This was originally posted as part of a longer piece covering both pop music and comic book characters. It's separated here for convenience.
Building upon our influences plays a large role in shaping who we are, and what we become. As a kid in the '60s, and as a teenager in the '70s, my personality, and my likes and dislikes, were molded in part by the pop culture I absorbed via TV, comic books, movies, and AM radio. A Hard Day's Night. Batman. The Monkees. Pulp paperbacks. Jukeboxes. DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Gold Key Comics, all kinds comics. WNDR- and WOLF-AM in Syracuse. Throw in some baseball, some random 45s, some more TV (from Gilligan's Island to The Guns Of Will Sonnett to Star Trek to Supersonic), some books on World War II, some Disney, Marx Brothers, and Jerry Lewis flicks, and some surreptitious glances at Lorrie Menconi and Barbi Benton in Playboy, and you have a partial portrait of the blogger as a young man.
Y'know, it ain't polite to stare, mister!
And throw in some rock 'n' roll magazines, too. I've already written at length about the importance of the '70s tabloid Phonograph Record Magazine, and I will still have more to write about PRM in future posts. I saw an issue of Circus some time in the mid-'70s, and I fell in love with Suzi Quatro when I saw her on the cover of the Rolling Stone. Later on, I'd immerse myself in Trouser Press, Creem, New York Rocker, Rock Scene, Punk, The Pig Paper, and also a little thing called Goldmine, for which I freelanced for almost twenty years. But the most important single issue of any rock mag I ever read? No contest; that was the February 1978 issue Bomp! magazine: the power pop issue.
The way I read and re-read and re-re-read that issue, it's a miracle its cover is still attached. I was 18. I was a fan of The Beatles, The Monkees, The Kinks, The Raspberries, and The Ramones. I'd just seen The Flashcubes for the first time, so I was already a fan of theirs, too. The power pop issue of Bomp! was Heaven-sent, a manifesto for what I already believed, but couldn't yet articulate. And its pages contained scores of recommendations for more acts I should check out as a nascent power pop acolyte, bands like The Flamin' Groovies (whom I'd already heard, but needed to hear more), The Creation, The Dwight Twilley Band, and The Nerves; and there was quite a bit of coverage of some band called Big Star, and some group from the '60s: an Australian band named The Easybeats.
Greg Shaw and Gary Sperrazza!, the auteurs behind Bomp!'s power pop extravaganza, cited The Easybeats alongside The Kinks and The Who as power pop's founding fathers. That's pretty heady company to keep, so I certainly wanted to learn more about The Easybeats. If there were any Easybeats records in print in the U.S. in '78, I wasn't aware of them; I don't think I could even find an Oldies 45 reissue of the group's lone American hit, "Friday On My Mind." So Easy Fever had to be deferred for me.
It may seem odd in retrospect that I'd never heard "Friday On My Mind," but I don't think I had. I finally heard it in--I think--the summer of '78. Tip-A-Few, a bar on James Street in Eastwood, specialized in playing oldies while thirsty patrons tipped a few (or, sometimes, more than a few). The DJs at Tip-A-Few were armed with a massive collection of 45s--no need for LPs, because they would only play hit oldies--and I was there with decent frequency, tippin' a few while requesting singles by Gene Pitney, The Beau Brummels, The Knickerbockers, and The Fireballs. And, one night, I requested "Friday On My Mind" by The Easybeats.
I liked it, of course, It wasn't immediately revelatory, but it was catchy rock 'n' roll music, and that was fine by me. That fall, I picked up a used copy of David Bowie's covers album, Pin Ups, which contained the former Mr. Jones' take on "Friday On My Mind." That track was, in fact, the very thing that prompted me to buy my first Bowie album, so yes indeed, thank you, Easybeats! I did eventually score an Oldies 45 of The Easybeats' "Friday On My Mind," a record which I grew to love more and more with each easy spin.
It took me a while to expand my Easybeats stash beyond that one 7" single. In the mid-'80s, Rhino Records' The Best Of The Easybeats rewarded me with a glimpse into the true and enduring greatness of The Easybeats. "Friday On My Mind" was their only Stateside hit, and on some days I'll agree it was their best track. But most days, I'll dig in my heels, and I'll insist, Yeah, "Friday On My Mind" is great, but "Sorry" is better! "Sorry" struck me as the perfect melding of The Monkees and the early Who, so sign me up for a new religion based on those Australian pop gods, The Easybeats. "Good Times." "Made My Bed (Gonna Lie In It)." "St. Louis." "She's So Fine." "Sorry." "Friday On My Mind." Scripture. Chapter. Verse. Easy!
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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.
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