How could Paul Michels and Jean Liers form a rock band?

For those who are tired of the traditional approach after ten seasons Bellpop – Chronological talking heads from the world of music and media mixed with archival footage of the central guest on and off stage – There’s unfortunate news. Except for the voiceover, where Bent van Looi replaces Luke Janssen, everything remains the same. The bona fide singer, painter and radio maker maintains the same slightly sarcastic tone as his predecessor. None of this was a hindrance to the opening episode. The classical format of the music program pairs perfectly with the best Belgian band: Soulsister.

In Boechout all roads lead to Bart Peeters. In the 1980s, he encouraged fellow villager and friend Jean Liers to attend a concert at a café held by a guy called Paul Michels a few villages away. “At Heist-op-den-Berg, the world was completely different,” recalls Leyers. Bellpop That decisive moment. According to the polished blonde of the subsequent soul sister, the radiant brunette was going to declare firmly that evening: “We are going to conquer the world.”

Michel did not believe it, while at home on his sofa, Liers denied that he had said anything that felt good about himself. Well, Soulsister had conquered the world: with catchy pop that had been knocked off the charts by grunge in the early ’90s. Only the latter is made BellpopAn episode about a soul sister is worth watching. The strict guardians of political correctness in the music business looked down on Soulsister. For followers of the edgy music of the 1970s and 1990s, the group was uninteresting because it was completely harmless.

Nor did the snooty music press view it as complete, or as “potentially annoyingly successful,” as Frank Vander Linden put it. I didn’t think any differently about Soulsister. As a budding teenager, I found hits like “The Way to Your Heart,” “Through Before We Begin,” and “Okay Well Well” very polished. While a small voice deep in my thoughts had to whisper and confess: This is impeccable pop music. The interesting thing is that all of those radio-worthy songs came from the creative minds of two people who were complete opposites.

this Bellpop They are at their strongest when the personality differences between the stern philosopher from Boechout and the playboy ten years his senior and the milkman’s son from Heist-op-den-Berg become most apparent. You often wonder: How could these two form a rock band together? One of the highlights in this regard is their look at Soulsister’s heyday. One of them seems to remain on the same cloud of female attention, and then the other thoughtfully explains how the wonderful year of 1989 affected his family life: “My daughter doesn’t recognize me anymore.”

Nearly three decades after Soulsister broke up, Paul Michaels is still less able to put the comments of the music taste police in perspective than the philosophical half of The Alliance. With this term – usually used for alliances between countries or trading partners – Jan Liers describes the craziest musical match in billpop history at the end of this cozy hour of television.

“Belpop”, every Wednesday at 9.20pm on VRT Canvas and VRT MAX