Thursday, April 23, 2026

THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! A weekly feature on THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO [updated list]

The pop noir genius of Todd Alcott

Time for another update on This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio's weekly Greatest Record Ever Made! feature.

With the publication of my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), some of the GREM! pieces linked below have been removed from this blog for the time being; I'm told it's because of something about free milk and a cow, but I don't understand dairy farming. They'll be back...someday. In the mean time, y'know, BUY THE BOOK!!

Here's the weekly GREM! story so far:

In 2022, we started doing The Greatest Record Ever Made! as a (nearly) weekly feature on This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio. Here's an updated list of the weekly GREM!s so far. More to come. Some of these appeared in my long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), some may or may not appear in the hypothetical GREM! (Volume 2), and one--the Ramones' "I Don't Want To Grow Up"--appears in my book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones.

Each update gives me another chance to share some of Todd Alcott's brilliant images of classic rock 'n' roll songs reimagined as pulp paperbacks. I need to devote a full post to Alcott's work one of these days (or nights). Meanwhile, you can visit his site and buy some stuff. 

And here's a reprise of what I previously wrote about TIRnRR's weekly GREM! series:

An infinite number of tracks can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns.

In 2022, with an eye toward mining the vast resource of material prepared for my ongoing concept The Greatest Record Ever Made!, we started doing a weekly GREM! feature on This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl.

Part of the motivation here was, frankly, an effort to cut a tiny little corner in writing my weekly 10 Songs column. See, laziness is the mother of invention. Deciding that one 10 Songs entry each week could be a link to a previously-written Greatest Record Ever Made! piece meant that I only hadda write about nine songs. FREEDOM!

But a weekly feature also enhances the show itself. Prior to this, it had been a very long time since we had any specific weekly feature on TIRnRR. There used to be a weekly Forgotten Original!, there was a weekly Mystery 45! (where Dana grabbed a single from his collection and played it without previewing it), there was a very brief flirtation with Unsafe At Any Speed! (playing a record back at something other than its intended rpm), and I think we even may have had a weekly GREM! feature at some point. Maybe not. Maybe.

But these were all many years ago. The tentative beginning of our current weekly GREM! feature was in February of 2022, when we played Dusty Springfield's "I Only Want To Be With You" on our February 6th show, and then followed with "Thank You, Girl" by the Beatles the next week. Then, in typical fashion, I completely forgot about the idea for a few weeks.

Pretty quick work, right?

GREM! resumed as a weekly thingie at the end of March in 2022, and continued thereafter. It skips a week every so often...but not very often. Anyway, here's a list of all of 'em so far. I think the only one we repeated was "That Thing You Do!" by teen sensations the Wonders. Please be aware that I am not under oath. 

But we played them all on the radio. It's our own ongoing contribution to the infinite.

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights, 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming at sparksyracuse.org and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. The weekend stops HERE!

THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! The Weekly TIRnRR Featured Songs [updated list]

SOUTHSIDE JOHNNY AND THE ASBURY JUKES: I Don't Want To Go Home

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar. You can also become a Boppin' booster on my Patreon page.

I compiled a various-artists tribute album called Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes, and it's pretty damned good; you can read about it here and order it here. My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get my previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books, OR an autographed copy here. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming at SPARK stream and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. You can read about our history here.

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Wednesday, April 22, 2026

THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! The Rolling Stones, "Can't You Hear Me Knocking"

This essay was shared privately with this blog's paid patrons in 2025. It is not part of my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), and this is its first public appearance. You can became a patron of this blog for a mere $3 a month.

An infinite number of tracks can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Today, this is THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE!


THE ROLLING STONES: Can't You Hear Me Knocking
Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards
Produced by Jimmy Miller
From the album Sticky Fingers, Rolling Stones Records/Atlantic Records, 1971

When opportunity knocks, we're advised we ought to answer it. So what do we do when it's desperation pounding on our window?

In 1971, it wouldn't seem like the Rolling Stones could have much cause for desperation. The group had survived the 1969 departure (and death) of its founder Brian Jones, weathered the violent tumult of Altamont, and outlasted the Beatles. The Stones severed ties with legendarily hard-nosed former manager Allen Klein (though not without relinquishing the rights to all of their pre-'71 catalog), and began a new association with Atlantic Records, Atlantic now distributing the band's own new label, Rolling Stones Records. As galling as it must have been to lose control of their work from 1963 debut single "Come On" through 1970 live album Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out!, and especially to lose it to a bastard like Klein, I betcha the Stones were glad to be rid of him.

So opportunity was knocking for the Rolling Stones. They answered with a new start, and with a new album sporting a deliberately edgy cover designed by Andy Warhol and Craig Braun, a salacious image equipped with a working zipper. The album was called Sticky Fingers.

Although de facto Brian Jones replacement guitarist Mick Taylor had played on a little bit of the Stones' 1969 album Let It Bleed and on the above-mentioned in-concert exorcism of Ya-Ya's, Sticky Fingers was his first full-length studio album as a Rolling Stone. Even before Jones split, the Rolling Stones had become Mick and Keith's group, with singer Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards calling the shots. Taylor, bassist Bill Wyman, and drummer Charlie Watts rocked their considerable talents, but refrained from rocking the boat. 

Still, it would be a grave mistake to give short shrift to Wyman, Watts, and Taylor. I don't think there's any question that Jagger and Richards were running the show, but nor should there be any doubt that without the sheer accomplishment and wizardry of its individual players, the Rolling Stones would not have been capable of claiming the title they'd recently seized as their own:

The World's Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Band.

They staked that claim on stage, on the road. One could say they'd tried to stake it on record as well, but now? Now, in this brave new world that would never know another new Beatles album? Opportunity. Knock, knock. The World's Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Band would unleash their power in the studio.

Sticky Fingers wasn't necessarily a departure from Let It Bleed, but it felt different, weightier, more...important? At the very least, it felt like a statement. Opening track "Brown Sugar" was an instant classic rock staple (its casual misogyny and implied racism somehow glossed over), and Side 2 opener "Bitch" is even better. "Sway" is self-descriptive. "You Gotta Move" and "I Got The Blues" call upon the Stones' Delta-drawn roots. "Dead Flowers" and especially "Wild Horses" establish a gorgeous, haunting ache that is respectively damning and redemptive. "Sister Morphine," which Mick and Keith co-wrote with an originally uncredited Marianne Faithfull, is appropriately harrowing (if not the equal of, say, the Flamin' Groovies' "Slow Death" or the Velvet Underground's "Heroin"). As coda, "Moonlight Mile" tweaks the blueprint of the soon-to-become-familiar AOR ballad. It ain't a revelation to say this, but even the obvious needs to be said out loud every once in a while: Sticky Fingers is one of the all-time finest rock 'n' roll albums.

"Can't You Hear Me Knocking" is the next to last track on Side 1, a seven-minute-and-fifteen second mic drop, a mind-blowing excursion into the sovereign realm of the goddamned Rolling Stones acting with impunity as the world's greatest rock 'n' roll band. It's a full-body immersion in the concept, riff-driven, a desperate knock with no hope of an answer from that damned elusive satisfaction. Jagger wails, feigning a potential loss of control without ever once conceding the possibility of that silly notion. The band just freaking cooks. I mean, they cook, clean, and put the cat out at night, and they did it all in one take. Duly deputized Rolling Stones Billy Preston (organ), Rocky Dijon (congas), Jimmy Miller (percussion), and saxophonist extraordinaire Bobby Keyes execute dominion by divine right, and Keyes in particular provides honkin' skronk whammin' that paradoxically helps define what is essentially a guitar workout. Impossible. But true! 

Of course the guys with legit Rolling Stones ID badges demonstrate the divinity of their own rights. With Wyman and Watts as the core of the rhythm section, every buoyant boom and prodding tap is tastefully but emphatically in its proper propellin' place. Bill Wyman is resolutely and unfailingly Bill Wyman, the sine qua non of solid groove. Charlie Watts is Charlie motherlovin' Watts. 'Nuff said. 

And if a guitar battle breaks out, you'd better thank the deities that Richards and Taylor are on your side. Bobby Keyes's sublime sax work embellishes and enhances the track; it's still essentially a guitar workout. The song starts with Keef's introductory guitar licks metamorphosing into that killer riff, continues with Keith and Mick trading their prowess, and concludes with Mick Taylor taking over for an extended, improvised solo that proves he was born to be a Rolling Stone. Maybe Mick Taylor was the one answering all that knocking, and answering the summons with ample authority to spare.

When opportunity knocks, we're supposed to answer it. When desperation knocks, we are often the ones doing all that frantic pounding. A decade passed between the release of Sticky Fingers in 1971 and my first belated awareness of "Can't You Hear Me Knocking" in the early '80s. I've described my own not-quite-desperate, not-quite-thriving early '80s situation on previous occasions: A recent college graduate, working at McDonald's, living with my girlfriend in our college town of Brockport, more or less making ends meet but lacking any real sense of direction. My stated goal was to become a writer, but I wasn't writing much, if at all. I was doing a fair amount of drinking. More than anything else, I was failing. My relationship with the girlfriend suffered, and was at potential risk of failing as well. Opportunity wasn't exactly knocking. I'm not sure I was exactly knocking on the right doors either.

Perhaps it's a coincidence that this was also the period in my life when I paid the most attention to the Rolling Stones. I snapped up used copies of most of the Mick Taylor-era LPs. Exile On Main Street. Goat's Head Soup. It's Only Rock 'n' Roll. Sticky Fingers. I never got around to owning 1976's Black And Blue, picking up the post-Taylor Ronnie Wood years with my girlfriend's copy of Some Girls. The sound of the Stones could be heard spinning in our little apartment with a frequency to rival the Ramones, the Jam, and the Undertones. My friend Brian hipped me to "Can't You Hear Me Knocking," and I took that opportunity to dive right in. In my short-attention world of two- and three-minute pop numbers, "Can't You Hear Me Knocking" was my most-played seven-minute song.

Our personal soundtracks can inspire, motivate, distract, and/or uplift in the undetermined manner the grooves allow. They can also be incidental to whatever the hell we do with our lives. I remained my girlfriend Brenda's designated boyfriend as we ditched the disappointments of life in our college town and relocated to Buffalo. We failed there, too. We kept knocking anyway, stayed together, got married, moved to Syracuse, took the opportunity to build a life and a family. Life remains under construction, just like all of the roads in Syracuse. Men and women at work. You can hear us knocking, right?

You can certainly hear when the Rolling Stones come a-knockin', a desperate embrace of opportunity realized, a chance seized, a promise realized. The world's greatest rock 'n' roll band. Can't knock 'em if it's true.

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar. You can also become a Boppin' booster on my Patreon page.

I compiled a various-artists tribute album called Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes, and it's pretty damned good; you can read about it here and order it here. My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get my previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books, OR an autographed copy here. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming at SPARK stream and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. You can read about our history here.

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Tuesday, April 21, 2026

COMIC BOOK COVER GALLERY: Real-life celebrities appearing as guests (or stars!) in comic books acquired in the '60s, '70s, and '80s

Celebrities! Famous people have been making appearances in comic books for nearly as long as there have been comic books. The appearances have ranged from walk-on roles by US presidents and Axis dictators to star turns by actors like Alan Ladd and Hopalong Cassidy, each of whom was among the many film idols to moonlight as the leads in their own licensed comics series. When I started amassing comics in the 1960s, DC Comics was still putting out comics starring Bob Hope and Jerry Lewis, and while I never owned an issue of The Adventures Of Bob Hope I was a fan of the irrepressible hoyven glavin of The Adventures Of Jerry Lewis. Speaking as someone who always wanted to see a Brave And Bold team-up of Batman and Babe Ruth, I'd say we're due for a Comic Book Cover Gallery of real-life famous (and infamous) figures appearing in comic books. 

Of course, my favorite examples of celebrity guest appearances in comic books fall outside the timeline:

While we're including a few licensed series, the main focus this week is on famous people guest-starring on other comic-book superstars' covers. The 1940s Daredevil Battles Hitler cover image represents a '70s reprint. As always, we'll be sticking exclusively to the '60s-'80s era of acquisition I've established for these galleries. Today's selection includes books I bought new, back issues I acquired after the fact (but within the timeline), and B-stock contraband originally purchased without their covers. These aren't actual photos of comics in my collection; most images are courtesy of the Grand Comics Database, which is grand indeed. But I did have each and every one of 'em at some point in time.

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar. You can also become a Boppin' booster on my Patreon page.

I compiled a various-artists tribute album called Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes, and it's pretty damned good; you can read about it here and order it here. My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get my previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books, OR an autographed copy here. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming at SPARK stream and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. You can read about our history here.

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Sunday, April 19, 2026

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1333

The commentary accompanying last week's posted playlist was reprised from the commentary accompanying a 2022 playlist, because the sentiments expressed then matched what I wanted to express in the present day. And while I don't want to make a habit of re-running commentaries, this bit from a different 2022 playlist stands as an explanation of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio's guiding principles, and that explanation is worthy of repeat. I'll try to have something new to say next week. Unless, y'know, another rerun catches my fancy.

What is this radio show's format?

We circle back to that question every now and again. We do have a format, even if that format's not always discernible to folks looking at it from the outside. We oh-so-cleverly call the format This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio. Catchy! We use "power pop" as our hype, but it's really not a power pop format. It's certainly a rockin' pop format, generally favoring songs that are shorter in length and punchier in approach, embracing power pop and its periphery. We ain't exactly progressive or jazz, though we have played both. 

We hold old records and new records in equal regard. Any record you ain't heard is a new record. Any record you already know and love is, by definition, something you know and love. Why not play 'em all?

Establishing a very broad parameter, we play hit singles, though we include hit singles that aren't always all that popular (or, in some cases, known at all) in the real world. They sound like hits to us, so we play them. That's the criteria. Power pop, soul, punk, country, bubblegum, folk, R & B, girl groups, ska, Top 40, left-of-the-dial, and--but of course--the rock 'n' roll the show's name promises you. It's all pop music anyway. 

There are things don't fit the format; we don't play those things...except if we feel like it, in which case they suddenly do fit the format, at least for one week. We're not exactly under oath here. But Dana and I understand what suits the TIRnRR concept, and we know it intuitively. You're not going to hear many lengthier tracks. You're not going to hear stuff lacking in pizazz. Forget that noise. We have a show to do. SHOW business! Anybody can play records. It's more fun for everyone if we put on a show.

That's our format. And here's a show. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! It's time to turn it up a notch, because we have a show to do. This is what rock 'n' roll radio sounded like on a Sunday night in Syracuse this week.

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming at SPARK stream, and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. 

You can read all about this show's long and weird history here: Boppin' The Whole Friggin' Planet (The History Of THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO). You can follow Carl's daily blog at Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do).

TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATIONS are always welcome.

Carl's latest book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get Carl's previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.

The many fine This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio compilation albums are still available, each full of that rockin' pop sound you crave. A portion of all sales benefit our perpetually cash-strapped community radio project:

Volume 1: download
Volume 2: CD or download
Volume 3: download
Volume 4: CD or download
Waterloo Sunset--Benefit For This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio:  CD or download
Volume 5: CD or download

TIRnRR # 1333: 4/19/2026
TIRnRR FRESH SPINS! Tracks we think we ain’t played before are listed in bold

THE SUNCHARMS: Winter Sun (Sunday, Darkening Sky)
THE BANGLES: Anna Lee (Sweetheart Of The Sun) (Down Kiddie, Sweetheart Of The Sun)
GENERAL JOHNSON AND JOEY RAMONE: Rockaway Beach (On The Beach) (Forward, VA: Godchildren Of Soul: Anyone Can Play)
THE BEVIS FROND: A Mess Of Stress (Fire, Horrorful Heights)
RITCHIE VALENS: La Bamba (Del-Fi, The Best Of Ritchie Valens)
THE GLADIOLAS: Little Darlin' (Acrobat, MAURICE WILLIAMS WITH THE GLADIOLAS & THE ZODIACS: The Complete Releases 1956-62)
--
VICKI PETERSON AND JOHN COWSILL: Downtown (Label 51, Long After The Fire)
MATTHEW SWEET AND SUSANNA HOFFS: Care Of Cell # 44 (Shout Factory, Under The Covers, Vol. 1)
SPECTRAFLAME: The Golden Years (n/a, Spectraflame)
MATTHEW SWEET: Girlfriend (Zoo Entertainment, Girlfriend)
SLYBOOTS: If We Could Let Go (single)
THE GREG KIHN BAND: All The Right Reasons (Castle, VA: Home Of The Hits/The Beserkley Records Story)
--
MARC VALENTINE: The Other Side (Wicked Cool, Uncommon Side Effects)
THE MUFFS: By My Side (Omnivore, Really Really Happy)
GENERATION X: Ready Steady Go (Chrysalis, Perfect Hits 1975-1981)
SHONEN KNIFE: Boys (Virgin, The Birds And The B-Sides)
THE LEGAL MATTERS: Stuck With Me (Big Stir, Lost At Sea)
THE YARDBIRDS: He's Always There (Repertoire, Over Under Sideways Down/Roger The Engineer)
--
PALMYRA DELRAN AND THE DOPPEL GANG: Hold Tight (Wicked Cool, single)
THE FALL: No Bulbs 3 (Beggars Banquet, 50,000 Fall Fans Can't Be Wrong)
THE CYNZ: You Wreck Me (Jem, Confess)
BLONDIE: One Way Or Another (Chrysalis, The Platinum Collection)
PRINCE: Delirious (Warner Brothers, The Hits/The B-Sides)
CLOCKWORK FLOWERS: Going Going Gone (n/a, Clockwork Flowers)
--
DAVID BROOKINGS AND THE AVERAGE LOOKINGS: Coldwater Canyon (Byar, Exposure)
TEENAGE FANCLUB AND JAD FAIR: My Life Is Starting Over Again (Gammon, VA: The Late Great Daniel Johnston: Discovered Covered)
THE ANIMALS: It's My Life (Abkco, Retrospective)
TAMMY WYNETTE: Stand By Your Man (Time-Life, VA: Classic Country 1965-1969)
THE CHOCOLATE WATCHBAND: Let's Talk About Girls (Rhino, VA: Nuggets)
--
THE RAMONES: I Don't Want To Grow Up (Radioactive, ¡Adios Amigos!)
THE PRETENDERS: Money Talk (Rhino, Pirate Radio 1979-2005)
THE SHIRTS: Tell Me Your Plans (Think Like A Key Music, Live At Paradise 1979)
THE ENGLISH BEAT: What's Your Best Thing? (Shout Factory, Special Beat Service)
THE ISLEY BROTHERS: It's Your Thing (Epic, The Essential Isley Brothers)
JIMMY JAMES AND THE VAGABONDS: Ain't No Big Thing (Edsel, VA: British Mod Sounds Of The 1960s)
--
The Greatest Record Ever Made!
THE ROLLING STONES: Can't You Hear Me Knocking (Rolling Stones, Sticky Fingers)
THE PLIMSOULS: Everyday Things (Rhino, The Plimsouls...Plus)
DAR WILLIAMS: Better Things (Razor & Tie, End Of The Summer)
SERGIO CECCANTI: Leave The Past, Don't Look Behind (Kool Kat Musik, Leave The Past, Don't Look Behind)
THE BENT BACKED TULIPS: Sweet Young Thing (eggBERT, Looking Through...)
--
THE COWSILLS: Couldn't It Be Love (Omnivore, The "Cocaine Drain" Album)
SYL SYLVAIN AND THE TEARDROPS: It's Love (Wounded Bird, Syl Sylvain & the Teardrops)
THE EXPLODING HEARTS: Thorns In Roses (Dirtnap, Guitar Romantic)
DEAN LANDEW: Summertime Friday Night (single)
THE PEPPERMINT KICKS: Shaking Underground (Rum Bar, single)
THE GROOVIE GHOULIES: Fun In The Dark (Lookout!, Fun In The Dark)
THE SHIRTS: Time (Has Seen Me Lonely) (Capitol, Inner Sleeve)
KRIS JENSEN: I Can't Get Nowhere With You (Craft, VA: The Land Of Sensations & Delights)
--
THE GREENBERRY WOODS: Whenever You Want Me Too (Big Stir, It's All Good, Sugar...)
DEVIL LOVE: Tell Me You Love Me (The Sound Cove, single)
COCKEYED GHOST: I Hate Rock 'n' Roll (Big Deal, The Scapegoat Factory)
ARTHUR CONLEY: Sweet Soul Music (Rhino, Sweet Soul Music)
ALEX HARVEY: Agent OO Soul (Universal, Shout: The Essential Alex Harvey)
THE HALF/CUBES FEATURING GLENN BURTNICK: Bend Me, Shape Me (Jem, single)
THE BEATLES: Taxman (Apple, Revolver)
--
THE MONKEES: The Door Into Summer (Rhino, The Mike & Micky Show Live)
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