This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio A-Z

This past Sunday's shindig celebrating This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 900 included a special feature called This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio A-Z. Compiled by our irreplaceable stats man Fritz Van Leaven, TIRnRR A-Z presented our all-time most-played acts for each letter of the alphabet (with a tie at the letter N). For posterity, here are our top three most-played acts for each letter.

A: 1. astroPuppees 2. The Animals 3. The Archies

B: 1. The Beatles 2. Big Star 3. The Beach Boys

C: 1. The Catholic Girls 2. The Dave Clark Five 3. Cotton Mather

D: 1. The Donnas 2. The Drowners 3. The Dukes Of Stratosphear

E: 1. The Easybeats 2. The Everly Brothers 3. The English Beat

F: 1. The Flashcubes 2. The Flamin' Groovies 3. The Flashing Astonishers

G: 1. The Grip Weeds 2. The Go-Go's 3. The Gants

H: 1. The Hollies 2. George Harrison 3. Hello Helen

I: 1. The Isley Brothers 2. It's My Party! 3. The Idea

J: 1. The Jam 2. Johnny Popstar Luv Explosion 3. Joan Jett & the Blackhearts

K: 1. The Kinks 2. KISS 3. The Knack

L: 1. John Lennon 2. Mary Lou Lord 3. Lyres

M: 1. The Monkees 2. Eytan Mirsky 3. Paul McCartney

N: 1 [tie]. The New Pornographers/The New York Dolls 3. The Nerves

O. 1. The Orgone Box 2. Outrageous Cherry 3. 1.4.5.

P: 1. The Pretenders 2. The Poptarts 3. Pop Is Art

Q: 1. Suzi Quatro 2. Question Mark & the Mysterians 3. Queen

R. 1. The Ramones 2. The Rolling Stones 3. Paul Revere & the Raiders

S. 1. Sex Clark Five 2. The Spongetones 3. The Small Faces

T. 1. Johnny Thunders & the Heartbreakers 2. The Troggs 3. The Turtles

U. 1. The Undertones 2. Carrie Underwood 3. Uptight

V. 1. The Velvet Underground 2. Chris von Sneidern 3. The Villas

W. 1. The Who 2. Wreckless Eric 3. The Wonders

X. 1. XTC 2. X-Ray Spex 3. X

Y. 1. The Yardbirds 2. Gregg Yeti & the Best Lights 3. Neil Young

Z. 1. The Zombies 2. Warren Zevon 3. The Zinedines

Some notes:



The Beatles remain far and away our most-played act over the course of our first 899 shows. It ain't even close, though The Ramones would overtake them if we counted spins of our usual opening theme "Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?" That wouldn't be fair, so the intro is not counted in overall stats.

The Beatles, The Ramones, The Monkees, The Flashcubes, and The Kinks are our all-time most-played artists.




Aside from the tie between The New Pornographers and The New York Dolls, the closest margin between acts was for the letter C: The Catholic Girls edged out The Dave Clark Five by a single spin.

While Big Star was a distant second behind The Beatles at B, it's worth noting that they're something like our sixth most-played act overall. If they had been named Quick Star or Trick Star or New Star or anything else that didn't begin with a B, F, K, M, or R, they'd have been on the A-Z playback easily. Big Star's "September Gurls" is This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio's all-time # 1 most-played track.

John Lennon was our most-played L artist. Paul McCartney was our third most-played M artist. We have played Paul McCartney more often than John Lennon (not by a very wide margin, but still a comfortable separation).



I have no intention of ever getting over my teenage crush on Suzi Quatro. Nonetheless, she is not one of our all-time most-played artists. But at the letter Q? Suzi had no real competition there.

The Gants were our # 3 G artist, almost exclusively on the basis of one song, the classic "I Wonder." Similarly, The Drowners took the # 2 spot for D mostly via repeated plays of their ace cover of The Beatles' "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," and The Idea was # 3 at I for holiday spins of "It's About That Time," my all-time favorite rockin' pop Christmas tune.

Before the show, I invited listeners to take a stab at guessing our 27 A-Z artists. No one got 'em all; in fact, I only got 18 right when I tried guessing beforehand. We really don't have any clue about what we're playing, do we? Rich Firestone came closest with 15 right, and Kathy Firestone and Elizabeth Racz also scored in double digits. They've each won a lovely parting gift, but not a copy of our home game. That home game stuff is expensive, man.

On to # 901!

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Our new compilation CD This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4 is now available from Kool Kat Musik! 29 tracks of irresistible rockin' pop, starring Pop Co-Op, Ray Paul, Circe Link & Christian Nesmith, Vegas With Randolph Featuring Lannie Flowers, The Slapbacks, P. Hux, Irene Peña, Michael Oliver & the Sacred Band Featuring Dave Merritt, The Rubinoos, Stepford Knives, The Grip Weeds, Popdudes, Ronnie Dark, The Flashcubes,Chris von Sneidern, The Bottle Kids, 1.4.5., The Smithereens, Paul Collins' Beat, The Hit Squad, The Rulers, The Legal Matters, Maura & the Bright Lights, Lisa Mychols, and Mr. Encrypto & the Cyphers. You gotta have it, so order it here.