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American SongAuthor: Joe Hines
America was meant to be a light on the hill a place others looked to when they needed to find their own way forward.If America has ever truly been that light, it came from its music. From the people who suffered the most and somehow still found something worth singing about.From colonial taverns to protest marches in the Eastern Bloc, from gospel churches to a ghetto in Soweto, American rhythms helped people band together, speak truth, and refuse to quit. Our songs became the world's songs not because we exported them, but because people who needed hope reached out and claimed them as their own.American Song tells the stories of the artists who made the music and the people who were moved by it. One era at a time. One genre, one band, one song at a time. Music that started by campfires, in cotton fields, in churches and juke joints and moved out into the world to become something larger than any one nation could contain.This is American Song. Language: en-us Genres: Arts, Music, Music History, Performing Arts Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Dancing Under Fire: Blood in the Groove — Los Prisioneros, Soda Stereo, D.A.F., and Brenda Fassie
Episode 6
Tuesday, 4 August, 2026
Get in touch!New Wave was born in a New York dive bar, then it got on a plane. In England it picked up eyeliner and a synthesizer where its guitar used to be. But somewhere over the Atlantic, in a few very specific places, it also picked up something heavier: a government watching.This is the final episode in our New Wave series, and it's the one where the genre stops being an aesthetic and starts being evidence. In Chile, three teenagers formed a band while Pinochet's regime was still making people disappear — and wrote songs about it anyway. In Argentina, a junta collapsed the same year its kids started plugging in synthesizers. In South Africa, artists built entire careers on saying things apartheid censors weren't fast enough to catch. None of these bands set out to be political. The regimes they lived under made that decision for them.Germany, South Africa, Latin America, and back around to post-Franco Spain — the biggest songs from the boldest bands in each, made under governments that would've preferred they stayed quiet, played anyway.This is Dancing Under Fire. Across different times, places, artists and eras, it's a now familiar story in hipper clothes and different accents. American music keeps leaving the country and coming back changed — recognizable, but not asking permission anymore.Music In This EpisodeGermanyDAF - Der MussolilniSpider Murphy Gang - Skandal Im SperrbezirkNina Hagen- Du Hast Den Farbfilm Vergessen Ideal - Blaue AugenIdeal - Wir Stehn Auf BerlinIdeal - MonotonieNena - 99 LuftballonsNena - Irgendwie Irgendwo IrgendwannPeter Schilling - Major Tom (Völlig Losgelöst)Peter Schilling - Die Wüste LebtFalco - Ganz WienFalco - Der KommissarFalco - Rock Me AmadeusSouth AfricaéVoid - ShadowséVoid - TaximanéVoid - I Am a FadgetéVoid - Urban WarriorBrenda Fassie - Weekend SpecialBrenda Fassie - Black PresidentBrenda Fassie - MemezaPaul Ndlovu - Khombo Ra MinaSolomon Linda - MbubeLatin AmericaLos Prisioneros - La Voz de los '80Los Prisioneros - El Baile do Los Que SobranLos Prisioneros - Tren Al SurLos Prisioneros - EléctricasSoda Stereo - Por Qué No Puedo Ser del Jet SetSoda Stereo - Nada PersonalSoda Stereo - Persiana AmericanaSoda Stereo - En la Ciudad de la FuriaSoda Stereo - De Musica LigeraCaifanes - La Negra TomasaCaifanes - La Célula Que ExplotaCaifanes - NubesCaifanes - No Dejes QueRadio Futura - Enamorado De La Moda JuvenilRadio Futura - Escuela de CalorRadio Futura - Semilla NegraRadio Futura - 37 GradosCome visit with us on Substack!
