An infinite number of tracks can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Today, this is THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE!
A simple goal, and a difficult goal. Achieving it is the stuff pop dreams are made of.
For some, the dream itself may seem boorish, even mercenary. After all, music is art. And art must exist for the sake of art.
But what if art can be popular? What if the sights and sounds and ideas and emotions, the flames of creative sparks, the inspirations that reach us and affect us in ways beyond the mere commercial...can also be commercial?
In his novel Timequake (which I have not yet read), Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. writes, "I say in speeches that a plausible mission of artists is to make people appreciate being alive just a little bit. I am then asked if I know of any artists who pulled that off. I reply, 'The Beatles did.' "
The Beatles did. And the young men who would become the Raspberries noticed, and responded in kind. Their lives, their careers, grew from that appreciation. Life is what happens. Art is a big part of what makes it...well, living. Play on.
In the '60s, Eric Carmen, Wally Bryson, Dave Smalley, and Jim Bonfanti were playing in rock 'n' roll combos in Cleveland, most notably in the Choir (which included Wally, Dave, and Jim) and Cyrus Erie (which had Eric, and then it also had Wally when he split from the Choir). They wanted hit records, like their heroes the Beatles, the Who, the Small Faces, and the Beach Boys. This Buckeye fab four joined forces. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. YEAH! Meet the Raspberries!
That's "Raspberries" with or without the definite article. The members of the band insisted they were just RASPBERRIES!, their name inspired by an expletive spoken in Our Gang short films. I confess I remain conflicted about honoring the group's wish versus honoring my own memory of being a twelve-year-old pop fan listening to AM Top 40 in 1972, and hearing a new song that, yeah, made me appreciate being alive. The DJ said it was by the Raspberries.
The Raspberries had a hit record. I heard it on the radio.
The Raspberries had two hit records on the radio in '72: "Go All The Way" and "I Wanna Be With You." Both were monumental in my ears, in my world, and in my life, I loved them all. In '73, Syracuse's WOLF-AM also played the Raspberries' great single "Tonight;" elsewhere around the country, though, it was not a hit record, and few--very few--heard it on the radio.
I wasn't following the rock press at the time. As much as I loved--loved--the Raspberries, I only knew what my radio taught me. I did not know of the Raspberries' albums--Raspberries, Fresh, and Side 3, the respective homes of "Go All The Way," "I Wanna Be With You," and "Tonight"--nor did I know of other attempted hits "Let's Pretend" (which actually charted much higher nationally than "Tonight" managed) and "Ecstasy" (which didn't chart at all). I had no sense of the Raspberries' frustrations, the tension within the group, the disagreements, the dissatisfaction, and certainly no notice that Dave and Jim became ex-Raspberries after Side 3.
Eric and Wally continued, with fresh Raspberries recruits Scott McCarl and Michael McBride in 1974. They would do one more Raspberries album:
Starting Over.
The title must have written itself.
Starting Over gave the rockin' pop world two irresistible reflections on the pursuit of rock 'n' roll fame: Scott McCarl's effervescent "Play On" and Eric Carmen's epic "Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)."
Carmen originally wanted to call his song "Hit Record." Belief into action. Label suits said NO!, in a tone born of equal parts jittery and Philistine. But even the clueless can stumble the right way sometimes; adding "Overnight Sensation" also added a perception of weight and meaning to the title, making the parenthetical "Hit Record" seem almost an afterthought, less presumptuous, less...greedy? Sure.
But it was a hit record. It was a hit record about wanting a hit record. And I tell ya, that was its merest accomplishment.
"Overnight Sensation" is nothing short of stunning, a sonic tour de force of pimply hyperbole transmogrified into greatness. It's a compact realization of the fantasies of every kid who ever heard a song on the radio, watched a rock group on TV, or tried to live inside the grooves of a record playing at a sock hop, on a turntable or jukebox, and especially every kid who took that experience as impetus to pick up a guitar, perch behind drums, or grab a freakin' microphone. Play on? HELL, yeah. The band plays. The artist plays. The record plays. Hear it play.
Chart histories tell us "Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)" was a hit record, # 18 on Billboard's Hot 100. I did not hear it on the radio. I have never heard it on commercial radio. It came to my ears after the fact, after the Raspberries were no more, on a posthumous LP collection called Raspberries' Best. Even then, taken as I was with the driving power pop of "Go All The Way," "I Wanna Be With You," "Tonight," and "Ecstasy," I wasn't ready to appreciate "Overnight Sensation" as the masterpiece it is.
I appreciate it now. And I appreciate this feeling of being alive. The Beatles did that.
Raspberries did it, too.
I am who I am in large part because of music. The Beatles, the Ramones, and the Flashcubes made the most impact in moving me to wherever I think I am and what I think this place looks like today; Raspberries were nearly as important as my big three. I can't sing. Can't play. But I can listen. And I can write. My appreciation knows no bounds.
The artist isn't in it for the money, the reputation, or the show. Art is in the blood. A hit record. One that everybody's got to know. If the program director don't pull it--and ya never know what that rat-bastard's gonna do--we'll have a hit on our hands. Pay some appreciation, with cash or credit. Artists gotta eat, too. Create something if you can. In my head, I hear the record play.
Number one. Here's to the late, great Eric Carmen. Here's to Raspberries. Here's to overnight sensations everywhere. Hear 'em play. Hear 'em play.
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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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