Although the South African rock movement of the late sixties and early seventies was not a major commercial success, it's participants heralded an exciting new age in South African rock and started a movement aimed at changing the musical tastes of fans in a spectacular way. Stadium concerts became the vehicle for feeding the youth with heavier rock sounds and behind studio glass were producers like Clive Calder, Billy Forrest, Graham Beggs and Selwyn Miller who acted as change agents to transform conventional pop into heavier 4 to 5 minute songs. The movement's struggle for recognition through airplay remained unanswered and only the true fans of rock knew about their existence.Smashing instruments and 5 minute plus recordings were not everybody's cup of tea and neither did record companies go out of their way to market the rock revolution in South Africa.
Clive Calder, one of rock's premier custodians, had this to say in 1971: "Rock is the biggest thing in music today. It's the universal language of the young generation. A handful of bands produced highly creative music and young South Africa welcomed them with open arms. Gullible powers retaliated by banning or restricting their artistic influence and radio stations ignored them! But ROCK accepted them!" (liner notes by Tertius Louw) (BUY IT!!!)
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