The Clash, the Cramps and Penny Kiley’s teenage punk diaries

Penny Kiley moved to Liverpool in 1976, ran into punk rock and “became the person I’d never been allowed to be”, as vividly remembered in her memoir, Atypical Girl. It’s a moment of liberation mapped out by records, nights at Eric’s and the big personalities in the city’s Second Coming, the beat she later covered for Melody Maker. She looks back here at some unconquerable moments, among them … … the impact of Marc Bolan and David Cassidy - and later Patti Smith, Siouxsie, Pauline Murray and Poly Styrene … punk’s “bad taste aesthetic” and the clothes she wore … boomtown Liverpool in the late ‘70s – “everyone had a film script or a demo tape” … how Boy George stole Pete Burns’ act … the Clash, Talking Heads and the Ramones at Eric’s … why her book is “like an historical novel about the way journalism changed” … first reviews, front covers and life as Melody Maker’s Liverpool correspondent, “which could be awkward with friends in bands” … Orange Juice and the ground-breaking NME C81 tape … and the adjustment to the ‘80s – “the Royal Wedding, Live Aid, Duran Duran, yuppies, a decade where I didn’t feel I fitted in” Order a copy of Atypical Girl here: Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock going: Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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The Clash, the Cramps and Penny Kiley’s teenage punk diaries is an episode from Word In Your Ear by Word In Your Ear.

This episode is 28:33 long.

This episode was published on May 1, 2026.

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