In this inaugural episode of Season 3 of American 100, we get a slightly adjusted format for our slightly adjusted times. Grief is the theme. Aretha Franklin & Dolly Parton provide the lens through which we will be examining this process that we’ve all been dealing with maybe a little bit more than normal lately.

President Reagan dies, the Federal Assault Weapons Ban expires, and both LL Cool J and DIDO show up on the Billboard Hot 100! It’s 2004, friends, and Friends isn’t the only thing everybody’s talking about. 

Idi Amin takes control of Uganda, Charles Manson and three of his followers receive the death penalty, and Jim Morrison is found dead in a bathtub in Paris. Also Matthews Southern Comfort and The Grass Roots hold places on the Billboard Hot 100. It’s 1971, and it’s not just war in Vietnam that’s raging! Join Micah McKee and trusty robotic sidekick, Rando, for this installment of American 100!