The Clash, the Cramps and Penny Kiley’s teenage punk diaries

About this episode

Penny Kiley reflects on her experiences in the punk rock scene of Liverpool during the late 1970s and her journey as a music journalist.

Penny Kiley moved to Liverpool in 1976, ran into punk rock and “became the person I’d never been allowed to be”, as vividly remembered in her memoir, Atypical Girl. It’s a moment of liberation mapped out by records, nights at Eric’s and the big personalities in the city’s Second Coming, the beat she later covered for Melody Maker. She looks back here at some unconquerable moments, among them …   … the impact of Marc Bolan and David Cassidy - and later Patti Smith, Siouxsie, Pauline Murray and Poly Styrene   … punk’s “bad taste aesthetic” and the clothes she wore   … boomtown Liverpool in the late ‘70s – “everyone had a film script or a demo tape”   … how Boy George stole Pete Burns’ act   … the Clash, Talking Heads and the Ramones at Eric’s   … why her book is “like an historical novel about the way journalism changed”    … first reviews, front covers and life as Melody Maker’s Liverpool correspondent, “which could be awkward with friends in bands”   … Orange Juice and the ground-breaking NME C81 tape   … and the adjustment to the ‘80s – “the Royal Wedding, Live Aid, Duran Duran, yuppies, a decade where I didn’t feel I fitted in”…

People in this episode

Hosts: Alex Gold, Mark Ellen, David Hepworth

Guest: Penny Kiley

Topics covered

• punk rock
• music history
• personal memoir
• Liverpool music scene
• journalism
• cultural commentary

Keywords

• punk
• Liverpool
• Atypical Girl
• Melody Maker
• music journalism
• 1970s
• cultural history

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Melody Maker, NME

Books & works: Atypical Girl

Places: Liverpool

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