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 a piece I wrote for the Flamin' Groovies' induction into the Power Pop Hall of Fame.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Groovies guitarist Cyril Jordan for Goldmine in 1992, the result published in the January 8th, 1993 issue. You can read that article's introduction here, and the interview here, and you'll note that the Groovies' Power Pop Hall of Fame induction piece is based in part upon that Goldmine intro. The Goldmine article led to the first time I was aware of my work being referenced in a book, as I was quoted in Cult Rockers by Wayne Jancik and Tad Lathrop; seeing that was a welcome ego-boost, and it's part of my reminiscence "THIS PEN FOR HIRE! My Guest Appearances In Other Writers' Books."
The story of my introduction to the Flamin' Groovies is told here. The Groovies were rightly a part of my power pop history The Kids Are Alright!, and their enduring classic tune "Shake Some Action" inspired the title of a power book I pitched (in vain) to a publisher years ago. The Flamin' Groovies were our Featured Performer on This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio on 10/15/2017, and we paid tribute to original Groovies frontman Roy Loney on our 12/15/2019 show, following Loney's passing.
The Flamin' Groovies have also turned up a time or several on my weekly 10 Songs feature. Two of the Groovies' 10 Songs entries bear repeating here. This first one is about their song "Teenage Head:"
"'Teenage Head' by the Flamin Groovies has the rare honor of getting airplay on a Gotham City radio station in a Batman comic book story. It happened in Detective Comics # 589 (August 1989), the conclusion of a three-part serial called 'Night People.' All three chapters in this story used Gotham City radio as a recurring backdrop to the action, revealing that listeners in the Batman's hometown had a station that played the Rolling Stones, the New York Dolls, KISS, and Laura Branigan (among others) within a single format. Yeah, it's probably a talk radio station by now. But in 1989, it was playing the Flamin Groovies.
"All this, yet no reference to the Joker being a smoker or a midnight toker. For all the violence and chaos that Gothamites must suffer on a regular basis, at least they had some decent radio. Ask any supervillain: with Batman, the hits just keep on coming. BAM!"
And then there's this bit about "First Plane Home:"
"In August of 1992, Brenda and I were preparing for our first-ever trip across the Atlantic, set to visit my sister and her family in England. The first Dana & Carl radio series We're Your Friends For Now had just ended abruptly in June. With minds fixed on finally making a pilgrimage to the land that birthed my beloved British Invasion, we got up early on the morning of our departure, all packed and ready. Just prior to leaving the house and cruising to the airport, I had one important task to accomplish. I grabbed a record by an American group, the Flamin' Groovies. I don't remember if it was the Jumpin' In The Night LP or the CD best-of Groovies' Greatest Grooves. Either way, I needed to crank one song before we left: 'First Plane Home.'
"'First Plane Home' is occasionally my favorite Flamin' Groovies track, which is quite a thing to say when you realize their song 'Shake Some Action' is The Greatest Record Ever Made! If a song about catching the first available return flight seems an odd choice for the soundtrack to starting one's trip abroad, you've gotta understand that I was focused on one key line in the song:
I'm bound for ol' HEATHROW!
My words can't convey that feeling. It was an indescribable flame of bliss, anticipation, excitement, wonder, reverence, and disbelief. I was 32. After decades spent as an unabashed Anglophile, I was at long last bound for ol' Heathrow. My senses preen and tingle at the recollection.
I love England. I love London. I love a lot of places that fortune has favored me with the opportunity to see, from New York to Cleveland to Toronto to Key West to San Francisco to Malaga to Mechelin to Morocco to Washington, DC, and more. London! We never made it up to Liverpool, but we were in England. Cheers!
As we shelter at home, and even before the pandemic fixed us in place, I have wished we could travel more. It's difficult and daunting. There are more places I still want to see before the sun does set on my own mortal empire. And I want to return to London, to England. I so, so want to be bound for ol' Heathrow once again."
The Flamin' Groovies loom large in the soundtrack of my life. Their well-deserved induction into the Power Pop Hall of Fame provides the subject for the latest Boppin' Pop-A-Looza.
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