POP-A-LOOZA! BUBBLE GUM WORLD: The Best Of Buddah Bubblegum

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 look back at how I almost compiled a various-artists bubblegum CD for BMG Europe: Bubble Gum World: The Best Of Buddah Bubblegum.

This unfinished and abandoned gig came about in the aftermath of Goldmine's 1997 publication of "An Informal History Of Bubblegum Music," my extensive retrospective of the chewy-chewy-thick-n-chewy genre. I still regret the combination of my own inexperience and market reality that doomed the CD project. Bubble Gum World had potential to be a very cool compilation.

But that's all Bazooka under the bridge now. You can read a little supplemental bubblegum material in my flight of fancy "The Archies: An American Band," my celebration of the comic book Archie Meets Ramones, Greatest Record Ever Made! spotlights on the Rare Breed's "Beg, Borrow And Steal" and Crazy Elephant's "Gimme Gimme Good Lovin'," and my recollection of how I first encountered the music of the Ohio Express.

A shorter edit of my bubblegum history appeared in the 2001 book Bubblegum Music Is The Naked Truth. About five years ago, I recalled the pleasant experience of being a contributor to that book:

"For the 2001 book Bubblegum Music Is The Naked Truth, I allowed editors Kim Cooper and David Smay to create an edit of my 1997 Goldmine bubblegum history, I re-wrote a history of the Bay City Rollers ("Rollermania: A Hard D-A-Y's Night") that had been my first feature article for Goldmine in 1987, and collaborated with writer Gary Pig Gold on a new piece about the Monkees. I also wrote essential-listening recommendations for the Monkees and Rollers, and contributed ideas for the book's superswell Bubblegum 100 (including such essentials as "Pop Rocks 'n' Pepsi," "The Go-Go's In Their Underwear," "Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots," "Special Guest Bat-Villains," and--of course!--"The Ramones"). It was enormous fun to be involved with this project. 

"When the book was released in August of '01, my This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio co-host Dana and I drove down to New York for the East Coast book release party, and met writer Becky Ebencamp and musicians Tony Levanthal (of the Mockers), Mark Bacino, and Eytan Mirsky. Just missed a chance to meet the Smithereens' drummer Dennis Diken because I was too shy to introduce myself.

"I remember leaving Beauty Bar, where the book release party had been, and driving past a sign for the World Trade Center. The sight of that sign stuck with me for some reason. A few weeks later, the World Trade Center was no more. Some time after that, in the miserable aftermath of 9/11, a radio station downstate wanted some lighter fare to divert everyone from the gnawing ache we all felt inside. So they did a phone interview with me about the book and its frothy subject matter. It was as close to being a star as I'll ever get."

I have another Bubblegum Music Is The Naked Truth memory to share in a near-future Pop-A-Looza post, as well as another unrelated (but also aborted) adventure in slappin' together pop compilations. But for now, the brief saga of an ultimately imaginary CD called Bubble Gum World: The Best Of Buddah Bubblegum provides 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.

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