A YouTube clip from Beat-Club I coincidentally caught on Sunday reminded me that I hadn’t done a post in my series about popular concert halls and music programs since July 2020. So I felt the popular German TV music show, which aired monthly between September 1965 and December 1972, would be a great topic for another installment.
Beat-Club was created by music producer Gerhard Augustin, who according to Wikipedia was Germany’s first professional disc jockey, and film director and writer Mike Leckebusch. Broadcast on one of Germany’s main national public TV channels ARD, the show was hosted by German architect-turned-singer-turned-TV presenter Uschi Nerke. Until early 1969, she was joined by Augustin and afterwards by Dave Dee, of Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich, before Nerke started hosting alone in 1970.
Beat-Club began as a live program with music guests performing in front of a plain brick wall. In 1967, the program was revamped to adapt a “more professional look,” which among others included large cards in the background that displayed the names of the performers. The new format also allowed for inclusion of artists who could not appear live. In these cases, a troupe of young women called the “Go-Go-Girls” was dancing to the featured songs – ouch! On a cooler note, in its later years, Beat-Club incorporated psychedelic visual effects during many performances. These effects became much more pronounced after the program switched to color in late 1969.
German TV personality Wilhelm Wieben opened Beat-Club’s first episode with the following words: “Hello, dear beat friends. The time has finally come. In just a few seconds starts the first show on German television, which exclusively was made for you. Ladies and gentlemen, I ask you who may not enjoy beat music for your understanding. It’s a live program with young people for young people. And now, let’s go!”
I guess Wieben and the master minds behind the program pretty much foresaw what would happen: While Beat-Club’s target audience embraced the show right way, the older generation in Germany was horrified. This probably ensured young people liked it even more. In fact, the show quickly reached “cult” status.
Over its seven-year run, Beat-Club featured an impressive array of music artists and bands. Badfinger, Chuck Berry, Cream, Deep Purple, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones and The Who were some among many others. Now on to the real fun part: Clips that capture some of the action. The year in parenthesis after each title marks the timing of the show episode. It’s all based on Beat-Club’s YouTube channel.
Cream/I Feel Free (1967)
The Jimi Hendrix Experience/Purple Haze (1967)
Canned Heat/On the Road Again (1968)
Joe Cocker/With a Little Help From My Friends (1968)
Chicago Transit Authority/I’m a Man (1969)
The Who/Sally Simpson & I’m Free (1969)
Black Sabbath/Paranoid (1970)
Muddy Waters/Honey Bee (1970)
Fleetwood Mac/Dragonfly (1971)
T. Rex/Jeepster (1971)
Ike & Tina Turner/Get Back (1972)
Manassas/Rock & Roll Crazies
Beat-Club eventually was replaced by another music program called Musikladen (music store). While I was too young to watch Beat-Club, I have some nebulous memories of Musikladen, and I’m afraid they aren’t great! Nerke co-moderated the program with main host Manfred Sexauer until September 1978. Subsequently, she hosted her own radio show Beat-Club until January 2013.
Sources: Wikipedia; YouTube
Christian's Music Musings 
That’s an awesome array of performers. Did they play true live?
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No. Apparently, in the beginning, it was an all-live format. Subsequently, it was changed so the show could also feature artists that were not there physically.
Based on the clips on their YouTube channel, it’s not clear which appearances were live and which were not.
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The bands I’ve seen were live like The Grateful Dead (because they had some false starts)…I love The Beat Club! You have a great array of artists here. I’ve looked up artists on that show before on youtube and spent hours watching.
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It’s funny but I’ve run across some clips on YouTube (Johnny Winter for example) from Beat Club but wasn’t exactly sure what. Great bunch of clips. Some of them seem pretty obviously lip-synched like Cream. But the revelation for me was the outstanding Chicago Transit Authority “I’m a Man.” (They had to change their name for legal reasons.) Man, that fucking cooked. I’ve always loved their take on it and it was a kick to see Terry Kath singing and wailing on guitar. Odd that the horn guys were reduced to clanking on cowbells. But still, incredibly vital. It proves what a bunch of dogshit just about everything in popular music is these days. BTW, no worries about the go-go dancers. That was pretty common back then.
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I dig most of the early Chicago music I’ve heard. Terry Kath was a great guitarist. Another neat rocker on that Chicago Transit Authority album is “South California Purples”.
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Yeah, Kath was a great guitarist and singer. His solo on “25 or 6 to 4” is on my to-learn list.
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Jim told me to come over and check out the Chicago clip. It’s good.
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Jim is a wise man! 🙂
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The other ones I checked were synched but the Chicago was live. He’s pretty wise for a Boston bad boy.
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I guess Beat-Club only was only truly live for the first few episodes. In any case, the music they featured was awesome!
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Agreed. I like those tunes you featured. Eclectic bunch.
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