[lbo-talk] Punk Pioneer DJ Oedipus Leaves WBCN Boston

[mike larkin]

"You prob know punk to begin with was an inconsistent
mish mash of right, left, whatever-the-hell beliefs,
people playing with shocking imagery, swastikas, etc.,
but by the mid 80s thanks to bands like the Dead
Kennedys, Crass, Subhumans, etc it had pretty much
solidified as a leftist "movement," often in spite of
the left itself, which seemed to be embarrassed by
these unlikely, scary-looking, pimply faced allies.
Tipper Gore hated them, most establishment liberals
did/do. 

B"

 
When Oedipus showed up at WBCN with his punk rock
cassettes, the station was unusual among commercial rockers
in welcoming him. The hippie DJs really circled the wagons against
the new music in those days, which gave credence to the new wave view that they were narrow minded and reactionary. Politically, a lot of 60s types like Neil Young 
supported Reagan, and a lot of punks were racist and homophobic. If the hippies
were for it, a lot of punks were against it. But most were just apolitical. 

 
In Boston, this was all before the drinking age went up, and the bars were on fire
with new bands aiming for the BCN playlist, a real festival of the oppressed. Bands came from all over the country to play there, so it has a real cosmo feel. We'd drive up there on the weekends, and it was a musical Liberated Zone compared to Connecticut.

 
It was the drugs as much as anything that wiped the scene out. Whole bands were destroyed by heroin addiction.

		
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