It seems Charlie Manson is all the rage now, thanks to the new series on NBC Aquarius with David Duchovny playing opposite Manson, who is all sexed up and like a character out of Dawson’s Creek. But if you really want to deep dive into what impact the Manson murders had on American culture, specifically southern Californian culture, look no further than You Must Remember This Podcast, a creation of film critic and writer Karina Longworth. While I’ll admit I hadn’t been listening to the podcast up to now, the new series got me hooked. Probably because it looks at the Manson murders from all possible angles – the film angle, the politics angle, how it changed things then, how it still has an impact now. Longworth knows her shit, which makes listening to it a full spectrum panorama of that time period.
Podcasts are all the rage now that Serial has remade the game, thus, one must always be on the hunt for the good ones that emerge in this wide open field where anyone can cook. You Must Remember This is one of the good ones. Check it out. Or subscribe on iTunes.
Sidenote: I grew up in Topanga canyon right about the time of the Manson murders. 1969-1970 I was only 4 or 5 years old but fully immersed in the world of all things flower children and hippies. I remember being so scared going to sleep at night after the murders. How do you even account for something like that? How do you even prepare for it if you’re Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate? Manson’s race war scheme, his brainwashed “girls.” It was unimaginable then and is unimaginable now.