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 first of two editions of 10 Songs expands to 11 songs, celebrating TIRnRR's 11 most-played artists in 2023. The Countdown show is available as a podcast.
11. LIBRARIANS WITH HICKEYS: Listen, The Snow Is Falling
TIRnRR ends each year/begins the next with a Countdown show, playing back what we played a lot over the course of the preceding twelve months. Our friend Fritz Van Leaven minds our stats, and provides us with two countdown lists, detailing the year's most-played artists and most-played tracks.
For a very long time, the countdown tallies were based solely on the year's accumulated spins, resulting in a number of ties. Fritz thought that was waaaay too clunky, so he instituted a series of tie-breakers to maintain the sort of compelling order a proper countdown needs. That's why the number of tracks included in the countdown--a Top 46 this year, a Top 60 last year, a Top 56 the year before that--varies so much. The tie-breakers provide structure, but we make sure to include all tracks that qualify for the countdown.
The same goes for the artist countdown. This year, our # 11 and # 10 most-played artists received the same number of individual spins, so today's 10 Songs fist-bump huzzah of our most-played acts in 2023 needs to ape Spinal Tap and go to...you know. Eleven is the number. The number is eleven.
With two songs in our most-played tracks countdown (including our # 2 track "Can't Wait 'Till Summer"), Librarians With Hickeys scored some significant TIRnRR spinnin' in 2023. To represent them in our artist countdown, we selected their sublime cover of Yoko Ono's "Listen, The Snow Is Falling."
We're told we can expect new music from Librarians With Hickeys in 2024. It seems pretty likely we'll be playing it. Listen.
10. STEVE STOECKEL: Christine
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It would be accurate (and cool!) to call Steve Stoeckel a friend of this show. Dana and I have been fans for years 'n' years, blasting off from Steve's wonderful work as a member of the Spongetones and proceeding in all directions. We've never met Steve, but somewhere along the way we became on-line pals. We're delighted to play his music, solo and in groups. Steve credits TIRnRR with sparking the creation of his group Pop Co-Op, and he was one of the prime movers behind Waterloo Sunset--Benefit For This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio. Thank you, friend!
The 2023 release of Steve's first solo album The Power Of And gave us MORE Steve Stoeckel to play. So we played it. That's what friends are for.
(Plus, it's really good. That doesn't hurt either.)
9. THE GRIP WEEDS: Rainbow Quartz
The Grip Weeds made their first-ever Syracuse appearance in October, and we're still buzzin'. Whatta band! They've been TIRnRR perennials for a quarter of a century, and that ain't gonna stop. The Grip Weeds' 2022 all-covers album DiG has been a very frequent playlist resource for Dana and I both, and the DiG cover of the Byrds' "Lady Friend" was a shoo-in for the list of our ten most-played tracks.
We like good covers, and we like 'em a lot. Still, we're hankerin' to hear more Grip Weeds originals. To represent the Grip Weeds on our most-played artists countdown, we reached back to the Grip Weeds' 2015 album How I Won The War and an irresistible track called "Rainbow Quartz." But make no mistake: Whether it's a cover or an original, we dig the Grip Weeds.
8. THE PRETENDERS: Night In My Veins
One of TIRnRR's strengths is that its playlists are built by two people, 50-50, rather than by just one. Dana and I have similar ideas about what fits our chosen format, but the specifics are programmed by a melting pot of our respective points of view. Dana programs the annual Dana's Funky Soul Pit by himself. I generally solo-program one playlist a year. And Fritz, of course, does the Countdown. Otherwise? Half Dana. Half Carl. I play a record. Dana plays a record. Back and forth. This is rock 'n' roll radio.
I love the Pretenders. I saw the original lineup in 1980, bought the singles and albums, and my affection for the group has never wavered. Having completed the draft of my long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), I'm trying to compose a celebration of the Pretenders' "Back On The Chain Gang" for a (very) theoretical GREM! sequel. I'm a Pretenders fan.
That said, the Pretenders' airplay on this show is almost always one of Dana's picks. No reason why, and I'm delighted to hear 'em, including the selections Dana's been playing from the Pretenders' fab 2023 album Relentless. Great, great stuff, and all well worthy of a home on the radio.
To represent the Pretenders on our artists countdown, the initial pick was "Cuban Slide," a superb non-album track from 1979 which was just too long to squeeze into an already jam-packed show. Instead, 1994's terrific "Night In My Veins" served as an equally able choice.
7. THE KINKS: Who'll Be The Next In Line
The House Band! The Kinks are the only act to ever take over the entirety of the programming for an episode of TIRnRR, and we actually did TWO all-Kinks shows. I don't think we played them as much as we should have in 2023...but we still played 'em often enough to secure # 7 on the list of our most-played acts last year.
I betcha they'll place at least a little higher in 2024. Who'll be the next in line? We'll see.
6. JUNIPER: Picture Of You
Teen singer Juniper is for damned sure no stranger to TIRnRR's playlist. But her 2023 release She Steals Candy was just huge for us last year, even more so than any of her previous TIRnRR Picks T' Click. Two of She Steals Candy's sweet treats were among our go-tos in '23: The wonderful "Ride Between The Cars" (represented on the countdown by its AM mix) and her incredible cover of Amy Rigby's "Baby Doll" (our # 3 track). Also from She Steals Candy, Juniper's cover of Delbert McClinton's "Picture Of You" provides a perfect, wistful ache to represent her as our sixth most-played artist in 2023.
5. THE MUFFS: Sad Tomorrow
The Muffs entered our custom-made radio world in the early '90s, when their eponymous debut album was released. This fell in between the sudden demise of the first Dana and Carl radio series We're Your Friends For Now in 1992 and the start of whatever the hell it is we've done on TIRnRR from December 27, 1998 to date. I reviewed The Muffs for Goldmine, and I fell particularly hard for its track "Saying Goodbye." Shortly after its release, "Saying Goodbye" became the first Muffs track ever played on a Dana and Carl radio show, appearing on an episode of our '90s gig between gigs Radio Peace, the series of shows we recorded on cassette (a weird story that's part of our weird history).
And when we signed on for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1 on 12/27/1998, "Sad Tomorrow" (from the Muffs' second album Blonder And Blonder) was part of our first TIRnRR playlist. It remains a part of TIRnRR's DNA, as does most of the Muffs' under-celebrated cranky catalogue of wonder.
4. THE MONKEES: Love Is Only Sleeping
The Monkees may be the most unfairly overlooked and underappreciated superstar artists of the rock 'n' roll era. If that seems like a contradiction in terms, consider the bickering but congruent sets of facts that the Monkees were enormously popular but critically reviled in their day. The legacy of Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork continues to attract newer fans and delight long-time believers as well, even as know-nothing pundits deny the group's merit and The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame sticks its fingers in its ears (and its head up its ass) and murmurs Neener-Neener-CAN'T HEAR YOU! whenever someone makes the logical case that it's way past time to induct the Monkees.
TIRnRR will continue to give the Monkees their due. And for as long as we have a show, it's very unlikely there will ever be a year when the Monkees won't be among our most-played acts.
As for the song we selected to represent the Monkees at # 4, here's a li'l something from a post called "Once Upon A Once-In-A-While: My 25 Favorite Monkees Tracks:"
"I've written elsewhere of my discovery of the Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd. and Head albums as a high school senior in the Spring of 1977. I had already heard 'Love Is Only Sleeping' in TV reruns, but it really hit me for the first time in '77. Lyrically, this Barry Mann-Cynthia Weil song may be about female sexual dysfunction (more so than Sandie Shaw's deceptively-titled 'Girl Don't Come' anyway), but it's so much more than that. It's a tale of hope. It's a tale of frustration and despair conquered by passion and persistence, sweet deliverance earned and embraced. Chip Douglas' bass and Nesmith's guitar slice, as Michael's lead vocal shimmers with cool, calm confidence, all made breathier and more inviting by harmony from Dolenz. Love is only sleeping. Try it! It can work for you, too!"
3. THE BEATLES: Magical Mystery Tour
Roll up! I think Dana would agree that neither this radio show nor pop music itself could have happened for us in the same essential and meaningful way if not for the Beatles. I'm just old enough to remember the rush of Beatlemania in 1964, and I still remember how they were simply synonymous with pop when I was four years old.
Six decades later: They still are.
2. THE FLASHCUBES: Alone In My Room
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I'm not 100 % sure, but I'm pretty sure we played every track from the Flashcubes' 2023 album Pop Masters at least once last year; if so, it's probably the only album that can make that claim. Two of its tracks made our Top Ten. A third, the Flashcubes' cover of Dwight Twilley's "Alone In My Room," serves to represent the 'Cubes as our second most-played artist of the year.
The Monkees. The Beatles. The Flashcubes. If you know this show, that makes it pretty clear who are # 1 most-played act has gotta be.
1. THE RAMONES: Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue
Inevitable. My book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones was published in 2023, and while the Ramones are gonna be among our top acts each 'n' every year anyway, there was never any doubt they'd be our # 1 group this time out. The American Beatles. The greatest American rock 'n' roll group of all time. The Ramones at # 1? Obviously.
To represent the Ramones on our artist countdown, we were originally going to use their invigmoratin' cover of Tom Waits' "I Don't Want To Grow Up." It is, after all, The Greatest Record Ever Made!, and a righteous statement of intent. BUT! We needed something shorter, and went instead with a different statement of intent. "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue."
Because goals are important.
And thus this recap of our most-played artists in 2023 concludes with the Ramones. Tomorrow, a recap of our ten most-played tracks will begin with the Ramones. Hey-ho, let's go.
If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar.
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/
If it's true that one book leads to another, my next book will be The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). Stay tuned. Your turn is coming.
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 about our history here.
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