My Kind of Music

My Kind of Music was a music game show that aired on ITV from 8 February 1998 to 29 March 2002 and was hosted by Michael Barrymore.

The show's main theme, "My Kind of People", where presenter Michael Barrymore sang some of the lyrics when appearing at the very start, was based on the same song by Robert Palmer released in 1991.

Three teams of two people would test their musical knowledge against their chosen opponents and rivals, where the surviving team could go on to win £13,000 in the jackpot; later it was increased to £16,000 by the fourth series. Danny Foster made an appearance on the show, before he was chosen as one of the five members of the short-lived reality TV-formed group Hear'Say.

Format

First Round

The first round saw the contestants deal with ordinary everyday people on a film, discussing clues to songs/artists, which they had to guess; if they did, they won the money. These were chosen by the contestants, where nine musical clefs would be shown on the screen. The earlier the contestant got the answer right, the more money was won- i.e. the maximum was won if the team in question got it right on the first clue.

Second Round

The second round, saw the contestants deal with another film of Michael Barrymore's tour of "My Kind of People", with the audience having the chance to sing no matter how bad. Questions were based on the particular footage of the presentation of the songs. Sometimes, this would be replaced with a game called "Pop Props", in which Michael Barrymore would in reference to an earlier ITV game show titled Catchphrase, show to the teams various objects relating to a performer and the teams had to buzz if they knew it. For example, an inflatable man with a radio as his head was Radiohead, a king-sized eraser was Erasure while a rubber belly on Michael's chest while pretending it was echoing, was Echobelly. On some occasions, this was replaced with "Sing the Song", in which, the teams playing together stood apart from each other facing towards. One team member could see the screen the other couldn't due to having their back turned. The screen shown a musical act and the person seeing the screen had to sing one of their songs, while the other person had to guess who the artist was. Once it was guessed correctly, the roles were swapped round and this continued for a minute with one point given for each correct answer. The team members had to run across quickly when changing positions, so they would get as many right answers as possible in the minute.

Third Round

There wasn't such a thing as a third round, more like an opportunity for the studio audience and viewers at home to praise the singing abilities of the contestants, who would often appear solo, with the other standing out of this. A question would later be asked based on what the person sang. In the first few series, the non-singing team member would ask the question, and in the last few Michael Barrymore would instead. The team who just sang would sit out the question..

Fourth Round

The fourth round was a general music round, where money gained here were vital to go into the semi-final; the team with the lowest amount of money went home.

A singer with a recording contract would promote their song on the show during this time. In the earlier series, an unsigned artist would perform instead.

Fifth Round (Semi-Final also known as "Mega Mix")

The two remaining acts would battle each other, choosing a music year, for example, 1972. They were treated to five music videos by a vortex video wall, both the song and artist would have to identified. The winner of the most money would go through to play Musical Families, the jackpot. In the earlier series the video wall displayed names of artists, and the team had to pick the one they knew about the most. Blur were one of a very few that were never chosen. In the last few series, the team chosen before the show started the year they thought they knew the most about, with various videos playing. Instead of just calling out the name of the song as previously, they had to say the artist and song.

The Jackpot (Musical Families)

The winner who emerged from the semi-final would play the jackpot, where clues would be read by Barrymore from a 60-second deadline. Usually, a father, a mother, a daughter and a son would all be identified. When a first answer would be mentioned, the clock would stop and it would appear on the screen. If the team got them all right, they would win the jackpot excess. If the team struggled with a particular member, then they would move unto the next one and come back to the others later on.

Transmissions

External links

• My Kind of Music at the Internet Movie Database
• My Kind of Music at UKGameshows.com