Wanna reminisce?
Granted, maybe we're not yet eager to reminisce so much about this particular year. It often seemed as if 2025 had all the warm and fuzzy ambiance of a dumpster fire, and maybe an aroma to match that image. But just as each and every year offers its cruel share of heartache, there is also good stuff--great stuff--in every year as well. We won't forget our failures, our disappointments, our losses, our defeats. But if we survive, and then if at some point we do choose to reminisce, we'll exult in the memories of what helped us get through. Love and art. Purpose and compassion. A stubborn belief in truth and justice, and in a community larger and more powerful than the dark forces that piss us off.
There is always wonderful music, including everything we've ever loved from the past, and every transcendent new discovery of any vintage. It's one of my favorite personal clichés, my durable motto: Right now is the best-ever time to be a music fan. Music never dies. Legacies last. Creation continues. The beat, goddammit, goes on. Even in the shadow of all that's thrown at us, we will have cause to look back in wonder.
In 2025, I paused all of my other projects so I could concentrate my efforts on helping to make a dream come true: I wanted a various-artists tribute album honoring the songwriting of Syracuse's own power pop powerhouse, the Flashcubes. My favorite power pop band, a group that has been nearly as important to me as the Beatles and the Ramones. Whoever and whatever I am, as a rockin' pop pundit, as a DJ, as a writer, as a dreamer who does his fancifyin' with a loud and proud soundtrack, I don't get to become me without the Beatles, the Ramones, and the Flashcubes. Someone asked me: Why a Flashcubes tribute album? Aren't the Flashcubes a cover band? That widespread lack of recognition of the sheer brilliance of the Flashcubes' original songs made me all the more determined to shine a brighter light.
A Flashcubes tribute album. Why? Because the Flashcubes deserve the tribute.
My friends at Big Stir Records agreed, and they gave a bright green light to Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes, a gathering of 21 bands covering 21 Flashcubes originals, supplemented by three brand new original tracks by the Flashcubes themselves. The resulting album is stunning, which is a testament to the musicians who applied their talent, and to the richness of the material at hand. As the record's curator, I'm aware of the fact that I can only take credit for organizing and cheerleading. It was the artists, the songwriters, and mastering maestro Michael Simmons who really made something happen. And the something that happened brought a welcome light to me throughout the year.
To the surprise of no one, a staggering thirteen of the 24 tracks on Make Something Happen! were among This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio's 50 most-played tracks in 2025, and nearly all of the album's other eleven tracks came pretty damned close. And among those thirteen, of course all three of the new Flashcubes tracks made our Top 5, deservedly so. In another year of great music, the Flashcubes were as great as anyone.
"Reminisce" was the first advance single off Make Something Happen!, and the album's lead-off track. Written by 'Cubes guitarist Paul Armstrong, "Reminisce" is a rollickin' rock 'n' roll love letter to all passion that endures, to all flash that lives beyond the seeming transience of its in-your-face moment in time. We can look back and still look forward with deliberate intent. It's how stupid rules get amended, it's how walls fall, and it's how the right things prevail. "Reminisce" was TIRnRR's # 1 most-played track in 2025. We salute the road that got us this far. We use that experience to fuel the journey's next leg. We reminisce.
And then we continue.
As holidays close out the calendar, the sting of reminiscing reminds us that there aren't as many folks here as there were this time last year. Not even music can heal that. But we're still going to play. In tribute. In defiance. In memory. In service of all we ever held dear:
We reminisce. And we keep moving.
Thanks as always to the incredible Fritz Van Leaven for keeping the stats and programming our countdown. Congratulations and thanks to all of the artists on the countdown, to all of the other sublime acts we played in 2025, and to all the music and magic we hope to reclaim and/or proclaim in 2026. And now, in the words of both the Ramones and the Flashcubes: Hey-ho, let's GO!! This is what rock 'n' roll radio sounded like on a whole bunch of Sunday nights in Syracuse this year.
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.
You can read all about this show's long and weird history here: Boppin' The Whole Friggin' Planet (The History Of THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO). You can follow Carl's daily blog at Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do).
TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATIONS are always welcome.
Carl's latest book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get Carl's previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.
TIRnRR # 1317: 12/28/2025: THE COUNTDOWN!
TIRnRR's 12 MOST-PLAYED ARTISTS IN 2025
11. SORROWS: Teenage Heartbreak (Pavillion, Teenage Heartbreak)
9. AMY RIGBY: I Don't Want To Talk About Love No More (Signature Sounds, Little Fugitive)
7. THE MUFFS: Sad Tomorrow (Omnivore, Blonder And Blonder)
5. THE MONKEES: You And I (Rhino, The Monkees Present)
4. THE SPONGETONES: Words And Music (Black Vinyl, Oh Yeah!)
3. THE RAMONES: Carbona Not Glue (Rhino, Leave Home)
2. THE FLASHCUBES: Alone In My Room (Big Stir, Pop Treasures)
1. THE BEATLES: No Reply (Capitol, Beatles '65)
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