The idea of doing a countdown show never occurred to me, and I'm pretty sure it didn't occur to Dana either. 100 % of the credit for that goes to Fritz Van Leaven.
I've known Fritz since the mid '80s, when we both worked at a record store in Buffalo. I think Fritz's all-time favorite band is still The Sex Pistols, and his periodically-updated All-Time Hot 100 lists have included various efforts by Roy Clark, Roxy Music, Morris Albert, Sonny James, Robert Plant, The Beatles, and Men At Work, among many, many others. See, he's a Renaissance punk, and he's on my All-Time Favorite People list. Fritz is a musician, and he's played bass with a number of Buffalo-area bands over a span of decades. And his fascination with pop music, trivia, and statistics prompted him to keep a database of what we played on TIRnRR from the get-go.
After TIRnRR had been on the air for a few months, Fritz emailed me to suggest we do a countdown of our most-played tracks to date. But...but...we don't keep track of that sort of stuff!, we stammered in response. That's okay, he said, I do! Since then, Fritz has marked the end of each year by telling us what TIRnRR did during the preceding 12 months.
But even before that, it all started with this mini-countdown. We billed it as a six-month celebration, because neither Dana nor I can add. Nonetheless, our 5/23/99 show included this countdown of TIRnRR's most-played tracks over the course of our first five months as The Best Three Hours yadda yadda Friggin' Planet:
5/23/99: 6th [okay, 5th really] Month Countdown
*****THE COUNTDOWN!:
MAX FROST & THE TROOPERS: “Shape Of Things To Come”
(Rhino, VA/Nuggets)
MARY LOU LORD: “Some Jingle Jangle Morning” (Work, Got No
Shadow)
MARY LOU LORD: “Martian Saints” (Kill Rock Stars, Martian
Saints)
MARY LOU LORD: “Lights Are Changing” (Work, Got No Shadow)
FLASHCUBES: “It’s You Tonight” (Northside, Bright Lights)
BIG STAR: “September Gurls” (Ardent, # 1 Record/Radio City)
BEAT ANGELS: “Go Your Way” (Epiphany!, Red Badge Of
Discourage)
RAVES: “Every Little Bit Hurts” (Hologramophone, Past
Perfect Tense)
HELIUM ANGEL: “Georgie” (Pilot Error, Early Clue To The New
Direction)
ONLY ONES: “Another Girl, Another Planet” (Rhino, VA/DIY:
Teenage Kicks)
EASYBEATS: “She’s So Fine” (Albert, The Absolute Anthology)
CREATION: “Makin’ Time” (Line, The Creation Collection)
COTTON MATHER: “My Before And After” (Copper, Kontiki)
MING TEA: “BBC” (Hollywood, VA/Austin Powers OST)
LEAVES: “Too Many People” (Rhino, Nuggets)
COCKEYED GHOST: “I Hate Rock ‘n’ Roll” (Big Deal, The
Scapegoat Factory)
# 1: THE STALLIONS: “Why” (Junk, VA/Goin’ After
Pussy--Teasers & Tidbits)
Yep. That was us.
I think "Go Your Way" by Beat Angels was the only one of these tracks to miss our first year-end countdown at the close of 1999. "Why" by The Stallions went on to be our unchallenged # 1 most-played track in 1999 and 2000, and remained our all-time most-played track for a long time thereafter, even though we'd pretty much stopped playing it. Big Star's "September Gurls" finally took the all-time top spot away from The Stallions a few years back.
Although Dana and I were always pretty sure of the irresistible virtues of TIRnRR, Fritz's care and diligence gave us an added and immediate sense of legitimacy. It still does. This Sunday night, we'll do it again. As always: I have seen the countdown, and it is good. Thanks, Fritz! And, y'know, come to Syracuse some time. Do a show with us. You already know how it's done.
This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio's 20th Annual Countdown Show is Sunday, January 6th, from 9 to Midnight Eastern on SPARK! WSPJ-LP Syracuse 103.3 and 93.7 FM, and on the web at sparksyracuse.org
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