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1980s

WPRB Staff Photos — Spring 1985

Photos courtesy of Jim Knickerbocker ’86. These pix were originally mounted on a piece of cardboard that hung in the lobby of WPRB’s old studios in Holder Hall. Please note that all defacements (scribbled out faces, pointy beards, googly eyes, arrows-thru-head, etc) are features of the original source material. This post has been published on the assumption that any disagreements which may have inspired these acts of vandalism have been resolved over the last 30+ years.

Note that you can pause the slideshow by hovering your cursor over the current image.

 

 

The Fall / Mark E. Smith / WPRB Mega-Post

As you’ve probably heard by now, Mark E. Smith, the leader of iconic post-punk stalwarts The Fall, passed away last week at the age of 60. His health had been in decline for some time, as evidenced by the band’s last two American tours being abruptly canceled, as well as recent stage entrances being made by wheelchair.

Within the pantheon of WPRB, the Fall are an act of unique prominence. I can’t think of another cult band that’s existed continuously for so many years and which has been adored by so many WPRB DJs spread across four different decades. As such, when the news of Smith’s death broke, I started seeing a lot of Fall-related waxing from current and former PRB folks in my social media feeds. (A trend including content from early 80s alums, as well as folks who graduated from college as recently as two years ago.) This post attempts to gather as many of those images, words, and related gushings as possible into a singular MES/Fall/WPRB content depot.

Before we go any further, let it be stated quite clearly: Mark E. Smith was a hugely problematic character. He was arrested and charged with assaulting bandmate Julia Nagle in 1998, and there are numerous accounts of awful behavior on his part over the years. But as he was the only constant member of the band through countless lineups, any notion or idea of the Fall continuing without him is simply absurd. (As Smith once famously declared “If it’s me and yer granny on bongos, it’s the Fall.“)

As such, think of this post not as a deification of Smith—a man whose inexcusable actions should be neither forgotten nor sugar-coated—but rather, a summary of how his band’s music shaped the lives, experiences, and musical travels of so many WPRB DJs across multiple generations.

To begin, I present the above slideshow which comprises fresh scans of every piece of available Fall vinyl from WPRB’s record library. (Except the ‘Slates’ 10″, which I forgot to grab before hoofing all those records across town to scan them… apologies.) Many of the hastily taped (and re-taped) spines should give you a sense of how heavily WPRB’s airstaff has hit these LPs over the years. Note that you can pause the slideshow by mousing over any of the images.

Below are other various Fall-related pieces of media and writing from or involving a slew of WPRB DJs from the 1980s-now.

RIP Mark E. Smith. And farewell to a criterion WPRB band.

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LISTEN: WPRB Aircheck from 1982

With huge thanks to Listener Larry in Somerville, here’s a WPRB aircheck from 1982, featuring DJ Bill Candee spinning hits of the day by Roxy Music, The Jam, the Waitresses, Dead Kennedys, Buzzcocks, and more.

[Download]

Unfortunately, due to Draconian copyright rules, we had to cut all of the music out of the recording presented here, but you still get Bill’s sparking DJ personality, as well as a barrage of great WPRB-produced spots for long-gone (but never forgotten) Princeton businesses like The Music Cellar, Titles Unlimited, and Lavake Jewelers.

Interview: Vernon Reid from Living Colour (1988)

“As an environment, New York is like an ugly, horrible, beautiful painting.” -Vernon Reid

Here’s a lengthy interview with Living Colour’s Vernon Reid, discussing the band’s then-new debut LP “Vivid”, just as it was on the cusp of blowing the doors off of college radio and exploding into the mainstream. WPRB’s A. Josh Henig quizzes Reid on the band‘s history, the Black Rock Coalition, their early gigs at CBGBs, comparisons to Jimi Hendrix, and upcoming shows at City Gardens and the Knitting Factory.

[Right-click to download MP3]

(With apologies to Cornell University for re-using their tape.)

Digitized by Joan Hsaio on 9/30/2016.

 


More 80s/90s Thursday Night Hip-Hop Audio

Pictured: WPRB’s trophy wax Naughty by Nature 12″s

With thanks to WPRB History’s newest digital archivist Joan Hsiao, we present two recently digitized drop-ins from the station’s storied era of Thursday night hip-hop shows (The Raw Deal, Vibes & Vapors, Club Krush, etc.)

First up, this drop from Jeru the Damaja from the Vibes & Vapors era.

 

And then from the Raw Deal, we present Treach from Naughty by Nature.

 

And finally, just because it’s an easy excuse to post a great song, here’s the late, great Tony D, who was a contributor to all of the above mentioned shows, as well as a WPRB DJ in his own right. “Check the Elevation” is a critical slice of local hip-hop history.