Paramount+ will travel back in time with two new music docuseries on the streaming service, produced in partnership with Gunpower & Sky.
Sometimes When We Touch: The Reign, Ruin and Resurrection of Soft Rock will look at the history of soft rock (hence the working title from the weepy 1977 Dan Hill hit) from its ‘70s start through the current day. The three-part documentary will include new interviews with soft rock artists, as well as archival and performance footage.
Nothing to Lose: The Untold Story of ‘80s Hard Rock, also a three-parter, explores the hard rock band explosion that launched from LA’s Sunset Strip. “Nothing to Lose” was a track on Sunset Strip mainstays LA Guns’ 1988 debut album.
Gunpowder & Sky is in the process of reaching out to iconic soft rock and metal artists to participate in both docuseries.
The move reunites Gunpowder & Sky CEO Van Toffler with Paramount executives. Toffler is the former CEO of Viacom Media Networks Music & Logo Group. Viacom CBS officially switched its name to Paramount in February.
“As much as I would have loved to have heard what the illegitimate love child of Karen Carpenter and Ozzy Osbourne would have sounded like, the fact is that the soft and hard rock artists lived worlds apart – slinging heaps of mud at each other from the sidelines,” said Toffler, in a statement. ”Yet each genre was so incredibly rich with a long list of diverse, somewhat deviant and insanely talented musicians whose stories and music we will unearth and bring to life in these two docuseries.”
“We’re excited to partner with our good friend and former colleague Van Toffler to bring two new genre-defining music stories to life,” added Bruce Gillmer, chief content officer of music for Paramount+ and president of music, music talent, programming & events for Paramount. “From chronicling the hit-packed, soft rock era and its surprising second life to the exploration of the most dynamic and excessive decade of decadence with 80s metal, Paramount+ continues to deliver the best in music content on a global scale.”
The documentaries will debut on Paramount + this year. Up next for Gunpowder & Sky is a Sheryl Crow documentary, Sheryl, that will premiere at SXSW on March 11.