10 Songs is a weekly list of ten songs that happen to be on my mind at the moment. The lists are usually dominated by songs played on the previous Sunday night's edition of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl. The idea was inspired by Don Valentine of the essential blog I Don't Hear A Single.
This week's edition of 10 Songs draws exclusively from the playlist for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1182. This show is available as a podcast.
THE RAMONES: Rockaway Beach
The third and final part of our salute to THE RAMONES AT THE MOVIES presents four tracks heard in films that were otherwise unrelated to the Ramones. And we start with this irresistible number, which appeared on the soundtrack to a 1979 British film called That Summer! I've never seen the movie, but its soundtrack LP is killer, with da Brudders' ace "Rockaway Beach" sharin' banks 'n' borders with music by Eddie and the Hot Rods, Elvis Costello, the Undertones, the Only Ones, Mink DeVille, Wreckless Eric, the Boomtown Rats, Patti Smith Group, Ian Dury and the Blockheads, Richard Hell and the Voidoids, Nick Lowe, and the Zones.
This album was an essential purchase for me, and probably the first time an Undertones track ("TEENAGE KICKS!!!!!!") entered my record collection. I would have gotten to the Undertones anyway, so the true revelation was the Zones' "New Life," which I'd neither heard nor heard of prior to That Summer!, and which immediately became a top Fave Rave for this lad. New life!
I already owned two copies of "Rockaway Beach" before I acquired That Summer! The 1977 single was my second Ramones purchase (after "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker"), and I bought the Rocket To Russia album in 1978. If we also count the live cut that opens the wonderful It's Alive--HEY!WE'RETHERAMONESANDTHISONE'SCALLED"ROCKAWAYBEACH!"1-2-3-4!--then That Summer! gave me my fourth "Rockaway Beach." Chewin' out a rhythm on my bubblegum! You can never have too many examples of "Rockaway Beach."
And we'll have another example of "Rockaway Beach" in the second set of next week's special show GABBA GABBA HEY! A Celebration Of The Ramones. No, it's not that rendition of "Rockaway Beach""--we do have standards here--but a less-played version nonetheless familiar to our regular listeners. AND! It will be introduced on-air by none other than Joey Ramone himself, from a 1994 interview I believe I've mentioned recently. It's not hard, not far to reach. So BE THERE!
PERILOUS: Last Of The Dying Breed
The May 13th release party for my new book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones was an epic night at The 443 Social Club and Lounge, and it gave me my first opportunity to witness the rockin' majesty of Perilous live. Whatta band! Their set raised the motherlovin' roof like a motherlovin' roof should be raised. Perilous performed TIRnRR Pick Hits "Rock & Roll Kiss" and "Band Aid" (the latter originally done by Perilous drummer Paul Doherty's former group the Trend), and closed with an authoritative cover of the Ramones' "Cretin Hop." The 443's owner Julie Leone said that she is now a Perilous fan. Julie, as always, knows what she's talkin' about.
And Perilous played their brand-new single "Last Of The Dying Breed," a vibrant ode to the '70s punk scenes that inspired...well, me! From the Ramones to Lemmy to the Dead Boys to Iggy to Richard Hell, it's all for the love of rock 'n' roll. Turn up the sound all over the town, before the ship sinks into the sea.
So yeah, of course I bought the single. Duh!
And you oughtta get it, too. Sales of "Last Of The Dying Breed" benefit David Lee Mau, bass player for Upstate New York hardcore veterans S.F.B., as he battles cancer. Fuck cancer. See, there is something we can all agree on: Fuck cancer. Make cancer the last of a dead breed.
sparkle*jets u.k.: He's Coming Out
Oh yeah! sparkle*jets u.k. return with a new album, Best Of Friends, thanks to the rockin' pop visionaries at Big Stir Records. HuzZAH! I haven't heard the album yet, but Dana has, and he's already certified it Way Cool. The first single, a cover of the Masticators' "He's Coming Out" (the original of which was a BIG favorite of this little mutant radio show twenty-sumpin years ago), indicates our Dana is right. Again. I can't wait to hear the rest of this.
THE RAMONES: I Wanna Be Sedated
"I Wanna Be Sedated" was included on the soundtrack for the 1980 film Times Square, a flick intended to do for the commercial viability of punk and new wave music what producer Robert Stigwood's previous flick Saturday Night Fever had done for dat ole debbil disco.
It did not accomplish that goal.
Nonetheless, it was a fascinating 2-LP set. Some of its tracks weren't my cuppa, but I loved hearing the Ramones, Suzi Quatro, Roxy Music, the Pretenders, Talking Heads, Joe Jackson, Garland Jeffries, and XTC playing within what was at least ostensibly a mainstream project. I was particularly taken with "Flowers In The City," a duet by David Johansen with the film's star Robin Johnson, a track I'm not sure ever surfaced anywhere else but here. The album was better than the film, but I'm glad I did finally see the movie, its shortcomings notwithstanding.
And I wonder: even though the soundtrack album didn't do Saturday Night Fever numbers--we punks can't count past 1-2-3-4 anyway--it musta sold a little bit. Is it possible that Times Square's inclusion of "I Wanna Be Sedated" put the Ramones into more American record collections than any Ramones release that preceded it?
Maybe so.
We will hear "I Wanna Be Sedated" again in Sunday's GABBA GABBA HEY! A Celebration Of The Ramones. Might not be exactly what you expect. But it is by the Ramones, and it's the only song we'll hear in two different versions on Sunday night's show.
THE PANDORAS: It's About Time
The Greatest Record Ever Made!
THE RAMONES: Blitzkrieg Bop
The definitive Ramones song. The statement is not up for debate. You can hear the Hey-ho, let's GO! at sporting events, in TV commercials, and in movies, from National Lampoon's Vacation to Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius. It is an entrenched part of our greater pop culture. It wasn't a hit at the time of its release; man, it didn't even come close to being a hit. But it's now a classic, timeless, as much an acknowledged rock 'n' roll perennial as anything else you can name from the late '70s, and more so than most of its contemporaries. The kids are losing their minds. The Blitzkrieg Bop!
Obviously, some version of "Blitzkrieg Bop" has to open next week's GABBA GABBA HEY! A Celebration Of The Ramones. Has to. We're going with a live version, and following it with a few words from Johnny Ramone about the song's genesis. See, the Ramones had a specific goal when they started out. Johnny will tell you 'bout it.
THE FLASHCUBES FEATURING THE SPONGETONES: Have You Ever Been Torn Apart?
Hey, two of my favorite groups, singing together! Both the Flashcubes and the Spongetones are doing new full-length albums for Big Stir, and this dynamic collaborative remake of the Spongetones' "Have You Ever Been Torn Apart?" will be on the new 'Cubes album Pop Masters, due out this summer. The album is really, really good.
Hype will follow at the appropriate time, in this very corner of the cyberverse. For now, here's a very small peek at the liner notes for Pop Masters: pop tease
1.4.5.: Let's Groove
Speaking of the Flashcubes, 'Cubes guitarist Paul Armstrong brought his rough 'n' ready combo 1.4.5. to the 443 for my Gabba Gabba Hey! book release party. They delivered. PA always delivers.
My first experience booking a live rock 'n' roll show was March of 1980, when I was a senior in college. I arranged for the Most, a group fronted by singer Dian Zain with guitarist Paul Armstrong, bassist Dave DeVoe, and drummer Dick Hummer, to play at a club in my college town of Brockport. I was paid $40 cash for setting up the gig, the first time I ever made any money for anything connected to rock 'n' roll. It wasn't the last, even if it sometimes seems like it was.
By the end of that summer, both Zain and Hummer had left the group. Ducky Carlisle replaced Hummer, and that remaining trio became 1.4.5.
Hey! We're 1.4.5.
I'm Paul!
I'm Dave!
I'm Duck!
LET'S GROOVE!
"Let's Groove" was the first 1.4.5. recording to be released, included on a Syracuse bands compilation called Soundcheck, issued in conjunction with the mighty Dave Frisina and local radio station 95X in 1981. The track appeared that same year on the group's own Pink Invasion EP. Outside of the Ramones' Pleasant Dreams, I don't think there was any other new record in '81 I enjoyed more than Pink Invasion.
PA is the only one of the original 1.4.5. trio still in the group. Bassist Tommy O'Riley and drummer Judd Williams (both of whom had been in the Most before DeVoe and Hummer) join Mr. Armstrong and Perilous guitarist Bob Cat in the current 1.4.5., and they can still solicit punk-fueled groove with the best of 'em. Let's groove. Let's groove right now.
THE RAMONES: Chop Suey
"Chop Suey" is a very minor entry entry in the Ramones' discography. It originally appeared only on the soundtrack for the 1983 film Get Crazy. Get Crazy was directed by Allan Arkush, who had previously helmed the great Rock 'n' Roll High School. I was very disappointed in Get Crazy, but I haven't seen it since its brief theatrical run. If I ever get another chance to view it, I should see if the passage of time might prompt reevaluation of the flick's merits, or lack of same.
I still have my copy of the long-outta-print soundtrack LP. This version of "Chop Suey" has never been reissued; an alternate version, with members of the B-52's on backing vocals, appeared on a deluxe edition of the Pleasant Dreams album, but the movie version (with Flo and Eddie chirping in place of the B-52's) has been orphaned. That's the one we played this week.
When I interviewed the Ramones in '94, Johnny Ramone dismissed any rendition of "Chop Suey," asking me rhetorically, "The song sucked, right?" It's not one of my Top 10 Ramones tracks, nor even in my Top 40. But it's actually not bad. It's not bad at all. I'm glad we were able to exhume it to cap off our salute to THE RAMONES AT THE MOVIES.
ROCKAWAY BITCH: Judy Is A Punk
When I started batting around ideas for next week's Ramones special, I stumbled upon the all-female Ramones tribute band Rockaway Bitch. Now, who could resist a group with that name? Not me! And I just now realized that lead singer Patti Ramone also has an established dba as Patti Rothberg, who is herself no stranger to TIRnRR playlists.
Rockaway Bitch made their TIRnRR debut this week. We'll hear 'em again with a different Ramones cover next week.
You should maybe oughtta join us.
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