American Song
America was meant to be a light on the hill — a place others looked to when they needed to find their own way forward.
If America has ever truly been that light, it came from its music. From the people who suffered the most and somehow still found something worth singing about.
From colonial taverns to protest marches in the Eastern Bloc, from gospel churches to a ghetto in Soweto, American rhythms helped people band together, speak truth, and refuse to quit. Our songs became the world's songs — not because we exported them, but because people who needed hope reached out and claimed them as their own.
American Song tells the stories of the artists who made the music and the people who were moved by it. One era at a time. One genre, one band, one song at a time. Music that started by campfires, in cotton fields, in churches and juke joints — and moved out into the world to become something larger than any one nation could contain.
This is American Song.
American Song
Punk - The Shot Heard Round the World
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Punk may have been born in America, but it had many homes around the world. In every place it went, punk became part of the struggle for social change.
Punk's roots are in the blues, music made for expressing struggles and refusing to accept things the way they are. With heritage like this, it should be no surprise that it moved people and shook things up in the powerful ways it did!
Join us, as we see how punk expressed the real lives of the people making and listening to the music in far away places like the UK, the USSR, South Africa and East Germany. Witness the remarkable impact the music had on the social fabric of the times - showing that music really can change the world!
This is an inspiring story of people pushed into a corner, and battling their way out, armed with guitars, drums, and a pen.
Warning: This episode includes quotes of song lyrics, including some "f-bombs". If you have young children around, you may want to choose an appropriate time to listen.
In This Episode:
Robert Johnson
Iggy Pop
English Punk
- The Sex Pistols
- The Clash
- Malcolm McLaren
- Richard Hell and the Voidoids
- The Jam
- Bono
- Elvis Costello
- The Alarm
Punk from the USSR
- Grazhdanskaya Oborona
- Avtomaticheskie Udovletvoriteli
South African Punk
- Fokofpolisiekar
- Kalahari Surfers
- National Wake
East German Punk
- Namenlos
- Schleim Keim
- Wutanfall
Related Episodes
The Duality of the Blues
R&B Was Born on the American Song River
Musique Concrete: A Radical Rethinking of Sound and Performance
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