In the space of just under a year, December 1976 to late in 1977, the Sire Records label was responsible for two simply earth-shattering additions to my music collection. The first was a 2-LP British Invasion compilation, History Of British Rock Vol. 2, a Christmas gift that introduced me to the wonderful world of the Kinks. "All Day And All Of The Night." Mania ensued. I was 16 going on 17, and soon to be a dedicated follower of fashion. At the time, I only knew the Kinks from "Lola." By the spring of '77, they'd become one of my all-time favorite groups.
Over Thanksgiving break of '77, I heard a 45 on Sire Records: "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker" by the Ramones. No other record before or since would ever come close to matching the impact of this one song. Everything in my rockin' pop life was different from that moment forward.
With the passing of Sire Records' president and co-founder Seymour Stein, it seemed imperative that we try to pay tribute to this label that meant so much to us, a label that helped us form and expand our ideas of what rock 'n' roll could be. I'd already planned to continue my month-long celebration of the Ramones' individual albums, with intent to play my # 1 favorite track from each of the group's fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth albums. With that foundation of Ramones set 'n' settled, we just needed to add more from the rich and rewarding Sire archives.
We had no shortage of worthy choices.
In addition to a spin of the Kinks' "All Day And All Of The Night," we honored Sire's contributions to our understanding of rockin' pop history with a selection apiece from the Turtles' double-album best-of Happy Together Again and the seminal various-artists set Nuggets (represented by the 13th Floor Elevators). From there, we let the Sire gems fly freely, with records by Brian Wilson, Talking Heads, the Pretenders, Modern English, the Saints, Tuff Darts, the Replacements, the Greenberry Woods, Madonna, Richard Hell and the Voidoids, Boney M, Christine McVie, the Undertones, the Rezillos, Plastic Bertrand, Soft Cell, the Mighty Lemon Drops, Renaissance, Echo and the Bunnymen, the Flamin' Groovies, the Searchers, Soul Asylum, the English Beat, the Dead Boys, Tegan and Sara, and Madness. And the Paley Brothers, with the Ramones! Come on, let's GO!
There were many more Sire Records we wanted to play, from Radio Birdman to k. d. lang to Johnny Thunders to...it's a long list. Sire was very important to us. Sire will continue to be important to us.
This week, we thread just a few of our many Sire Records favorites among some other rockin' pop treats, old and new. That's a blueprint for what we do every week. We learned that blueprint from something specific we heard decades ago, words of wisdom spoken on a Sire Records release by the Ramones:
This is rock 'n' roll radio. Stay tuned for more rock 'n' roll.
Godspeed, Mr. Stein. And thank you. This is what rock 'n' roll radio sounded like on another Sunday night in Syracuse this week.
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, streaming at SPARK stream, and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. Recent shows are archived at Westcott Radio
You can read all about this show's long and weird history here: Boppin' The Whole Friggin' Planet (The History Of THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO).
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