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Soup Cans & Superstars: How Pop Art Changed the World

Alastair Sooke champions pop art as one of the most important art forms of the 20th century, peeling back its frothy, ironic surface to reveal subversive wit and radical ideas.

Alastair Sooke champions pop art as one of the most important art forms of the 20th century, peeling back pop's frothy, ironic surface to reveal an art style full of subversive wit and radical ideas.

In charting its story, Alastair brings a fresh eye to the work of pop art superstars Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein and tracks down pop's pioneers, from American artists like James Rosenquist, Claes Oldenburg and Ed Ruscha to British godfathers Peter Blake and Allen Jones.

Alastair also explores how pop's fascination with celebrity, advertising and the mass media was part of a global art movement, and he travels to China to discover how a new generation of artists are reinventing pop art's satirical, political edge for the 21st century.

1 hour, 30 minutes

Last on

Tue 31 Mar 2020 23:00

Music Played

Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes

  • The Four Seasons

    Walk Like A Man

    • Warner Music UK Ltd.
  • Sandy Nelson

    Drumming Up a Storm

    • Not Now Music Ltd.
  • The Hunters

    Teen Scene

    • Mercury Records.
  • The Velvelettes

    Really Saying Something

    • universal.
  • Woody Guthrie

    Hard Travellin

    • Not Now Music Ltd.
  • Lou Donaldson

    Blues Walk

    • EMI.
  • Cannonball Adderley

    Autumn Leaves

    • Prestige Elite Records.
  • Herbie Hancock

    Watermelon Man

    • EMI.
  • John Coltrane

    My Favourite Things

    • Pickwick.
  • Miles Davis

    All Blues

    • Cherry Red Records Ltd.
  • Henry Mancini

    Brief and Breezy

    • Sony Music Entertainment UK Ltd.
  • Roger Roger

    Roger Mambo

    • Galerie.
  • Stereolab

    Fiery Yellow

    • Duophonic.
  • Murcof

    A Lesson for the Future

    • leaf label.
  • Battles

    Africastle

    • warp.
  • Aphex Twin

    Goon Gumpas

    • Warp.
  • Squarepusher

    Tommib Help buss

    • Warp.
  • Squarepusher

    Tommib

    • Warp.
  • Dave Brubeck

    Back to Earth

    • Sony Music Entertainment UK Ltd.
  • Odetta

    Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child

    • Ace Recordings.
  • Mr. Acker Bilk and His Paramount Jazz Band

    Delia Gone

    • Fellside Recordings Ltd.
  • Jimmy Riley

    House of Sweets

    • Atmos.
  • Peter, Paul and Mary

    Puff the Magic Dragon

    • Jasmine.
  • The Challengers

    Adventures in Paradise

    • Warner Music UK Ltd.
  • Dick Dale

    Third Stone from the Sun

    • Beggars Banquet Recordings.
  • Al Martino

    Here in My Heart

    • EMI.
  • New Century Orchestra

    Metropolis

    • Guild GmBH.
  • Aphex Twin

    Goon Gumpas

    • Warp.
  • Ludovico Einaudi

    Fly

    • decca.
  • The Chordettes

    Mister Sandman

    • Not Now Music Ltd.
  • Chuck Berry

    Chuckwalk

    • Universal.
  • The Four Preps

    Got a Girl

    • Universal.
  • Doug Sheldon

    Your Ma Said You Cried

    • Not Now Music Ltd.
  • Bert Jansch

    Angie

    • Sanctuary.
  • Gillian Hills

    Zou Bisou Bisou

    • Cherry Red Records Ltd.
  • Petula Clark

    Petite Fleur

    • Sony BMG/FLG.
  • Donovan

    Mellow Yellow

    • Parlophone Records Limited.
  • Chet Baker

    Tenderly

    • EMI.
  • American Brass Band

    La Marseillaise

    • cobra.
  • Sandy Nelson

    In Beat

    • capitol.
  • Roger Roger

    Approaching Danger

    • galerie.
  • The Knife

    Na Na Na

    • brille.
  • Tangerine Dream

    Burning Bar

    • virgin.
  • Battles

    Atlas

    • Warp.
  • Holy F***

    Silva & Grimes

    • Beggard Banquet Records Ltd.
  • Battles

    Africastle

    • warp.
  • 00:02

    The Four Seasons

    Walk Like A Man (2007 Remastered Version)

  • 00:10

    Lou Donaldson

    The Blues Walk

  • 00:16

    John Coltrane

    My Favorite Things

  • 00:27

    Battles

    Africastle

  • 00:28

    Aphex Twin

    Goon Gumpas

  • 01:00

    The Chordettes

    Mister Sandman

  • 01:06

    Wendy Carlos

    The Funeral Of Queen Mary

  • 01:07

    Gillian Hills

    Zou Bisou Bisou

  • 01:11

    Donovan

    Mellow Yellow

  • 01:26

    Battles

    Atlas

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Alastair Sooke
Producer Jude Ho
Director Jude Ho
Executive Producer Richard Bright
Unit Manager Lisa Phelan

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