History

[aadam jacobs]

It occurs to me that there was a point, maybe between Top Gear and Peel's self-titled show, that bands changed from playing whatever they felt during sessions, to playing exclusively new material. Can you folks put a finger on that point or was it gradual? Was there ever a reasoning behind eschewing the hits and concentrating on (what are essentially) public demos? Is this covered in Garner's book?
Thanks.