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.
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This week's edition of 10 Songs draws exclusively from the playlist for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1319
THE BARRACUDAS: I Wish It Could Be 1965 Again
I love 1965. I regard '65 as pop music's best year ever: The best stuff was popular and the popular stuff was best. I don't actually wish it could be 1965 again--if nothing else, I'd rather consume hemlock or even Diet Pepsi than have to relive the random tsuris experienced over the course of six subsequent decades--but certainly the miserable state of current events feeds a longing for a return to better times.
Nostalgia is tricky. Still, as long as we're able to recognize that rose-colored glasses (and, I guess, rose-filtered headphones) can taint the accuracy of what we think we remember, recollections of cherished moments lend strength and conviction to steps we take on the path before us. Catch us if you can.
Moving ahead on the ol' timeline, Drop Out With The Barracudas was and remains my favorite album of the 1980s. The album's own sense of nostalgia is tempered by snark and self-awareness, a fun-in-the-sun jaunt that understands mortality and impermanence yet chooses to barrel through anyway, whether by stubborn determination or death wish. The album closes with "I Wish It Could Be 1965 Again," a full-throttle evocation of the legend (or myth) of my favorite year.
From the dystopian POV of our far-future world of 2026, Drop Out With The Barracudas is considerably farther away in time than 1965 was from the album's release in 1981. The legend perseveres. Drop out? Fall in. Those who forget the past are condemned to the Orwellian all-of-this of all of...this. We can do better. Doing better starts with a wish.
RIHANNA: Shut Up And Drive
From a previous 10 Songs, celebrating this eventual addition to the annals of The Greatest Record Ever Made!:
"I remember hearing Rihanna's hit 'Umbrella' in 2007, and not being especially taken with it. In 2008, the updated version of her Good Girl Gone Bad (Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded) landed into my consciousness via my then-teen daughter, whose interest in 'Take A Bow' and 'Disturbia' brought those songs to my attention as well. I was a little surprised to discover I liked them (especially 'Disturbia'), but I did indeed like them.
"I missed out on the track 'Shut Up And Drive.' I've heard it, but I never noticed it until a random search for playlist ideas brought me to it again. It was like a brand new song to me, and I loved it.
"(How did I know I loved it? The fact that I played it on obsessive repeat would be a pretty clear clue to that.)
"Wikipedia describes 'Shut Up And Drive' as a new wave song--no, really!--based on 'Blue Monday' by New Order. No offense to the mopey British guys, but I prefer it the way Rihanna did it."
GLENN ERB: Fine Day
"Fine Day" is a very fine new single from North Carolina popmeister Glenn Erb, and it's a righteously radio-ready shot of sure-footed swagger. Ooh, and it's produced by long-time TIRnRR Fave Rave Jamie Hoover, adding even more READY! to its established radio-ready status. This radio show is ready to play it again this Sunday. Nothing could be finer.
SPECTRAFLAME: Love Don't Live Here No More
Second week in a row for a spin of Spectraflame's ace current single "Love Don't Live Here No More," and the first time it's listed correctly on the posted playlist; last week's playlist claimed the song's title was "Love Don't Lived Here Any More." And I ain't even no grammarian. Of course, I screwed up the title again in my on-air announcements, but I finally--FINALLY--get it right in time for the track's third TIRnRR spin this coming Sunday night. See? I actually CAN learn from my mistakes!
Sometimes.
THE LITTLE GIRLS: I Really Want To Be With You
What do 1980s SoCal rockin' poppers the Little Girls have in common with the Beatles, the Ramones, the Cynz, the Grip Weeds, Mike Browning, Monogroove, and the above-cited Spectraflame? Counting our next program, all of these fine acts have graced each of TIRnRR's first three shows this year. I see no reason to stop now, and I've really been digging the Little Girls' Thank Heaven For ValleyPop compilation. More to come. If the Little Girls really wanna be with you, we are only too happy to provide the means.
ELVIS PRESLEY: Kentucky Rain
The Greatest Record Ever Made!
MONOGROOVE: Back To School
We mentioned Monogroove a couple of spots north of here. I've been a fan of Monogroove's Rin Lennon since hearing her former group On The Air's contribution to the 1984 Rhino Records (then-) contemporary girl group compilation The Girls Can't Help It. My pal Andrea Ogarrio included an On The Air track in a mixtape she sent me in the early '90s, and I snagged my very own copy of On The Air's 1987 eponymous six-song EP during a Florida vacation in 1994. More recently, we've been delighted to add Monogroove to our little Play-Tone galaxy o' stars, and "That Girl" (from Monogroove's recent album Popsicle Drivethru) was TIRnRR's # 35 most-played track in 2025. Yep: ON THE AIR! It's what we do.
In 2026, our on-the-air Monogroove presence has been established by the group's recent single "Back To School," and that's been a perfectly peppy rah rah siss boom bop in its own right. Pencils? Books? Teacher's dirty looks? It's all writ in # 2 graphite. "Back To School" pushes against the scornful demands of high school's cliques and ninnies, on behalf of all of us who lurked in the nooks and crannies instead. School is in.
THE RAMONES: I Don't Want To Grow Up
I'm looking at today's date. And once again I say:
Don't wanna. Won't need to. Ain't gonna.
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I compiled a various-artists tribute album called Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes, and it's pretty damned good; you can read about it here and order it here. My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get my previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books, OR an autographed copy here. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.
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 about our history here.
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