Dare to Be Different

I got to see Dare to Be Different at a film festival and it was a blast! The sound mix was so good and the music selection so right on that I was dancing in my seat the entire time. It felt as if the entire audience was having a shared musical experience of 80s music and memories. Even though this is the music of my youth, I didn't know that much about the artists who created the 80s sound. It was very engaging to hear artists, now in their 50s and 60s, riff about their early work, their inspirations, and how the era influenced their music and message. The story of the small, rogue, radio station that played this music was an entertaining subplot. Hearing the DJs remember moments when famous artists "hung out" at WLIR or when they literally had to go to the airport to pick up record imports gave the documentary authenticity. I recommend this documentary anyone who loves 80s music.

I echo the sentiment of the Southern California reviewers. "New Wave" music was introduced into North America in many locations in parallel. We had a local university radio station playing this music circa 1977-78. It took a while for the mainstream FM stations to introduce this music to their playlists but it was here and available for listening well before 1982 on FM radio, TV and album imports. I suppose it was a gamble for an FM radio station to go full New Wave in 1982 but certainly not pioneering as this documentary alludes to.

The documentary was somewhat confusing, jumping all over the place with respect to artists and dates. Information presented chronologically would have been clearer.

I know for sure that 2 college radio stations in the Boston area, WERS and WMBR, and 2 commercial stations - WBCN in Boston and KROQ in Los Angeles - were among various American radio stations that turned people on to many of the bands that WLIR claimed to have been "the first" to, and by several years. I was annoyed by how DJ's and staff in the film patted themselves on the back in taking such credit. WLIR changed format in 1982. U2's first album was released in the US 2 years earlier and was played at all the stations cited. That's just one example. Sure, WLIR helped expose the music which generated album sales, but don't claim something that is not true. It diminishes the legitimacy of the documentary. I cringed watching it. The listeners and staff obviously dug the commercial alternative format and the filmmaker shows that. I did enjoy seeing musicians that I liked remembering those days. Overall, great that 'LIR dared to be different but don't make false claims that you were the first, etc. And nobody likes a braggart anyway.

A DJ or Exec from WLIR must've taken a vacation to LA about one or two or three years? after KROQ was already giving New Wave/Punk/Ska/PowerPop it's proper due. Taking credit as though WLIR is the first, and not giving credit to the original radio stations (KROQ in LA) that broke these bands is just a pat-on-the-own-back-Sham, especially to people who might be taking it in as the truth. The other review referencing the station as "Late to the Party" nailed it. Gave 3 stars for content and love of the genre, but it'll get exposed...Adam Carolla's upcoming doc about KROQ will provide the accurate timeline for New Wave and will be understood as the truth.

Something that bothered me when I watched this was that there was no mention at all of the station that immediately followed LIR on the airwave. The wikipedia page basically lists them both as one entity The movie producers clearly chose to ignore the reincarnation of the station, which I didn't mind if they hadn't done it without making a single mention of the WDRE station that succeeded LIR. To leave it out without a mention, even a sentence in the epilogue, makes it seem pretty obvious that they went far out of their way not to mention the later station.

At some point the new station took the old LIR moniker, the movie could have helped clear up the confusion about the call letters by explaining what happened with the call letters over time, but by leaving it out they only added to it.