This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl is simply too large a concept to be neatly contained within a mere three-hour weekly time slot. Hence these occasional fake TIRnRR playlists, detailing shows we're never really going to do...but could.
Time for another imaginary playlist of 45s that I've owned at some point in my decades-long 45-owning tenure. We're avoiding tracks heard in the first 45 Reflections Per Minute playlist, the second 45 Reflections Per Minute playlist, and the non-series playlist of B-sides I have owned, while politely ignoring duplications from the A- and B-side extravaganza "Two Sided Introductions (At 45 Reflections Per Minute)."
As we prepare to spin, here's a reprise of what I wrote to introduce the first playlist in this series:
I think it was writer Dave Marsh who said that the 45 rpm single is the building block of rock 'n' roll. I couldn't agree more. Before concept albums and triple-LP live sets, before cassettes and CDs and digital files, even before we learned to appreciate the value of a rock 'n' roll album at all, the incandescent appeal of rockin' pop music was discovered and experienced primarily on singles.
This fake This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio playlist celebrates the single; specifically, it celebrates my singles, 45s I bought for myself at some point in my life. My fascination with 45s goes back to my earliest memories: spinning singles on my hand, pretending I was a record player; accompanying my parents to J.M. Fields to pick out new 7" prizes; watching the jukebox at The Moose Club in Syracuse, as the machine placed each little platter in place on its dome-shielded turntable, and rock 'n' roll music poured forth; and, of course, listening to these compact treasures, on the family hi-fi or on my portable player. I had albums, too; in elementary school, I owned Snoopy Vs. The Red Baron by the Royal Guardsmen and California Nights by Lesley Gore. But mostly, I had 45s. I'd start accumulating LPs as a teenager, and I kept on scoring more 45s all the while.
For this exercise, I've (mostly) limited selections to 45s that I purchased with my own money, generally omitting gifts, promos, and legacies left in the family library as siblings moved out. With very few exceptions, each of these tracks is from a 45 I wanted enough to surrender money in exchange for it. Sometimes I wanted the hit. Sometimes I wanted a non-album B-side. Sometimes it was a record I'd never heard before, but which somehow intrigued me enough to buy it anyway. I bought them new and used, at record stores, flea markets, rummage sales, via mail order, from friends seeking to prune their own collections in favor of beer money, even directly from a performer. All known resources were called upon to fill my box of 45s.
For now, put another dime in the jukebox, baby: It's 45 time!
This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl--y'know, the real one--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 all about this show's long and weird history here: Boppin' The Whole Friggin' Planet (The History Of THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO). TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATIONS are always welcome.
Fake TIRnRR Playlist: 45 Reflections Per Minute, Part 3
