10 Songs is a weekly list of ten songs that happen to be on my mind at the moment. The lists are usually dominated by songs played on the previous Sunday 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 # 1172, the countdown of the 56 most-played tracks from our This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio compilation albums. This show is available as a podcast.
One of the many, many services provided to you by This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl was the act of returning the Smithereens' "Got Me A Girl" to retail.
You're welcome.
"Got Me A Girl" originally appeared on the Smithereens' first-ever release, 1980's Girls About Town EP. Since then, it was effectively out of print until we secured permission to use it on This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4. We weren't able to include it on the album's digital version, so until the Girls About Town tracks see some sort of (long-overdue) reissue elsewhere, our Volume 4 CD is the only place to find it outside of the original vinyl.
We aims t'please. Get it?
JUSTINE AND THE UNCLEAN: Vengeance [Volume 5]
We are insanely--and justifiably!--proud of each 'n' every one of our TIRnRR compilations. Sure, we're as humility-challenged as they come, but I don't think this is mere hubris talkin' here. The first two volumes are very good, and we really started hitting our stride with Volume 3, as Kool Kat Musik gave us free reign to wreak whatever havoc hadda be wrought. The albums have gotten even better as we went on. Yeah, that means 2022's This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 5 was our best, and I'll put that one up against any pop compilation ever done by anybody. If we never do another TIRnRR album, we will have gone out on the highest note possible.
That said, Volume 5 didn't have great representation in this week's countdown of our most-played TIRnRR compilation tracks. A mere four--FOUR!--Volume 5 tracks have accrued enough spins over the years to make this Top 56. But we'll be playing them for years yet to come.
Justine and the Unclean's Volume 5 contribution "Vengeance" has become a TIRnRR Fave Rave, initially as a single from Rum Bar Records, subsequently as part of our ongoing fealty to Justine Covault's own Red On Red Records label, and of course as one of the many highlights on This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 5. Sweet cookie! "Vengeance" remains its own reward.
RONNIE DARK: Sarah [Volume 3]
Ronnie Dark, host of The Wax Museum With Ronnie Dark Sunday nights on Syracuse's WSIV, is a musician and DJ whose own rock 'n' roll interests kinda jibe with those of your Dana and your Carl. Ronnie's song "Sarah" is such a delightful, sorta bubblegummy pop confection, and it wouldn't be a stretch to imagine Ronnie's all-time favorite group Paul Revere and the Raiders performing "Sarah" circa "Cinderella Sunshine" or "Mr. Sun, Mr. Moon." Catchy as anything ever.
TIRnRR ALL-STARS: Waterloo Sunset [Waterloo Sunset--Benefit For This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio]
We have the best supporters a little mutant radio show could ever want. In 2019, some of those friends got together to organize a surprise compilation album to benefit TIRnRR. They gathered some stellar tracks and assembled 'em on our behalf, and toplined the collection with a new collaborative cover of one of THE greatest pop songs of all time. Let's look back at my blurb announcing the project:
"This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl has friends. A lot of our friends have a lot of talent. Now, some of those friends are putting their talent to use to help us out.
"It's no secret that TIRnRR has always teetered on the brink of oblivion, perpetually cash-strapped but buoyed by the support of our listeners. To raise some much-needed money for our ongoing radio crusade, Steve Stoeckel of the legendary pop group the Spongetones concocted a plan: round up some of his (and our) musical super-friends to record and release a new track, with all proceeds going to benefit Syracuse Community Radio/SPARK!, the community radio station that lets Dana and I take over the airwaves for three hours every Sunday night. Radio's job is to sell records. Now, a record would sell radio!"So out went the call, to one and to all, and Steve assembled his own power pop Avengers. He started with his bandmates in Pop Co-Op (Bruce Gordon, Joel Tinnel, and Stacy Carson), then roped in Eytan Mirsky, Teresa Cowles, Irene Peña, Keith Klingensmith, Dan Pavelich, and Rich Firestone to form his Magnificent Ten. And they pooled their super powers to craft a brand-new cover of The Greatest Record Ever Made.
"'The Greatest Record Ever Made' has been a long-standing fixture on TIRnRR. An infinite number of songs can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. We've played a lot of worthy GREM candidates over the years, and I'm writing a book about some of them. But only one Greatest Record Ever Made could be the right GREM for these TIR'N'RR Allstars, a bridge over a dirty old river, rolling into the night.
"Yeah. It had to be a song by TIRnRR's House Band. It had to be the Kinks. It had to be 'Waterloo Sunset.'
THE BLONDES: Suzi Quatro [Volume 2]
As great as this track from the Blondes' Swedish Heat album is, "Suzi Quatro" was not the Blondes track originally proposed for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 2. Jeremy Morris, whose JAM Recordings label put out our first two compilations, suggested we use "I Just Wanna Stay At Home." That's a simply fantastic track, and it woulda been right at home on a TIRnRR collection. But...c'mon! We had an alternate choice, a chance to go with an invigmoratin' number named after my # 1 teenage rock 'n' roll crush. What do you think we did?
I say thee DUH.
THE COWSILLS: She Said To Me [Volume 2]
Yeah, the Cowsills gave us permission to use one of their very best tracks on a TIRnRR compilation. What have you accomplished lately?
The track in question is "She Said To Me," originally heard on the Cowsills' fabulous, fabulous 1998 album Global. As noted several paragraphs north: an infinite number of songs can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. And they're records, so taking turns is what they do. "She Said To Me" earns a chapter in my long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1):
"Why? Because the Cowsills' Global may well be the best album of the '90s. And if it's not, I can't think of what else could be. Decades later, I continue to be annoyed that no major label would deign to release this wonderful record...
"...There is a magic point in art, in creation, where our pain becomes redemption, our sorrow turns to strength, our devastating losses flow like a river into our determination to endure. The Cowsills family has had to withstand so much loss, including the deaths of brothers Bill, Barry, and Richard. And still their music sounds so uplifting, so...right. Voices join. Harmony heals. A family band. God bless this family and their band."
HELLO HELEN: Fall's Far Away [Volume 1]
Unsung Swedish superstars! It bugs me that hardly anyone knows about Hello Helen, a terrific pop combo whose beguiling self-released album Greetings From Sweden remains too obscure to even rate a listing on discogs.com. The fact that the members of Hello Helen regarded airplay on our little weekly dog and pony show as a career highlight tells you all you need to know about how under-appreciated this group is. We included "Fall's Far Away" on This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 1, but it's far from the only great-great-great-great-GREAT!! track on Greetings From Sweden. Track this down if you can. Hell, if you own a record label, track Hello Helen down if you can, and reissue this lost pop gem. Let's make these unsung Swedish superstars, y'know...sung.
THE FLASHCUBES: No Promise [Volume 4]
Syracuse's own power pop powerhouse. Regular readers of this blog and listeners of this radio show have probably gotten hip to the fact that I dig the Flashcubes. "No Promise" gets a chapter in The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), and I wrote specifically about its inclusion on This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4 right here. The 'Cubes also rate a couple of mentions in my forthcoming Ramones book, and I'll have more to say about them later this year.
That's a promise.
EYTAN MIRSKY: This Year's Gonna Be Our Year [Volume 5]
The Greatest Record Ever Made!
MANNIX: Highway Lines [Volume 3]
I woulda been absolutely shocked if our # 1 most-played TIRnRR compilation track was anything other than "Highway Lines" by Mannix. "Highway Lines" was our most-played track in 2001, and it's never been very far from our playlists since then. The track simmers and burns with the intensity of a relationship making its doomed last stand, and its lyrical dovetailing of passion pursued and deferred with the radio serving as companion and confidante make it a natural pick for whatever the hell it is we do on our show.
Radio and our deepest, most personal longings. Here's a bit from the Mannix chapter in The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1):
"There are times when the songs on the radio seem to know us better than we know ourselves. That's why we still need the radio.
"Started seein' double, but no time to check the trouble
I see two of him kissin' two of you
Another saga 'bout another love gone wrong
And the DJ knows what I'm goin' though
"How much can it mean to spin a few records on the radio every Sunday night?
"I can't speak for anyone else, but I'll tell you that the opportunity to share a passion for pop music means a lot to me. That appeal is part of the reason why I first wanted to write about rockin' pop music decades ago as a teen in the '70s. Wait, wait--"write about rockin' pop music?" No. I wanted to write on behalf of rockin' pop music, to serve an agenda, to spread a freakin' Gospel of jangle and buzz, hooks, harmonies, guitar, bass, drums, heart and soul, verse and chorus, amplified sounds, life itself played to the rhythm of a tambourine. I wanted to tell people about the music I liked. I figured there had to be someone else out there that liked it, too...
"...The same need to share this passion led me to radio. There was never, ever any place for me in commercial radio. I didn't want to play what someone else told me to play; I knew what records needed to be played. In the '80s, I met a friend named Dana who also knew what records needed to be played. Together, we invented a format. It's nominally a power pop format, but it isn't really that. It's not any strict format defined from the outside. The format is called This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio.
"We spin a few records every Sunday night. We spin old tunes and new tunes, stuff you know, stuff you might not know. How much can it mean to spin a few records on the radio every Sunday night? To me, man, it means more than words can say...
"...I'm a fan of Mannix. Dana had the group's 2001 concept album Come To California, and I first heard 'Highway Lines' at the same time that our listeners first heard it. I was blown away. That feeling again. Listening to Joe Mannix sing of driving across the country, his engine crying and his tranny dying, passing Delaware, Baltimore and Philadelphia in a last-ditch desperation play to salvage an already-lost love, the radio his only friend...man, it's like 'Radar Love' given depth and heartbreak.
"Yes I got your letterAnd I guess you thought it better
Just to tell me there was another one
But I can't make a stand
With a pen or phone in hand
So baby here I come
Highway lines
Gonna get me back home to you
Highway lines
Gonna have to get me through tonight
"This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio listeners loved it, and they still do. The radio's on, with another saga 'bout another love gone wrong. Joe Mannix says the DJ knows what he's going through. We say Mannix knows what we're going through. How much can that mean? Everything.
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
If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider supporting this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon, or by visiting CC's Tip Jar. Additional products and projects are listed here.
Carl's new book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones is now available for preorder, courtesy of the good folks at Rare Bird Books. Gabba Gabba YAY!!
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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