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 edition of 10 Songs draws exclusively from the playlist for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1239.
ALICE COOPER: School's Out
Big ol' shout-out to educators everywhere, including TIRnRR's own intrepid Dana Bonn. Out for the summer, out 'til fall, they might not come back at all.
And we have just the song for that occasion. From a previous post:
To an adolescent or young teen in the early to mid 1970s, nothing in the world was cooler than Alice Cooper. Before KISS, before punk, Alice Cooper was gaudy and dangerous, potentially the most scandalous, depraved character on AM radio. It didn't matter that it was all an act--show biz!--or that David Bowie was ultimately a far more potent threat to the straight-laced status quo; at the time, Alice Cooper seemed the most dangerous, and therefore the most alluring. Within this fist-pumpin' time frame, a kid that couldn't relate to "School's Out," or didn't want to turn the radio up louder than it could actually go whenever that song came on...well, that kid just would not have been me...
... As an annual clarion call for kids champin' at the frothy-mouthed bit to ditch pencils, books, and teacher's dirty looks for summertime action, "School's Out" delivers a snarky dismissal of rules, regulations, decorum, good manners, and probably decent posture and reasonable hygiene to boot. Because screw all of that--school's out for the summer! Sing it, Alice. School's out completely. The lesson's been learned.
sparkle*jets u.k.: I Can't Wait For Summer
By the power of all that's catchy 'n' engaging, the new sparkle*jets u.k. album Box Of Letters is flat-out sublime anna half. We've been playing its title track as an advance single, and it earned another spin in this week's first set. We open our second set with follow-up single "I Can't Wait For Summer," and we cranked it even though I detest hot weather. But the summer's here. The time is right! Open up that Box Of Letters.
MIKE BROWNING: Heartbreak Hotel
Hey, a TIRnRR exclusive! Our pal Mike Browning takes on King Elvis I, and while covering prime Elvis is a daunting task at best, our Mike rises to the, um...daunt. An exclusive track? We will gladly cede that right if Mike chooses to share the track elsewhere.
As he should. Even Lonely Street could do with a little bit of company.
BLOODSTONE: Natural High
We played Bloodstone's "My Little Lady" on last week's show, and we intended to also play the group's biggest hit "Natural High." Time conspired against us--lousy, stinkin' time!--and we weren't able to carve out playlist space for "Natural High." We make up for it this week. Sweet soul on the radio. The resulting euphoria is only natural.
THE LONG RYDERS: Looking For Lewis And Clark
It blows my mind that we never played this great track in any of our previous 1238 shows. But, like Bloodstone's "Natural High," we just never got around to programming it. I first heard the Long Ryders' "Looking For Lewis And Clark" on Buffalo's WBNY-FM in the '80s, and the group's accompanying State Of Our Union album was an in-store play favorite when I worked in record retail. A few months later, when I was managing a record store, I created a Long Ryders wall display linked to the group's then-recent TV commercial for Miller. Made the American way!
Is "Looking For Lewis And Clark" the Long Ryders' best-known track? Possibly not, though its '80s airplay on BNY may have nudged me into believing it is. Still, it's surprising that it's never made its way to a past TIRnRR playlist. We've played the Long Ryders many times, most notably "10-5-60" (my favorite), and also "Lights Of Downtown," "Run Dusty Run," and others. "Looking For Lewis And Clark" finally joins that Whole Friggin' Planet honor roll this week.
CHERIE AND MARIE CURRIE: Since You've Been Gone
The Greatest Record Ever Made!
THE STALLIONS: Why
With Bloodstone's "Natural High" and the Long Ryders' "Looking For Lewis And Clark" both making their (way) belated TIRnRR debuts this week, we figured we maybe oughta balance the acclimation process with a spin of something we've played a time or two zillion before. The Stallions' '90s punk cover of the Dirty Wurds' '60s garage obscurity "Why" was our most-played track during each of this little mutant radio show's first two years, and it remained unchallenged as our all-time most-played track for years thereafter. Its reign at # 1 was eventually usurped by Big Star's "September Gurls," but I think "Why" may still be hangin' in there at # 2, even though we rarely play it nowadays. Whether we play it with bludgeoning frequency or save it as a rare burst of welcome, unexpected VOLUME, the Stallions' "Why" will always, always be an integral part of TIRnRR's DNA.
Why?
Because.
Just because.
CHERRY VANILLA: No More Canaries
I first heard of singer Cherry Vanilla when I was a teen in the '70s. My underage status at the time did not prevent me from purchasing Penthouse from indifferent convenience store clerks, and Ms. Vanilla wrote at least one article (if not more) that appeared in between whatever else it was that also appeared in Penthouse. You can snicker at the notion of reading Penthouse, but those pages were also where I first heard of Patti Smith, who was an interview subject in one issue.
I don't recall whether or not the Penthouse material made note that Cherry had been a publicist for David Bowie, and I don't remember if she was mentioned in the issues of Phonograph Record Magazine that hooked me on the idea of punk in 1977, or in any other rock rags of the day. But I do know that at some subsequent point I saw her 1978 debut album Bad Girl on the shelves at Gerber Music and/or Brockport's Record Grove, nestled amidst the tattered contemporaneous bounty of then-recent releases by Radio Birdman, the Dead Boys, the Jam, and the Ramones.
It wasn't an immediate purchase; the album may have been too pricey for me at the time, or at least too pricey for a mere suggestion of punk periphery and post-Penthouse pheromones to overcome. I picked it up a few years later, and I was floored by its fantastic track "The Punk."
We've played "The Punk" a few times on the show, but it seemed high time for a deeper track from the Cherry Vanilla collection. "No More Caries" is another selection from Bad Girl, and it serves as a reminder that I need to go back and give her records a fresh listen.
I presume that I still won't need to show ID.
THE ANDERSON COUNCIL: Citadel
I purchased my used copy of the Rolling Stones' 1967 album Their Satanic Majesties Request more than a decade after its release. It was a reissue, so it didn't have the original's 3-D cover graphic. I was in college, a power-poppin' punk rocker, and I was immediately drawn to the guitar riff of the album's second track "Citadel." I played the LP more than a few times in my dorm room, but "Citadel" was definitely my go-to. I played that one a lot.
Now, the ace Stones tribute album Jem Records Celebrates Jagger & Richards grants us another opportunity to pound the air on behalf of that riff. The mighty forces of the Anderson Council ably provide the prerequisite riffage, and all is as heavenly Satanic as it wants to be. The citadel stands.
CHUCK BERRY: Promised Land
This coming Sunday night's show is devoted entirely to tracks celebrated in my new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). That's ferdamnedsure gonna include Chuck Berry's "Promised Land."
That's a promise.
Book it.
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My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available for order; you can see details here. My 2023 book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones is also still available, courtesy of the good folks at Rare Bird Books.
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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