THE EVERLASTING FIRST: The Romantics

Continuing a look back at my first exposure to a number of rock 'n' roll acts and superheroes (or other denizens of print or periodical publication), some of which were passing fancies, and some of which I went on to kinda like. They say you never forget your first time; that may be true, but it's the subsequent visits--the second time, the fourth time, the twentieth time, the hundredth time--that define our relationships with the things we cherish. Ultimately, the first meeting is less important than what comes after that. But every story still needs to begin with that first kiss.


Have you ever bought a record you had never previously heard, performed by an act you had never previously heard of?

I'm not talking about a record by a new act that includes a performer you'd experienced elsewhere (like when I recognized Paul Collins from The Nerves and scarfed up the debut LP by Collins' then-new group The Beat), or a review you read somewhere prompting you to take a chance on the unfamiliar (like when Rolling Stone compared an act to Blondie, The Buzzcocks, and The Ramones, compelling me to purchase the debut album by The Darling Buds). No. I'm talkin' tabula rasa, baby. You've never heard the music. You've never heard of the band. But money changes hands anyway, and this new music is now yours.

That's how I discovered The Romantics.



My memory may be imprecise. I'll concede the possibility that I read about The Romantics in Bomp! magazine before I bought my first Romantics record, but I'm pretty sure it was record first, write-up later. I do know that I can't claim full credit for stumbling upon the record unassisted. The guy behind the counter at the record store pointed it for me.

It was in the spring of 1978. I was a freshman in college at Brockport, NY, and a budding power-pop punk with a musical mania for the 1960s, the British Invasion, The Monkees, The Sex Pistols, and The Ramones. I'd recently discovered my Syracuse hometown heroes The Flashcubes, and I was constantly on the prowl for MORE! A cool place called The Record Grove was Brockport's vinyl oasis, managed by a true believer named Bill Yerger. This was about a year or so before Bill opened his own emporium, Main Street Records, the best little record store there ever was. Bill was a huge fan of rockin' pop music, he knew his stuff, and he knew how to steer kindred spirits toward the record we needed to own, even if we didn't know it yet.

Although I was perpetually cash-strapped, I visited The Record Grove as often as I could, and bought what I could afford when I could afford it. Bill had a small display box of import and indie 45s for sale at the counter, the box from which I'd purchased my first Ramones and Sex Pistols records during the previous semester. On this particular spring '78 visit, Bill recalled that I'd recently bought an EP by the British power pop act The Pleasers, a record I'd snapped up on impulse, drawn in by The Pleasers' overtly Beatley image and the presence of a song called "Lies" (not The Knickerbockers' hit, I'm sorry to say). Bill asked me if I'd liked The Pleasers, and I said something like, Yeah, they weren't bad. Not as good as The Knickerbockers, but I like 'em all right. Maybe Bill already had his next move planned, or maybe it was prompted by my mention of The Knickerbockers. Either way, he said, Well, if you liked that, I bet you'll like this, too.

And Bill pulled out "Little White Lies"/"I Can't Tell You Anything," the debut single from Detroit's Phenomenal Pop Combo, The Romantics. Awright, then. Just take my money, Bill. Just take it.

My roommate and I were increasingly at odds by this point, so I don't know if he let me play my newest 7" vinyl treasure on his stereo, or if I had to wait until a school break to hear the damned thing for the first time back home. Whatever whenever, I immediately dug both sides of this Romantics record, way more than I liked The Pleasers. "Little White Lies" just seemed to combust on the stereo, a pyrotechnic display of pure pop played fast 'n' swaggering. "I Can't Tell You Anything" hijacked a Bo Diddley beat to craft a basic pounder that simultaneously (and incongruously) evoked both The Raspberries and The Rolling Stones. Magnificence times two, and I was duly hooked. When I finally did read about The Romantics in Bomp!, the write-up referenced "Can't You See That She's Mine" by my Tottenham Sound lads The Dave Clark Five. But of course.

I listened to a lot of music during the summer of 1978. My parents let me move my little stereo and my growing record collection into the living room; they were away for much of that summer, so I was able to play my rock 'n' roll platters with a bit more volume than might have otherwise been likely. I had a part-time job, I saw The Flashcubes as often as I could, and I let the records spin freely: Kinks, Seeds, Bobby Fuller Four, The Jam, Generation X, KISS, Herman's Hermits, Eddie & the Hot Rods, Rich Kids, Runaways, Standells, Beau Brummels, Monkees, Beatles, Ramones, Pistols, Tom Petty, Buddy Holly, Raspberries. The Pleasers, too--I did like them, just not as much as I liked The Romantics. Both sides of my Romantics 45 saw significant turntable time throughout that season.

As summer surrendered its space to my sophomore year at Brockport, I saw that The Romantics were coming to Syracuse for a show with The Flashcubes, and it would be at my favorite nightspot The Firebarn. It would also be my first week back at school, and there was no way I would be able to see that show. The Romantics played Syracuse dates with The Flashcubes on several occasions in this era (and the 'Cubes also traveled to Detroit to return the favor), but always when I was away at school. I never did have an opportunity to see The Romantics play until decades later.




I remained a fan. I bought their second single, "Tell It To Carrie"/"First In Line," mail-order from Bomp!, and I scored another Romantics track called "Let's Swing" on the Bomp Records compilation album Waves Vol. 1 (an LP that also included "Christi Girl" by The Flashcubes). As my third and final year in college beckoned in August of 1979, local rock station 95X started playing "When I Look In Your Eyes," an advance track from The Romantics' forthcoming major label debut. That eponymous debut featured another new track, "What I Like About You." Maybe you've heard of it...?





It cracks me up that so many folks think of The Romantics as a one-hit wonder for "What I Like About You." The Romantics are so much more than one song, and that one song wasn't even their biggest hit; that would be "Talking In Your Sleep" (# 3 in Billboard), and "One In A Million" also fared better chartwise (# 37) than "What I Like About You." In fact, "What I Like About You" missed the Top 40 entirely (# 49), but it became a retroactive and enduring Fave Rave a few years after the fact, thanks to the power of a new, content-hungry entity called MTV. They were all hits in my mind anyway.



Sometimes, when a rock 'n' roll act you discovered ahead of the pack subsequently achieves mainstream success, you may feel a temptation to dismiss the more popular work, to sniff and insist that you liked 'em not only before they were famous, but before they, y'know, sold out, man! While it is true that, in my opinion, The Romantics' major-label efforts never quite equaled the sheer punch of "Little White Lies"/"I Can't Tell You Anything," it is also true that I've loved The Romantics' work across the span of their career. I love "When I Look In Your Eyes" and "What I Like About You," I dig "One In A Million" and "Talking In Your Sleep" and "Rock You Up," their incredible cover of the Richard & the Young Lions nugget "Open Up Your Door," plus "Test Of Time," "National Breakout," and a fantastic, unreleased cover of The Spencer Davis Group's "Keep On Running." Hell, I even like their 1981 hard rock album Strictly Personal--"In The Nighttime" just kicks, man!--and virtually nobody likes that record except me and Flashcubes guitarist Paul Armstrong. 



After years and years of missed opportunities, I finally saw The Romantics at an outdoor sports-bar show in the mid '90s. Yeah, I would have preferred to see them at The Firebarn, but it was still a thrill. They opened with an authoritative cover of The Pretty Things' "Midnight To Six Man," and I'm sure you can guess what song closed the show. I don't believe that I will ever tire of hearing "What I Like About You," nor will I tire of the lesser-known gems to be found throughout The Romantics' stellar c.v. More than forty years ago, my friend Bill Yerger introduced me to the music of The Romantics, and they were but one of many pop treasures Bill pointed out for me. Bill Yerger passed away in the late '90s. Bill, if you can read this across the veil that separates our world from yours, lemme tell ya: the inspiration you provided drives me to this day. That's what I like about you.



WHEN THE EVERLASTING FIRST RETURNS: S is for



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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. A digital download version (minus The Smithereens' track) is also available from Futureman Records.