Each week, the pop culture website Pop-A-Looza shares some posts from my vast 'n' captivating Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do) archives. The latest shared post is my Greatest Record Ever Made! celebration of the 1964 single "The Transylvania Twist" by Baron Daemon and the Vampires.
This will, of course, be a chapter in my eventual book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), a book dedicated to the gimmick that an infinite number of songs can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. "The Transylvania Twist" will also be the subject of my next weekly GREM! video on YouTube, third in a series of short dissertations about songs I discuss in my book. Previous entries dealt with The Ramones' "Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?" and Badfinger's "Baby Blue." After this week's visit with the Baron's little ditty, next week's video will move to Mr. Chuck Berry's "Promised Land." Each week's video usually posts on Wednesday evening. Hey, that's tonight! And I gotta record a radio show today...?! Jeez, I better get workin'.
I'll probably mention this in the video, but it's worth mentioning here (especially since the videos aren't scripted, and I forget stuff): if you were a kid in Syracuse in the '60s, Baron Daemon was as big as The Beatles. He was our beloved local TV vampire, corny and endearing, and he made a record that absolutely rocks. Someone asked me if it was a good idea for my book to devote a chapter to something that was just a regional hit, not as well known to potential book buyers outside of Central New York.
Yes. It's not only a good idea, it's a necessary idea.
I wouldn't want to write a book like this if I couldn't include a Baron Daemon alongside Stevie Wonder, a Flashcubes alongside Elvis Presley, a Marykate O'Neil, Eytan Mirsky, Johnny Johnson and the Bandwagon, and Sammy Ambrose alongside Aretha Franklin, The Kinks, Prince, and Dusty Springfield. Every favorite record begins as a record you haven't heard yet. Every favorite performer begins as an act you don't know. Every love story begins with a first kiss.
If this is your first kiss of Baron Daemon, be careful; he bites. But you will fall in love. "The Transylvania Twist" by Baron Daemon and the Vampires is the latest Boppin' Pop-A-Looza.
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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:
Volume 1: download
Volume 2: CD or download
Volume 3: download
Volume 4: CD or 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 165 essays about 165 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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