Thorny EMI

Watched "Me and EMI" last night. It was the first in that series I'd seen and if the rest are like this one, I'm glad to see I've not missed much. For those who missed it, here is a one sentence summary: Nothing happened until after WWII, then they signed Adam Faith, Cliff Richard, bought Capitol in the US, signed the Beatles, started Harvest, signed Pink Floyd, invented the CAT scan, signed and dropped the Sex Pistols, started losing money on CAT scanners (because of Jimmy Carter stopping American hospitals buying expensive equipment), merged with electronics company Thorn and renamed Thorn EMI, made money when they released their back catalogue on CD, bought Virgin Records for ~£500 million whom had the Spice Girls, signed crazy Mariah Carey and finally re-signed Robbie Williams for £80 million.

Factually, the show was mildly interesting, but the direction was tepid, shallow and idiotic. It offered no depth into EMI or the artists they signed. Apart from a smattering of relevant interviews (Adam Faith, Malcolm McClaren, Tony Wilson, Richard Branson) they also had Cliff Richard telling me how good CDs are and how they will never be surpassed (HELLO?! MiniDiscs, mp3's). It also implied the success of the Spice Girls are to blame for boybands and girlbands (The Monkees anyone?). The story of EMI is dramatic one, and needs better than the lacklustre, casual offering of Me and EMI.