Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do) should hit 250,000 views within a few days, maybe sooner. A modest figure for sure, but it's MY modest figure, so I'll take it! My thanks to everyone who visits my proud little corner of the internet.
Prior to my 1000th post last week, I compiled a ranked list of my 25 favorite posts so far. Now, here's a list of your Top 40 favorite Boppins to date, my all-time most-viewed posts. This list will differ from the "Popular Posts (All Time)" you see in the right sidebar of the blog; I don't know why that list isn't the same as what Google's stats tell me, but this does seem to be more accurate than what the sidebar says. This Top 40 reflects the actual number of accumulated views. There is some overlap between this Top 40 and my Top 25, but no direct correlation between what I think was my best and what you've determined was my most popular. I love 'em all, though--I'm a big fan of me!
BUBBLING UNDER
I'm pleased to note that Boppin' # 1000, an emotional Greatest Record Ever Made piece about Material Issue's "Kim The Waitress," just missed Bubbling Under status at # 46. The actual Bubbling Under posts are:
45. The Monkees' Good Times! The Bonus Tracks, The Second Guesses
44. I WAS THERE! A First-Person Account Of The Bowling Green Massacre
43. ONCE UPON A ONCE-IN-A-WHILE: My 25 Favorite Monkees Tracks
42. This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio's Most-Played Songs 1998-2015
41. SECOND HAND SOUND: The Monkees' Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd.
MAKING THE CHART: Breaking The Top 40
The all-time Boppin' Top 40 chart commences with stories about The Flashcubes, This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, The Hollies, The Monkees, Goldmine, a fictitious rock movie called Jukebox Express, snubs from The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, and more!
40. THE FLASHCUBES: A Brighter Light In My Mind
39. This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio: There's A Countdown A-Comin'
38. RESCUED FROM THE BUDGET BIN: The Very Best Of The Hollies
37. VIRTUAL TICKET STUB GALLERY: The Monkees
36. The Road To GOLDMINE
35. Jukebox Express
34. THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE: "Girls In Their Summer Clothes"
33. LOVE AT FIRST SPIN: Drop Out With The Barracudas
32. Teenage Wasteland
31. On Broadway
30. The Secret History Of Power Pop by Carl Cafarelli & Gary Pig Gold
29. VIRTUAL TICKET STUB GALLERY: Paul McCartney
28. THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE: "September Gurls"
27. SHE MAKES ME LAUGH: The Monkees' U.S. Singles
26. MOVIES IN MY MIND (BEHIND THE SCENES): The Fictional Players In Jukebox Express
25. Hey, Hey It's THE FLASHCUBES! Bright Lights On TV Tonight
24. This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 904 (in memory of Pat DiNizio)
23. Singers, Superheroes, And Songs On The Radio: My Life In Pop Culture--The 1960s
22. VIRTUAL TICKET STUB GALLERY: The Ramones, The Runaways, And The Flashcubes
21. Cleveland Mocks
THE HITS JUST KEEP ON COMING! Rising Into The Top 20
The next tier adds Pat Boone, Paul Revere & the Raiders, Artful Dodger, The Flamin' Groovies, Lay's Potato Chips, and me trying to play guitar.
20. Pat Boone: The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame
19. This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 905: THE COUNTDOWN!
18. Betcha Can't Eat Just One
17. Mark Lindsay/Paul Revere & the Raiders
16. I've Got The Music In Me (And That's Where It's Going To Stay)
15. The Monkees: Me & Magdalena
14. THE EVERLASTING FIRST: Artful Dodger
13. 50 Years Of The Monkees Download, And An Apology To Monkees Fans
12. The Monkees Bring The Summer: A Girl I Knew Somewhere
11. The Flamin' Groovies, Part 1: Red-Hot And Groovy
TOP, TOP, TOP OF THE POPS! The Top 10
Here we GO!
10. HE BUYS EVERY ROCK 'N' ROLL BOOK ON THE MAGAZINE STANDS, Part 3: Power Pop Means Pop With POWER!! (not some whimpering simp in a Beatles haircut)
Devorah Ostrov recruited me to contribute to Reet, an on-line rock 'n' sundry read curated by Dev and the legendary rock journalist John Mendelssohn. I'm IN! It lasted about a week, I think, but its brief existence was sufficient to inspire me to look back at the origin of my own rock rag fandom in a series called He Buys Every Rock 'n' Roll Book On The Magazine Stands. Part 1 covered my first exposure to Circus and Rolling Stone, and Part 2 waxed rhapsodic about Phonograph Record Magazine. This third part struck a nerve (or maybe The Nerves) with its intertwined reminiscence of power pop and Bomp! magazine. There will be a Part 4 eventually--no, really!--subtitled "The Snark And The Fury, Creem And The Dream." Boy Howdy!
9. THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE: "Any Way You Want It"
An infinite number of records can be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns; you just have to believe it while the song is playing. The Greatest Record Ever Made is probably my favorite ongoing series on this blog, and the GREM label most certainly applies to this fantastic record by The Dave Clark Five.
8. THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE: "Hearts In Her Eyes"
I guess a lot of pop fans missed this celebration of The Searchers' ace power pop track "Hearts In Her Eyes" the first time around, but there was a significant spike in views when I shared it again on Facebook during the run up to Boppin' # 1000. The Searchers' '60s material is just wonderful beyond words, but this 1979 track is the best thing they ever did.
7. THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE: "The Transylvania Twist"
My favorite entry in The Greatest Record Ever Made, in part because it gave me a chance to talk about a fave-rave 45 that relatively few folks outside of Syracuse have ever heard, in part because of my eternal allegiance to our local kiddie-show TV vampire Baron Daemon, and in part because the whole thing was an opportunity to mix the facts of the Baron's history and career with a fantasy about the character (featuring guest appearances by my other two biggest vampire- or bat-related pop culture entities).
6. Pat DiNizio
The unexpected (to me) passing of The Smithereens' frontman PatDiNizio hit hard, and the news came when I was with my mother in the ER all night, the start of a journey that placed her permanently in a nursing home. My friend Rich Firestone knew Pat, and Rich's eulogy and reminiscence was better than anything I could have composed, so I asked Rich to let me run his piece in Pat's memory.
5. The Monkees' Good Times! review
I can't wrap my mind around even a rough estimate of how many reviews I wrote over the twenty years I freelanced for Goldmine, not to mention additional reviews I slapped together for DISCoveries and The Syracuse New Times, and maybe even some other publication I've forgotten. I do not miss writing reviews, so don't expect to see them here in Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do). I made a willful exception to my informal no-more-reviews policy for The Monkees' 2016 album Good Times!, a record I just adored, a record I really wanted to discuss and celebrate.
4. The Monkees: Welcome To The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame
The audacity of hope. In 2016, it seemed within the realm of plausibility that The Monkees could finally achieve long-overdue recognition by The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. What fools we mortals be. And what a tool that Jann Wenner is.
3. Batman Meets The Monkees
I think folks are beginning to suspect I like The Monkees. I'm also fond of Batman, so it was natural for me to start thinking of how I could bring the two together. Since I wrote this, The Monkees have met The Archies in a comic book, and an Archie Meets Batman '66 comic-book mini-series is currently running. Does The Monkees' path to Gotham City run through Riverdale?
2. THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE: "Beach Baby"
Technically, this is still my all-time most-viewed post (as I'll explain in the next entry). My GREM tribute to "Beach Baby" by The First Class took off from the get-go, immediately connecting with an audience far wider than the discerning few that usually slum with me here. If I had any idea about how to duplicate that success, I'd be up to three million views by now.
NUMBER ONE, NUMBER ONE, YOU'RE MY NUMBER ONE! [with an asterisk]
*1. THE EVERLASTING FIRST: The Kinks
According to straight stats alone, my loving recollection of becoming a fan of The Kinks would have only placed at # 27, with another separate entry of The Everlasting First knockin' a bunch of posts down a notch as it squeezed in above The Searchers to take # 8. BUT! Both of those Everlasting First pieces featured the exact same essay about The Kinks. See, my A-Z The Everlasting First gimmicks originally presented a list of Quick Takes along with the designated letter's main subject; when I decided to retroactively streamline all previous (and future) EvFirst bits into stand-alone pieces, I separated the main subjects and let the original posts remain with just the Quick Takes. I guarantee you The Everlasting First: Quick Takes For K [Music Edition] wouldn't be # 8 just on the basis of a total of three paragraphs discussing The Knickerbockers, Klaatu, and The Knack, its attractive photo of young Sharona notwithstanding.
The combined stats show that my EvFirst entry about The Kinks is the single most-viewed piece in the long and storied history of Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do). It's not magic; it's math. Confused? Stop thinking about it. Just listen to The Kinks, man. All day and all of the night.
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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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