Nordsee International, too, as well as Caroline after the August 14th closedown, but somehow it wasn’t the same. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2009, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boat-that-rocked/492582/10 "2009-04-10T16:10:42Z")
I suspect I’m a little younger than you! I was 10 in 1967… ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2009, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boat-that-rocked/492582/11 "2009-04-10T17:20:22Z")
> [@Meurglys](#): > > I suspect I’m a little younger than you! > I was 10 in 1967… Not by very much. I was sixteen, living in London and revelling in the psychedelic revolution. 😃 (Although I suppose that at that age, it was quite a gap!) ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2009, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boat-that-rocked/492582/12 "2009-04-10T22:50:51Z")
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > A new romantic comedy from the maker of Love Actually? That’s like a new nerve gas from the makers of Sarin. > > Richard Curtis must be stopped before he strikes again. I haven’t seen it (can’t wait!) but I don’t think it’s a romantic comedy. It’s about the early days of underground radio, when stations in the UK had to broadcast from clandestine ships at sea because of the rules in place at that time. More music for the people. More GOOD music for the people really into music. More bands discovered. The chance (for the listeners) to feel like they were breaking the rules just by listening, without threat of getting in trouble. People on the ships taking the chance of getting into trouble not for profit or money or glory, but just to bring listeners music they otherwise probably wouldn’t hear. I don’t know of any movie that’s taken on this subject before. Complete originality in film is very rare. Now what in the world is wrong with that? You would let your hatred of Love Actually (which is not a bad movie anyway) and Richard Curtis condemn this movie even though it’s nothing like Love Actually? Do you always condemn a director’s _ **entire** _ career based on one movie you don’t like? Why? I’m completely befuddled. Anyway, I can’t wait. I love the concept, and I love the cast, and I love the music, so it’s all good for me. [Here’s the trailer.](http://us.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi34800409/) ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2009, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boat-that-rocked/492582/13 "2009-04-11T01:58:39Z")
The reviews here have been somewhat mixed. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2009, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boat-that-rocked/492582/14 "2009-04-11T09:43:05Z")
> [@NineToTheSky](#): > > Not by very much. I was sixteen, living in London and revelling in the psychedelic revolution. 😃 (Although I suppose that at that age, it was quite a gap!) When I was ten, that seemed like a lifetime! I was throwing myself into prog and so on when I reached the age you were then… ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2009, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boat-that-rocked/492582/15 "2009-04-11T09:51:19Z")
> [@Meurglys](#): > > When I was ten, that seemed like a lifetime! > > I was throwing myself into prog and so on when I reached the age you were then… Yes, I wished that I was two or three years older at the time. The Boat That Rocked certainly isn’t a rom-com. It’s really more of a series of interlocked sketches, some very crude - but funny. The ending is dramatically very OTT. All the reviews I have seen have been very mixed. Most people either love it or hate it. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2009, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boat-that-rocked/492582/16 "2009-04-11T10:07:29Z")
70’s music, **9**? I would have been in my mid 20’s then. Is there a soundtrack? My Og. “Mid 20’s”. I had a shag haircut then. I was kinda cute, too. Now I’m almost 60 and the wrinkles are gettin’ wrinkled! 😉 The Rascals, Arthur Conley, Otis, Tommy James and the Shondells, Paul Revere and The Raiders… I just **had** to click into this thread, didn’t I??? 🙂 Thanks Bill ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2009, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boat-that-rocked/492582/17 "2009-04-11T10:19:49Z")
> [@Quasimodem](#): > > 70’s music, **9**? > > I would have been in my mid 20’s then. Is there a soundtrack? > > My Og. “Mid 20’s”. I had a shag haircut then. I was kinda cute, too. Now I’m almost 60 and the wrinkles are gettin’ wrinkled! 😉 > > The Rascals, Arthur Conley, Otis, Tommy James and the Shondells, Paul Revere and The Raiders… > > I just **had** to click into this thread, didn’t I??? 🙂 > > Thanks > > Bill Hi Bill Yes, there is a [soundtrack](http://www.amazon.com/Boat-That-Rocked/dp/B001TH16BK/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1239444674&sr=8-1). The film is set in 1965-1967, and the music is all from that period, except for, rather inconguously, a track from Duffy. It includes all sorts of great music from Hendrix, Procul Harum, the Kinks, the Turtles, Martha Reeves, the Who and many others. I was in my teens in the '60s (so we’re about the same age), and I too cut a dash with my long blond hair 🆒 - though sadly I didn’t appreciate it at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2009, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boat-that-rocked/492582/18 "2009-04-11T21:52:57Z")
**Nine** , Thanks for the link! Looks like Amazon is sold out, though. Must be a double cd? Since you and I are about the same age, I’m gonna share a “Bill” story from the 70’s with you, okay? But don’t tell anyone else, all right? This is just between me and you.😃 You know that the 70’s had the “Glitter Rock” Era, right? Well, up until then the band I was in (“The Watchmen” - yup we had the name first. We formed our band in 1966) was playing mostly Creedence and stuff like that (what I like to call “Mainstream Rock”) and we decided we’d try the glitter thing and all our girlfriends could make us up. So anyway, one day we were rehearsing at my house (made up) and my dad came walking through just as we were trying to decide on a new band name. He took one look at me in my teased-up shag, lipstick, mascara, skin tight gold lame’ pants and those platform heels (I think I probably broke his heart at that exact moment) and said: “Why don’t y’all call yourselves “Scum Of The Earth”? That’s what y’all **are**!” So my Dad (rest his soul - he had to put up with a lot from me, kids) named our band! There **are** pictures, but they are in my safe-deposit box and there are strict instructions not to show them till my memorial service so you will just have to wait. But I have to say this: I got **WAYYYYY** narcisistic (is that enough i’s and c’s?) on my own ass! All that make-up took away all my blemishes an’ stuff? God, I looked **HOT!** Dude! I **loved** looking at myself in the mirror!🙂 My girlfriend at the time thought I was cute too! So there ya go! I was a “Hot Child In The City” at one time! (You’d never know it now, to look at me! I just look like Amber and Julian’s Gramps now!) Okay? We have a deal, right? You’re not gonna tell anyone else on the Dope about this? Especially NOT **Johnny L A**! Oh, God, kids! I feel like we know each other like brothers and sisters anyway, and even though we’re separated by the miles and the net, it’s good to come here and learn about you too. Thanks Bill ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boat-that-rocked/492582/19 "2009-04-12T08:43:30Z")
Morning, Bill. (Well, it’s morning here). You’ve got me reminiscing about the '60s. I had a great time then. Like, at a free concert in Hyde Park I was on the stage, leaning up against Keith Emerson’s organ (musical instrument, folks, musical instrument) when he was in the Nice. Part of his stage act then was throwing knives at his organ; I moved away pretty sharpish at that point! I went to a ‘happening’ (remember them?) in the Royal Albert Hall, the culmination of which was John Lennon and Yoko Ono wriggling about in a big white bag - very boring. I was somewhat distracted, though, because the girl next to me decided to take all her clothes off (as you did then). The ushers objected and told her to get dressed. She refused, so they called the police. At which point, everyone in the immediate vicinity got up and started taking their clothes off too. The police backed down, and a compromise was reached whereby she remained undressed, but put a jacket over her shoulders. The next morning in the Daily Mirror (a trashy national newspaper) was a centre page spread of me - well, it was probably more likely that the naked girl was the actual subject of attention. The photo was later published in a book, which I’ve still got. It proves I didn’t imagine the whole thing. And to cap it all, I was holding up a flower! (Many apologies to the OP for the hijack.) ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boat-that-rocked/492582/20 "2009-04-12T10:30:56Z")
I’ve just found a couple of links for the events. The Hyde Park Concert is [here](http://www.ukrockfestivals.com/hyde-park-7-28-68.html). And The Alchemical Wedding is [here](http://leeharris.co.uk/LeeHarris/Works/afootsol.htm) > [@](#): > > \*The revolution is over and we have won, was the mantra. At last it was the day of The Alchemical Wedding. We foot-soldiers had rushed about beforehand doing all the little things that have to be done, like spreading the word and seeing that flyers were distributed all over the place. I slept at the back of the Lab when I could and one night I collapsed from exhaustion, puking up the Indian curry I had hastily eaten earlier. Nevertheless, here I was on the night of the 18th December '68, travelling in a taxi with Jim’s secretary from the Lab to the Royal Albert Hall, resplendent in my paisley kaftan. We sat back and gave a sigh of relief as we crawled through the rush-hour traffic. > > By the time we arrived backstage, the well of the large hall was beginning to fill up. Although nothing was, to my knowledge, planned, a couple of rock groups had set up in case they were asked to play. I could see John and Yoko sitting on the side of the stage. Ken Kesey and his merry crew were hanging around. There were the Hare Krishna devotees and about four thousand of the most beautiful heads that the underground could muster, waiting in anticipation for this most auspicious event to begin. > > The hour had come, the crowd buzzed with excitement, but nothing happened. The audience started to fidget in their seats, there was an air of anxiety about. Then I noticed the small bedraggled figure of Jack Moore walking slowly through the crowded well of the hall, his finger to his lips beckoning silence. By the time he had reached the front of the stage there was a silence only broken by the odd nervous guffaw or raucous catcall from the back. The silence became long and deep and seemed to engulf us. Then, almost out of nowhere, someone banged a drum, there was an ecstatic cry of joy, the Krishna devotees began to chant and I found myself swept off my feet by the momentum. The space in front of the stage filled with swaying, swirling bodies high on the energy created out of the silence. It was J. Henry Moore’s finest moment. This was the culmination of what The Human Family was about. Theatre in its highest form was an act of communal magic that could transcend earthbound reality. > > Musicians played, poets ranted, and John and Yoko crept into their white sheet-like bag on the stage and stayed there out of sight for what seemed like ages. I watched a baby crawl slowly by. And that was the bag happening. All mayhem broke out when a young female member of the audience stripped off her clothes and danced in naked delight. When the police were called and attendants tried to remove her, groups of people started stripping off their clothes in solidarity. There was a retreat and a truce was worked out, and no-one was arrested. The nude girl incident, with accompanying photo, made the front pages of the London evening papers. > > The Alchemical Wedding had a profound effect on many of us who were there that night. It touched our lives and helped bring about changes. There is a difference between what a person does and what happens by itself. You will set yourself a task with determination and tenacity and then, suddenly, a gust of wind will come from another world and everything changes. You seem to be used by the gods; and, in spite of yourself, you are part of the Myth\*. We believed in something in those days. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-boat-that-rocked/492582.md?page=2)