10 Songs is a weekly list of ten songs that happen to be on my mind at the moment. Given my intention to usually write these on Mondays, the lists are often dominated by songs played on the previous night's edition of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl. The idea was inspired by Don Valentine of the essential blog I Don't Hear A Single.
This week's edition of 10 Songs draws exclusively from the playlist for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1094.
ALICE COOPER: Clones (We're All)
New wave Alice Cooper! Dunno if the mighty Alice could have really felt threatened by punk or new wave circa 1980; his essential place in rock history was already secure, but I guess we should concede that it might not have seemed so at the time. Whether an attempt to beat Gary Numan at his own game or just Alice being Alice, "Clones (We're All)" was a minor hit (# 40 in Billboard), following a string of middle-of-the-road pop single successes in the late '70s. Cooper could do shock, schmaltz, and electric friends riding in cars (and, later, hair metal, as in his '89 hit "Poison"), and he could do 'em all with style. His style. Alice Cooper was never anybody's clone.
BO DIDDLEY: Bo Diddley 1969
Bubblegum Bo Diddley! It's heresy that this chewy-chewy trifle is my favorite Bo Diddley track, but I am as the Bo Diddley beat made me. And let's be clear: "Bo Diddley 1969" isn't bubblegum just because of its songwriters' identities (bubblevets Bo Gentry and Ritchie Cordell) or that it was a Super K production, like records by the Ohio Express and the 1910 Fruitgum Company; it's bubblegum because it's friggin' bubblegum. And I'm okay with that. Hey baby, I'm back and I'm feelin' fine...!
THE EQUALS: Softly Softly
I have mixed feelings about this song. On the one hand, it's just insanely catchy, maybe the single most infectious track the Equals ever did. And the Equals did a lot of great tracks, including sole U.S. hit "Baby Come Back," the forgotten original of "Police On My Back," and a Bomp! magazine-approved power popper called "I Can See But You Don't Know." So...great!
But the song's lyrics bug me. "Softly Softly" concerns a guy who claims to love his girl Jenny, but he's in imminent danger of losing her because...uh, because she found out he was trying to cheat on her with a hinge-heeled girl named Lucy? My sympathy for this would-be Lothario is limited. Still a catchy song, but the jerk got what he deserved. And he didn't even kiss Lucy.
HARMONIC DIRT: Passport
JUSTINE AND THE UNCLEAN: Vengeance
Every story starts somewhere. The Rum Bar Records single of "Vengeance" was our introduction to the music of Justine and the Unclean in 2020, a track which wasted no time in casting us in its eager thrall. We must obey the will of Justine. Justine's will must be obeyed. This led to more airplay for Justine and the Unclean and associated group Justine's Black Threads, which led us to Justine's involvement with WhistleStop Rock. More airplay. Simone Berk, lead singer on WhistleStop Rock's "Queen Of The Drive-In" single, became aware of us, and began sending music for us to play. Justine started her own Red On Red Records label. Airplay upon airplay. From this spontaneous, interconnected generation, we were able to stuff our playlists with music from Sugar Snow, Kid Gulliver, the Chelsea Curve, Andrea Gillis, the Jacklights, Linnea's Garden, Cold Expectations, Nightspell, Quest For Tuna, and this coming Sunday night's spin of the new single by the Daylilies.
This elements of this story all started with "Vengeance." And it's a happier story than you might think vengeance would bring. Thank you, Justine!
BILL LLOYD: Satellite
The mighty Big Stir Records has partnered with SpyderPop Records to bring some renewed retail focus to some SpyderPop releases that didn't get the attention they deserved on their first go-around. These include Bill Lloyd's lovely 2018 album Working The Long Game, represented here by the ace single "Satellite." The Big Stir-SpyderPop alliance also features stellar work from TIRnRR Fave Raves Danny Wilkerson and Lannie Flowers. And we're gonna play 'em all. It's a crusade, man. We all gotta do our part.
RUMBLE STRIP: Adam West
Rumble Strip is a collaboration between Dave Nachmanoff and TIRnRR's old friend Richard Rossi, servin' up a new five-song EP called Let's Roll. The partnership grew out of For The Record, the simply fantastic John Wicks tribute album that Richard curated last year. Awright, given that genesis, we're fans already. And it certainly doesn't hurt that the EP's single is named after the star of the Batman TV series (prompting me to shout HOLY ARBITRONS! when we played it on Sunday's TIRnRR).
As cool as "Adam West" is, though, Let's Roll's amiable Americana vibe thrives on more than mere novelty. It may not even be my favorite song on the record, but we'll investigate the matter over the course of further Bat-times at this Bat-channel. With or without a Caped Crusader on hand, Richard's words and Dave's music meet in that no-frills friendly diner off the interstate, music for that moment when the waitress smiles at you as she pours your cup o' coffee. I...yes, I think I will have another cup of coffee, thanks, and another piece of pie. Rumble Strip's on the jukebox. All is right with the world.
TOMMY TUTONE: 857-5309/Jenny
A little Byrdsy, a little Stonesy, a little Tommy Tutonesy. See, this is why Hallmark refuses to hire me. Bastards.
But I digress: great song, then and now. And it came up during a recent vacation, when I discovered that my hotel's WiFi password was 8675309. Jenny could not be reached for comment. But I bet she woulda been pissed.
VELOCITY GIRL: I Can't Stop Smiling
My first exposure to this song (and to Velocity Girl in general) came when Rhino Records hired me to write liner notes for the 1997 compilation Poptopia! Power Pop Classics Of The '90s. The good folks at Rhino sent me the tracks, and I had sufficient hubris to suggest (in vain) that Velocity Girl shouldn't be on the comp, because this certainly isn't power pop in any way, shape, or form.
Which doesn't mean I don't like song; I do like it, and I played it on the radio this week, even if I still don't think it fits into any discussion of power pop.
Ah, meaningless labels. What can ya do? Here's what I said about the song in those Poptopia! liners:
"On the more alternative side of pop, Velocity Girl offers a sound that Rolling Stone described as 'haunting yet hummable noise pop.' The group has done a whole passel o' records for Sub Pop, with 'I Can't Stop Smiling' coming to us from 1994's ¡Simpatico! It may not be power pop in the traditional Beatles/Who/Beach Boys/Big Star sense, but it sure is catchy nonetheless."
THE WELL WISHERS: Wonderful Life
I was at Denny's last week--no, I don't care what you think about that--and when I was settling the bill the server joked that my AARP discount represented something good about getting older. I smiled and said, "There's a lot of good about getting older. I saw BANDS...!"
And it's true. I saw the Ramones nine times. I saw the Kinks three times. I saw Prince, David Bowie, KISS, the Animals, the Everly Brothers, Ray Charles, Paul McCartney, the Pretenders, the Runaways, Iggy Pop, the Rolling Stones, Tina Turner, the Replacements, the Fleshtones, the Beach Boys, the Georgia Satellites, the Smithereens, the Monkees, the Searchers, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Ian Hunter, Joe Jackson, Talking Heads, the Clash, Cheap Trick, the Saints, 999, Culture Club, the dB's, the Bangles, Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello and the Attractions, Wang Chung, Regis Philbin, and...it's a long list. (Wait...Regis Philbin?! And Wang Chung?) And it doesn't even get to the records I heard, the comic books I read, the movies I saw, the books I wrapped all around me. The friends. The meals! The love of my life, and the daughter we cherish. I'm okay with being middle-aged. I have health; I don't have as much hair as I wish, sure, but it's been a wonderful life so far.
"Wonderful Life" is also the title of the latest single from the reliable pen of Jeff Shelton and his jangly band the Well Wishers. Sales of the digital single benefit the California Community Foundation's Wildfire Relief Fund, helping families displaced by the devastation of wildfires. Wonderful song, wonderful cause. Pop music doing good in the real world. Folks of any age should appreciate the wonder of that.
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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
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I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl.
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