(ICYMI) Episode 20: Ohio

Rock N Roll Archaeology

Rock N Roll as the First Draft Of History. We begin in the midwest college town of Kent, Ohio, in the late spring of 1970. We’ll meet three future rockers--students at Kent State University, barely out of their teens--who will be changed forever by what they witness.

We’ll check in on Motown, where the fluffy pop “Sound of Young America” is still alive, but there's a big change coming, a movement towards a tougher, more topical sound. We’ll foreshadow that just a little--lots more to come in a later chapter.

Rock N Roll is now Rock, and it is mainstreamed now, big and getting bigger. It set out to subvert the dominant paradigm, now it is the dominant paradigm. It can be downright paradoxical at times; defined by its own contradictions.

We come back to the campus for the shattering events of May 4th. They inspire a unique musical response, something we really haven’t seen since then.

Written by Richard Evans and Christian Swain

Hosted and Produced by Christian Swain

Sound Design by Jerry Danielsen

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