Phill Jupitus celebrates the phenomenon that was 2-Tone music. Thirty years ago, bands such as the Specials, the Beat, Madness and the Selecter created a new sound born from a blend of punk, reggae and ska.

David Stafford celebrates the Fender Stratocaster with the help of some of its key players including Hank Marvin, Pink Floyd's David Gilmour, Jeff Beck and Johnny Marr.

Mark Radcliffe charts the history of the unwieldy Mellotron, a bizarre, tape-driven instrument that dominated the soundscape of the late 60s and 70s and featured on records by The Beatles, The Moody Blues, King Crimson and Tangerine Dream, to name a few.

Series of biographical discussions with Matthew Parris.

Poet Simon Armitage nominates Joy Division singer Ian Curtis, who took his own life in 1980 at the age of 23. Curtis's fellow band member Peter Hook remembers his friend.

Music critic Pete Paphides tells the story behind three 'follow-up' albums - from Dexys Midnight Runners, Fleetwood Mac and Suede - with tales of musical pressure, creative differences, personal politics and mixed results.

Programme 3: Suede - Dog Man Star

In 1991, Suede was named "the best new band in Britain", with a string of hit singles and a universally acclaimed debut album, 'Suede'. Flamboyant singer Brett Anderson and incendiary guitarist Bernard Butler became feted as song-writers. David Bowie was amongst their fans.

The scrutiny that followed took its toll on their relationship. Determined to write a dissolute conceptual masterpiece, Anderson exiled himself in a gothic pile in North London while Butler questioned the paraphernalia that came with pop stardom.

Bereavement and clashes over the album's producer heightened the tension and, with just one part to complete on the album, Butler walked out for good. Suddenly, having blazed the trail for Britpop, they returned with an album deemed out of step with its sunny positivism.

But almost two decades on, Suede's second album Dog Man Star reappeared to a plethora of 5 star reviews.

Producer: Laura Parfitt

Stuart Maconie talks to the reclusive singer/songwriter Scott Walker, recorded at the time of the seminal album 'Tilt' which broke an 11 year silence.

When Jimi Hendrix returned to his native America as a star, the country he knew had changed. This programme, presented by Tom Robinson to tie in with the 40th anniversary of the guitarist's death, explores the pressure Jimi was under to make an explicit political declaration.

Tom explores Hendrix's 14 months in the Screaming Eagles 101 Airborne Division that saw him parachute a total of 26 times before he was invalided out with a broken ankle. Brother Leon Hendrix discusses his elder bother's time in the military, along with comments from author Charles Sharr Murray.

Singer and friend Eric Burdon explains how, after the riots in Grovesnor Square, Jimi trotted out the American government's party line on Vietnam - the so-called "Domino Theory".

The Soft Machine supported Hendrix as they traveled across America and drummer Robert Wyatt recalls how Jimi responded to media questions about the war, and the emergence of the Black Power movement. Hendrix was receptive to the Black Panther Party and found the Seattle Chapter of the organization run by two former high school friends. Both Panthers, Aaron and Elmer Dixon talk about how receptive Hendrix was to the cause.

The programme culminates with Jimi's Woodstock Festival performance of 'The Star Spangled Banner', an eloquent (and wordless) statement against the Vietnam war. In retrospect, it can also be read as a swan song for the era of peace and love and for Hendrix himself, who died in his sleep the following year. Jimi Hendrix is more than a blues guitarist who got lucky in the 60s. He did the best he could to be his own man without openly taking sides, and we are still trying to get to know him 40 years after his death.

Producer: John Sugar

Singer, songwriter and guitarist Joan Armatrading talks to leading guitarists about their music and guitar technique.

Joan meets Bert Jansch, widely acknowledged as one of the most influential musicians of all time. Since the mid-1960s, every generation has been held spellbound by his extraordinary fingerpicking and stringbending techniques. He continues to be revered as the master guitarist of folk music.

A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4.

The broadcaster and Doctor Who fan MATTHEW SWEET travels to The University of Manchester - home of Delia Derbyshire's private collection of audio recordings - to learn more about the wider career and working methods of the woman who realised Ron Grainer's original theme to Doctor Who.

Producer: Phil Collinge.

In a rare interview, Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts talks about his career, his love of jazz, keeping time for the Rolling Stones and why he prefers Stravinsky to Elvis.