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Exploring the Suburban Punk Rebellion: History Mixtapes with Kyle Riismandel

In this episode of History Mixtapes, host Katherine Rye Jewell announces the start of season two, reflecting on her creative journey and the inspiration behind her new book project, A History of Alternative in 10 Bands. Katherine then engages in a detailed conversation with Kyle Riismandel, Associate Teaching Professor at Rutgers Newark, covering everything from the historic suburban punk scene to the impact of cultural production on suburban youth from the 1970s to the 1990s. They explore themes of rebellion, nostalgia, and moral panics, all set against the backdrop of the evolving suburban landscape. Key tracks discussed include the Middle Class's "Out of Vogue," Cheap Trick's "Surrender," and Arcade Fire's "The Suburbs."

Hear all the musical mentions in Kyle's playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ_bIX7g9SjAXoMNsP1bmBIMEyt298Br-&si=_BOV3RltixjW-k5v

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Austin McCoy returns to think about how being a fearful child shaped his appreciation of his parents' music, as well as how reflecting on these early exposures makes him think about the role of context in music appreciation.

Check out the full songs on this YouTube playlist.

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In this episode, historian Katherine Rye Jewell and historian Austin McCoy use their parents' record collections to interrogate the personal meanings of various music formats—from vinyl to cassettes to CDs—and their influence on their musical sensibilities . They discuss the role of mixtapes in hip hop and punk cultures, their significance in creating connections within underground scenes, and their transformation into digital playlists. The conversation highlights how their parents' music collections influenced their tastes, and how mixtapes served as a medium for artistic and emotional expression. The episode also explores the historical context of mixtape culture, its evolution, and its commercial aspects. Jewel and McCoy reflect on the emotional bonds forged through these music formats, encouraging listeners to share their own mixtape experiences.

This is part I of our conversation with Austin McCoy, and check out our collectively created playlist.

Also quoted in this episode:

Diamond, Michael, and Adam Horovitz. Beastie Boys Book. New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2018.

Masters, Marc. High Bias: The Distorted History of the Cassette Tape. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2023.

In this episode, historian Dave Hitchcock, a Senior Lecturer at Canterbury Christ Church University, discusses how his expertise in vagrancy and poverty in early modern England and British Atlantic world use of music, such as broadside ballads, set up his exploration of themes of poverty and homelessness across musical expression. He contextualizes songs reflecting modern urban poverty and illuminates underlying common themes that include individual versus structural explanations of poverty.

For the extended playlist on Spotify, visit https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0sSBtpIEob9cr99jzL1aiS?si=7a186db4bd3d4c7b.

The songs featured in this episode are available as a YouTube playlist.

This episode explores the music at the center of the story historian Karen Cox is currently reconstructing about the Rhthym Club fire in Natchez, Mississippi, in 1940. Jazz music becomes a character in her story, illuminating not just the lives lost, but the movement and connections across space during the Great Migration.

Her playlist features:
“It’s Tight Like That” 1928, Jimmy Noone. You can hear piano, banjo, trumpet, clarinet, trombone. It follows that traditional jazz formula of highlighting individual instruments. He showcases the New Orleans sound – he was born on a plantation near New Orleans and played for a band in Storyville before headed to Chicago. It’s a Fox Trot.

“It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got that Swing)” composed by Duke Ellington, recorded in 1932 (he was working on the song in 1931 while in Chicago) A jazz standard, it foreshadowed the swing era that marked the 1930s. The original recording is a Fox Trot, but a fast one. Vocal by Ivie Anderson, who sang when Ellington performed. I didn’t notice this at first, but it’s recorded on Brunswick Records in Chicago (sometimes referred to as Brunswick Race Records)

“Marie,” (1937) written by Irving Berlin, recorded first by Tommy Dorsey. It was the last song to be played by Walter Barnes’ band in the Rhythm Club as people scrambled to try and save themselves. While it’s a song in which a man wonders if the woman he kissed will remember it and will surrender to his love. But one of the lyrics takes on a double meaning after the fire. What people will recall is tragedy and loss and trauma.

Marie, the dawn is breaking
Marie, you'll soon be waking
(Ooh, Marie)
To find you heart is aching
And tears will fall as you recall
(And tears will fall)

(I can’t help but think of the desperation inside of the Rhythm Club as it is playing.)

Part II: Suggest a pairing of songs that provide a contrast or set of perspectives on an idea or moment.

“When It’s Sleepy Time Down South,” (Recorded in 1931) Louis Armstrong, It’s a migration story. It also plays on stereotypical plantation themes. Mammy and “darkies are singing” and while it won him white fans, it angered African Americans. The lyrics were changed in the 1950s. The line with the “darkies” becomes “the folks are crooning.” (This one might also have been in Part I)

Contrasted with Billie Holiday’s version of “Strange Fruit” (Recorded in 1939) which tells a completely different story about the South. She didn’t write it, of course, but her interpretation of the lyrics is what makes it so powerful:

Bonus:

Walter Barnes’s version of “It’s Tight Like That” (1929) Brunswick Records, is far more upbeat than Jimmy Noone’s version. Also one of the few Barnes recorded.

Ella Fitzgerald, because she’s Ella Fitzgerald and her interpretation of jazz lyrics is still the best to me. “A-Tisket, A-Tasket” (recorded in 1938) was her first hit song, while she sang lead for the Chick Webb orchestra. He discovered her at the Apollo amateur contest. In 1942, the First she performed “A-Tisket, A-Tasket” in her first ever screen role on Abbott and Costello’s Ride ‘Em Cowboy.

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In this episode, Katherine Jewell revisits her ongoing research into WXPL, the college radio station at Fitchburg State University. Despite being caught up with end-of-semester duties, she shares their her oral history project insights, including the station's journey since the 1980s, its musical influence, and some notorious events. The episode highlights the station's deep connection with metal music, mentioning notable DJs, iconic artists they collaborated with, and memorable promos from bands like Alice Cooper and Motorhead. A plea for college radio alumni to help preserve radio history by digitizing old recordings, and teases the next episode featuring Karen Cox on jazz history.

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In the third episode of 'History Mixtapes,' host Katherine Rye Jewell and historian Chris Deutsch explore the intertwined histories of punk rock, hardcore music, and the political economy of the late 20th century. They discuss the origins of punk, key bands like the Ramones and Minor Threat, the ethos of DIY and selling out, and the cultural significance of music compilations. Chris shares his mixtape featuring songs that channel the precarity of different eras and the evolving punk scene, particularly bands that responded by forming their own alternative institutions, while touching on his own experiences with music and history.

00:00 History Mixtapes: Punk and Precarity with Chris Deutsch
05:51 The Ramones
10:46 The DC Scene and Minor Threat
17:26 NOFX
26:04 Propagandhi
30:41 Bonus Track
33:16 Last Question

In Episode 2 of History Mixtapes, historian Joshua Greenberg discusses how his research unfolds in conversation with music. Check out his playlist here and stay tuned for more news about History Mixtapes!