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July 4th: Hear the Cultural Evolution of America Through Punk Rock

Mrhyak, Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain

On the 4th of July, hear two one-hour documentaries exploring punk rock music and an America that birthed the new order of today. The stories of these bands are more than music, they’re the cultural evolution of America: the end of the 60s, the ferment of the 70s, Watergate to the Women’s Movement.

Please Kill Me : Voices from the Archives

July 4 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Credit pleasekillme.com

Part One -The Pioneers of Punk

How the Warhol 60’s morphed into the Punk 70’s, and how the marginalized inhabitants of a near-bankrupt New York City changed 20th century culture, and influenced the World.

Part Two – The Punk Invasion

The music of the Velvet Underground, Iggy Pop and the Stooges, The New York Dolls, and others were meeting fierce resistance in the US. With no other options open to them, during the July 4th weekend of 1976, as America was celebrating its bicentennial, the Ramones went to London and launched punk rock. After their performances punk rock would explode in Britain and become a cultural force to be reckoned with.

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The Please Kill Me Archive, compiled 20 years ago, is presented by the original interviewers, NY Times best-selling authors and music historians Gillian McCain and Legs McNeil. It is hosted by Michael des Barres.

Series produced by Creative PR: Gillian McCain and Legs McNeil, Written by Legs McNeil, Gillian McCain and Michael des Barres, Executive producer Jonathan Marder, Associate producer Jon Ehrens (WHYY) and Robyn Hale, Mixed and edited Jon Ehrens (WHYY)

More about the special

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