Every time we share our feature story on The Midnight Special TV series, Best Classic Bands readers respond with overwhelming enthusiasm.
The program was the brainchild of producer Burt Sugarman and first appeared as a 90-minute special on August 19, 1972. It performed so well that NBC reached a deal to run it as a weekly series. It premiered on February 2, 1973 and ran for an astounding 450 episodes until May 1, 1981.
That jam-packed 1972 pilot episode featured Argent, War, the Everly Brothers, the Isley Brothers, Linda Ronstadt, Helen Reddy, John Denver, David Clayton-Thomas, Cass Elliot and Harry Chapin.
As those of a certain age well know, The Midnight Special was often the only way we could see our favorite artists perform.
Best Classic Bands is celebrating our recent 100,000 Facebook follower by giving away a copy of The Midnight Special 11-DVD set, courtesy of Time Life.
Here’s a small sampling of the classic rock artists and performances that are included: the Doobie Brothers (“Listen to the Music”), Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers (“Listen to Her Heart”), Peter Frampton (“Show Me the Way”), Electric Light Orchestra (“Strange Magic”), Blondie (“Heart of Glass”), Billy Preston (“Will it Go Round in Circles”) and Linda Ronstadt (“When Will I Be Loved”).
Watch Golden Earring perform “Radar Love” from the set…
Plus: the Hollies (“Long Cool Woman [in a Black Dress]”), the Kinks (“You Really Got Me”), REO Speedwagon (“Keep on Loving You”), Steely Dan (“Reeling in the Years”) and Heart (“Crazy on You”). The set contains almost 10 hours of music and 130 songs!
Watch Aerosmith perform “Dream On” in 1974 from this collection…
OK, here’s one more! Watch Robert Palmer sing “Bad Case of Loving You” from 1979…
So what are you waiting for? Enter our contest stat! Since only one of you will win, we’ll understand if you can’t wait and want to order The Midnight Special 11-DVD set (or the deluxe 20-DVD set) now via this link.
No purchase necessary. Deadline for entries is 11:45PM Eastern time on May 8, 2017. For complete Best Classic Bands contest rules, click here.
[wcc_contest id=41458]
3 Comments
HELLO
Great giveaway. The Midnight Special was the best live music program on TV!! Only one I can say was as good is Don Kirshners rock concert.
After football games we all would go crusin’ and hanging out in the small town by the Dairy Queen, EXCEPT, when the Midnight Special began airing, we all made sure we were at one of our houses to all watch the show, preferably my friend Donnie, since his parents worked 11-7am shift at a factory, we could hang out and turn the TV up loud and sing a long. As an aspiring musician, this show meant a lot to me and still does.