10 SONGS: 8/30/2025

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 # 1300.

THE FLASHCUBES: Reminisce

Hitting a milestone like a 1300th show invites a celebration. For us, it seemed appropriate to mark this festive occasion of TIRnRR # 1300 with some specific examples of the sort of rockin' pop mojo that brought us this far. Every track on this show is something we've played before, most of them with some frequency. 

With the imminent release of the various-artists blockbuster Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes, I wanted to open this milestone mutha with "Reminisce," the first of the three new singles that Syracuse's own power pop powerhouse did in conjunction with their own tribute album. The Flashcubes have meant an awful lot to me, and to this show. "Reminisce" is the perfect song to kick off a celebration, looking back while facing front at the same damned time.

We also felt compelled to program the Flashcubes' other two fabulous Make Something Happen! singles--"The Sweet Spot" and "If These Hands"--at subsequent points in our 1300th show, setting up one other Flashcubes song to kick off the show's final set. We'll return to that subject in a few minutes. Now? All I wanna do is reminisce with you. 

SLYBOOTS: If We Could Let Go

My favorite individual track of 2024, "If We Could Let Go" by Slyboots is heartbreaking in all the best ways, a song full of hope and ache, empowered with an awareness of how far we fall short in pursuit of peace, love, and understanding, and driven by determination to overcome that gap and collectively become the better people a burning world needs us to be. Not merely my favorite track from last year; it's a legit contender for my all-time Hot 100. 

SOLOMON BURKE: Everybody Needs Somebody To Love

Starting waaaaay back in the earliest Dana and Carl shows (1992's TIRnRR precursor We're Your Friends For Now), Dana and I have occasionally been known to come up with some unexpected song segues. Our pal Dave Murray called these Neck-Snappin' Segues™, where, y'know, one of these things is not like the other, at least on paper. We never mean it as an intentional shock-value jump cut; we always figure our seemingly outta-left-field pick of an unexpected Song B is the appropriate follow-up to Song A, even if no one else sees it that way. To paraphrase the Batman describing the Joker's thought process: Dana and Carl's motives make sense to us alone.

Our first Neck-Snappin' Segue™ occurred on the very first We're Your Friends For Now, Phil Ochs ("I Ain't Marching Anymore") into the Ohio Express ("Yummy, Yummy, Yummy"). In the early days of TIRnRR, I recall back-to-backs of Little Richard ("The Girl Can't Help It") into Pink Floyd ("See Emily Play") and Sugar ("If I Can't Change Your Mind") into the Partridge Family ("I Woke Up In Love This Morning"), both of which were seamless and perfect. 

My favorite Neck-Snappin' Segue™ memory is from one Sunday evening in 1999, 2000, whatever it was. Dana played the Nails' left-of-the-dial stalwart "88 Lines About 44 Women." As I mulled options for the right follow-up song, I was struck by the sudden realization--nay, the sudden conviction!--that if I didn't play Solomon Burke's soul classic "Everybody Needs Somebody To Love" faster'n immediately, an otherwise-benevolent deity would smite me where I sat. Fairly certain that I had the track with me, I rummaged through my CD case, searching intently as the Nails racked up increasingly larger numbers of lines about their 44 women. I found the right CD, handed it to Dana, and he had it set to play just as the Nails completed a couplet about their 44th subject. 

Disaster averted. SING it, King Sol! Just another night here at The Best Three Hours Of Radio On The Whole Friggin' Planet.

THE COWSILLS: She Said To Me

How in the world did we rate getting a track from the Cowsills for our compilation album This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 2? I can't answer that, beyond noting that the Cowsills are really, really nice people. They're also really, really talented people; "She Said To Me" was on their stunning 1998 album Global, and it merited an enthusiastic chapter in my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). Global has since been reissued by Omnivore Recordings. Omnivore also released the Cowsills' wonderful 2022 album Rhythm Of The World, and the label will soon offer the first-ever legitimate physical release of the Cowsills 1978 lost album The Cocaine Drain. The Cowsills' hits were great; their later stuff is also great, and well, well worth your time and attention. 

sparkle*jets u.k.: 10 Inches

From their 1998 debut album In, Through, And Beyond, the track "10 Inches" served as our introduction to the way fab music of sparkle*jets u.k. More recently, their 2024 album Box Of Letters was one of last year's very best albums, and really a serious contender for the best. Even more recently, the group's Michael Simmons was in charge of making all of the tracks gathered for our Flashcubes tribute album Make Something Happen! play nice and sound terrific together, and sparkle*jets u.k. themselves executed an absolutely stunning rendition of the tribute album's title tune. We're fans! For our 1300th show, it was time for a reprise of where it all started for us. sparkle*jets u.k. are GO!

THE GRIP WEEDS: Strange Bird

The Grip Weeds have been fixtures on TIRnRR for the entirety of our mutant radio lifetime. We wouldn't have it any other way, and that status will not change. I've been able to see them perform on three separate occasions so far, and they're as dynamic and exciting live as they are on record. And vice versa! Their current album Soul Bender continues the Grip Weeds' record of excellence. TIRnRR superstars!

THE 13th FLOOR ELEVATORS: You're Gonna Miss Me

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE FLASHCUBES: Carl (You Da Man)

I don't know how deep I got into the planning for the Flashcubes tribute album before I realized that the last original 'Cubes composition recorded and released by the band was a song about us. 

The Flashcubes recorded "Carl (You Da Man)" for our first compilation album, 2005's This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 1. "Carl (You Da Man)" came after the Flashcubes' 2003 album Brilliant (which featured just one cover, of Eddie and the Hot Rods' "Do Anything You Wanna Do") and before a string of accomplished covers the 'Cubes did over the ensuing decades: The Roy Wood tribute album Sportin' Wood, a two-sided single of Chris Spedding covers, contributions to various-artists Monkees and Bay City Rollers tribute albums, and a string of digital singles heralding the triumph of 2023's Pop Masters album. 

As flattering as it was (and remains) for the Flashcubes to write a song naming Dana and me "the kings of power pop," the world needed more new material from the Flashcubes. That need was answered this year by "Reminisce," "The Sweet Spot," and "If This Hands," and embellished by the act of other bands finally paying proper tribute to the Flashcubes on Make Something Happen!.

After playing all three of the Flashcubes' 2025 singles within our 1300th show playlist, it felt right to begin the celebration's closing set with the original song the Flashcubes gave to us twenty years ago. The weekend stops here. The music keeps playing still.

THE RAMONES: Blitzkrieg Bop

The American Beatles. The greatest American rock 'n' roll band of all time, and a damned near religious inspiration for me. I don't ever get to the opportunity to co-host a radio show, let alone co-hosting a radio show for such an ungodly long period of time, without the Ramones nudging me toward an ideal of rock 'n' roll radio. I don't get to the Flashcubes without the Ramones. I don't get to writing about pop music without the Ramones. I certainly don't get to writing books without the Ramones, and that would be true even if my first book didn't happen to be a book about the Ramones. 

Only the Beatles could claim greater importance in my life as a music fan, and the Ramones are closer to the toppermost of my poppermost than an unbeliever might expect. Beatles. Ramones. Flashcubes. Hey-ho, let's go.

THE STALLIONS: Why

We couldn't do a milestone show without another spin of the Stallions' cover of the Dirty Wurds' 1966 garage obscurity "Why." "Why" by the Stallions was far and away our most-played track during our first year, as well as during our second year, and although it ceded that position to "Highway Lines" by Mannix in Year # 3, "Why" remained our all-time most-played track for years thereafter. Its reign was finally brought to an end by Big Star's "September Gurls." Even though we don't play "Why" very often any more, it racked up sufficient spins in those early years to still remain the second most-played track over the course of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio's long and storied history.

A long and storied history that continues! Why? Because we like it.

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar. You can also become a Boppin' booster on my Patreon page.

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.

THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE: You're Gonna Miss Me

For this Sunday's celebration of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1300, we needed a GREM! that tied into the number 13. This chapter from my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) filled that bill very nicely.

An infinite number of tracks can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take tuns. Today, this is THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE!

THE 13th FLOOR ELEVATORS: You're Gonna Miss Me

Written by Roky Erickson

Produced by Gordon Bynum

Single, Contact Records [reissued by International Artists], 1966

We are the weird.

We are damaged, disturbed, inadequate, unprepared. We don't fit in, couldn't if we tried, wouldn't if we could. We wake up wondering, find ourselves all alone. As the sun greets the dawn. We didn’t realize.

The late Roky Erickson is often remembered as a casualty, a fragile fallen angel, a flawed Icarus who flew too close to a merciless psychedelic sun. He sang of walking with zombies, of working in the Kremlin with a two-headed dog. Against type, he sang a beautiful ballad called "Starry Eyes," suddenly (if briefly) becoming a post-lysergic Buddy Holly. He warned ominously of the danger of slandering him. His mortal form was caged, in correctional facilities and sanitariums. His mind lived in a time of its own.

And with the 13th Floor Elevators, he gave us an incredible rock 'n' roll classic called "You're Gonna Miss Me." 

"You're Gonna Miss Me" is acid made punk, as hallucinatory as Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd, as badass as...well, you name it. It's the embodiment of the rock-critic concept of 1960s garage-built psychedelia, while sounding not quite like any of its peers. 

It could only have come from Texas. It profoundly influenced at least one son of the Lone Star State: Billy Gibbons, later to find fame slingin' his sharp-dressed six-string with ZZ Top. Contemporary to the Elevators, Gibbons played with a group called the Moving Sidewalks, whose own single "99th Floor" carries an undeniable Elevators influence. "You're Gonna Miss Me" has continued to glow in the dark for all subsequent generations seeking the sound of electric guitars crossed with electric sugar cubes. 

Like a lot of folks, my introduction to Roky and his Elevators came courtesy of a compilation album called Nuggets. Nuggets, originally released in 1972, was a two-record various-artists set that celebrated the mid-to-late-sixties explosion of young American guitar groups trying to be as surly as the Stones, as heavy as the Yardbirds, as fab as the Fab Four. I bought it because it had "Lies" by the Knickerbockers and “Liar, Liar” by the Castaways. Nuggets revealed further truths via tracks by the Electric Prunes, the Remains, the Strangeloves, the Nazz, Mouse, and the Cryan Shames, reiterated truths I already knew about the Standells and the Seeds, and unleashed unto me its greatest truth among great truths: "You're Gonna Miss Me." The 13th Floor Elevators.

Holy shit.

Immediate. Hypnotic. As tough as Detroit's MC5 or Stooges, a Don't tread on me! as potent as a sidewinder's rattle, and as intoxicating as drinkin' wine, spo-dee-o-dee, drinkin' wine, goddamn. 

Welcome to Texas, muthas and bruthas.

In the song, Erickson warns a faithless lover that she will wake up one morning to find that he’s gone. Like casting a spell, Roky chants “You didn’t realize” five times, sealing his former flame’s sentence of solitude. 

Realize what, already...?

OH, YOU'RE GONNA MISS ME, BABY!

Chills. Chills. Message delivered, at as high a volume as my poor little stereo could stand. Otherworldly, jagged, pissed-off guitar. Harmonica. A percolating hiccup sound that turned out to be an electrified jug, fercrynoutloud. And the wail of a tortured demon freed temporarily from the pit of perdition. Roky Erickson. Hell's newest hitmaker.

Over time, the presumed frailty of Roky Erickson's bruised psyche became the stuff of rock 'n' roll legend. Drug busts and mental issues were the headlines that obscured the music, all of it detailed in the 2005 Erickson documentary You're Gonna Miss Me. Erickson survived, gaining (one hopes) some level of stability before his death in 2019. 

And still we wake up wondering, find ourselves all alone. 

We are the weird. Damaged, disturbed, inadequate, unprepared. Don't shake me Lucifer. Roky Erickson sang on our behalf.

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar. You can also become a Boppin' booster on my Patreon page.

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.

10 SONGS: 1/5/2024

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 # 1214: The 25th Anniversary Show. This show is available as a podcast.

All of this week's 10 Songs entries have either appeared here previously or are excerpted from existing unpublished works. A 25th Anniversary show demands some GREATEST HITS!!

THE RAMONES: Blitzkrieg Bop

From "Chewin' Out A Rhythm On My Bubblegum: My 25 Favorite Ramones Tracks:"

If we had to pick just one track to represent the legacy of the Ramones, it would have to be "Blitzkrieg Bop." You can argue on behalf of "I Wanna Be Sedated," and "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker" was the most important one for me, but really: "Blitzkrieg Bop." The song is ubiquitous, deservedly so, and hearing it always gives me a sense of fist-pumpin' euphoria. Always. Hey-ho, ya know? Here's what I wrote about the song elsewhere:

"1-2-3-4.

"The Ramones set out to be the American Beatles. They succeeded, as long as we don't factor in extraneous things like fame, popularity, record sales, and money. But impact? Immortality? The buzz of irresistible pop perfection? Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're forming in a straight line. 

"It started here, with a fab four of misfits from Queens aimin' for the toppermost of the poppermost, plausibility be damned. What, the Bay City Rollers were already trying to be the next Beatles? Fine. The Ramones would be a faster and louder version, innately more fascinating, emphatically more American. Imagining a chant like S! A! T-U-R! D-A-Y! NIGHT!! to be a prerequisite for radio success, the Ramones revamped the Rollers' approach into their own HEY-HO, LET'S GO!  Number one with a bullet? Not even close. Shoot 'em in the back now.

"Nonetheless....

"Failing to ship and sell the massive volume of hit platters they envisioned, the Ramones kept going anyway. The kids are losing their minds. All revved up and ready to go. 

"The Ramones. The American Beatles. Yeah, that sounds about right to me.

"Let's GO!"

THE MONKEES: Birth Of An Accidental Hipster

From "Once Upon A Once-In-A-While: My 25 Favorite Monkees Tracks:"

No one saw this one coming. The surprise announcement that surviving Monkees Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork, and Michael Nesmith--Davy Jones passed away in 2012--would mark the group's 50th anniversary in 2016 with a new Monkees album called Good Times! was unexpected enough, and word that Noel Gallagher of Oasis and Paul Weller of the Jam and Style Council had collaborated on a new composition for this new Monkees record bordered on the flabbergasting. But the result? Lord! "Birth Of An Accidental Hipster" builds a rainbow bridge from the best of the Monkees circa 1968 into this far-future world of the 21st century, a track that sounds simultaneously classic and contemporary. If it had magically appeared on The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees or the Head soundtrack in '68, it would have been the greatest cut on the former and the second-greatest on the latter. Yet it doesn't sound retro at all, at least not to my ears. Nesmith sings this with a force and conviction that almost sounds like he's still that young maverick of fifty years ago, just a bit more seasoned, certainly wiser, but resolutely unbowed. Dolenz chimes in vocally to make it a pop song. Together, they make it a masterpiece. Listeners of the ultracool satellite radio station Little Steven's Underground Garage voted "Birth Of An Accidental Hipster" as The Coolest Song In The World for 2016.

THE FOUR TOPS: Reach Out I'll Be There

An infinite number of tracks can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. That's the premise of my long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). Here's an excerpt from one of its chapters:

The Four Tops are my favorite Motown act. My first awareness of the group was post-Motown, though, when their single "Are You Man Enough?" (from the film Shaft In Africa) tore up the airwaves on Syracuse's WOLF-AM in 1973. The first Motor City Four Tops track I encountered was probably "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)" on oldies radio in the '70s. My Four Tops fandom manifested itself, bit by bit, over the next few years. I cringed at Rod Stewart's smarmy cover of "Standing In The Shadows Of Love" in the late '70s. "It's The Same Old Song" became my top Tops. It had to move over to make room for "Baby I Need Your Loving," and for "Bernadette." 

"Reach Out I'll Be There" tops 'em all.

"Reach Out" is no less melodramatic than "Standing In The Shadows Of Love" or "It's The Same Old Song" or "Seven Rooms Of Gloom." But its sense of heightened emotion is put to a higher purpose: not just lamenting lost love, but planting feet firmly, chin set, and reaching out to help a loved one make a stand when the chips are down. It's pure, it's inspirational, and it's spine-chillingly convincing and uplifting. 

I'll be there
With a love that will shelter you
I'll be there
With a love that will see you through

Trouble? Man, trouble better not even try to mess with Levi Stubbs. Reach out. When you feel lost and about to give up/'Cause your best ain't good enough. He'll be there. No power on Earth can stop the Four Tops.

KID GULLIVER: Forget About Him

From 10 Songs for 12/1/2023:

We play favorites. With pop music, there's no sensible justification for objectivity. Pop music exists for the express purpose of getting into our ears, into our pores, into our vibratin' corpuscles, and into whatever else is ripe for gettin' into. Failure to play favorites would be as dumb as dumb can be.

Kid Gulliver's "Forget About Him" is a favorite, and more: It's a TIRnRR classic, reprised from the group's Kismet album for our own 2022 compilation This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 5. It's one of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio's greatest hits. Yeah it's a favorite. Gotta play the favorites.

THE FLASHCUBES: Alone In My Room

From two previous editions of 10 Songs. First, from 1/13/2022:

Oh, those Flashcubes. I tell ya, they're up to something. We know they're working on a new archival release called Flashcubes On Fire, preserving an incendiary 1979 live show for eventual consumption by an eager power pop public. And they did two new tracks in 2021--covers of Pezband's "Baby It's Cold Outside" (recorded with Pezband's Mimi Betinis) and the Dwight Twilley Band's "Alone In My Room"--both of which made the countdown of TIRnRR's most-played tracks of the year. The former was released as a Big Stir Records digital single, while the latter was officially unreleased as of this week's show (with a digital single release now due Friday). Comments from [source redacted] indicate cause for anticipation regarding these Cubic rockin' pop covers, and the arrival this week of a third newly-recorded pop cover by the Flashcubes further ratchets the anticipation up and up and up. That newest cover will open next week's show. In the mean time, here's another spin of the Flashcubes' version of "Alone In My Room." 

And keep an eye (and ear) on those Flashcubes. They're up to something, they are.

And from 11/17/2023:

As noted, Syracuse's own power pop powerhouse the Flashcubes were a big, big part of my teenage rock 'n' roll crucible. My first Flashcubes show occurred just after my 18th birthday in January of 1978, a life-changing event that remains an everyday touchstone for me, and it's a large part of why TIRnRR exists in the first place.

All these years later, it's gratifying to know that some of the artists that fanned the flames of my crucible are still making music that matters. Many have passed, some have retired. We've seen that Micky Dolenz--the last surviving Monkee--has an essential new EP. And the Flashcubes' current album Pop Masters is my most cherished, most celebrated, most played new album of 2023. Fitting that the album itself is a tribute to the Flashcubes' own crucibles, irresistible covers of material previously recorded by acts that influenced the 'Cubes, from Pilot to Slade to Pezband to Sparks. The Flashcubes' Pop Masters cover of the late Dwight Twilley's "Alone In My Room" is a loving evocation of the palpable thrill of pop music itself. It gives me chills, even as the crucible itself keeps me warm. Bright lights, my friends. Bright lights need never dim.

(And one additional note: You can be damned certain that our big Countdown show on January 7th will have ample representation of the Flashcubes and Pop Masters.)

TIR'N'RR ALLSTARS: Waterloo Sunset

From my liner notes for Waterloo Sunset--Benefit For This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio:

Like a power pop Blanche DuBois, This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl has always relied on the kindness of strangers.

No, scratch that. Even though we've only met a few of our listeners and supporters over these last twenty years [25 YEARS!!], they're not strangers; they're our friends. As humility-challenged as Dana and I remain, there's no way we could have lasted more than two decades if we couldn't get by with a little help from our friends. 

Waterloo Sunset is the latest manifestation of that help. Steve Stoeckel had an idea: gather some of this show's talented friends to record a stirring cover of the Kinks' "Waterloo Sunset," with proceeds from its sale benefiting SPARK!, the perpetually cash-strapped Syracuse community radio station that is home to TIRnRR. Out went the call, to one and to all, and Steve assembled his TIR'N'RR Allstars: Steve Stoeckel, Bruce Gordon, Joel Tinnel, Stacy Carson, Eytan Mirsky, Teresa Cowles, Irene Peña, Dan Pavelich, Keith Klingensmith, and Rich Firestone. Within a fast-paced timeline, these pop heroes crossed over the river, and we are in paradise. Keith Klingensmith suggested an expanded plan, and their "Waterloo Sunset" benefit single became this benefit compilation album Waterloo Sunset. Ray Gianchetti saw the digital release on Futureman Records, and also wanted to help out by releasing a CD version on his Kool Kat Musik label.

Everyone who was asked to help did so. Before Dana and I even knew about any of this, the Allstars had secured tracks from the Click Beetles, Pop Co-Op, Irene Peña, Vegas With Randolph, the Anderson Council, the Grip Weeds, Michael Slawter, the Armoires, Eytan Mirsky, Gretchen's Wheel, and Pacific Soul Ltd. We're so pleased, so grateful, and dammit, I think we may even be humbled.

Community radio supports independent artists. Independent artists support community radio. And we don't feel afraid. We do need our friends. Thank you, friends. God save our friends. 

THE BAY CITY ROLLERS: Wouldn't You Like It

From "Les McKeown: The Voice Of The Bay City Rollers:"

When I was in college in the late '70s, I had a friend named Jane, who was a DJ on the Brockport campus radio station. We hung out together a few times, including one night when I kibbitzed with her in the studio while she did her radio show. And I requested one specific song....

By the end of the Me Decade, former teen idols the Bay City Rollers were persona non grata to the buying public, an embarrassing relic of adolescence for those (mostly female) fans who'd outgrown their puppy-eyed crushes on this Tartan-clad combo. And most music lovers who identified as older, male, hipper, and/or more mature just despised the Rollers all along.

But not me. Once I learned to ignore that ludicrous "next Beatles" notion, I found that I liked some of the Rollers' records just fine, thanks. I was especially taken with "Rock And Roll Love Letter" and "Yesterday's Hero." When I became aware of the notion of power pop, I was delighted to learn that the writers of Bomp! magazine included the Bay City Rollers as at least a tangent to that discussion.

I saw the Rollers lip-sync an album track called "Wouldn't You Like It" on the Midnight Special TV show, and I was instantly captivated by its power-chord riffs, chugging rhythm, and sheer overall oomph. My interest in the Rollers wasn't then sufficient to prompt me to buy many of their records, but my girlfriend's pal Debi was an unrepentant Rollers fan; she had the Rock And Roll Love Letter album, and played "Wouldn't You Like It" for me. Man, what a great track.

So some time later, when I was chilling with mi amiga pequeña Jane as she did her radio show, I bugged Jane to play "Wouldn't You Like It." Bugged. Begged. Pestered. Pleaded. No, Carl!, she insisted, I'm not playing the freakin' Bay City Rollers on my show! She finally relented just to shut me up. The song played...and, to her surprise, she liked it, and said so on the radio. Gotta give her credit for that. She went so far as to say that if the Rollers had just come along a couple of years later than they did, they would have been considered part of the new wave. 

It's been more than forty years. We were pals, and we parted as pals. I still think of Jane whenever I play that song, a Bay City Rollers album track that illustrated the transcendent value of ignoring prejudices, and embodied the enduring strength of friendship. And I dedicate the song once again, as I did on the radio just the other night, to an old comrade. This one goes out to my friend Jane, wherever she is. Thanks again, my friend.

THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS: All For Swinging You Around

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

EYTAN MIRSKY: This Year's Gonna Be Our Year

ALSO The Greatest Record Ever Made! An infinite number, man. I even supplemented that claim for this one with a video discussed here.

THE 13TH FLOOR ELEVATORS: You're Gonna Miss Me

One more excerpt from The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1):

We are the weird.

We are damaged, disturbed, inadequate, unprepared. We don't fit in, couldn't if we tried, wouldn't if we could. We wake up wondering, find ourselves all alone. We live in a time of our own.

The late Roky Erickson is often remembered as a casualty, a fragile fallen angel, a flawed Icarus who flew too close to a merciless psychedelic sun. He sang of walking with zombies, of working in the Kremlin for a two-headed dog. Against type, he sang a beautiful ballad called "Starry Eyes," suddenly (if briefly) becoming a post-lysergic Buddy Holly. He warned ominously of the danger of slandering him. His mortal form was caged, in correctional facilities and sanitariums. His mind roamed where only wild things go.

With his '60s combo the 13th Floor Elevators, Roky Erickson sang of fire in the bones, of taking us to the empty places in his fire engine, of Easter everywhere. He was damaged. And with the 13th Floor Elevators, he gave us an incredible, unforgettable rock 'n' roll classic called "You're Gonna Miss Me." 

"You're Gonna Miss Me" is acid made punk, as hallucinatory as Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd, as badass as...anything, ever. It's the embodiment of the rock-critic concept of 1960s garage-built psychedelia, while sounding not quite like any of its peers...

...Chills. Chills. Message delivered, at as high a volume as my poor little stereo could stand. Otherworldy, pissed-off guitar. Harmonica. A percolating hiccup sound that turned out to be an electrified jug, fercrynoutloud. And the wail of a tortured demon freed temporarily from the pit of perdition. Roky Erickson. Hell's newest hitmaker.

Over time, the presumed frailty of Roky Erickson's bruised psyche became the stuff of rock 'n' roll legend. Drug busts and mental issues were the headlines that obscured the music, all of it detailed in the 2005 Erickson documentary You're Gonna Miss Me. Erickson survived, somehow, gaining (one hopes) some level of stability before his death in 2019. 

And still we wake up wondering, find ourselves all alone. We are the weird. Damaged, disturbed, inadequate, unprepared. Roky Erickson sang on our behalf.

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.

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl

10 SONGS: 4/14/2023

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 # 1176. This show is available as a podcast.

THE RAMONES: Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?

Throughout the month of April, TIRnRR is celebrating the Ramones by playing my # 1 favorite track from each of the Ramones' fourteen studio albums, covering four albums per week. As this week's Ramones celebration turns to the group's second quartet of LPs--End Of The Century, Pleasant Dreams, Subterranean Jungle, and Too Tough To Die, all originally released on Sire Records--the passing of Sire's co-founder and former president Seymour Stein made us want to program a big ol' bunch of Sire stuff in addition to our previously-planned Ramones spins. More than half of the selections on this week's playlist were Sire releases. And all of the prizes in this week's edition of 10 Songs are songs that first entered my collection with the Sire logo in place.

"Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?" is the obvious choice from End Of The Century. Our little mutant radio show steals its name from a line in that song, and it's the very first track discussed in my long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). In the interviews for my current book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones, Joey Ramone told me the song "was about disenchantment with the state of radio. Ya know, growin’ up on radio and it being really important, it turned you on to all the great artists. And then radio, it became big business. It seemed like it was just happening in America, but it was really happening all over the world."

Well, Joey, TIRnRR is doing its fair share to fight that. Rock 'n' roll radio. Let's go.

SOFT CELL: Tainted Love

By the end of the summer of 1981, I owned a lot of Sire releases. I had the six studio LPs the Ramones had released by that point (including Pleasant Dreams, which came out that July), their 2-LP in-concert import It's Alive!, their Rock 'n' Roll High School soundtrack album, and three Ramones 45s, all on Sire. I had a few Sire archival collections (single-artist and various artists), and Sire LPs and/or 45s by Talking Heads, Radio Birdman, Plastic Bertrand, the Dead Boys, the Pretenders, Johnny Thunders, Tuff Darts, Richard Hell and the Voidoids, the Undertones, Gruppo Sportivo, M, possibly the Saints and DMZ, and still more Sire beyond those.

But that summer, my 45 of Soft Cell's "Tainted Love" may have accrued more turntable time than all of my other Sire records combined.

Now, I liked this Soft Cell record. I still do. Love it, in fact. But it was my girlfriend Brenda who played the 45, over and over and over again. That may seem like a complaint, but it's not. I love the song, and I love Brenda; we've been married since 1984. Hearing the song conjures a fond memory. Nothing tainted about that.

THE KINKS: All Day And All Of The Night

My very first Sire Record was the 2-LP various-artists collection History Of British Rock Vol. 2, a Christmas gift in 1976. Among this compilation's many essentials by the Dave Clark Five, the Hollies, Dusty Springfield, Badfinger, Chad and Jeremy, and others, its greatest lasting contribution to me was simply this: History Of British Rock Vol. 2 introduced the music of the Kinks into my record library.

"All Day And All Of The Night." I was mere weeks away from my 17th birthday. I only knew the Kinks from "Lola," a track I'd adored on AM radio years before, but which didn't prepare me at all for the welcome sonic assault of "All Day And All Of The Night." From there, my sister pointed me toward the even more primal "You Really Got Me," WOUR-FM's Friday night oldies show hooked me on "Tired Of Waiting For You," and I was a Kinks fan.

My secret origin as a Kinks fan was told in greater detail here. Technically, my Kinks story began with "Lola," but it really got me going with "All Day And All Of The Night" on History Of British Rock Vol. 2. On Sire Records. At the time, I had no idea how important Sire would be to me.

THE RAMONES: All's Quiet On The Eastern Front

As noted in a few recent editions of 10 Songs, I've been reevaluating the Ramones' 1981 album Pleasant Dreams, and while I still don't think it's on the level of da brudders' classic first four albums, it is a much, much better record than I fully appreciated at the time (or for a long time thereafter). For my book, Marky Ramone told me, "I happen to like that album a lot. A lot of people don’t like it because it’s our pop album. John doesn’t like it. Me and Joey like it. I don’t know whether Dee Dee liked it or not. I’m not sure. But I really liked it a lot."

(And Marky was right when he said Johnny Ramone didn't like it: "Yeah, this is the low point of our career here.")

Even when I underrated Pleasant Dreams, "All's Quiet On The Eastern Front" stood out. From a forthcoming piece about my 25 favorite Ramones tracks:

"...'All's Quiet On The Eastern Front' was my immediate favorite when I bought the album in '81, and it has remained so. It's the sprightliest song ever done about a serial killer, stalking the street 'til the break of day, a track delivered with decidedly un-Ramoneslike percussion, and with backing vocals from Dee Dee Ramone asking that musical question, Can't you think my movements talk? Hey, you unsuspecting soon-to-be victims: Pleasant dreams!"

THE SEARCHERS: Hearts In Her Eyes

God, what a magnificent track. In 1979, Seymour Stein had the taste and vision to sign British Invasion stars the Searchers to Sire. The Searchers' 1964 hit "Love Potion No. 9" was also on History Of British Rock Vol. 2, and "Needles And Pins" was on that series' first volume, but after their '60s hitmakin' heyday the group had fallen well under the general public's radar. 

The Searchers did two brilliant albums for Sire, 1979's The Searchers and 1981's Love's Melodies. The highlight was the '79 single "Hearts In Her Eyes," written by John Wicks and Will Birch from the great UK pop combo the Records. From the even-more-theoretical The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 2):

"...Punk would seem to be an unlikely savior of the Searchers' fortunes. As the Sex Pistols sang of no future and the Clash yearned for a riot of their own, some within this new wave of rock 'n' roll eagerly acknowledged and embraced the rockin' pop sounds of the past. 

"The Ramones covered 'Needles And Pins.' Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers--a group then widely considered at least a tangent to new wave--channeled the Searchers' sound in an original song called 'Listen To Her Heart.' The less nihilistic, more pop-minded acts within this broad not-really-a-movement admired and emulated the music of the British Invasion. The Searchers weren't among the most influence-checked bands--those accolades belonged to the Kinks and the Who--but nor were they without honor, without appreciation. More than a decade after needles, pins, and number 9 love potions brought them to fame and acclaim, the Searchers were part of the conversation of what was cool. Seymour Stein must have understood...

"...Lyrically, 'Hearts In Her Eyes' is...well, curious. The boy sings lovingly and admiringly of his girl--a pretty girl, I'm sure--who seems to practice serial hinge-heelededness. Like a kid in a toy shop/She can't stop/She wants all the boys/She's got hearts in her eyes. But the music is pure, pristine, irresistible, the folk rock of 'Needles And Pins' and 'Don't Throw Your Love Away' given power pop muscle, yet retaining the Searchers' familiar grace and charm. It explodes from speakers the way a rockin' pop song oughtta, and jangles with the delirious thrill of getting lost in the eyes, the lips, the arms, the heart of someone to love...."

THE TURTLES: Outside Chance

I've written elsewhere of how I discovered the music of the Turtles, beginning with their huge hit record "Happy Together" when I was a little kid in the '60s and progressing into "She'd Rather Be With Me" and "Elenore" via oldies radio in the '70s. Sire Records provided the fullest portal for my own Turtlemania with a double album best-of set called Happy Together Again.

Happy Together Again was, I think, my third Sire acquisition, following Volumes 1 and 2 of History Of British Rock. Memory is imprecise, but I know I picked up a (very!) used copy of HTA in the basement of Cleveland's late, lamented Record Revolution, and I believe that was in the summer of '77, right before I went to college. 

This collection was a revelation. As wonderful as the Turtles' big hits are, their lesser-known material is greater still. "Love In The City." "Grim Reaper Of Love." And especially "Outside Chance," written by Warren Zevon, simultaneously buoyant and surly, and as definitive a SOD OFF! as you could ever ask a pop song to be.

I no longer own a copy of Happy Together Again. I kinda wish I'd held on to it, but as time went on, I realized that even a double album of the Turtles' best wasn't sufficient; I needed alll of their individual albums, just like I need all of the Beatles' albums. And all of the Ramones' albums. I got the lot of 'em, with bonus tracks, when Sundazed Records reissued the Turtles' library on CD. We remain happy together.

THE RAMONES: In The Park

For a very long time, 1983's Subterranean Jungle was my favorite Ramones studio album outside of the unassailable first four. I'm not sure whether or not I still feel that way...but I might. The album embraces the pop side of the Ramones' influences more than any record since 1977's Rocket To Russia cared to (and more than 1979's fantastic Road To Ruin, which is still an even better album than Subterranean Jungle). "In The Park" is absolutely one of my top 25 Ramones tracks.

THE FLAMIN' GROOVIES: Shake Some Action

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE 13th FLOOR ELEVATORS: You're Gonna Miss Me

Lenny Kaye's seminal '60s garage/punk/psychedelic compilation Nuggets was originally issued by Elektra Records in 1972. It was subsequently reissued by Sire, and in 1979 I grabbed a cutout of the Sire version from the discount bin at Main Street Records in Brockport, NY. I had no familiarity with Nuggets before that, though I knew a few of its tracks, including "Dirty Water" by the Standells. I bought it specifically to get "Lies" by the Knickerbockers and "Liar, Liar" by the Castaways.

I had never heard of the 13th Floor Elevators. My first spin of Nuggets was my first spin of "You're Gonna Miss Me."

It was a HOLY SHIT! moment. Once again from the annals of The Greatest Record Ever Made!:

"...'You're Gonna Miss Me' is acid made punk, as hallucinatory as Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd, as badass as...anything, ever. It's the embodiment of the rock-critic concept of 1960s garage-built psychedelia, while sounding not quite like any of its peers. 

"It could only have come from Texas. It profoundly influenced at least one son of the Lone Star State: Billy Gibbons, later to find fame slingin' his sharp-dressed six-string with ZZ Top. Contemporary to the Elevators, Gibbons played with a group called the Moving Sidewalks, whose own awesome single '99th Floor' couldn't have popped into being without 'You're Gonna Miss Me' providing a blueprint. 'You're Gonna Miss Me' has continued to glow in the dark for all subsequent generations seeking the sound of electric guitars crossed with electric sugar cubes...

"Immediate. Hypnotic. As tough as Detroit's MC5 or Stooges, as potent a warning as a sidewinder's rattle, as intoxicating as drinkin' wine, spo-dee-o-dee, drinkin' wine, goddamn. Welcome to Texas, muthas and bruthas...."

THE RAMONES: Daytime Dilemma (Dangers Of Love)

Confession: while many Ramones fans (and Johnny Ramone himself) regarded 1984's Too Tough To Die as their return to greatness following a series of lackluster albums preceding it, I've never been all that fond of it. I can't say it's my least favorite Ramones album--that would be 1986's Animal Boy--but much of Too Tough To Die is too...I dunno, anonymous for my taste. 

It's not without highlights. The ultrashort instrumental "Durango 95" is a righteous kick anna half, and "Daytime Dilemma (Dangers Of Love)" is peppy 'n' poppin' to the extent that it could have fit in on one of the Ramones' 1970s albums. 

Our month of Ramones continues next week, with my favorite tracks from Animal Boy--even on my least favorite Ramones album, I had a coin toss between two favorite tracks--Halfway To Sanity, Brain Drain, and Mondo Bizarro. 

Brain Drain was the Ramones' last studio album for Sire. With Mondo Bizarro in 1992, the Ramones moved to their manager Gary Kurfirst's label Radioactive Records, where they would remain for the rest of their career.

But we wouldn't have been rewarded with the thrill of the Ramones' music if Seymour Stein's Sire Records hadn't given us the opportunity to experience it. The Sire 45 of "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker" will always be the record that changed my life. Sire Records was an important label, and a vital resource in the development of both of this radio show's impressionable hosts decades ago.

Rest in peace, Seymour.

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider supporting this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon, or by visiting CC's Tip Jar. Additional products and projects are listed here.

Carl's new book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones is now available for preorder, courtesy of the good folks at Rare Bird Books. Gabba Gabba YAY!!

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, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/ You can read about our history here.

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl