Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do)

My thoughts on pop music and pop culture, plus the weekly playlists from THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO with Dana and Carl (Sunday nights 9 to Midnight Eastern, SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM in Syracuse, sparksyracuse.org). You can support this blog on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/user?u=2449453 Twitter @CafarelliCarl All editorial content on this blog Copyright Carl Cafarelli (except where noted). All images copyright the respective owners TIP JAR at https://www.paypal.me/CarlCafarelli

Saturday, January 23, 2021

POP-A-LOOZA: The Pulps

Each week, the pop culture website Pop-A-Looza shares some posts from my vast 'n' captivating Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do) archives. The latest shared post is a look back at how I discovered pulp magazines.

This is sort of a sequel to a previous piece called "Superpulp Paperbacks," which reminisced about my embrace of pulp and superhero paperback novels when I was a teen in the '70s. That appeared at Pop-A-Looza one week ago today (as discussed here). That 1/16/2021 post included links to more pulp memories of The Shadow and Doc Savage, and links to some of my attempts to write some pulp of my own.

It occurs to me that I should have included links to my tentative attempt to write The Green Hornet. Although the Hornet and his enforcer Kato never appeared in pulps, their 1930s and '40s radio exploits were certainly at least an appropriate tangent. I come to the characters via the 1966-67 TV series (as explained here), and my unfinished rock 'n' roll Green Hornet story "The Beat And The Sting" is set in the continuity of the TV show. I got as far as writing a teaser blurb and the first few pages of a comic book script before setting the project aside.

(I also should have included one other completed [but unsold] work: my music industry short story "Home Of The Hits.")

We have a few more pulp- and paperback-related pieces planned to run over at Pop-A-Looza in the very near future. And my discovery of pulp magazines serves as the subject for the latest Boppin' Pop-A-Looza.

TIP THE BLOGGER: CC's Tip Jar!

You can support this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon: Fund me, baby!

Hey! If you buy from Amazon, consider making your purchases through links at Pop-A-Looza. A portion of your purchase there will go to support Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do). Thinking Amazon? Think Pop-A-Looza.

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, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/ You can read about our history here.

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

Carl's writin' a book! The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1)will contain 165 essays about 165 tracks, each one of 'em THE greatest record ever made. An infinite number of records can each be the greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Updated initial information can be seen here: THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! (Volume 1). My weekly Greatest Record Ever Made! video rants can be seen in my GREM! YouTube playlist. And I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl.

Friday, January 22, 2021

MY WEEKLY VIDEO BLOG: THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! # 14: Crazy Elephant, "Gimme Gimme Good Lovin'"

An infinite number of songs can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. I like that idea so much I'm writing a book about it. And I'm promoting that book with a weekly video series, discussing each of the book's chosen tracks one by one.

This week's GREM! video rant discusses the prevailing splendor of "Gimme Gimme Good Lovin'," a 1969 hit by a studio group called Crazy Elephant. The group did not exist, but they made a hit record anyway. You know the song; don't even try to tell me you don't know the song. But here it is again, and here's what I have to say about it:

If you dig whatever the hell it is I'm doing in these weekly videos, please subscribe to my YouTube channel. NEXT WEEK: time to get wicked, as the Wicked Wilson Pickett sings "In The Midnight Hour."

THIS WEEK'S VIDEO: Crazy Elephant, "Gimme Gimme Good Lovin'"

GREM! # 13: Neil Diamond, "Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show"

GREM! # 12: Little Richard, "The Girl Can't Help It"

GREM! # 11: Eytan Mirsky, "This Year's Gonna Be Our Year"

GREM! # 10: The Monkees, "Riu Chiu"

GREM! # 9: Patti Smith, "Gloria"

GREM! # 8: Big Mama Thornton, "Hound Dog"

GREM! # 7: Elvis Presley, "Heartbreak Hotel"

GREM! # 6: The Sex Pistols,"God Save The Queen"

GREM! # 5: Dusty Springfield,"I Only Want To Be With You"

GREM! # 4: Chuck Berry, "Promised Land"

GREM! # 3: Baron Daemon and the Vampires, "The TransylvaniaTwist"

GREM! # 2: Badfinger, "Baby Blue"

GREM! # 1: The Ramones, "Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?"

TIP THE BLOGGER: CC's Tip Jar!

You can support this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon: Fund me, baby!

Thursday, January 21, 2021

DEATH RACE 2020 (in 2021's rear-view mirror)

Last spring, I began writing a pissed-off rant about the oral frothings of people eager to deny the grave sobriety of a deadly and raging virus. I got as far as an opening paragraph:

"Chanting feverishly of their rights, their breathless, all-caps FREEDOM!, a vocal minority of Americans are screaming themselves hoarse, demanding that the U S of friggin' A! must immediately re-open for business. Pandemic be damned. Screw public safety! The privileged few need haircuts and manicures. The economy must not suffer. Let other people suffer instead!"

And I stopped there. I was too angry to continue.

But now, we fast-forward. On Wednesday, I watched with joy and gratitude as my TV displayed images of President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris taking their oaths of office. I felt some of the anger recede. I felt a positive reassurance, a comforting sense of possibility.

I felt hope.

The anger is still there, stoked by more than four years of red-hatted misbehavior, culminating in a treasonous attack on our nation's capitol just two weeks ago. But the hope is beginning to reign in the anger. The idea of my country once again having a competent and functioning adult as its leader is reassuring and comforting. President Biden exudes humility and decency, qualities that have been lacking in the White House since January 20th of 2017.

As I watched President Biden's inaugural address, as I heard Lady Gaga and Jennifer Lopez and Garth Brooks lift us with song, and as I joined my fellow Americans in delighted, transcendent fascination in every syllable uttered by Amanda Gorman, I knew: we're gonna be okay. At long last, we're gonna be okay.

I'm still going to get mad sometimes. And I know that it will take more than the flip of a switch to reset all that has gone wrong over these miserable last four years. Things may still get worse before they get better. But they will get better. We have the will.

And we have the leadership.

Wednesday, January 20, 2021

POP-A-LOOZA: THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! David Bowie, "Life On Mars?"

Genius fake paperback image by Todd Alcott

Each week, the pop culture website Pop-A-Looza shares some posts from my vast 'n' captivating Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do) archives. The latest shared post is another chapter from my eventual book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), this time celebrating David Bowie's "Life On Mars?".

An infinite number of songs can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Long before this Bowie piece was intended as a chapter in GREM!--indeed, long before I had written any chapters in that series, and long before I decided to turn the series into a book--it began as commentary written to accompany the emailed playlist for the January 17th, 2016 episode of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl. Bowie's death the previous week hit me harder than I would have deemed plausible beforehand. Timing, I guess. My daughter Meghan had recently begun a college semester in London, and it would be the longest I would go without being able to see her. I felt untethered, emotional. I needed to do something.

I needed to write.

I had been a hobbyist freelance writer for about 22 years, 1984-2006, but I lost interest and ceased pursuing it. I never quite stopped writing, but I wasn't committed to anything, and largely refrained from trying. On 1/18/2016, I looked at what I'd just written, this open letter to a departed rock star, and decided it needed an audience beyond the folks who read the TIRnRR playlists. That need resulted in the rash decision to begin a daily blog, initially called CC Says, changed within a few days to Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do). My open letter to David Bowie inaugurated this blog on January 18th of 2016, five years ago this week. I haven't missed a day since. This is Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do) # 1936.

Reaction prompts action. Spurred by whatever it was that spurred me, I've written more over the last five years than I wrote in any five-year period prior to this. I even sold some fiction, for the first time ever. I have goals, some of which may elude my grasp. But I'm active and engaged.

And I'm writing a book.

For the Bowie chapter in The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), I took my open letter to David Bowie and added a discussion of the circumstances that made me write it. It appears near the end of the book, its sentiment and personal emotion connected informally to chapters about The Grateful Dead, Stevie Wonder, and Eytan Mirsky, among others. It's the culmination of a process that began when I saw that planet Earth was blue...and there was something I could do.

That process continues. I invite you to read about its origin. A Greatest Record Ever Made! tribute to David Bowie and "Life On Mars?" is the latest Boppin' Pop-A-Looza.

TIP THE BLOGGER: CC's Tip Jar!

You can support this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon: Fund me, baby!

Tuesday, January 19, 2021

10 SONGS: 1/19/2021

10 Songs is a weekly list of ten songs that happen to be on my mind at the moment. Given my intention to usually write these on Mondays, the lists are often dominated by songs played on the previous 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 is drawn exclusively from the playlist for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1060.

THE CATHOLIC GIRLS: Someone New

I saw the video for The Catholic Girls' early '80s single "Boys Can Cry" on MTV, probably just once; I didn't have cable at the time, and just happened to catch it when I was staying at my parents' house for a visit. I liked the song, but it was my only exposure to the group until many years later.

Some time in (I think) the '90s, I picked up a used copy of Catholic Girls, the LP that gave the world "Boys Can Cry," and discovered that I liked its lead-off track "Someone New" even more than I liked "Boys Can Cry." I don't remember if I got the album in time to play a track on any of the pre-This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio Dana & Carl radio shows 1992-95 or so. But The Catholic Girls certainly became a presence on TIRnRR. I began corresponding with the group's guitarist Gail Petersen around 1999 (when that debut album was reissued on CD), and we ran with it, and with their sublime 21st century recordings, too. They even let us use "Should Have Been Mine" (from their 2005 album Meet The Catholic Girls) on our 2013 compilation This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 3. Heaven, here we come!

And now, The Catholic Girls have a new two-CD archival set, Rock N' Roll School For Girls, which tethers together one disc of demos and alternate takes with a disc of The Best Of The Catholic Girls. Bless us. We played the demo version of "Someone New" on this week's show.

THE COASTERS: Yakety Yak

Is "Yakety Yak" by The Coasters the single best-ever song about the generation gap? Yes. Unequivocally. You can argue on behalf of The Who's "My Generation," but that track falls short of The Coasters' wiseass pinnacle. Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues" is a very close second, but even You can't use the car 'cause you didn't work a lick can't quite match Tell your hoodlum friends outside you ain't got time to take no ride. "Yakety Yak." Don't talk back.

(And, in a minor bit of pop culture serendipity, this week's playlist was settled and the show recorded prior to the Friday premiere of the new Marvel Comics TV show WandaVision on Disney+. The first episode of WandaVision makes specific and effective use of "Yakety Yak," and if we were doing live shows instead of prerecorded remote shows, the song's appearance on WandaVision would have probably influenced me to include it on our show, too. Happy coincidence.)

THE FLASHCUBES: No Promise

In January of 1978--43 years ago this month--The Flashcubes for the first time. Guitarists Paul Armstrong and Arty Lenin, bassist Gary Frenay, and drummer Tommy Allen created a Wall Of Noise that captured my attention at first pummel. They've been one of my all-time favorite groups ever since. My eventual book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) includes a chapter about The Flashcubes' most extraordinary shoulda-been-a-hit gem, "No Promise:"

The Flashcubes. Syracuse's own power pop powerhouse. I saw my first Flashcubes show in January of 1978. That night ranks with seeing The Beatles in A Hard Day's Night at the drive-in in 1964 and the first time I heard The Ramones' "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker" in 1977 to form my Holy Trinity of rock 'n' roll epiphanies.

All politics is local. The same could be said of musical combos, the local rock group down the street that's trying hard to learn their song. In the garages, in the clubs, in practice spaces, school dances, rec hall hops, coffeehouses, open fields, and cellars full of noise, plugged in or unplugged, sparks ignite when someone says Let's put on a show! Aping Chuck Berry or Chuck D, Joan Jett or Joni Mitchell, The Rolling Stones or The Banana Splits, mighty things can happen when a musician near you starts to play.

In Zion, Illinois. In Minneapolis. Fort Worth. Nashville. Arlington. Bethesda, Maryland. Springfield, Missouri. Toronto. Liverpool. Osaka. Don't forget the Motor City. The beat goes on, and renews itself everywhere. Sweat and adrenaline, soft drinks or beer, virtue and vice, the love of a sound, an urge to participate. Band, meet audience. Audience, meet the band.

A lot of the great local acts across the decades, across the country, and across the globe should have become household names. Most remained obscure. In the eyes of their fans, though, they were stars. Stars.

Just like The Flashcubes are stars to me...

...The Beatles, The Beach Boys, and The Rolling Stones channeled Chuck Berry to build something new. The Ramones took inspiration from The Beach Boys to make glue-sniffing into potential AM radio fare. Gary Frenay took the inspiration of Raspberries' Best--the horny singles ("Go All The Way," "I Wanna Be With You," "Tonight," and "Ecstasy") written by The Raspberries' Eric Carmen--and wrote "No Promise."

How do you see me?

Do you trust what you see?

Don't you know it's not easy

Being what I'm trying to be?

Guess I'm just a romantic

I only wanna fall in love

But you do something to me that I never thought I'd feel

And it makes it harder to say

No promise

No guarantee

No promise, baby

You'll never get one from me

Pure pop, earnest in its goals and earthy in its desires, a bruised heart stapled to a torn sleeve. The guitars from Armstrong and Lenin cut, slice, and soar above love and lust, Tommy Allen's propulsive drumming could drive a freakin' rocket to the moon, Frenay's deep bass lines and sweet vocals agree to disagree on their differences, and everyone rocks the house with the seismic authority of the San Andreas Fault. The shimmering, incandescent result embodies the Bomp! magazine power pop ideal: power pop means pop with power, not some whimpering simp in a Beatles haircut...

Yeah. I do like The Flashcubes.

NEIL HEFTI: The Batman Theme

The Batman TV series debuted 55 years ago this month, and six-year-old me had his life changed by that colorful explosion of POP and POW! in short order. Although the CD collection The Music Of DC Comics: Volume 2 credits this version of "The Batman Theme" to the song's author Neil Hefti (who did record it), it is actually the TV version, performed by Nelson Riddle and his orchestra. This is the version I consider definitive, and it's the one discussed in my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1):

I grew up in a time when TV theme songs routinely entered the public consciousness. The catchy ditties that opened shows like Gilligan's Island, F Troop, The Beverly Hillbillies, The Patty Duke Show, and Car 54, Where Are You? weren't hit records in the usual sense, but within our shared pop culture they were nonetheless as big as any 45 spinning on the radio.

Many theme songs were sufficiently hook-laden to prompt release as a single, sometimes by the original artist and sometimes in cover versions, and sometimes to chart success. The Cowsills' swell cover of "Love American Style" wasn't a hit, but it should have been, and it remains a staple of their live act. The Ventures, Perry Como, Henry Mancini, and Johnny Rivers all made the Top 40 with their respective renditions of themes from Hawaii Five-0, Here Come The Brides, Peter Gunn, and Secret Agent Man. Television tunes continued to maintain a radio presence throughout the '70s and '80s. In June of 1995, The Rembrandts' "I'll Be There For You," the theme from the NBC sitcom Friends, was the # 1 song on radio the week my daughter was born. I thought that was appropriate, and pretty cool.

The campy 1966 Batman TV series had a seismic effect on me when I was six. No other television program could ever equal Batman's lasting impact on impressionable li'l me, creating a life-long interest in comic books and superheroes in general, and in the Caped Crusader specifically. I didn't understand that the show kinda poked fun at the character, because actor Adam West played the title role straight, and to perfection. As West said decades later in a guest appearance on The Big Bang Theory: "I never had to say 'I'M BATMAN!' When I showed up, people knew who the hell I was...."

One evening in 2016, when I was chatting with actor/comic/voice artist/singer/swell person Tom Kenny, he told me about the time he introduced Neil Hefti to the great voice actor Gary Owens, which is a tough story to top in casual conversation. Best I could manage was, "I once got a phone call from Joey Ramone!" It's the only item on my standing-next-to-greatness resumé, so Tom politely let me have the imaginary win. Like I said: swell person.

THE KINKS: All Day And All Of The Night

It's important to note the significance of "All Day And All Of The Night" in the story of how I became a fan of The Kinks. "Lola" was the first Kinks song I ever knew. My sister's copy of The Live Kinks was the first Kinks album I ever saw. But "All Day And All Of The Night" was the first Kinks track I ever owned, contained on the 2-LP compilation History Of British Rock Vol. 2 I received as a Christmas present in 1976, less than a month prior to my 17th birthday. Essential. And loud! The track was also on my first Kinks LP, Kinks-Size, purchased early in '77. I've accumulated a few more Kinks tracks since then.

PAUL McCARTNEY: Another Day

A previous post about my all-time top 25 favorite post-Beatles Paul McCartney songs included "Another Day" in its roll of honor:

When your first band is the greatest rock 'n' roll group of all time...man, how do you follow that? Paul McCartney was about 28 years old when The Beatles rolled up their Long And Winding Road and filed it away. What now? 28 is an awfully early age to start your twilight years, to just do nothing, no matter how much money you've made. So McCartney re-invented himself. It wasn't a radical re-invention; he was still the Cute One who'd sung "Blackbird" and "Yesterday," the pop balladeer with a wink and a smile. But he was also the keen songwriter who'd chronicled a disintegrating love affair with such devastating precision in "For No One" on Revolver. The 1971 non-LP single "Another Day" is a spiritual descendant of "For No One," similarly telling a sad, so sad story of a lonely life yearning for meaning and connection.

MELANIE AND THE EDWIN HAWKINS SINGERS: Lay Down (Candles In The Rain)

Why am I suddenly obsessed with this song? Part of the answer is its newly-minted availability to me: it was on a CD-R I received in December from Radio Deer Camp host Rich Firestone, and a spin of that rekindled my interest in a song I always loved. It also reminded me that I had a little crush on Melanie when I was a pre-teen, and it immersed me in a belated realization of how friggin' transcendent The Edwin Hawkins Singers are as they back up Ms. Safka on a simply incredible, transcendent recording. There's a great YouTube clip of them performing the song together on a TV show in The Netherlands, I will not deny my obsession, and the track is gonna be in my GREM! book. Lay down already.

POP CO-OP: You Don't Love Me Anymore

We love Pop Co-Op, as evidenced by how much airplay we eagerly gave to their two albums (so far), 2017's Four State Solution and 2020's Factory Settings. I have a lot of Pop Co-Op fave raves, but it occurs to me that "You Don't Love Me Anymore" is my fave among faves. The lads gave us use of the track for 2017's This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4, and there's something about it that resonates. I know I'm generally an uptempo rockin' pop guy, but I'm also a sucker for songs of regret, songs that effectively convey the ache of love slipping away, chances slipping away. The Factory Settings track "Persistence Of Memory" has that ache in spades, and so does "You Don't Love Me Anymore." It's like Chad and Jeremy playing with The Smithereens, and--as another versatile pop group noted elsewhere--you know that can't be bad.

KID GULLIVER: Forget About Him

Wednesday at Noon Eastern. At long last.

STEVIE WONDER: Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours

That's this Wednesday at Noon. Time to make America good again.

TIP THE BLOGGER: CC's Tip Jar!

You can support this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon: Fund me, baby!

Hey! If you buy from Amazon, consider making your purchases through links at Pop-A-Looza. A portion of your purchase there will go to support Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do). Thinking Amazon? Think Pop-A-Looza.

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, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/ You can read about our history here.

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

Carl's writin' a book! The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1)will contain 165 essays about 165 tracks, each one of 'em THE greatest record ever made. An infinite number of records can each be the greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Updated initial information can be seen here: THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! (Volume 1). My weekly Greatest Record Ever Made! video rants can be seen in my GREM! YouTube playlist. And I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl.

Monday, January 18, 2021

Five years

Five years ago today: Bowie had died the previous week, and my daughter was an ocean away, doing a semester in England. As my 56th birthday passed, I didn’t know what to do with my emotions. So I started a daily blog. Of course. Five years later, I haven’t missed a day yet. This was my first post.

https://carlcafarelli.blogspot.com/2016/01/david-bowie.html?m=0

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1060

This is my asterisk year. Like Roger Maris, except without the athletic skill.

What do I hope to accomplish this year? Well, there's an asterisk next to it, so I guess we'll just have to see what happens. But all years offer possibilities, and all years offer pitfalls. No one expected last year to be what it turned out to be. I won't use my asterisk as an excuse. I have stuff to write. I have records to play. Books to read, shows to see, even if the latter may be from remote locations for now. I have paths to stroll with my wife. I'll fall short of some goals. There will be the familiar threat of imminent goodbyes, the certainty of occasional heartbreak. There will, I hope, be the comfort of camaraderie, of friendship, family. Love. Maybe some snacks, too. We can't let asterisks get in our way.

I don't want to grow up. So I won't. This year's gonna be our year. Hey, asterisk! Wanna dance? This can be your year, too. Turn it up, man. We're in this together. I won't blame you if you don't blame me.

And this is what rock 'n' roll radio sounded like on a Sunday night in Syracuse this week. Looking good there, asterisk. Looking good.

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, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/ 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). TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATIONS are always welcome.

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

PS: SEND MONEY!!!! We need tech upgrades like Elvis needs boats. Spark Syracuse is supported by listeners like you. Tax-deductible donations are welcome at
http://sparksyracuse.org/support/

You can follow Carl's daily blog Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do) at
https://carlcafarelli.blogspot.com/

Hey, Carl's writin' a book! The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) will contain 165 essays about 165 songs, each one of 'em THE greatest record ever made. An infinite number of songs can each be the greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Updated initial information can be seen here, and you can see my weekly GREM! video rants in my Greatest Record Ever Made! YouTube playlist.

TIRnRR # 1060: 1/17/2021

TIRnRR FRESH SPINS! Track we think we ain't played before are listed in bold

THE RAMONES: Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio? (Rhino, End Of The Century)

THE RAMONES: I Don't Want To Grow Up (Rhino, Weird Tales Of The Ramones)

THE ROMANTICS: What I Like About You (Nemperor, The Romantics)

POP CO-OP: You Don't Love Me Anymore (Kool Kat Musik, VA: This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4)

HOLLY GOLIGHTLY: I Can't Be Trusted (Damaged Goods, Singles Round-Up)

THE VELVELETTES: He Was Really Sayin' Somethin' (Motown, The Very Best Of The Velvelettes)

AMY RIGBY: Stop Showing Up In My Dreams (Koch, The Sugar Tree)

THE GOLD NEEDLES: What's Tomorrow Ever Done For You? (Jem, What's Tomorrow Ever Done For You?)

FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE: Survival Car (Atlantic, Fountains Of Wayne)

THE MONKEES: Whatever's Right (Rhino, Good Times!)

THE VELVET UNDERGROUND: Sunday Morning (Polydor, Peel Slowly And See)

THE RUNAWAYS: Rock N Roll (Hip-O Select, The Mercury Albums Anthology)

THE NAZZ: Forget All About It (Rhino, Nazz Nazz)

PHIL HENDRIKS: Even The Smart Ones Are Dumb (philhendriks.hearnow.com, Radio Calling)

THE PRIMITIVES: Way Behind Me (RCA, Lovely)

DAVE CARUSO: A Piece Of The Action (davecaruso.bandcamp.com, Radiophonic Supersonic)

GARY NUMAN & TUBEWAY ARMY: Are 'Friends' Electric? (Atco, Replicas)

THE ROYAL COURT OF CHINA: It's All Changed (A & M, The Royal Court Of China)

THE TEXTONES: Vacation (Big Beat, single)

STRANGERS IN A STRANGE LAND AND VINCE MELOUNEY: Ring My Bell (Ace, single)

THE SMALL FACES: Grow Your Own (Decca, Small Faces)

THE BEE GEES: New York Mining Disaster 1941 (Polydor, Bee Gees' 1st)

PAUL McCARTNEY: Another Day (Capitol, Wingspan)

FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE: Sick Day (Atlantic, Fountains Of Wayne)

IRENE PEÑA: Tonight We Fly (Futureman, VA: Action Now: 20/20 Re-Envisioned)

THE CATHOLIC GIRLS: Someone New (JSP, Rock N' Roll School For Girls)

DAVID BOWIE: The Jean Jeanie (Virgin, Best Of Bowie)

THE KNACK: It's Not Me (Smile, Normal As The Next Guy)

BOW WOW WOW: Go Wild In The Country (Cherry Red, Your Box Set Pet)

STEVIE WONDER: Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours (Motown, The Definitive Collection)

THE JAM: Start! (Polydor, Direction Reaction Creation)

MELANIE WITH THE EDWIN HAWKINS SINGERS: Lay Down (Candles In The Rain)(Buddah, Candles In The Rain)

THE DARLING BUDS: Hit The Ground (Columbia, Pop Said...)

THE COASTERS: Yakety Yak (Warner Platinum, Yakety Yak)

THE CLASH: Train In Vain (Epic, Clash On Broadway)

SUGAR SNOW: Prettiest Middle Of Nowhere (Sugar Snow Music, Sugar Snow)

X-RAY SPEX: I Can't Do Anything (Sanctuary, Germfree Adolescents)

THE MAYFLOWERS: Up In The Sky (single)

THE BEATLES: Revolution 1 (Apple, The Beatles)

AGONY AUNTS: Countless Psalms (Big Stir, single)

THE MUFFS: On My Own (Omnivore, No Holiday)

THE FOUR TOPS: Reach Out I'll Be There (Motown, The Ultimate Collection)

THE PIXIES: Here Comes Your Man (4Ad, Pixies)

EYTAN MIRSKY: This Year's Gonna Be Our Year (M-Squared, Year Of The Mouse)

THE MnMS: Knock Knock Knock (Burger, Melts In Your Ears 1980-1981)

THE KINKS: All Day And All Of The Night (Sanctuary, The Ultimate Collection)

MARY LOU LORD: Right On 'Till Dawn (Rubric, Speeding Motorcycle)

KISS: Shout It Out Loud (Mercury, Destroyer)

ASTROPUPPEES: Little Chick Tsunami (Manatee, Little Chick Tsunami)

THE FLASHCUBES: No Promise (Northside, Bright Lights)

THE BEVIS FROND: I Can't Get Into Your Scene (Rubric, Bevis Through The Looking Glass)

NATALIE SWEET: Lip Service (Rum Bar, Oh, By The Way...It's Natalie Sweet)

THE ENGLISH BEAT: Mirror In The Bathroom (Shout Factory, Keep The Beat)

NEAL HEFTI: The Batman Theme (Watertower Music, VA: The Music Of DC Comics: Volume 2)

THE EASYBEATS: Friday On My Mind (Retroactive, Gonna Have A Good Time)

THE VOGUES: Five O'Clock World (Varese Sarabande, The Best Of The Vogues)

KID GULLIVER: Forget About Him (Red On Red, single)

About Me

Saturday, January 23, 2021

Friday, January 22, 2021

Thursday, January 21, 2021

Wednesday, January 20, 2021

Tuesday, January 19, 2021

Monday, January 18, 2021