This edition of 10 Songs is the second of three this week, each drawing exclusively from the playlist for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1032.
For this week's show, our mighty stats man Fritz Van Leaven suggested we include countdowns of our all-time most-played artists and most-played tracks. So we did! Today's 10 Songs lists our 10 all-time most-played artists over the course of the show's run since the final Sunday of 1998. In each case, we tried to select a track the audience would find representative of the artist, but without using any of our 10 most-played tracks. 10 Songs will deal with those 10 tracks tomorrow; for today, it's the singer not the song.
1. THE BEATLES: Rain
The Beatles have never had any significant competition for our all-time # 1 spot. I don't care how predictable or prosaic that may seem--they're the freakin' BEATLES, ferchrissakes. I've been a fan since 1964, when even four-year-old kids like me knew that both pop radio and pop music were synonymous with Beatlemania. Dana's likewise been fully fab since hearing "I Want To Hold Your Hand" with fresh ears as a teen in the '70s. Maybe we would have become rabid rock 'n' roll enthusiasts even without the benign influence of John, Paul, George, and Ringo. But honestly, I don't even want to think about a world where I didn't listen to The Beatles.
So, what Beatles track to represent them in the playlist? In retrospect, either "I Want To Hold Your Hand" or "She Loves You" would have been a good choice, yeah yeah yeah, and so would a really big number of other Beatle records. We each had a top pick in mind: "Please Please Me" (the first power pop record) and "Rain" (The Greatest Record Ever Made). We couldn't have gone wrong either way, but we agreed on "Rain" simply because it was a better fit to follow the track at our # 2 spot....
2. THE MONKEES: Pleasant Valley Sunday
Between my twenty years freelancing for Goldmine, my decades of on-line pop proselytizing, the radio show, and this blog, I think I've written more about The Monkees than I've written about any other act. My sister hooked me on the TV show when I was six in 1966, reruns in the '70s reinforced that prevailing interest, but it was the music itself that moved me the most. A prefabricated band? A manufactured image? Man, I do not care. Many of the records are fantastic, so the circumstances of their genesis are irrelevant. For further study in my acts as a Believer, see this, this, this, this, and this. GO! I'll wait here.
If I had to pick one track to summarize The Monkees' recorded legacy, it would be "Pleasant Valley Sunday." They had bigger hits--"Last Train To Clarksville," "I'm A Believer," "Daydream Believer"--and there were lesser hits like "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone" that could be seen as emblematic. One could make a case for using Michael Nesmith's "Listen To The Band" or "You Just May Be The One," the latter a track from the group's DIY album Headquarters, and one of the very few tracks to feature only the members of The Monkees as players. "Porpoise Song (Theme From Head)" gets a chapter in my book-to-be The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), because an infinite number of records can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Like The Beatles, The Monkees offer us an embarrassment of riches.
Nonetheless: "Pleasant Valley Sunday." Written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King, it has that legacy connection to The Monkees' prefab origin under Don Kirshner's aegis, and it also has all four of The Monkees present and accounted for on the track (a relative rarity among The Monkees' hits; I think "Daydream Believer" was the only other Top 10 hit to include all of The Monkees). It's from my favorite Monkees album, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd., the record that offered the best mix of The Monkees themselves singing and playing alongside other musicians. The local rock group down the street is trying hard to learn their song. Here they come.
3. THE RAMONES: Rockaway Beach
The American Beatles, the greatest American band of all time. And The Ramones are second only to The Beatles in terms of the sheer magnitude of impact their music had upon me. I read about them in Phonograph Record Magazine as a high school senior in 1977, and I was simultaneously frightened and intrigued by them well before hearing a note of their loud and fast sound. When I finally heard it later that year, my life changed. It's no coincidence that this radio show is named after a line in a Ramones song. If not for The Ramones' influence on us as young men and beardless youth, I doubt that Dana or I would have ever gotten around to a serious notion of being rockin' pop DJs.
Wait. "Serious?" Us...?! Well...yeah, to the extent that we are. I mean, we show up (whether in person or now virtually) every Sunday to do the show. Barring things that physically prevent us from carrying out our duties as The Best Three Hours Of Radio On the Whole Friggin' Planet, we rarely miss a week's show; if one of us ain't there, the other represents. That's a working play ethic derived from the piledriving example of The Ramones, who played, toured, recorded, fought, won, lost, suffered, died, transcended, and did. The Ramones just did. No time for second guesses. 1-2-3-4! Song. 1-2-3-4! Song. 1-2-3-4! Song. 1-2-3-4!
Immortality.
With both "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker" and "Blitzkrieg Bop" featured among our most-played tracks, "Rockaway Beach" seemed the best available representative for The Ramones' place in our most-played artists countdown. "I Want To Be Sedated" didn't even occur to me until after the fact, and although The Ramones' cover of the Tom Waits tune "I Don't Want To Grow Up" has been a specific personal go-to for me since acknowledging my 60th birthday in January, I think "Rockaway Beach" is ultimately the best available example of The Ramones' unique style of power pop. We'll talk a bit more about The Ramones tomorrow.
4. THE KINKS: Waterloo Sunset
The Kinks have come to be known as TIRnRR's house band, perhaps for no real reason other than we all think it's cool to celebrate the splendor of The Kinks whenever possible. The Kinks remain the only act to ever take over an entire episode of our radio show; in fact, we've done two all-Kinks shows. God save the house band!
I've already told the stories of how I became a Kinks fan (which I believe to be this blog's all-time most-viewed piece), of my first Kinks concert, and the Greatest Record Ever Made! chapters on "You Really Got Me" and "Waterloo Sunset" (the latter chapter largely a rewrite of the Kinks concert memory). Either of those two songs would have been appropriate to represent The Kinks in this countdown; Dana opted for "Waterloo Sunset," and I agreed.
"Waterloo Sunset" has two additional specific links to TIRnRR. In 2019, when a bunch of our friends and supporters decided to surprise us by recording a single to benefit our cash-strapped operation, these TIR'N'RR Allstars chose to do a cover of "Waterloo Sunset." And we were in paradise. And some years back, when Dana was out of commission for a bit, I devoted a show to something I called "A Girl And A Boy: The Story So Far." This was an attempt to create an extended song cycle to tell the story of a relationship, using preexisting songs and alternating female and male lead vocals to suggest a girl and boy looking back at their history together and apart. The boy's name was Terry, the girl's name was Julie, and as long as they gaze on Waterloo sunset, they are in paradise. It was a fun exercise, and intended as a tribute to one of my favorite songs. Sha-la-la....
5. THE FLASHCUBES: No Promise
Syracuse's own power pop powerhouse. I am not fibbin' when I say that I have three favorite bands: The Beatles, The Ramones, and The Flashcubes. When I saw my first Flashcubes show in January of 1978, I knew that I had found something that would have a pervasive meaning to me throughout my life. I had just turned 18. But I knew. I knew.
I have written a lot about The Flashcubes. I've written liner notes and blog pieces, articles in Goldmine and The Syracuse New Times, and even a speech inducting The Flashcubes into the Syracuse Area Music Awards Hall of Fame. I am a fan. I will preach my Cubic Gospel whenever and wherever I can.
Dana may have preferred to use "It's You Tonight" to represent the 'Cubes in this countdown, but I lobbied on behalf of "No Promise" (to which Dana replied, "'K;" he's a tough negotiator, that one). "No Promise" was included in our magnificent 2017 compilation This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4 (as discussed in this section of the collection's expanded liner notes), and OF COURSE it has a chapter in The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). If you don't know The Flashcubes, I humbly invite you to listen to This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl. We'll make a 'Cubes fan outta you yet.
6. BIG STAR: The Ballad Of El Goodo
I had never heard of Big Star prior to Bomp! magazine's epic power pop issue in 1978. To put my power pop timeline into perspective, lemme point out that this issue was published in between my first Flashcubes show and my first Ramones show, and it built upon my already-intense interest in the British Invasion and The Raspberries, linking it to The Ramones and (by inference) The Flashcubes, and hanging a convenient label upon it. Power pop? Awright. Where do I sign up?
A live cover by The Flashcubes introduced me to Big Star's enduring classic "September Gurls," but it would be quite some time before I got to know the original, or anything else by Big Star. To me, Big Star's Alex Chilton was the guy who sang The Box Tops' awesome hit "The Letter;" by the end of the '80s, I was a Big Star convert. SPOILER ALERT: "September Gurls" is TIRnRR's # 1 most-played track, and we will get into that tomorrow. "The Ballad Of El Goodo" is one of the most stirring expressions of faith and determination I have ever heard in a pop song, and it is the perfect track to represent Big Star here in our all-time most-played artists countdown.
7. THE WHO: I Can't Explain
The Who's Pete Townshend coined the phrase "power pop" in an interview in 1967, and Bomp!'s '78 power pop issue certainly regarded The Who as the definitive power pop band. During the early '70s, my primary exposure to The Who was via Tommy and Meaty Beaty Big & Bouncy, the former getting AM radio airplay with "Pinball Wizard" and "See Me Feel Me," the latter an LP that my sister owned. I'm sure I heard at least the truncated single version of "Won't Get Fooled Again" from Who's Next, and the (to me) less interesting "Squeeze Box" a little later. I liked some of it, but I could not have been described as an active resident of Whoville. Hell, in 1975, I preferred Elton John's "Pinball Wizard" to The Who's, and I was mystified by the fact that some of my peers liked The Who (or worse, Led Zeppelin!) more than they liked The Beatles.
My opinion of The Who changed instantly when I saw a video presentation called Rock Of The '60s put on at Syracuse University in 1977. A clip of The Who performing "I Can't Explain" on Shindig! just caused something to click in my brain. I told my companion for the evening that I had never respected or understood The Who before, but that now, now, I got it. I'm sure she was happy for me. I went home and started listening more attentively to my sister's copy of Meaty Beaty Big & Bouncy, to "I Can See For Miles," "My Generation," "The Kids Are Alright," and "I Can't Explain." Power pop. I didn't know the term yet. But I was about to learn.
(And, needless to say, "I Can't Explain" earns a chapter in The Greatest Record Ever Made! [Volume 1].)
8. EYTAN MIRSKY: This Year's Gonna Be Our Year
How did singer, songwriter, and dashing man about town Eytan Mirsky first learn about This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl? Damned if I remember. But somehow he did hear about us, thought we might be interested in playing his stuff on the radio, and then sent us a copy of his second album, 1999's Get Ready For Eytan! We've been playing him ever since.
We've had a number of Eytan favorites over the years, but there is something just remarkable and special about "This Year's Gonna Be Our Year," a track from Eytan's 2012 album Year Of The Mouse. Like Big Star's "The Ballad Of El Goodo" and The Zombies' "This Will Be Our Year," even The Beatles' "Getting Better," it evokes an optimism that may not have any discernible grounding in the real world, but which still feels palpable and immediate. Eytan's song is considerably less starry-eyed than these other worthies, but its determined sense of one-foot-forward, what-the-hell ultimately makes it more plausible. The song knows we're gonna get kicked in the teeth again, that our individual Lucys are gonna pull the freakin' football away from us gullible Charlie Browns again, that the house has the deck stacked against us again and again and again...and it knows we're gonna keep hitting back for as long as our fists can form. Maybe this year? Well...why the hell not?
As a true zealot, I keep mentioning my concept of The Greatest Record Ever Made! An infinite number of songs can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. When I first began to seriously contemplate trying to turn this concept into a book, I knew a chapter on Eytan Mirsky's "This Year's Gonna Be Our Year" had to be in the book, and that it had to be employed in climactic fashion, something almost like a closing argument. In my eyes, the book would not make sense without that chapter near the end.
My book has been stuck in development, and COVID-19 has not helped its status. But I still believe in the project, and Eytan Mirsky's song is still at its core. This year? Next year? I'll have my year yet. One foot forward. What the hell.
9. THE BEVIS FROND: He'd Be A Diamond
The Bevis Frond's "He'd Be A Diamond" is simply one of the sharpest, most affecting post-breakup chronicles you will ever find in a pop song. As an observer of the human condition, Nick Saloman (the Bevis himself) writes and sings with wry, weary understanding of this guy we all know (and have occasionally been), the schmuck who fell from grace because he screwed up, screwed around, or otherwise just thwarted his own best interests in scorched-earth fashion. No woman in her right mind would take that guy back again.
 |
| Dream on, schmuck--it ain't happening. |
10. THE BEACH BOYS: Don't Worry Baby
When I was a teenager, I never would have predicted that The Beach Boys could ever become one of my favorite bands. Although I liked some of their '60s hits even then--"Good Vibrations," "Help Me Rhonda," "I Get Around," "Fun, Fun, Fun"--I could not or would not reconcile my perception of them as dorky and uncool with my own pursuit of hip. Although I would never actually be hip at any point in my life--let's not get crazy--I also couldn't accept the preposterous idea of The Beach Boys being anything other than fully four-cornered. Go be true to your own school, ya hopeless squares!
I was wrong. Totally, totally wrong. I learned in time. I got Endless Summer when I was still in high school. I got Pet Sounds in college, drawn in by "Sloop John B." If my embrace of punk and power pop--that's power pop, dig?--made me reluctant to accept The Beach Boys, I was also aware of their influence on my beloved Ramones. The owner of Main Street Records in my college town of Brockport vowed that he would make a Beach Boys fans out of me, just as I said several paragraphs back that I was intent on making TIRnRR listeners into Flashcubes fans. That is one of the most consistently rewarding experiences we can have with the music we love: our ability to share that music with our friends.
Friends. 20/20. Smiley Smile. Wild Honey. I built my Beach Boys library in brief bursts of expanded interest, not quite there yet, but surfing in the right direction. In the late '80s, a library loan of the two-fer The Beach Boys Today!/Summer Days (And Summer Nights!) CD got through to me in a big way, and I went about scarfing up all of those Capitol Records two-fer reissues. When Pet Sounds came out on CD, I finally, belatedly realized its greatness. Many years later, I had an opportunity to witness Brian Wilson and his band perform Pet Sounds live.
In December of 1998, on the very first edition of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Dana played "Don't Worry Baby," and I followed it with "'Til I Die" from Surf's Up. I was about three weeks shy of my 39th birthday. My teen self wouldn't have recognized me. The Beatles. The Beach Boys. The Ramones and The Flashcubes, The Monkees and The Kinks and The Who, and more. The Bevis Frond. Big Star. Eytan Mirsky. So much music out there, so much to discover and embrace, from Stax to Not Lame, Motown, Futureman, Rhino, all around the world, all over the place. The countdown continues. The beat goes on.
Surf's up.
TOMORROW: TIRnRR's Top 10 All-Time Most-Played Tracks
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This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/ You can read about our history here.
The many fine This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio compilation albums are still available, each full of that rockin' pop sound you crave. A portion of all sales benefit our perpetually cash-strapped community radio project:
The many fine This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio compilation albums are still available, each full of that rockin' pop sound you crave. A portion of all sales benefit our perpetually cash-strapped community radio project:
Volume 1: download
Volume 3: download
Waterloo Sunset--Benefit For This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio: CD or download
Carl's writin' a book! The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) will contain 155 essays about 155 tracks, each one of 'em THE greatest record ever made. An infinite number of records can each be the greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Updated initial information can be seen here: THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! (Volume 1).
Carl's writin' a book! The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) will contain 155 essays about 155 tracks, each one of 'em THE greatest record ever made. An infinite number of records can each be the greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Updated initial information can be seen here: THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! (Volume 1).
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