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 show draws exclusively from the playlist for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1187. This show is available as a podcast.
THE RAMONES: Sheena Is A Punk Rocker
Because New York City really has it all, I'm gonna be there TODAY for a 6:30 pm in-store appearance at Generation Records, 210 Thompson Street in the Village. See, NOW New York City really has it all! Sort of. I'll be at Generation to talk about my new book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones, and I hope some of my NYC-area pals can show up to keep me company. It might even be a real cool time.
Anyway, this is a good excuse to open both the show and this week's 10 Songs with another spin of "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker," the record that changed my life, and the greatest record ever made, and a big underlying part of the case I presented when the Ramones were inducted into The Power Pop Hall Of Fame. Maybe I'll talk a little bit about that at Generation tonight.
MARVIN GAYE: Ain't That Peculiar
When I started this cockamamie daily blog in January of 2016, one of the earliest posts was a reprise of an article I wrote for Goldmine about a decade before that. "Rock The Coin Right Into The Slot: The Definitive Rock 'n' Roll Jukebox" was an attempt to to list the 100 U.S. 45s that could stock a hypothetical definitive rockin' pop jukebox, and one of those chosen singles was "Ain't That Peculiar" by Marvin Gaye. In a subsequent post, I offered this explanation/disclaimer for selecting this particular record:
And there probably isn't another fan in the world who wouldn't have selected "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" or "What's Goin' On" or one of Gaye's duets with Tammi Terrell over "Ain't That Peculiar." Ain't that...y'know?
I do believe "Ain't That Peculiar" is prime jukebox material, but in retrospect I should have gone with the searing heartbreak of "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" instead, at least for the jukebox. Nonetheless, "Ain't That Peculiar" sounds great in this week's playlist.
And peculiar or not, my paid supporters will get to see an otherwise-unpublished celebration of "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" (from my long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! [Volume 1]) this Saturday. If you would also like to see it, you can become a patron of this blog for a mere $2 a month.
Jukeboxes, radio playlists, and greatest records ever made. An infinite number, as long as they take turns. I heard that through...the usual word-of-mouth means. Peculiar? Your grapevine my vary.
DANNY THE K: Roller Derby Girl
Our regular listeners know Dan Kopko from his stellar work with the Shang Hi Los and the Peppermint Kicks. Now, assuming the nom de bop of Danny the K, our esteemed Mr. Kopko has a solo album, Cigarettes & Silhouettes, And Other Songs, due soon from the irresistible force known as Rum Bar Records. That album's advance single "Roller Derby Girl" hip-checks its way into the playlist this week, with more to come. Let's roll.
ROCKAWAY BITCH: I Wanna Be Sedated
CHICKS SINGIN' RAMONES SONGS! Singin' 'em well, too. This is the fifth time out of the last six weeks that the Carbona-huffin' splendor of Rockaway Bitch has bludgeoned its way onto the TIRnRR airwaves. And it's high time something from RB lead singer Patti Rothberg's own superb catalog also made a reappearance here. We'll play Patti solo and with Rockaway Bitch next week.
THE 5th DIMENSION: Don't Cha Hear Me Callin' To Ya
This track from the soundtrack of the dazzling documentary Summer Of Soul captures a live performance by the 5th Dimension, and it sizzles--sizzles--in a way the studio version never quite matched.
STEVE STOECKEL: Mod Girl
"Mod Girl" is a very cool track from Steve Stoeckel's current Big Stir Records release The Power Of And. We dig this the most ut, but we're never sure if we wanna program the fab album version or its equally groovy unreleased a cappella mix, which highlights the amazing backing vocals of Jamie Hoover and Elena Rogers. Oooooo--sublime! That alternate version really needs a general issue. Steve! Rex! Christina! Mod girls AND Mod boys! THE WORLD IS WAITING!
Meanwhile, we are going with the album track on this show this time. The a cappella mix will return in a near-future playlist. Can't go wrong either way.
SUZI QUATRO: I May Be Too Young
The Greatest Record Ever Made!
MICKEY LEIGH'S MUTATED MUSIC: It Felt Like Love
We have not played Mickey Leigh's work to the extent we oughtta. I mean, we have programmed a few different tracks by his old combo the Rattlers here and there: "On The Beach," "Livin' Alone," "For Johnny's Entertainment," "What Keeps Your Heart Beatin'?," and their cover of the Nightcrawlers' "Little Black Egg." Sibling Rivalry (which was Mickey and his brother Joey Ramone, covering Blodwyn Pig's "See My Way") has received the plurality of our Mickey Leigh spins over the years. But we should be doing more.
And we're gonna. I just purchased Variants Of Vibe, a 2022 album by Mickey Leigh's Mutated Music, and it joins my copy of Sibling Rivalry's In A Family Way and the CD reissue of the Rattlers' Rattled! I snagged in Berkeley in 1999. Variants Of Vibe is quite good, and it makes its TIRnRR debut with a wonderfully punchy tune called "It Felt Like Love." Feels like we should be playing it.
THE FLASHCUBES FEATURING THE PALEY BROTHERS: Come Out And Play
The Paley Brothers should have been huge, but I don't remember hearing any of their great stuff contemporaneously to their release in the '70s. The only Paleys track I knew at the time was their outtasight collaboration with the Ramones on a sugar-frosted amphetamine cover of Ritchie Valens' "Come On Let's Go," introduced to me via its appearance on the soundtrack to the Ramones' 1979 cinematic masterpiece Rock 'n' Roll High School.
I first heard the original of the Paleys' 1978 gem "Come Out And Play" when it appeared as the title tune for a Rhino Records various-artists power pop compilation in 1993. That collection also just happened to offer the CD debut of Syracuse's own power pop powerhouse the Flashcubes, a group that remains up there with the Beatles and the Ramones as my personal Top O' The Pops.
So yeah, obviously TIRnRR likes to play this triumphant team-up of the Paleys and the 'Cubes, remaking "Come Out And Play," takin' a rad song and makin' it (even) better. It's on the new Flashcubes album Pop Masters, due this summer from Big Stir Records. We're playin' it. Come out and play, friends. Come out and play.
THE RAMONES: Touring
Touring is never boring. Oh! That reminds me!
IN-PERSON EVENT TODAY!!! June 29
On June 29 at 6:30 pm--hey, that's TODAY!--I will be making an in-store appearance at GENERATION RECORDS, 210 Thompson Street in NYC on behalf of my new book GABBA GABBA HEY! A CONVERSATION WITH THE RAMONES. The book contains my 1994 interviews with Joey, Johnny, Marky, and C.J., which were cited by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as essential reading. I'll be at Generation to chat with fellow Ramones fans, talk about the book, the interviews, and how the music of the Ramones impacted my life. If you are in the New York area today, I would love to see you at Generation Records. Hey-ho, let's GO!
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, courtesy of the good folks at Rare Bird Books. Gabba Gabba YAY!! https://rarebirdlit.com/gabba-gabba-hey-a-conversation-with-the-ramones-by-carl-cafarelli/
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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