I found this in my draft files. Evidence indicates I wrote it in 2021, and I know it repurposes some parts from previous posts (including an essay I wrote for the first issue of Big Stir magazine, and a 10 Songs entry about Sorrows). But I don't recall this appearing anywhere, and I don't have any firm recollection of my intentions (other than the righteous intention of celebrating the mighty Big Stir Records).
I wonder if Big Stir's Rex Broome and Christina Bulbenko asked me (and other rockin' pop pundits) for promo blurbs, and I responded with this. Whatever its genesis, it seems like I should share it here. Go, Big Stir!
Artists create the music. DJs and pundits proclaim the music, so that fans can embrace the music. And, for your dancing pleasure, the record labels bring the music to us.
In the history of your ongoing hit parade and the hit machine behind it, there have been good guys and bad guys (and in-between guys). Among the good guys are Rex Broome and Christina Bulbenko, curators and commandants of the fab SoCal imprint Big Stir Records. With Irene Peña overseeing the Big Stir Singles series, these combined forces provide superpure pop for right-now people. Big Stir is but one of a whole bunch of good-guy labels performing this service for us, alongside names (and friends) like Kool Kat Musik, Futureman, Rum Bar, Red On Red, Jem, JAM, SpyderPop, and other worthies too numerous to mention, but each doing laudable work and each deserving of our appreciation and support. Music is pretty near THE most fun thing to spend money on, and I'm happy to spend my money with the good guys.
Enthusiasm isn't everything. But nothing of value endures without it.
It's not the only thing, and possibly--probably--not the most important thing. It's not a substitute for inspiration, for execution, for creativity, talent, pure mojo. It doesn't magically make you able to play guitar, or compose sonnets, or paint your masterpiece. It doesn't really make you more attractive to persons of potential prurient interest. Nonetheless, it feeds all of the above. It can drive the creator. It can engage the creator's fans. Enthusiasm is its own reward.
If you're a fan of anything--any damned thing--you understand. And you appreciate opportunities to revel in your enthusiasm. Let your freak flag fly!
Rex Broome and Christina Bulbenko deserve all the accolades our pop world can offer for the Big Stir Digital Singles Series, an essential weekly barrage of virtual 45s, A-side and B-side. And they merit something unto Sainthood for gathering all of those digital sides as Big Stir Singles collections. For curmudgeons like me, each wave of the Big Stir Singles CDs is a Godsend, preserving ephemeral mp3 files in physical form. As a DJ, I get the digital singles for airplay; but I buy the Big Stir Singles CDs for myself.
And they're good! That conclusion is not as obvious as it may seem. Rex and Christina know their stuff, and their level of quality control is astounding. Each Big Stir single is worth having, and what started out as disparate, unrelated tracks become something amazing in collected form.
This may come as a shock to some of you, but the history of the record industry is littered with examples of avarice, treachery, betrayal, and heartbreak. Yeah, I was surprised to learn that, too. In the late '70s, a New York City-based group called the Poppees plied their British Invasion-influenced popcraft on stage and on vinyl. I recall buying their Bomp! Records 45 "Jealousy"/"She's Got It" on a 1979 trip downstate; I saw the Flashcubes at a Bowery club called Gildersleeves (where I bought the 'Cubes' then-new single "Wait Till Next Week" directly from the song's author Gary Frenay), and visited my friend Jay at Stony Brook (where a jaunt to Smithtown Mall included snagging Poppees and Siouxsie and the Banshees 45s at Sam Goody). I hadn't heard either the Poppees or Siouxsie singles prior to purchase, but I dug 'em both.
By 1980, the Poppees had evolved into Sorrows, who were less overtly Beatley, with a goal of competing with the Knack or the Romantics rather than with, I dunno, the Rutles. Sorrows signed to the CBS-associated label Pavillion. The group's debut LP Teenage Heartbreak featured a killer title tune, and if the record didn't set any new sales landmarks, it served notice that Sorrows could be prime power pop contenders.
So: second album! Great! The suits at Pavillion call in legendary producer Shel Talmy, veteran overseer of certified '60s classics by the Who, the Kinks, the Easybeats, and the Creation, and that shoulda been a match made at the Marquee or Radio Caroline.
Didn't quite work out that way.
The resulting album, 1981's Love Too Late, was not at all the record Sorrows wanted to make. Label interference, significant creative differences, the copious use of session players (against the actual band's will)...let's let it go at that. Success did not follow. Whether a consequence of evil intent or inept execution, nothing screws up the best interests of music and artists with greater overall mishegas than a lousy record label.
In 2021, Sorrows have aligned with a good record label--a great record label--in Big Stir. Under Big Stir's aegis, Sorrows have gone back to the original blueprint and remade Love Too Late as it should have been: as an actual Sorrows album. I'm generally not a fan of a band remaking its old material, but Love Too Late--The Real Album is a stellar exception to that.
The history of the record industry is littered with examples of injustice. Every once in a while, there's an example of justice served. It's never too late for love.
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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