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Thread: New Wave: Dare To Be Different

  1. #1

    New Wave: Dare To Be Different

    Just got done watching this great documentary about Long Island radio station WLIR. As the title might suggest, it focuses on the 80's era incarnation of the station, when they sort of reinvented themselves as a "new music" station (they never used the phrase "new wave", the station manager from the time addresses this point in the film, saying that he was worried "new wave" might become too dated, so he never wanted to be associated with that phrase).

    The film details, among other things, the apparently very, very, very long list of bands and artists who were played on WLIR before anywhere else, Stateside, apparently to the annoyance and aggravation of some of the record companies. One story is told of how they were playing Relax by Frankie Goes To Hollywood just days after it had come out in the UK (and months before the domestic US release...the station was apparently connected to a record store in London that was overnighting the latest releases to WLIR), and that apparently pissed off the A&R team who had this whole strategy for breaking Frankie Goes To Hollywood in the US, which was upset by this particular turn of events. And for what it's worth, this is also one of the very few times I've ever seen even the slightest glimpse of the original, original video for Relax (which was basically unairable back in the 80's, and probably still is).

    There's also an explanation of the station's demise (which, ironically, came just as they were nominated for "Station Of The Year" by The Gavin Report), which came down to some rather sad circumstances, involving the FCC.

    Good film to watch if you like that sort of...well, I guess today it's retroactively (and in my opinion, derogatorily) labeled "alternative" music from that time frame.

    Oh, and one thing's for sure, I am so, so, so glad, I never had that Flock Of Seagulls hairdo that I wanted when I was 9 years old (you should see what Mike Score looks like now!). A few of the photos that were shown in this thing made me thankful I didn't know about mousse and hair gel back in those days.
    Last edited by GuitarGeek; 04-02-2018 at 02:19 AM.

  2. #2
    Member Mythos's Avatar
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    Thanks Double G, I'll have to check that out...!

  3. #3
    Highly Evolved Orangutan JKL2000's Avatar
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    GG, where did you see this? Netflix?

    EDIT: Showtime and Amazon Prime! Thanks, I think I’ll enjoy this.

  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by JKL2000 View Post
    GG, where did you see this? Netflix?

    EDIT: Showtime and Amazon Prime! Thanks, I think I’ll enjoy this.
    It was on one of the Showtime channels. I just happened to be looking at the schedule to see what would be on later that night, and that was one of the things, so I made time to watch it.

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