Can you imagine Pink Floyd having the sangfroid to do a self-denigrating commercial for Heinz lentil soup? Gary (above) doesn't need anyone to do his irony for him. Overweight and over the top, he dares you to take him seriously. Living legends (just), Alan Freeman and Tony Blackburn (above) present unmissable footage of such musical giants as Sweet ("Ballroom Blitz"), Alvin Stardust ("My Coo Ca Choo") and, of course, Mud, purveyors of the immortal line: 'That's neat, that's neat, that's neat, that's neat, I really love your tiger feet." Back when discos were still called discotheques, one affected to be interested in serious rock music. This meant spurning commercialism in all its wickedness and singles in particular.

Leonard Cohen recorded songs to slit your wrists to, the Beatles had gone mystical and Led Zeppelin et al took themselves terrifyingly seriously. You were supposed to stay indoors and gaze at your (unwashed?) navel Glam rock had no such pretensions It was brazen. Forget angst, this was about going out and having fun, which is why most music encyclopedias ignore the subject completely. You will search in vain for an in-depth analysis of The Rubettes despite four weeks at Number One with "Sugar Baby Love".The entire revival business is just homesickness dressed up as a cultural movement and glam rock is all about dressing up.

Let's face it, Gary's last name is Glitter.His greatest virtue is his sense of humour, a quality in very short supply in Seventies music. Thankfully for those poor benighted folk who were out of the country at the time or are simply too young to remember, there's a refresher course available in Glamrock: the Glam Top 10 (9-10.30pm). Not averse to jumping on the odd bandwagon, those canny Channel 4 schedulers have come up with a dream date This Bank Holiday Monday has been designated Glam Rock Day. When the shock of the new proves too much, record-buying thirtysomethings head for the memory banks.

There's a bad dose of viral nostalgia going around, the verdant pastures of the not-so-distant past are looking distinctly lush and glam rock is back. Uh huh, Uh huh." In her European address, the contemporary singer and philosopher Sonia spoke sooth. It's a bit more anal."Over to you, Norman.'Takeover TV' 10.45pm Sat 6 May C4. "Better the devil you know than the devil you don't.

What we really need in Britain is a whole public access network, an unregulated channel where people can just get up and do their thing."Adam Buxton agrees. "Public access will happen over here in about five or ten years when people are completely comfortable with camcorders It's just a different mentality in England We're quite weird, but in a different way. "There's this whole underground of programming that's not being exploited This is just a tease Hopefully there'll be a Takeover TV channel before too long. According to Buxton, "The feminist stripping witches were going to present the very last programme, but it was all looking a bit sleazy so they pulled them and I got asked to fill in at the last moment."Channel 4 may feel it has to draw the line at warbling willies, but Fenton Bailey believes they'll get their chance eventually.