{{short description|German music television programme (1965-1972)}} {{For|the 1998 The Black Sorrows album of same name|Beat Club (album)}} {{more citations needed|date=March 2026}} {{Infobox television | image = Beat club logo.jpg | caption = | alt = Logo for the 1960s and 1970s West German Music TV Programme Beat-Club, with a style similar to the logo of London Underground. | alt_name = | genre = Music | creator = Gerhard Augustin and Mike Leckebusch | writer = | director = | developer = | presenter = Gerhard Augustin (1965)<br>Eddie Vickers (1965–1966)<br/>Uschi Nerke<br>Dave Lee Travis (1966–1969)<br>Dave Dee (1969–1970) | starring = | voices = | narrator = | theme_music_composer = | open_theme = Mood Mosaic: "A Touch of Velvet - A Sting of Brass" | end_theme = | composer = Mark Wirtz (theme) | country = West Germany | language = German | num_seasons = | num_episodes = 83 | list_episodes = | executive_producer = | producer = Radio Bremen, WDR (1969–1972) | editor = | location = Bremen, West Germany (unless stated below)<br>Tiles Club, London (episode 11)<br>Hamburg, West Germany (episode 16)<br>Marquee Club, London (episode 18)<br>West Berlin, West Germany (episode 24) | cinematography = | camera = Studio Hamburg | runtime = 30–60 minutes | channel = ARD (Radio Bremen) | first_aired = {{Start date|1965|09|25|df=y}} | last_aired = {{End date|1972|12|09|df=y}} | related = }} '''''Beat-Club''''' is a West German music programme that ran from September 1965 to December 1972. It was broadcast from Bremen, West Germany on ''Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen'', the national public television channel of the ARD, and produced by one of its members, Radio Bremen, later co-produced by WDR following the 38th episode.
== History == ''Beat-Club'' was co-created by Gerhard Augustin and Mike Leckebusch. The show premiered on 25 September 1965 with Augustin and Uschi Nerke hosting. German television personality Wilhelm Wieben opened the first show with a short speech. After eight episodes, Augustin stepped down from his hosting role and was replaced by British disc-jockey Dave Lee Travis.
The show immediately caused a sensation and achieved cult status in West Germany among the youth, while being detested by some older people.<ref>{{Cite web |url= https://www.eurock.com/features/gerhard.aspx |title=Gerhard Augustin Interview: The Godfather of Deutsch Rock |website=www.eurock.com}}</ref> The show's earlier episodes featured live performances, and was set in front of a plain brick wall. It underwent a revamp in 1966, when a more professional look was adopted with large cards in the background displaying the names of the performers, who now mimed to their hit records (the standard practice on most music shows from the era) in front of the studio audience. (A companion series, ''Beat Beat Beat'', continued to run live performances.) Around this time, a troupe of young women billed the "Go-Go-Girls," were introduced to dance to songs when their performers could not appear.{{citation needed|date=December 2021}}
In early 1969, Travis was replaced by British singer Dave Dee. On 31 December 1969, ''Beat-Club'' switched to colour and again featured live performances, but without an audience. Dee departed in 1970, leaving Nerke as the lone host.
In the later years of its run, the series was known for incorporating psychedelic visual effects during many performances, many concentrating on images of the performers in the background. When the show switched to colour, the effects became much more vivid.
The Grateful Dead performed on the show on 21 April 1972, halfway through their European tour. The band played songs like "Truckin'".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dead.net/store/1970s/europe-72-beat-club-bremen-west-germany-4211972|title=Europe '72 : Beat Club, Bremen, West Germany|publisher=dead.net|access-date=28 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161028220228/http://www.dead.net/store/1970s/europe-72-beat-club-bremen-west-germany-4211972|archive-date=28 October 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> This is believed to be the last professionally filmed appearance of Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, who retired from the band shortly after the end of the tour, due to medical reasons (he died in March 1973). In 2014, the footage had its first theatrical screening in theatres across America.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/grateful-deads-1972-german-concert-to-hit-movie-theaters-this-summer-20140609|title=Grateful Dead's 1972 German Concert to Hit Movie Theaters This Summer|first=Kory|last=Grow|journal=Rolling Stone|date=June 9, 2014|access-date=October 28, 2016}}</ref>
== Acts on the show ==
In its seven-year run, before being replaced by ''Musikladen'', the show featured artists such as the following: {{div col|colwidth=25em}} *Alice Cooper *Amon Düül II *The Animals *Arthur Brown *Ashton, Gardner & Dyke *Atomic Rooster *Badfinger *Barry St. John *The Beach Boys *Bee Gees *Beggars Opera *Black Sabbath *Blue Cheer *Can *Canned Heat *Captain Beefheart *Caravan *Cherry Wainer *Chicago *Chuck Berry *Cream *Dave Davies *David Bowie *Delaney, Bonnie & Friends *Deep Purple *The Doors *The Easybeats *Emerson, Lake & Palmer *The Equals *Eric Burdon and War *Family *Fanny *Fleetwood Mac *The Flower Pot Men *Fotheringay *Frank Zappa *Free *Frumpy *Gene Pitney *Golden Earring *Grapefruit (band) *Grateful Dead *Guru Guru *Harry Nilsson *The Hollies *Ike & Tina Turner *Iron Butterfly *James Gang *Janis Joplin *Jethro Tull *Jimi Hendrix *Joe Cocker *{{ill|Joy & The Hit Kids|de}} *Julie Driscoll & Brian Auger and the Trinity *King Crimson *The Kinks *Kraftwerk *The Liverbirds *Led Zeppelin *Lucifer's Friend *Lulu *Manassas *Manfred Mann *The Moody Blues *MC5 *Mountain *The Move *Osibisa *Popol Vuh *P. P. Arnold *Rare Bird *Redbone *Richie Havens *Robin Gibb *The Rolling Stones *Rory Gallagher *Sandie Shaw *Santana *Scott McKenzie *Sharon Tandy *Small Faces *Soft Machine *Sonny & Cher *Spirit *Status Quo *Steppenwolf *Stone the Crows *Ten Years After *Third World War *Three Dog Night *Thunderclap Newman *Tiny Tim *T. Rex *UFO *Vanilla Fudge *The Walker Brothers *The Who *Yes *Zager and Evans {{div col end}} Performances from the show were seen on VH1 Classic, and reruns in several European countries. Several DVD collections of the show have also been released.
== Relaunch == {{update|section|date=October 2016}} ''Beat-Club'' is now broadcast on Sunday afternoons between 1 and 3 pm, as a weekly radio programme on Radio Bremen 1, and on a web channel offered by the radio station. The radio show is hosted by Nerke, who reprised her role as presenter for the series.
The 2008 Video on demand web portal launched for both ''Beat-Club'' and ''Musikladen'' was replaced by a YouTube channel in 2010.
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == {{Portal|1960s}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20070930161819/http://www.tv.com/beat-club/show/8970/episode_guide.html?season=0&tag=season_dropdown%3Bdropdown%3B8 TV.com: Beat-Club] - complete list with all tracks (in English) *[https://www.youtube.com/beatclub Beat-Club] channel on YouTube * {{IMDb title|0239161|Beat-Club}}
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Category:Radio Bremen Category:German music television series Category:Pop music television series Category:1965 German television series debuts Category:1972 German television series endings Category:German-language television shows Category:Das Erste original programming