Faber Radio Presents
Caryn Rose’s Patti Smith Playlist
Caryn Rose, author of Why Patti Smith Matters, shares her punk-inspired list of songs.
Why Patti Smith Matters is an examination and a celebration of Patti Smith’s life and work. She was the first artist in the then-nascent downtown punk scene that grew out of CBGB to be signed to a major label, but she wouldn’t be the last.
These are the artists, this is the music, these are the songs that set the scene and take you to a time and place that no longer exists. The older I get, the more I believe in the kind of magic that pushed these musicians in the same direction towards the intersection of Bleecker St and The Bowery in Lower Manhattan to the club known as CBGB. They were the weirdos, freaks and misfits that couldn’t find a place anywhere else, which is the only common denominator shared by those initial explorers – that, and a willingness to get up onstage and play, and a belief that what they were doing mattered.
I also enjoyed returning and revisiting the influences beloved by Patti and the band, whether it was their cover of the Marvelletes’ ‘The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game’ (which they performed onstage at CBGB on its very last night) or spreading their affection for reggae, which was very new in America in the mid-seventies. I also wanted to acknowledge connections and influences, including husband Fred ‘Sonic’ Smith’s post-MC5 band and fellow poet Jim Carroll, as well as paying tribute to her biggest hit, ‘Because the Night’, along with Springsteen’s own version.
Patti Smith as a live artist is also – still, in 2022! – vital, and there were many hours spent immersed in live concerts while I was working on the book. Luckily, there are a strong handful of officially released live recordings that capture just a small amount of the emotion and energy she emits onstage.
Listen to Caryn Rose’s Faber Radio playlist:
A radical exploration of the artistry and influence of Patti Smith: the Poet Laureate of Punk whose uninhibited creativity inspired an entire generation and triggered a cultural revolution.