The Old Grey Whistle Test Bob Marley and the Wailers as well as then little-known acts of whom any early footage is now considered precious, such as Billy Joel, Judas Priest (with a long-haired Rob Halford), Wishbone Ash, Judee Sill, Heart, and Lynyrd Skynyrd. "Whistle Test" was also the British television debut of the American glam punk band New York Dolls. Although host Bob Harris derided the group as "mock rock," comparing them unfavourably to The Rolling Stones, their performance influenced the following punk rock scene such as the Sex Pistols and The Clash as well as alternative bands like R.E.M. and The Smiths and
The Rubinoos Be Your Boyfriend," which had been released in 1978 and received heavy airplay in England and Europe. In support of this album, the Rubinoos appeared on "Rock Goes To College", "The Old Grey Whistle Test", "Top Pop" and opened 56 shows for Elvis Costello on the U.S. portion of his 1979 Armed Funk tour. In 1980 Royse Ader was replaced by Al Chan. The Rubinoos then recorded the demos for a third album which never came to fruition. These demos, released in the 1990s as "Basement Tapes", engineered by well known audio guru, Dan Alexander, is still thought to be