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Listeners in their 40s call in to discuss the most important news stories from their lifetimes, and other factors that help define their generation.
Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Now, we continue the oral history call-in series we're doing on the most defining news event of your lifetime. We're taking this decade by decade. We started last week with callers in your 90s, then 80s, then 70s. We've continued this week with people in your 60s and 50s. Now, this call-in is for you today if you are in your 40s on the most defining news event of your lifetime, local or national, or global.
For some extra fun, we'll invite you to name the most memorable concert you've ever seen so far if you have one. Here's a smattering of the concert mentions we've been getting so far.
Caller 1: Music has been my life, but the most important thing in my musical life was attending the Young People's Concerts by Leonard Bernstein. That gave me-- It just changed my life as a 12-year-old back in 1958.
Caller 2: Yes, that was an easy one. For me, my second date with the woman that I've now been married to for 52 years was a concert of The Lovin' Spoonful, their last concert together, and Judy Collins at the tennis stadium at Forest Hills in the summer of 1967.
Caller 3: My very first concert was Prince, and that's where Gartner gave my babysitting money for weeks and I was so happy.
Brian: Barry, do you have a most memorable concert?
Barry: Yes, Ed Sullivan's presentation of the Beatles in New York. It was absolutely wonderful.
Brian: Barry in the Village, Kiza in Fort Lauderdale, Howard in Great Neck, Gregory in Harlem there with their most memorable concert. How about for you if you're in your 40s? That's just dessert. How about the most defining news events of your lifetime, local, national, or global? 212-433-WNYC. 212-433-9692. Now, let's see. If you're in your 40s, some of you are millennials, most of you are Gen X. If you're turning 45 this year, just to take the midpoint, you were born in 1978. If so, the Challenger exploded may be live on TV in front of your third-grade classroom in 1986.
Crack and crime and AIDS and Reagan and Ed Koch were big when you were little. You were 11 when the Central Park Five were wrongly convicted of attacking a Central Park jogger. Also, 11, when the first George Bush became president, and David Dinkins was elected mayor. 13 for the Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill hearing which someone mentioned yesterday as their most defining news event. 14 for the Rodney King beating. 15 when Bill Clinton became president and Rudy Giuliani was elected mayor. 16 for the OJ Simpson chase. Did you watch it live on TV?
You were 20 years old when Clinton was impeached. You were 23 on September 11th; 30 when the financial crisis and great recession began. Did that change the course of your financial life? You were 30 when Barack Obama was elected president on that campaign of Hope and Change. Interesting that some people of all generations have been mentioning the election of Obama as their most defining news event. You grew up with cable, including music on MTV, something previous generations of kids didn't have. You are the first somewhat native internet generation.
Probably a teenager, maybe even younger when you started going online. Maybe you were among the first to get a cell phone before you were 20. The Mets won the World Series when you were eight, and not again since. The Yankees won it when you were 18 and 20 and 21 and 22 and 23 and 32, and not again since. There are a few of the things that might be formative if you are 45 years old. If you're anywhere in your 40s, what was the most defining news event of your lifetime, and if you'd like, your most memorable concert? 212-433-WNYC. 212-433-9692.
Again, why are we doing this? As I said last week, introducing the series. We live in such a tumultuous time and it's always good to get a sense of where we are today in historical context. Sometimes, we talk to professional historians on this show, but we have the idea why not add to the historical context of today through an oral history project with you, our amazing community of listeners. If you're in your 40s, your most defining news event, your most memorable concert. 212-433-WNYC or tweet at Brian Lehrer. We'll take your calls after this.
Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Now, to your most defining news events and most memorable concerts if you're in your 40s. By the way, tomorrow, obviously, will be for people in your 30s. We'll complete the set on Friday for callers in your 20s or younger. Then, on Monday, Martin Luther King Day, we'll do an oral history call-in for anyone old enough to remember the Civil Rights era, let's say any time when Dr. King was active. Memories from the movement, oral history call in centering Black voices on King Day next Monday.
To anyone in your 40s right now. Susanna in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hi, Susanna.
Susanna: Hi, Brian. Thank you for everything you do. I'm an immigrant from Ireland and the most defining moment for me was when I was about seven and John Lennon was murdered. Up until that point, I didn't know that-- The way I understood how people died was that something happened to their body and their body got sick and they were older or cancer or something but I didn't know that another person could take another person's life. I didn't understand that before.
Brian: Did you talk to anybody at the time? Did you talk to your parents about it being a seven-year-old?
Susanna: No. You're right. I didn't because it was so shocking to me. I think I just held it inside for a long time. Then I have two friends who have been murdered and that shock still stays with me this whole time. It was just astounding to me that one person could do that to another person.
Brian: It's a loss of innocence. It's a loss of trust.
Susanna: That's true. That's exactly true. Then when we immigrated and it was so hard, that loss of innocence was already there for me and I was already, I don't know, hardened or something to this huge change. It was all a tumultuous time. We owned a pub in Ireland and we lived above it. We used to listen to the Beatles all the time. I was just heartbroken as a little girl.
Brian: Do you have a most memorable concert?
Susanna: I do. I have many. Luckily growing up in New York, I've seen all of my heroes, Madonna, Metallica, Paul McCartney. This one, the Tibetan Freedom Concert right after September 11th. I saw David Bowie sing Heroes with Philip Glass and Ad-Rock from the Beastie Boys. At the end of the concert, Patti Smith was singing Power to the People and she said, "Everybody, get up and come to the stage," which you usually don't do in Carnegie Hall. I touched David Bowie's foot.
[laughter]
That was a beautiful-- I'll never forget it.
Brian: Did he kick you out of the way?
Susanna: No, he smiled at me. No, he didn't. He was very happy. [laughs] It was amazing.
Brian: Susana, thank you very much.
Susanna: Thank you.
Brian: Thank you so much. Canene in Harlem, you're on WNYC. Hi, Canene.
Canene: Hi. Happy New Year, Brian. I'm really excited to share my issues. I do Black issues as we all know. I wrote a blog about it is when Malcolm X came out, the autobiography of Malcolm X by Spike Lee. I was 12 years old and I wrote a blog about reflecting on my racial acumen from 12 to 42. Way before Wakanda Forever and Black Panther, there was a huge movement in the '90s embracing Africa for being very pro-Black.
I think that when the movie came out, it was like the apex of this crescendo of loving who we are as Black people in the '90s despite and regardless of the crack epidemic, gun violence, and all the things that have been plaguing the Black community for over 400 years. It also was an intersection between hip hop as well. To me, the end of the movie, the scene where all the children are like, "I'm Malcolm X. I'm Malcolm X." That was like the hugest thing for us because we were taught to demonize Malcolm X. That risk that Spike Lee took on his trajectory of his career because do the right thing was huge, people love Spike. For Spike to be loved and then do one of the most vilified people on this planet and humanize Malcolm X and put him on a pedestal as well to me was one of the biggest risks any artist of any generation has ever taken. I wrote about like I said-- [crosstalk]
Brian: You were 12, so a perfect age to really have some of your identity shaped by that, or at least have your thinking pushed in a direction. Do you have a most memorable concert?
Canene: The most memorable concert is actually quite recently. Dave Chappelle did Saturday Night Live and Black Star which is Mos Def & Talib Kweli performed, and then they did some secret concert two days later that they barely announced, and it didn't start till midnight. A lot of people who work couldn't go and then it was torrential. I remember standing in the rain drenched. Everyone was drenched. We all went in there and it was totally completely sold out. Again, it is that revival of like I said, the '90s, this renaissance of loving Africa, of loving being Black and being pro-Black that coalesced at this concert at midnight.
Brian: Canene, thank you so much. Thank you very, very much. Now, we have a Lori in Atlantic Highlands and a Laura in Ridgewood Queens calling with the same relatively contemporary most defining news event. We're going to get Laura to represent. Laura in Ridgewood, you're on WNYC. Hi.
Laura: Hi, Brian.
Brian: Your most defining news event.
Laura: My most defining news event for me was when Hillary Clinton lost the election. That was a really defining moment for me as someone who identifies as a woman. I felt in that moment, I was running an event, it was an election event. I had women comedian on stage, and throughout the night, it just got more and more depressing, and scary. At the end, everyone just felt so defeated. I was staring down these next few years of Trump as president and Republicans in power. I felt danger. I felt in fear for my life in that moment.
At the pinnacle of everything, everyone was, I did a toast to try to alleviate some of the tension. Then a man actually verbally assaulted me for making a light of the situation, which I found incredibly ironic but the whole night just was so defining for me as someone who identifies as a woman. I wanted to move forward from that moment and be a fierce advocate for women and for marginalized people and that's what I've done since then.
Brian: That's great. Now, the fact that you were running an event with comedians on election night, I'm guessing, speaks to the fact that you really didn't think it was going to be that close.
Laura: No, I had some faith in humanity that it wasn't going to go that way, but that was one of the worst realizations in that moment was that, wow, people distrust and hate women this much, that this could happen. That's what I took away from it. That's what created this fear in me of recognizing-- It's almost as though I didn't realize how deep-seated the hatred of women really was until that moment, and that was alarming.
Brian: Laura, thank you. Thank you so much. Marion in Hackettstown, you're on WNYC. Hi, Marion.
Marion: Hi, I just wanted to say my most moving event was the Ken Starr investigation of Bill Clinton and his affair with Monica Lewinsky. It just really shocked me because I thought it was so driven by a personal animus. It just felt like morality police, and I felt like it was none of my business and I did not really care about it as long as he was doing a great job as president. I thought it was really motivated by complete outside forces and it turned me into a total political junkie. I've been obsessed and active ever since. It shook me.
I had a lot of arguments with women of older generations about it who thought that Hillary should have left him and how could she stand for this and be so humiliated. I just thought Monica's an independent young woman and it's their business and we should butt out.
Brian: Interesting. Do you have a most memorable concert?
Marion: I do. I was lucky enough to see lots of concerts as I was younger, but a couple of months ago, I took my two young sons down to see Twenty One Pilots, which is a duo, an alternative music rap singing group. The ecstasy on my kids' faces for seeing their first concert and it was just the most magical thing. I still can't shake that feeling. It was amazing.
Brian: Great. Marion, thank you very much. Matthew in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hi, Matthew.
Matthew: Hi, Brian. Thanks for taking my call. Appreciate it. My most memorable news event was the election of George W Bush versus Al Gore in 2000 when I was I think I was 24 years old. I look back at that moment as a real turning point for the world. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan flowed from that election. I believe that 9/11 would've been different, maybe not have happened, but certainly would've been differently handled. I think action on climate change would've been radically different had, we elected Al Gore instead of George W Bush.
That moment has led to so many other things that our country has faced, the world has faced, the economic crisis in 2008 and 2009, and even the election of Trump. I think it all came out of that. It was a major turning point in my memory and certainly for the world.
Brian: Thank you, and I see you have a concert.
Matthew: I was 12 years old and my dad took me to see Bob Dylan at Radio Studio Music Hall in 1988. I don't remember all the songs, but I remember it being pretty powerful and really, really unforgettable.
Brian: Matthew, thank you very much. Let's see if we can do one, maybe two more. Cione, am I saying your name right? You're on WNYC. Hi, there.
Cione: Hi. Yes, you did, miraculously. Thank you so much. My memorable moment is I was working at MTV and back then where the studios are, which is 1515 Broadway, the second floor is all glass, it's where the Lion King is now. That used to be offices. My boss had the corner office and we were having a meeting right when the OJ Simpson verdict was coming in, every screen in Times Square had that news playing and we heard when it came through-- just first of all Times Square stopped because everybody was watching the screens, everybody.
When the verdicts came in, we just heard through the wall, through the windows, this collective oooh. It was just unbelievable. We, of course, 9/11, so many other things, but I'll never forget that moment because it was very unique to be there at that moment in time.
Brian: I don't know if it was a diverse workplace at that time, but was there a difference between Black people's reactions and white people's reactions if that room was mixed?
Cione: Actually, I was working with MTV Latin America, so it was a room full of Latinos talking about music in South America and we were like, "Oh, look what's going on?" Then once we heard that, everyone was just like, I couldn't believe it but we didn't really talk too much about it because we were doing news and we were really like music news.
Brian: You might have an interesting most memorable concert given what you did for a living at that time or, 10 seconds, memorable concert?
Cione: Yes. Wu-Tang Clan with Rage Against the Machine. Amazing show. People [inaudible 00:18:59] show.
Brian: Cione, thank you very much. Thank you all, the callers. Tomorrow will be four people in your 30s. We'll complete the set on Friday for callers in your 20s or younger, then on Monday, like I said, Martin Luther King Day, we'll do an oral history call in for anyone old enough to remember the Civil Rights era. Let's say anytime when Dr. King was active, the memories for the movement, oral history call in on King Day, next Monday.
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