Audience Member
The documentary is a bit rudimentary and clumsy. However, it's a great inside look as to how New Wave found its way into FM radio and American culture. If you love 80s New Wave music (which has never really gone away), this is a must see.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
02/11/23
Full Review
Audience Member
More of a 2.5 than a 3. There are some nice scenes in this movie that bring back some fond memories, but overall, it's kind of a swing and miss. Or at most a foul ball. They fail to mention a few important facts: First off, many of the "New Romantic" bands that came to be associated with WLIR were actually first seen/heard by New Yorkers on MTV. Artists like Adam Ant, Duran Duran, Human League, Soft Cell, and others were in essence video bands first in the US, and predated WLIR, forcing LIR to play catch-up for the first year or so sometimes taking songs two years old and calling them "new". There's nothing wrong with this unless you're trying to establish that WLIR discovered pretty much every band of the 80's like this movie wants you to believe. Secondly, the movie spends a lot of time on acts like The Ramones, Blondie and the Talking Heads ( the band Television is actually mentioned more times than Echo and the Bunnymen). Now WLIR may have played these bands occasionally when they were relevant, but that would have been the old LIR that also played the Good Rats, Billy Joel, Bruce Springstein, and Hall and Oats, not the "Dare to be different station" that the movie is supposed to be focused on. The best of the Clash, Elvis Costello, The Police and the Pretenders also predate the new WLIR by a couple of years, but this is kind of blurred over in the film again not really fitting the narrative. Thirdly, the chronology of the movie itself is strange. It's loosely based on starting at the change of format in 82' ending at the 87' shutdown, but in-between is a mess. One of the very first songs played is In-Between days from 1985. Huh? This happens throughout. They jump around from say Live Aid 85', to the next scene which is 82-83. Not sure why they didn't stick to a more focused chronology. Beef #4 The movie seemed to be more the story of Dennis McNamara, Larry the Duck and Donna Donna than a thorough look back at all the characters. Now, those three were all very important and loved, no question. I would have, however, liked to have seen a couple more DJ's interviewed. One glaring omission for me was that of not including Nancy Abramson other than in a photo. For kids in high school in the early 80's like myself, Nancy was the DJ who was on the air when you got home from school. Most of my tapes have her on them. How could they not interview her? There were others like Steve the Pistol Jones or Will-o-Bee who I would have loved to have heard from as well. I hope theyï¿ 1/2(TM)re still above ground. If they are, the should have been in it. Beef #5 WLIR may be best known as the station that helped launch the mega careers of bands like The Cure, Depeche Mode, New Order and U2. But funny enough, there is very little mention in the movie of the Smiths. Crazy! Again, maybe a photo. You spend chunks of time on Joan Jett but not the Smiths?Maybe the most important band of the entire 80's. What an ommission! Lastly, the ending where they get into when and how WLIR stopped broadcasting is all screwed up. The movie makes it seem like after 87' the station ceased to exist, where in reality it turned into WDRE and basically had the same DJs and Music Director. WDRE went on for 10 more years! They then had a series of changes of ownership and direction and horrific slogans like ï¿ 1/2The cutting edge of rockï¿ 1/2Â?. Now, I agree that the only station that mattered was the original WLIR and even that incarnation was running out of gas by the time they signed off in 1987, but to most listeners they just changed their call letters and carried on as WDRE. Anyway, WLIR was great for a time, and it was actually a pretty short time. Maybe 82-85. Then they began to lose their ear in the mid to late 80's, completely missing the post-Smiths Sarah records and C86 scene which seemed like a no-brainer, and by the early 90's there wasn't really a music underground anymore so there was no need for a station devoted solely to new music when everyone was playing it. And music changed. Does anyone pull out a Go West or Jesus Jones record and still listen to it? What made WLIR great? When they first came on the air they helped a group of Tri-state area kids discover a music that could be their own. They caught us up on what had been happening and what was happening in a genre that felt very new, exciting, and unique. As a listener you felt like you were part of a exclusive club. In school, classic rock fans, metal heads, Top 40 lovers just didn't seem as cool as you and your New Wave friends. You had an unspoken musical pact with fellow LIR fans. They understood you without even having to know you. It was a really fun time. I wish this movie did a better job of capturing that time, but the whole thing seems like it wasn't really thought out that well. If you grew up listening to WLIR the movie is worth a watch I guess, but don't expect too much.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
02/07/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Love the history of my favorite music.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
01/18/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Honestly, I was just a little kid living on Long Island with big dreams and no idea how to reach them. The future, the world, tomorrow, seemed a big abyss better avoided. But then there was this one radio station that was like a beacon from the future. Now, yes, this was back in the olden days, before music on demand, when you had a buy an entire album for one song and mix tapes were an artform--yada yada. But in that time, WLIR was a Stanley Kubrick Monolith, one listen and my consciousness was raised. It was a siren server broadcasting music I couldnâ(TM)t hear anywhere else and music I desperately needed. Dare to be Different is a snapshot of those days. Yes, Yes, we had MTV, but MTV was mainstream compared to what WLIR played.
So why should you watch the doc-- anyone interested in creating a product/service for a rabid fan base without pissing off the content creators might want to take notes. Also, anyone who doubts big forces are at play and how they like kill the underdog. Also, Anyone who wants to be influencer---or go viral---WLIR went viral. So viral---they became legend.
PS. I once tweeted Simon F because I couldnâ(TM)t find Baby Pain anywhere---a stranger tweeted me a download. Of course, they were a fellow WLIR listener.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
02/11/23
Full Review
Audience Member
More fun than Dancing with Myself, this story of WLIR-FM is so packed with music and memories downright daring to be different you can't help but enjoy it; from the songs to the FCC politics (no spoiler here).
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
01/27/23
Full Review
Audience Member
I LOVE THIS MOVIE! Not only was it a learning experience for me about WLIR, it was great to see how the New Music got played in this country. I lived thru that period and that was my choice of music. I saw many of the groups/artists featured in the movie in concert in the 80ï¿ 1/2 1/2 1/2(TM)s, and listened to their music extensively. I was familiar with all of the bands and artists who were featured in the documentary, and seeing the history and the development of the community of music lovers was fantastic.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
02/18/23
Full Review
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