‘Dare to Be Different’: See New Doc on Radio Station That Broke U2, Cure in U.S.
The new documentary about the influential Long Island radio station WLIR is coming to Showtime on March 30th. New Wave: Dare to Be Different focuses on how the station helped break some of the biggest British bands of the Eighties like U2, the Cure, the Smiths, New Order, Duran Duran and Depeche Mode in the United States.
Directed by Ellen Goldfarb, Dare to Be Different teases the importance and influence of WLIR, specifically the role it played in laying the groundwork for MTV. Billy Idol notes in the clip, when WLIR emerged in the late-Seventies and early-Eighties, “Mainstream American music wasn’t breaking new bounds, it wasn’t saying anything dangerous … WLIR fueled something loud, smelly and different.”
Dare to Be Different features interviews with WLIR program director Denis McNamara, other members of the station crew and an array of artists including Joan Jett, Debbie Harry, Depeche Mode and Erasure’s Vince Clarke and the B-52’s Fred Schneider.