Rage (TV program)
| Rage | |
|---|---|
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| Genre | Music, Arts |
| Presented by | List of Rage guest programmers |
| Opening theme | "Real Wild Child" by Iggy Pop |
| Ending theme | "Speed Your Love to Me" by Simple Minds |
| Country of origin | Australia |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 27 |
| Production | |
| Location(s) | Sydney, New South Wales |
| Running time | 60 minutes (Monday-Thursday) 12 hours (Friday-Saturdays) 6.5 hours (Saturday-Sundays) |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ABC1 Fly TV (2001–2003) ABC2 (Top Fifty, 2005–2006, Hits and New Releases/Guest and Specials, 2006–2009) |
| Picture format | 576i (SDTV 16:9) DTV 4:3 Analogue |
| Audio format | Stereo |
| Original run | 17 April 1987 – present |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Rage (styled as rage) is a popular all-night Australian music video program broadcast on ABC1 on Friday nights, Saturday mornings and Saturday nights. It was first screened on the weekend of Friday, 17 April 1987. With Soul Train and Video Hits no longer being produced, it is the oldest music television program currently still in production as of 9 November 2012. Rage starts anywhere between 11pm and 1am, the program is classified 'M' or 'MA 15+' through until 6am Saturdays and finishes at 11 am on Saturdays and at 6:30 am on Sundays. Shorter broadcasts also currently air at early hours during the week. Rage is also broadcast on the international satellite channel Australia Network on Saturday and Sunday mornings (Hong Kong time).[1]
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Format [edit]
Rage has a good reputation among viewers for its minimalist format which has remained largely unchanged for more than two decades. The program was originally created by executive producer Mark FitzGerald in early 1987. It was then given an idiosyncratic and alternative flavour by music programmers and producers Stephanie Lewis (1988 to 1995) and Narelle Gee (1995 to 2008). A wide range of music genres are included in the Rage mix with the Friday night programming focusing on New Release videos. The only time a human is seen on Rage delivering dialogue to the camera is when guest programmers appear on the Saturday night edition. Otherwise, the videos are run end-to-end with the occasional quick branding clip or the "Rage" logo accompanied by a voice that simply says "Rage!" to break them up. A "crawl" is also used at times during the program, with details of upcoming Specials and Guest Programmers printed in text at the bottom of the screen during a short snippet of a selected clip. The titling on the videos is also very simple, with the artist and song name displayed briefly after the Rage logo near the beginning of each video (originally only the artist was identified). Historically. no other logos or watermarks appear over the clip as it played, but as of 25 June 2010, Kath Earle, Executive Producer with ABC Arts & Entertainment, stated that the Director of Television and Head of Marketing have decided to watermark rage to 'maintain consistency across the network' as all other programs are watermarked.[2]
On Friday new and recent releases are played, often including little heard of new names in the very early hours of Saturday morning. During his John Safran's Music Jamboree series, John Safran successfully demonstrated "...even a dog can get a video on Rage", by attaching a video camera to a dog, and editing the resulting footage together with simply produced looping music.
On Saturday nights, Rage features specials and often has guest programmers, including local and international personalities from the music industry. From the program's inception, Rage aired the Australian Top 50 music chart on Saturday and Sunday mornings, however in mid-2006 this practice ceased and it now shows selected hits, new release video clips and a one-hour guest programming/special programming slot on Saturday morning, with new release and classic videos on Sunday morning.
Between July 1993 and May 1995, Rage aired a special "new releases" program weekly from 2am until 4am on a Friday morning.
The Saturday night editions are themed. Often it's a simple dedication to an established artist by showing a large amount of their work. As an example of the other types of themes, in early 2004 edited highlights from Countdown (from the 1970s and '80s), Rock Arena (from the '80s) and Recovery (from the '90s) were shown over many weeks. The tradition continues, with January each year being "Retro Month", and now including material from other ABC shows including GTK (1970s), Flashez (1970s) and Beatbox (1980s).
The first two music video shown on Rage were "Weirdo Libido" by the Lime Spiders and "(You Gotta) Fight For The Right (To Party)" by The Beastie Boys.
Because the show usually starts on one day and ends on the next, it is often unclear which day the show belongs to. The producers have decided that even if it begins after midnight, its identity belongs to the earlier day (Friday or Saturday) even though the majority of the show (if not all) will be on the later day. This is most likely because television guides in Australia start and end each day at 6am.
Top Fifty [edit]
Prior to 2006, from around 5am or 6am to 9am on Saturday mornings and 4am to the end of show on Sundays, Rage would switch to the weekly Top Fifty from the ARIA singles chart. Rage aired the Top 60 chart from 1 September 1990 to 9 March 1991, and from 8 June 1991 to 6 March 1994. If a video from the Top Fifty was unavailable, unsuitable or non-existent, it would be replaced by a splash screen of the "Rage" logo with the position attained in the charts for the week, the artist's name and the track's title. Also, the videos shown until 6am were uncensored (after this, the rating was set back to G-rated material). However, some clips were unavailable in that form, particularly due to heavier restrictions on clips which originated in the United States. Sometimes, two different video clips for the same song were shown in the one session. When this happens, it was often a live (or sometimes remixed) version that was shown earlier in the night/morning, while the "mainstream" censored version shown after 6am was shown in the Top Fifty due to classification laws in Australia which prevented adult-oriented material being shown in the after-6am timeslot. Since 2005, Rage is classified PG when it carries over after 6am.
Rage has previously had to censor and remove videos which have breached advertorial and editorial guidelines for ABC TV. For example, in 1991, Adidas logos were blurred out in a music video by New Kids on the Block and in 2005 a music video by the Bratz Rock Angelz was removed due to its advertorial content. Post-2000, Rage is more liberal and lenient with censorship compared to how it was in the '90s. For example, Rage, by their own discretion, opted to broadcast the Crazy Frog music video "Axel F" uncensored, showing the exposed penis of the frog, deeming it to be non-offensive.
From 2005, the Top Fifty was added to the ABC2 digital channel programming schedule as well from 8am to 11am. The Top Fifty was also broadcast to Asia on ABC Asia Pacific and has a large cult audience in Asian countries due to the prevalence of pop music there. It is now broadcast to Asia on Australia Network showing new release pop music videos.
The weekend of 22 and 23 July 2006 was Rage's last broadcast of the Top Fifty countdown. In its place at 10am to 11am on Saturday mornings is a preview of the upcoming guest programmer or special. Rage programming on Sunday mornings includes a mix of new and hit songs. The decision to remove the Top Fifty countdown was made by ABC management, not Rage production staff, and was soundly criticised by Rage's viewing audience, which flooded the program's official message boards with complaints. The cessation of the Top Fifty countdown was due to ARIA initiating a commercial association with a telecommunications company; as the commercialism breached ABC guidelines, the Top Fifty could therefore not continue to be shown by Rage.
In 2008 and 2009 Rage broadcast an assortment of clips on ABC2 Saturday afternoons.
Guest programmers [edit]
Rage have had many bands and artists host the show on Saturday nights. They select and introduce their favourite music videos of all time. This gives an insight into the bands' and artists' influences which are highly regarded by fans. Tapings of Rage guest programmers are not only valuable but highly sought after.
Tex Perkins and Mike Patton are the most frequent guest programmers with four appearances on the Rage couch apiece. The most frequently chosen videos by guest programmers include Joy Division's Love Will Tear Us Apart, The Saints' (I'm) Stranded, Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer and Aphex Twin's Windowlicker.
Simulcast [edit]
From New Year's Eve 1992, Triple J had simulcast Rage from 1am until 6am. This ended in 2003 when Triple J introduced their new dance show The Club in the same timeslot.
Considering televisions are increasingly stereo as opposed to older mono sets, the simulcast's advantage is now moot. Digital television was also becoming popular, and digital television broadcasts can not be precisely synchronised with FM radio transmissions.
Theme song [edit]
The theme song used to open the show is sampled from Iggy Pop's extended version of "Real Wild Child", with Pop's vocals and the word Rage manipulated backwards throughout. Visual images for the theme include footage from Iggy Pop's "Real Wild Child" and Johnny O'Keefe's "Shout" video clips.
The song used during the closing credits of the show is "Speed Your Love to Me" by Simple Minds.
"Sleepless" by King Crimson has also been used as the theme song.
Several years ago, a third theme was produced (also based on Iggy Pop's "Real Wild Child") to break up the guest programmer or specials clips on Saturday nights (except on Saturday mornings with hits and new releases).
In the last few years, the show has been using another theme specifically for the for Top Fifty, sampled from the song "She Said" by now-defunct Brisbane band Lavish. It is now used instead of the opening theme to begin the Top Fifty and replace any missing clips.
During TISM's appearance on the show, they described the traditional theme song as "...new and exciting..." and its repetition as "always stimulating ... Why see different songs when you can see this one four or five times?"
Recently, before the guest programmers' timeslot on Saturday mornings, there is a drawn-out and high-pitched scream of "Rage" performed by actress Deni Gordon.
End of Year Specials [edit]
For the last weekend of each year, rage has two specials. On the Friday night, a selection of the preceding year's Best Of videos is played. On the Saturday night, they have a selection of the year's Guest Programmers. This show will start with a series of Guest Programmers introductions that were shown at the beginning of each of their shows and will then include them introducing a few of the videos they selected during their program, followed by one or two of their videos.
On New Year's Eve 1999, ABC celebrated the Millennium by broadcasting the 28 hour one off television program 2000 Today. Due to this, Rage had a rare night off air. When the program finished at midnight on New Years Day, Rage was the first program on air.
On Sunday 31 December 2006, Rage had a New Year's Eve special starting from midnight and going until 4:30am. It played all the greatest party songs, to bring in the new year.
For the first weekend of each year, the Top 50 timeslot on Rage is used for the Top 50 songs of the previous year. This will no longer be the case from 2007 (for the Top 50 songs of 2006).
Rage usually broadcasts music videos of songs from the Triple J Hottest 100 over two nights, several weeks after the Hottest 100 broadcast in late January each year (usually sometime during March).
At the end of 2007, the ABC's satirical comedy group The Chaser hosted a New Year's Eve edition of Rage, the event being dubbed "The Chaser's War on rage".
Rage New Year's Eve Special is over the years on ABC main channel
In 2009, Rage launched the Rage 50; a count down of the top 50 clips of the year, as voted by Rage viewers.[3]
Anniversary specials [edit]
Tenth Anniversary special [edit]
On 19 April 1997 a special episode was aired to celebrate Rage's tenth anniversary. It included a selection, by year, of some of the clips that had aired on Rage in the past ten years. It also included some footage of Guest Programmers from over the years. It was repeated later that year on 20 December.
Twentieth Anniversary special [edit]
Rage's 20th anniversary occurred during April 2007. Each Saturday night they played videos from an era in rage's history as well as immortals (clips that weren't around during the particular years but which were important and influential videos) some of which were introduced by Guest programmers. Each week was introduced by some special footage and ended with a Star Wars style crawl saying which years would be featured the next week (except obviously the last week in which the crawl thanked everyone), and then an exploding birthday cake. It also featured stock footage of each year featured, summarising that year. It also featured a special theme song. The following is a breakdown of what was shown week by week: –
- Week 1 (7 April)
- Tex Perkins, the only man to Guest Program Rage four time introduces the special
- clips from 1987 to 1991
- Week 2 (14 April)
- The "Godfather" of Rage (its original Executive Producer Mark Fitzgerald) explains how the show got started and explains the theme song. Stephanie Lewis who began the 'rage' Saturday night specials and the 'rage' guest programmers when she produced 'rage', is also interviewed about the early days of the program
- Clips from 1992 to 1996
- Week 3 (21 April)
- Current Series Producer and Head Programmer Narelle Gee explains "a week at Rage"
- clips from 1997 to 2001
- Week 4 (28 April)
- The new rage website is shown (as of 7 October 2007 is up and running) and the original one, which uses Shockwave is explained
- clips from 2002 to 2006
- this week also featured celebrities and festival goers throughout endorsing Rage and wishing it a happy birthday.
Real Wild Child book [edit]
A rage book was released in October 2010 by ABC Books/HarperCollins Australia. The author is Narelle Gee and the book is titled Real Wild Child: An Insider’s Tales From The rage Couch. The book gives an insight behind the scenes of rage and tells the stories of the rage guest programmers. The back cover description poses the question What happens when the world’s biggest musical acts sit down on Australia’s most famous couch? Australian Rolling Stone magazine reviewed Real Wild Child with this description: Rage’s long-time producer recounts the humorous, often slapstick events of a Rage taping. She’s a close observer of her subjects and she conveys almost a hundred sketches of what rock stars are like when their guard drops.
CDs [edit]
Rage has released two double compilation albums, composed of songs that are popular with the programmers. The albums contain the following tracks:
CD one [edit]
CD two [edit]
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DVDs [edit]
Two DVDs have been released, entitled "The Chosen Ones". These DVDs contain music videos popular with the programmers. On Saturday, 17 November 2007, Rage released their first themed DVD, entitled "Rage Gets Animated", released in response to the popularity of the animated special of 2006 (although the DVD features videos that were either omitted from the special, or were released after the special had been aired). Their second themed DVD, entitled "Most Chosen" contained clips most chosen by the guest programmers. DVDs & CDs had released, entitled "Rage In Love", "Retro Rage" and Rage "The Epic 90s". "Rage Adults Only" will showcase all those video clips and tracks we know and love that are a little bit on the naughty side, this one is likely to have a warning sticker! this release on CD & DVD for rage Adults Only from 23 July 2010. In 2011, saw the release of Rage Let's Dance on CD and DVD set.
Rage Gets Animated [edit]
- The Dissociatives – Horror With Eyeballs
- Radiohead – Paranoid Android
- Josh Pyke – Middle Of The Hill
- John Butler Trio – Good Excuse
- Red Hot Chili Peppers – Behind the Sun
- A-Ha – Take On Me
- 1990s – See You At The Lights
- Steriogram – Walkie Talkie Man
- Regurgitator – Black Bugs
- Klaxons – Atlantis To Interzone
- Gossip – Standing In The Way Of Control
- M.I.A. – Boyz
- Audio Bullys Featuring Nancy Sinatra – Shot You Down
- Cassius – The Sound Of Violence
- Peter Bjorn And John – Young Folks
- Emiliana Torrini – Sunny Road
- José González – Heartbeats
- Nizlopi – JCB Song
- Angus and Julia Stone – The Beast
- Gotye – Hearts A Mess
- 1200 Techniques – Karma
- Basement Jaxx – Where's Your Head At
- The Vines – Anysound
- Grinspoon – Bleed You Dry
- Shihad – General Electric
- The Living End – What's On Your Radio
- Queens of the Stone Age – Feel Good Hit of the Summer
- Linkin Park – Pts.OF.Athrty
- Placebo – Special K
- Silverchair – Luv Your Life
- The Magic Numbers – Forever Lost
- Death Cab for Cutie – Crooked Teeth
- Blur – Coffee And TV
- Moby – Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?
- Badly Drawn Boy – You Were Right
- The Presets – Girl And The Sea
- Röyksopp – Eple
- Happyland – Hello!
Rage: Most Chosen [edit]
- The Saints – (I'm) Stranded
- Sonic Youth – 100%
- Big Audio Dynamite II – Rush
- Primal Scream – Rocks
- The Presets – Are You The One?
- The Prodigy – Firestarter
- PJ Harvey – Sheela-Na-Gig
- Echo & The Bunnymen- The Killing Moon
- Faith No More – Evidence
- Beth Orton – She Cries Your Name
- Public Image LTD – Rise
- The Church – Under The Milky Way
- David Bowie – "Ashes to Ashes"
- The Specials – Ghost Town
- The Boys Next Door – Shivers
- Pixies – Monkey Gone To Heaven
- Hole – Miss World
- Supergrass – Alright
- Iggy Pop – Lust For Life
- The Chemical Brothers – Hey Boy Hey Girl
- M.I.A. – Bucky Done Gun
- Adam Ant – Antmusic
- Happy Mondays – Lazyitis
- The Cure – Close To Me
- Weezer – Island In The Sun
- UNKLE – Rabbit In Your Headlights
- Portishead – Numb
- OutKast – Ms. Jackson
- Ween – Freedom Of '76
- Pulp – This Is Hardcore
- Daft Punk – Around The World
- The Avalanches – Frontier Psychiatrist
- Beasts Of Bourbon – Chase The Dragon
- Urge Overkill – Positive Bleeding
- Elliott Smith – Son Of Sam
- Crowded House – Better Be Home Soon
- The Jesus & Mary Chain – Just Like Honey
- You Am I – Berlin Chair
- The Jam – That's Entertainment
- The Go-Betweens – Cattle And Cane
Rage In Love [edit]
- Queen - Crazy Little Thing Called Love
- Robert Palmer - Addicted To Love
- The Cure - Friday I'm In Love
- The Flaming Lips - Do You Realize?
- The Psychedelic Furs - Love My Way
- The Pretenders - Message Of Love
- Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Do You Love Me?
- Mazzy Star - Fade Into You
- Marvin Gaye - Sexual Healing
- Air - All I Need
- Sinéad O'Connor - Nothing Compares 2 U
- Cyndi Lauper - Time After Time
- New Order - Bizarre Love Triangle
- Fine Young Cannibals - She Drives Me Crazy
- Crystal Waters - 100% Pure Love
- Moby - Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?
- Joss Stone - Fell In Love With A Boy
- Living Colour - Love Rears Its Ugly Head
- Norah Jones - Come Away With Me
- Gang Starr - Lovesick
- Fun Lovin' Criminals - Love Unlimited
- The Cardigans - Love Fool
- Amiel - Love Song
- Dido - Thank You
- Beth Orton - Touch Me With Your Love
- The La's - There She Goes
- Stone Roses - Love Spreads
- The Triffids - Bury Me Deep In Love
- Grace Jones - Love Is The Drug
- Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart
Retro Rage [edit]
- David Bowie - Modern Love
- The Go-Betweens - Streets Of Your Town
- R.E.M. - It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
- Duran Duran - Planet Earth
- Adam & The Ants - Stand And Deliver
- Divinyls - Science Fiction
- Blondie - Rapture
- The Specials feat. Rico - A Message To You Rudy
- De La Soul - Eye Know
- Salt-N-Pepa - Push It
- Neneh Cherry - Buffalo Stance
- Everything But The Girl - I Don't Want To Talk About It
- Fine Young Cannibals - Johnny Come Home
- Do Re Mi - Man Overboard
- Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Deanna
- Sonic Youth - Teen Age Riot
- The Saints - Just Like Fire Would
- Jesus & Mary Chain - Sidewalking
- Lloyd Cole And The Commotions - Lost Weekend
- The Style Council - Speak Like A Child
- The Church - Under The Milky Way
- The Triffids - Wide Open Road
- Olivia Newton-John - Physical
- Fun Boy Three & Bananarama - It Ain't What You Do It's The Way That You Do It
- Soft Cell - Tainted Love
- Dead Or Alive - You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)
- Yazz - The Only Way Is Up
- Terence Trent D'Arby - Wishing Well
- The Cure - The Lovecats
- Men At Work - Down Under
Rage: The Epic 90s [edit]
- Supergrass - Alright
- Britney Spears - Baby One More Time
- Blind Melon - No Rain
- Faith No More - Epic
- The Living End - Prisoner Of Society
- Bloodhound Gang – Fire Water Burn
- Hole - Doll Parts
- Radiohead - Karma Police
- Silverchair - Tomorrow
- Magic Dirt - Ice
- Jebediah - Leaving Home
- Pulp - Disco 2000
- James - Laid
- Ween - Push th’ Little Daisies
- You Am I - Jewels And Bullets
- Ratcat - That Ain't Bad
- Aphex Twin - Come To Daddy
- Tricky - Hell Is Around The Corner
- Ice Cube - It Was A Good Day
- Jamiroquai - Canned Heat
- C & C Music Factory - Things That Make You Go Hmmmm....
- MC Hammer - U Can’t Touch This
Rage: Adults Only [edit]
- Duran Duran - Girls On Film
- Bloodhound Gang - The Bad Touch
- Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Relax
- Benny Benassi presents "The Biz" - Satisfaction
- Eric Prydz - Call On Me
- Armand Van Helden - My My My
- Lady Gaga - Paparazzi
- P!nk - Sober
- Primal Scream - Country Girl
- blink-182 - I Miss You
- Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Y Control
- The Prodigy - Smack My Bitch Up
- Fiona Apple - Criminal
- D'Angelo - Untitled (How Does It Feel)
- TLC - Red Light Special
- Shakira - La Tortura
- Marvin Gaye - Sexual Healing
- Robert Palmer - Addicted To Love
- Olivia Newton-John - Physical
- The BPA - Toe Jam Feat David Byrne & Dizzee Rascal
- The Dandy Warhols - Bohemian Like You
- Radiohead - Paranoid Android
- Yves Klein Blue - About The Future
- Divinyls - I Touch Myself
20th Birthday CD and DVD [edit]
Rage released a four-disc CD and a DVD celebrating its 20th birthday on 21 May 2007.
20 Years of Rage CD [edit]
20 Years of Rage DVD [edit]
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1987–1991:
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1992–1996:
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1997–2001:
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2002–2006:
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See also [edit]
References [edit]
External links [edit]
- Official Rage website
- Rage – ABC Shop
- Former Rage Website from 2003
- Triple J music
- ABC Dig Music
- Rage music videos on demand
- 1990 Guest List (Rage Guest's Of 1990, not linked on official site)
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- Australian music television series
- Australian music chart television programs
- Australian Broadcasting Corporation shows
- 1987 Australian television series debuts
- 1980s Australian television series
- 1990s Australian television series
- 2000s Australian television series
- 2010s Australian television series
- Television shows set in New South Wales
- English-language television series
