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Since founding SQUEAKY CLEAN in 1983, Suzanne C. Smithline and Glenn Paul Manion have conceived a number of different missions for their band. At first they worked to preserve a stylistically pure and historically accurate form of rockabilly, as demonstrated on their debut record in 1984. Next they refashioned themselves as downtown hipsters COMBO LIMBO, gaining attention from college radio and the distinction of being cited as New York’s “Best Unsigned Band” by the SKC/NY Music Awards. SQUEAKY CLEAN was then reborn with the mandate of teaching schoolchildren about the roots of rock and roll and the decades of the 1960s and 1970s by means of an innovative series of multimedia school assembly programs, reaching thousands of students every year since 1988.
With their latest CD release “Pull Together” (DD 305), Suzanne and Glenn have taken on no less a challenge than overcoming the cultural divisions in America that resulted from the toxic political rhetoric of recent years. “I feel the divisions in America are overhyped anyway,” remarks Glenn. “Look at what matters most to people, and they’ll all say the same things: a safe neighborhood to raise a family, a good education for their kids, staying healthy and even helping those who are less fortunate. Our core values are not all that different, despite what the commentators and politicians say.”
Suzanne and Glenn took their inspiration from a time when America was truly divided: the late 1960s and the early 1970s. Yet alongside all the heightened political passions of that era, voices of calm and sanity could be heard on the AM radio, of all places. “It was comforting to hear music that expressed hope,” recalls Suzanne, and comfort is one of the CDs themes: the reassurance of a trusted teacher (“To Sir With Love”), a close friend (“Lean On Me”), the familiar routines we fall back on when times are uncertain (Glenn’s original tune “Comfort Food”).
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