Punk's Not Dead? (p-rock)

Member Name: Frankingsteins

Product:	p-rock
Date:	29/04/04 (2786 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Exclusive music videos that other channels couldn't be bothered to play (although some did after this), Enjoyable to watch, and not spoiled by filler programmes

Disadvantages: The same videos inevitably received too many screenings, No longer exists, Technical problems

In the modern, digital world, a single music channel is not enough to accommodate the constant stream of varied musical styles and complete trash, and this has led to extensions of the MTV company into more specialised areas, as well as appearances by independent channels. P-rock falls into the latter category and is no longer a member of the digital realm, its lifecycle being turbulent, unpredictable and quite fun.


AUDIENCE


P-rock catered primarily for fans of punk rock music, a genre that has increased in popularity here in Britain through the efforts of more accessible bands such as Green Day, the Offspring and Blink 182, however much some fans of ?real? punk would wish decapitation for all concerned. MTV 2 is the music giant?s apparent answer to everyone?s ?alternative music? needs, but this channel strangely became less useful and more full of stupid programmes the more it became necessary to have a really good rock channel. The channel set up by rock magazine ?Kerrang!? is still going strong, although its style of constant music across a number of styles inevitably leads to far too much repetition and viewers that still aren?t satisfied.

At the end of 2002, two new channels appeared at roughly the same time; ?Scuzz,? owned by the wealthy Sky company, and P-rock, set up by two South-London businessmen. Scuzz played a variety of music similar to Kerrang, but over the years has managed to establish itself as a channel with some interesting features and the hour segments divided into more specialised programmes. P-rock played videos constantly, chosen by viewer phone votes in the manner of the other channels, but there was much more focus on contemporary and classic punk rock than metal.


BANDS


The channel?s popularity relied partially upon th
e inclusion of popular artists among its tracklist, however there also seemed to be a lot of interest in bands that rarely had any time devoted to them on other channels. Over the Christmas 2002 period, the channel notably played videos by Rancid, the Rancid guitarist?s side-project ?Lars Frederisksen and the Bastards,? the Distillers and the Vandals, extending to underground rap-rock bands such as Cypress Hill. When videos were shown by more popular bands, they were always chosen with regard to what was actually good (for good, read: ?punk?) and this led to the inclusion of rarely seen early videos from the Offspring, among others.


THE SHOWS


There were no attempts made by P-rock to have shoddily made discussion shows, a lesson that MTV 2 never seems to pick up on, although the channel was obviously planned with care. A pretty much non-stop stream of viewer-selected videos filled the schedule, while there were features such as the ?Top 10? at weekends, or late at night. The channel also allowed itself to show some of the less savoury, but ultimately better, music videos at night that were banned from daytime showing, usually for poor reasons.


THE END


P-rock?s founder Mark Shipman, presumably a man who had either noticed a niche in the market or was simply a huge Rancid fan, has stated that lack of commitment and punctuality by advertisers led to the decision to close the channel down, as although it was receiving 600,000 viewers a week it was no longer financially secure. It seems that the plucky underdogs do not always have the ability to stand up and defeat the establishment, despite what rubbish Stallone films may teach. P-rock had a minor comeback for dying again, sort of like a punk Christ.

According to internet bulletins, the
channel resumed playing in May 2003, albeit not as part of Sky Digital, but a recent unsuccessful visit to p-rock.tv left the impression that it has indeed faded into oblivion. P-rock managed to bring some less mainstream music to the public?s attention, and for that it should be praised. Although technical problems were rife even during its run, which only added to my humorous and friendly, non-corporate view of the channel. But it did get annoying.

When the Kerrang channel first aired, the first music video I caught them playing was one by Dr. Dre. In a genre where selling out is harshly criticised, P-rock managed to avoid such actions. And it went off the air.

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