“Liberation Frequency” – Refused
(Words/music: Refused, available on The Shape of Punk to Come, Epitaph 1998)

“Liberation Frequency” strikes like a coiled snake.  From a distance, it sounds like a harmless track fueled by rim knocks on the snare drum and a thin sounding guitar.  Still, something is awry; the whole thing sounds just a little too tightly wound.  Even when the drummer opens up the beat a little bit, it feels like something holds him back, and the cries of “we want the airwaves back” sound far off.  Only after being lulled in does the snake strike (and strike quickly).  Everything stops except for a faint guitar lick played before the onslaught of full volume guitars, bashed cymbals, and full-throated screams.  As quickly as it arrived, the song returns to the restrained bridge just like a snake waiting for it’s next victim, and even though we know it will happen again, we can’t help but move in a little too close to its space.

This song will always remind me of my first experience listening to college radio.  I remember after getting my drivers’ license in 1999 that I soon discovered WNHU, a fine student run radio station based out of the University of New Haven.  One of the shows I used to listen to intermittently was named after this song.  Liberation Frequency and many of the other afternoon shows on WNHU filled my Plymouth station wagon with punk rock I rarely heard of (or rarely heard again, thanks to a limited income) during my high school years.  Once I became involved with college radio (first at WDOM and later at WQAQ), I used to come home from breaks and recognize a lot of the same stuff that would come through our station.  Even though I usually listen to my iPod in the car, I’ll turn on WNHU from time to time just to see what they’re playing.  Looking back now, “Liberation Frequency” made sense as a college radio theme song.  If nothing else, it was slightly less obvious that the moniker I used for a lot of my tenure.  The “we want the airwaves back” made sense for a punk rock show in the early 21st century, but I think the “we don’t just want airtime / we want all the time” made more sense as a college radio rally cry.  I know from my experience, being exposed to good college radio – radio produced by DJs passionate about their music, open to new songs, and not completely devoid of a personality – meant developing an addiction to looking past mainstream radio to find hidden gems and new favorites.

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