BOPPIN' PLAYS THE HITS! My 25 All-Time Most-Viewed Posts

Above image by Tyrone Biljan, courtesy of 13thdimension.com

My clinically stupid commitment to keep a daily blog commenced on January 18, 2016. I haven't missed a day yet. 

Along the way, a few of my posts have found an audience. Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do) passed the one million clicks mark in January, and continues to amass views on its own modest scale. Sure, some posts draw the cyber equivalent of bupkis. Some draw thousands.

These are the twenty-five Boppin' posts that have drawn the most traffic. The list is based on what Blogger's logistics tell me, and comparing viewer stats for each individual post. The result does not match what Blogger lists publicly in the Popular Posts columns on the blog page itself. 

Stupid algorithms. 

I don't know which list is more accurate, but the list I've compiled below is based on what analytics claim as accumulated clicks for each post. Right or wrong: Let's BOP!

HONORABLE MENTION: THE KINKS and QUICK TAKES FOR K

Two posts in my series The Everlasting First fell short of making our countdown, but there's an asterisk that would have placed them. Both The Everlasting First: Quick Takes For K [music edition] (March 3, 2017) and The Everlasting First: The Kinks (March 6, 2018) would have been Top 40 posts on their own. But they were originally a single post, with the Kinks bit the featured part. I revamped the format for The Everlasting First in 2018, retroactively separating main features from Quick Takes. If I hadn't done that, the combined stats would have lifted the original Kinks plus Quick Takes post to # 8 overall.

25. VIRTUAL TICKET STUB GALLERY: THE RAMONES, THE RUNAWAYS, and THE FLASHCUBES (1/25/2017)

24. THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! The Dave Clark Five, "Any Way You Want It" [1/10/17]

23. THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT! THE HISTORY OF POWER POP [2/25/2016]

22. SINGERS, SUPERHEROES, AND SONGS ON THE RADIO: My Life In Pop Culture, The 1960s [4/2/2016]

21. ONCE UPON A ONCE-IN-A-WHILE: My 25 Favorite Monkees Tracks [9/13/2017]

20. ON BROADWAY [6/17/2016]

19. HE BUYS EVERY ROCK 'N' ROLL BOOK ON THE MAGAZINE STANDS, PART 3: Power Pop Means Pop With POWER! (Not Some Whimpering Simp In A Beatles Haircut) [3/9/2018]

18. GAME SHOWS, PART TWO: MTV'S REMOTE CONTROL [3/8/2018]

17. MAIN STREET RECORDS, BROCKPORT, NY [1/26/2016]

16. THE MONKEES BRING THE SUMMER: A GIRL I KNEW SOMEWHERE [5/4/2016]

15. AMAZING HEROES: Who's...WHO?! Lesser-Known Characters In The DC Comics Universe [6/3/2016]

14. PAT DiNIZIO [a guest tribute by RICH FIRESTONE] [12/14/2017]

Pat DiNizio, State Theater, Falls Church, VA. January, 2012. Photo courtesy Laura Lynn Music Photography

13. THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! The Searchers, "Hearts In Her Eyes" [3/14/2018]

12. MY ALL-TIME HOT 100 [With An Asterisk] [9/11/2018]

11. MOVIES IN MY MIND [BEHIND THE SCENES]: The Fictional Players In JUKEBOX EXPRESS [2/15/2018]

(NOTE: This was an annotation for a previous flight of fancy called Jukebox Express; the annotation drew considerably more clicks than its source material did.)

10. THE MONKEES: Me And Magdalena [5/20/2016]

9. THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! Badfinger, "Baby Blue" [10/27/2016]

(NOTE: This was the very first entry in my long-running Greatest Record Ever Made! series, dedicated to the notion that an infinite number of tracks can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. And they've GOTTA take turns! They're records! That's what records do!

You see a few other GREM entries sprinkled within this Top 25, and there have been dozens of others that have appeared on this blog, and still a bunch more that have not. I have written a book called The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1); that book is in the hands of a potential publisher. As always: Here's hopin'. And I guess that's all I have to say.)

8. THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! Baron Daemon and the Vampires, "The Transylvania Twist" [10/31/2017]

7. THE MONKEES: GOOD TIMES! review [5/26/2016]

6. THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! The First Class, "Beach Baby" [2/24/2017]

5. THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! The Smithereens, "Behind The Wall Of Sleep" [7/10/2019]

4. THE FLAMIN' GROOVIES, PART 1: Red-Hot & Groovy [5/26/2018]

(NOTE: I've always thought it weird that this introductory piece got so much more traction than PART 2, which was my 1993 interview with the Groovies' Cyril Jordan.)

3. THE MONKEES: Welcome To The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame [9/10/2016]

2. BATMAN MEETS THE MONKEES [4/14/2017]

1. AN INFORMAL HISTORY OF BUBBLEGUM MUSIC [7/30/2016]

And let me tell ya: This wasn't even close, and it doesn't even account for additional clicks from when I presented the piece in serialized form. This bubblegum history, which I originally wrote for Goldmine magazine in 1997, is certifiably my greatest hit. An edited version also appeared in the 2001 book Bubblegum Music Is The Naked Truth.

BONUS TRACKS!!

A good retrospective plays the hits. A great retrospective adds deeper cuts. These are a few of my favorite Boppin' posts that bubbled under--in some case WAY under--our Top 25:

THE FLASHCUBES: A Brighter Light In My Mind [11/23/2016]

THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! Material Issue, "Kim The Waitress" [8/1//2018]

THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! Eytan Mirsky, "This Year's Gonna Be Our Year" [1/17/2019]

THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! Stevie Wonder, "I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever" [7/21/2020]

I've Got The Music In Me (And That's Where It's Gonna Stay) [1/21/2017]

And what may be my # 1 favorite:

The Road To GOLDMINE [12/20/2016]

Your Boppin' may vary. But there's always tomorrow. And the next day. And the next....

My first book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones was published in 2023. I don't think it would have happened if not for this blog. Will The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) be next? Stay tuned....

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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