KCRW Presents Season Three of Lost Notes Podcast Hosted by Hanif Abdurraqib

KCRW announces today details of the third season of the critically acclaimed music documentary podcast Lost Notes. Season three, Lost Notes: 1980, explores the brilliant, awkward and sometimes heartbreaking opening to a monumental decade in popular music. Hosted by celebrated poet and cultural critic Hanif Abdurraqib, all episodes of Lost Notes: 1980 will be released simultaneously on Thursday, September 24.

In 1980, the horizon was bursting with possibility. The Voyager 1 had confirmed a new moon of Saturn. "The Miracle on Ice" saw the US beat the USSR at the Olympics and the country was still buzzing. "The Empire Strikes Back" and Pac Man were released on back-to-back days.

In the music world, the Sugarhill Gang were riding the success of "Rapper's Delight" to release a debut album. Siouxsie and the Banshees were ascending to their creative peak, and Elvis Costello, Talking Heads and The Police all released landmark albums. Yet, 1980 also saw tremendous losses, revolutions, redefinitions and reformations. David Bowie got divorced. Lou Reed got married. Ian Curtis died before Joy Division got to touch down on a U.S. Tour. And by the end of the year, John Lennon's death would signal the end of a rock n' roll era.

Lost Notes: 1980 explores the uncovered corners of this storied year. Hosted by Hanif Abdurraqib, a nationally celebrated poet and essayist from Columbus, Ohio, each episode conjures new looks at familiar artists, examining their work and their life through a uniquely personal lens. Topics include: The first full-length album from the Sugarhill Gang which set the stakes for an entirely new genre of music; how record producers set out to bring Minnie Riperton back to life; how Stevie Wonder delivered on the comeback he was due; an Ian Curtis song that the fallen singer's bandmates used to birth New Order; a reflection on the concert that the South African government never wanted Hugh Masekela and Miriam Makeba to perform; how punk singer Darby Crash tried to rise to immortality, but was interrupted when John Lennon passed away the very next day; how Grace Jones rose from disco's death rattle - reinforced and reimagined - into a new decade freshly obsessed with risk.

Every episode of Lost Notes: 1980 will be released simultaneously on Thursday, September 24, and will be available on all major podcast platforms.

To help celebrate the launch of the new season of Lost Notes, KCRW presents This Album Saved My 1980, on Thursday, October 1, at 7:00 p.m. PDT. Hosted by KCRW's Program Director of Music Anne Litt, DJ Eric J. Lawrence, Hanif Abdurraqib, and music journalist/historian Dart Adams, This Album Saved My 1980 is a truly interactive event with hosts and audience alike sharing their essential albums from the decade of decadence.

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