10 SONGS: 2/7/2026

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 # 1322

SLYBOOTS: If We Could Let Go

Much of this week's show was programmed in anger, and in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Minneapolis. We opened with Slyboots' "If We Could Let Go," a gorgeous, life-affirming declaration of gaze fixed forward in the face of life's casual (and institutionalized) cruelty. It's become one of my favorite songs, and it was the only song I considered for this week's first spin. In September, I posted a Greatest Record Ever Made! appreciation of the track. As we kick off our own statement of dissent and resolution, I'm going to quote that piece in its entirety:

"If We Could Let Go." I'm trying. Honest, I'm trying.

Slyboots are a great, great group from New York, and they're deserving of much wider notoriety. Their 2024 single "If We Could Let Go" 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. 

The song's title offers a path forward in troubled times, even if it's a path I'm not sure I'm ready to take. Yet. As close to throwing a gauntlet as an earnest plea for peace can be, the songwriting for "If We Could Let Go" is credited to the group. Lead singer Tiffany Lyons imbues the lyrics with an implied weariness bolstered by strength of passion and clarity of purpose. Guitarist KG Noble, bassist Margaret LaBombard, drummer Ted Marcus, and keyboardist Gregorio Lozano surround Lyons with bounce and determination, a steel-willed grace battalion buoyed by angelic backing vocals courtesy of Noble and Lozano.

As we sing along, and as we ponder the salvation in letting go of prejudice and distrust, there are things we should not relinquish. Hold fast to belief in something better. Hold each other up. Hold on. Stand and hold on. Draw strength from our passions, our delights, our embrace of art and family and community. Take comfort in what we love, and commit to fight on behalf of what we love. Pray and work for a future better than today. One foot in front of the other.

How can one hold on to hope in hopeless times? I guess the best we can do is keep pushing forward. Music turned up louder than our doubts. Hands held or raised as we see fit. Eyes on...well, if not on the prize, at least on our next step in the direction of the prize. We may feel like we'll never arrive, and that fear may prove correct. 

But let go of that fear. There are so many reasons to lose heart, to lose focus, to lose our way in the darkness all around us. There are so many reasons to just give up. With "If We Could Let Go," Slyboots gently--firmly--urge us to let go of the darkness that surrounds us.

Let go of the hate. Let go of the hurt. If we could let go. Let go of the if. We can. We will. Slyboots make their case. Let's go, Slyboots.

THE RAMONES: I Believe In Miracles

It would be impossible to overstate the importance of music in my life. From listening to my Aunt Anna's Chubby Checker 45 in the early '60s through co-hosting a little mutant radio show six decades later, music has moved me, inspired me, and built me. With the possible (probable) exception of the Beatles, no musical act has had more pervasive and prevailing impact upon me than the American Beatles, the greatest American rock 'n' roll band of all time, the Ramones. And not even the Beatles can annex and fortify my sovereign POV to the sublime extent that the Ramones can. It's true in good times. It's equally true in times like these. Gabba Gabba, man. Gabba Gabba.

From a previous post:

In times of trouble, when we find ourselves caught at the crossroads of moral quandary and indecision, we must always ask ourselves one question:

What would the Ramones do?

I doubt many people think of the Ramones as avatars of hope. Maybe they shouldn't...but maybe they should? If ever there was a band that persevered, endured, and just kept on doing, popular resistance be damned, it was the Ramones. They were a cult act. They became legitimate pop culture icons, through sheer force of will. A miracle, indeed.

The song "I Believe In Miracles" came late in the Ramones' career. 1989. It was a mere seven years before their final concert, a good fifteen years after the Bowery birthed them; thirteen years after their debut album, eleven years after their final Hot 100 single, nine years since the last Ramones album to (barely) breach the upper 50 in Billboard's LP chart. They had continued to make records. Sales--modest to begin with--diminished further. There were no miracles in their foreseeable future.

The determinedly uplifting lyrics of "I Believe In Miracles" were written by Dee Dee Ramone, and they offer a stunning affirmation of faith in the face of dismally long odds. The song was on Brain Drain, an album which also contained "Pet Sematary," the title tune from a then-new film based on Stephen King's novel of the same name. I even heard "Pet Sematary" on commercial radio once or twice--there's your miracle!--so maybe a belief in better fortune wasn't entirely groundless.

Just, y'know, mostly groundless. "Pet Sematary" did well (# 4) on the Modern Rock Tracks chart, but never troubled the Hot 100. Brain Drain peaked at # 122. It was the Ramones' final studio album for Sire Records. And it was Dee Dee's last record as a Ramone.

Dee Dee's abrupt departure from the brudderhood was startling, and his decision to jump ship seemed to stand in contrast to the resolute dedication implied by what he wrote in "I Believe In Miracles." Perhaps sometimes a song is just a song.

And perhaps sometimes--most times?--a song can be more than just...well, just anything. I used to be on an endless run, believed in miracles 'cause I'm one. Our art is a lifeline to our aspirations, a potential guidebook to what we want to be, what we could be. If reality falls short of our intentions, that failing doesn't negate the audacity to hope, nor indicate that we should deny ourselves the opportunity to rise: we have been blessed with the power to survive, after all these years of being alive.

One could have expected Dee Dee's exit, his act of packing up and taking his miracles home, to signal the Ramones' death knell. One woulda been wrong. A young bassist dubbed C. J. Ramone joined Joey, Johnny, and Marky in the final leather-clad incarnation of this Gabba-Gabba heyday. C. J. is in the video for "I Believe In Miracles." The Ramones kept on going. That's what the Ramones did, always. Their three post-Dee Dee studio albums in the '90s carried flashes of brilliance. And Dee Dee, bless 'im, continued to write songs for his former group. 

That wasn't a miracle. That was family. The few, the proud. Semper Fi.

Should we believe in miracles? Well, what would the Ramones do? It's a simple answer: 1-2-3-4. Get on with it. Hey-ho, let's GO! It doesn't always work out. But sometimes, every now and again, miracles are there for those who believe.

THE LEGAL MATTERS: The Message

It's like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder how I keep from goin' under. Although the Legal Matters' new single "The Message" shares its title with a hip-hop classic by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, it is most assuredly its own message. As the group's Andy Reed explains, "In today’s political landscape, I’ve grown frustrated with the hypocritical, religious types. It’s not aimed at religion specifically, just those who weaponize it.” 

We get the message, and we approve. The single's out now; the new album Lost At Sea is due February 27th. Message received.

THE CLASH: Clampdown

The popular meme is correct: These are the times Joe Strummer trained us for. Let fury have the hour. Anger can be power.

ELVIS COSTELLO AND THE ATTRACTIONS: (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

MELANIE WITH THE EDWIN HAWKINS SINGERS: Lay Down (Candles In The Rain)

All around us, the world gives us an eternal supply of reasons to give in and give up. We counter the thud and drone with...well, with whatever we can, with any means or method capable of marshalling our spirits. Music is one of many such methods, a favored go-to when we need nurturing or inspiration, consolation or spark. In 1970, Melanie with the Edwin Hawkins Singers provided a song that still serves that purpose for me. From my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1):

...What a terrific, uplifting song, with the sanctified might of the Edwin Hawkins Singers lifting Melanie up to soar as high as the angels above. I'd had no real use for the straight black Gospel sound of the Edwin Hawkins Singers' huge 1969 hit "Oh Happy Day" when I was nine, but "Lay Down" effortlessly mingled their celestial sound with Melanie's folk-singer vibe, and it all wound up as pop music. Irresistible pop music. Forget the damned roller skates. "Lay Down (Candles In The Rain)" is the key, right here.

"We were so close/There was no room/We bled inside each other's wounds." Well, the lyrics pin this one to the Viet Nam War era. "Lay Down (Candles In The Rain)" was inspired by Melanie's performance at Woodstock, a song written to express how it felt for her to see this massive crowd--perhaps not really a half a million strong, but giving the impression of a large, large number--as she sang and played her own songs of peace. The rain came down. You can hear her on the Woodstock Two album, performing "My Beautiful People" and "Birthday Of The Sun," dedicating her music with a giggle to the beautiful, wet people. You can hear her smile. You can hear her belief. 

After Woodstock, Melanie took all of what she'd seen, all of what she felt, and turned it into "Lay Down (Candles In The Rain)." Raise the candles high. If you don't we could stay black against the night. The Edwin Hawkins Singers provide amazing grace, immortal soul, an oh-happy-day's journey into night. Raise them higher again. We could stay dry against the rain...."

THE JAM: In The City

In the city there's a thousand men in uniform/And I've heard they now have the right to kill a man

Those lines cut deep in 1977. They cut even deeper now.

APOLLO 100: Joy

Classic Top 40 is fine, but let's raise a glass to classical Top 40. In 1971, Apollo 100 took an electric pop-rock arrangement of Johann Sebastian Bach's "Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring" into the Top Ten and onto AM radios everywhere. "Joy." The song's title describes its effect. As we said on the radio Sunday night:

"We acknowledge that when things go wrong, playing pop music on the radio doesn't do much of anything to correct what's wrong. But we channel our outrage, our dedication, our belief that we CAN change, for the better. 

"Belief is hope. Hope is joy.

"On this show, and in this life, we embrace the audacity of joy."

THE BEATLES: Revolution

We do not know that it's gonna be all right. And it won't be all right any time soon enough. We ain't givin' up just yet. 1-2-3-4!

MICHAEL SIMMONS: America

From his exquisite covers album Fun Where You Can Find It, Michael Simmons covers Simon and Garfunkel. All come to look for America. I swear it's out there. Keep the faith, baby. Keep the faith.

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.

10 SONGS: 1/31/2026

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 # 1321

THE LEGAL MATTERS: Stuck With Me

I've been corresponding with Keith Klingensmith of the Legal Matters since well before This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio went on the air in December of 1998. Let's go back to my supplemental liner notes for 2017's This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4 for an edited recap:

"...Keith's name comes up a lot in the discussion of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio. Keith is one of TIRnRR's best friends; as a fan, as a listener, as a supporter, as a facilitator (Keith's on-line label Futureman Records curates the digital release of our TIRnRR compilations), and as a performer, Keith has been one of us from the get-go...

"...My first contact with Keith was in the '90s, via some online pop music connection--probably AOL, I guess. At the time, I was among several pop fans who participated in a weekly Monday night power pop chat group. I don't remember whether or not I specifically met Keith through that chat; I suspect it was more a matter (if not quite a Legal Matter) of Keith noticing a comment I made somewhere, bemoaning the fact that I couldn't find the Spongetones' Where-Ever-Land CD. Keith to the rescue! Some time later, Keith also provided me with a copy of Here To Observe, the truly hard-to-find debut LP by Springfield, Missouri's phenomenal pop combo Fools Face (Keith wisely kept a copy of the group's incredible third album Public Places for himself), and I'm pretty sure my copy of Artful Dodger's classic debut album came from our Keef...

"...Through Keith, I also met his partner in the Phenomenal Cats, Chris Richards. There's a wealth of cool music for ya. I mean, the Phenomenal Cats' cover of the Left Banke's 'I've Got Something On My Mind' made me appreciate a simply sublime pop song I'd somehow managed to mostly ignore up to that point. The combined and separate threads of Chris 'n' Keith wove through solo tracks by each, plus Hippodrome, the Pantookas, Chris Richards and the Subtractions, Keith Klingensmith and the TM Collective, and the Legal Matters, the latter a trio with Keith, Chris, and Andy Reed. The Legal Matters' eponymous debut was one of 2014's best albums, and follow-ups Conrad and Chapter Three rightly became the toast of the pop world...

"...Keith Klingensmith is an integral part of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio's story. Our online comradeship predates the show, and has continued unabated throughout the passing three decades. He's been one of our biggest supporters, helping to spread the good word of TIRnRR, sending fans and artists alike our way, contributing to our quixotic cause, and keeping previous TIRnRR compilations available as downloads via Futureman Records...."

So! Back in the present day: A forthcoming new Legal Matters album, Lost At Sea? Yes, of course we're playing it. To paraphrase Lenny Haise, guitarist for teen sensations the Wonders: We're playin' it, you're playin' it, we're ALL playin' it. And we move on to the album's latest single "The Message" on our next show. After all these years, Keith and his pals are stuck with us. It's a legal matter.

STYX: Everybody Raise A Glass

As an exercise in blogging, I often slap together fake TIRnRR playlists, imagining song selections for themed shows we're probably never going to do, but could. I'm considering the idea of constructing a pretend playlist comprised of sets by acts I didn't appreciate immediately, and in some cases still don't really like.

One such act would be Styx. My God, when I was in my teens and twenties, I absolutely loathed Styx, and time hasn't really mellowed my antipathy for the Styx stuff I hated the most. Mind you, even at the time of my determined loathing--unadulterated loathing--I made an exception for the pop bliss of "Lorelei," which I often cited as proof of my belief that even an artist whose work you generally despise might be capable of creating one track you love. And I kinda liked "Too Much Time On My Hands," as well. Overall, though, my distaste for Styx was greater than my disdain for the Eagles, the Grateful Dead, Southern Rock, prog, or disco, and possibly greater than all of those undesirables combined. The upshot of our story: I was not and am not a Styx fan.

That said, the phenomenal latter-day Styx track "Kiss Your Ass Goodbye" is an all-time TIRnRR Fave Rave, and there are a handful of vintage Styx tracks that I don't mind. I don't think the day will come when I have any use whatsoever for "Babe" or "Renegade" or goddamned "Mr. Roboto," but I concede that the Styx brand name doesn't necessarily have to prompt an immediate revulsion.

Yeah, y'know...not necessarily.

"Everybody Raise A Glass" is from the 2025 Styx album Circling From Above, and I heard it a couple of weeks ago on another can't-miss episode of The Spoon podcast (specifically on this episode). The men of The Spoon--Robbie Rist, Chris Jackson, and Thom Bowers--are Styx fans, but I love 'em anyway. And the track's winning and accomplished channeling of all things Queen makes it an irresistible addition to our own show's playlist. 

Even with the bands we don't like as much as some of our friends do, an open mind can unlock the doors of discovery. Raise a glass! Here's to the Men of The Spoon, and also to our old correspondent Kathryn Francis, wherever she is. Thank you, friends. Domo arigato. It's Styx, babe.

TALKING HEADS: Burning Down The House

Believe it or not, if I were to compile the above-mentioned playlist of acts that didn't appeal to me on first exposure, Talking Heads would be a contender. I revised my initially dismissive opinion of the group in relatively short order, and I remain grateful that I was able to witness a great Talking Heads live performance in the '80s. But in 1977, the first Talking Heads song I heard was their single of "Uh Oh, Love Comes To Town," and I hated it. I trashed it in an emeritus contribution to my high school newspaper (a piece carrying the sorta-familiar title "Groovin' [Like The Hip Folks Do]"); in retrospect, I realize I didn't like "Uh Oh, Love Comes To Town" because it didn't sound at all punk, which was what I expected and craved. I liked "Psycho Killer" better, and became a fan thereafter. I don't even mind "Uh Oh, Love Comes To Town" any more.

See? I can mature! Just...not usually.

THE HALF/CUBES: Whenever You're On My Mind

For the latest single from the Half/Cubes' fine current album Found Pearls, the lads enlist the aid of Robert Crenshaw and Tom Teeley to accomplish an exquisite rendition of Marshall Crenshaw's already-sublime "Whenever You're On My Mind." This little mutant radio show first played it as a then-unreleased teaser track last February, and I'm starting to believe the Half/Cubes' take edges out both our Marshall and the great Ronnie Spector as the definitive "Whenever You're On My Mind." They're all winners in my mind.

THE LITTLE GIRLS: How To Pick Up Girls

And they say ya can't learn stuff listening to the radio.

SPECTRAFLAME: Love Don't Live Here No More

Spectraflame's "Love Don't Live Here No More" makes its fourth consecutive appearance on the TIRnRR playlist. As it oughta! The single is now part of the group's new eponymous five-song digital EP, and it will rack up TIRnRR Spin # 5 this coming Sunday.

As it oughta. Love still has a home right here.

THE RAMONES: All's Quiet On The Eastern Front

From a previously-posted celebration of my 25 favorite Ramones tracks:

The 1-2-3-4! rules of our ABC format dictate that a list of my favorite Ramones tracks starts with its quirkiest selection. "All's Quiet On The Eastern Front" appeared on the Ramones' 1981 LP Pleasant Dreams, an album that doesn't sound like any other Ramones album. Pleasant Dreams was produced by Graham Gouldman, who achieved great success in the '60s as a songwriter for the Yardbirds, the Hollies, and Herman's Hermits, and subsequently as a performer with 10cc. And, as Johnny Ramone said in our interview, "The guy from 10cc producing the Ramones? 10cc sucks, and it's not right for the Ramones."

On Pleasant Dreams, Gouldman's production made the Ramones sound...I dunno, smoother than expected? Phil Spector had done something similar with 1980's End Of The Century, another album that doesn't sound like any other Ramones album. In Spector's hands, the bubblepunk purity of the Ramones got lost in his Wall of Sound; Gouldman turned the Ramones into a new wave pop band. Neither End Of The Century nor Pleasant Dreams is at the same transcendent level as the classic fist four Ramones albums that preceded them.

Ignoring the anomaly of this album's place in the larger Carbona-huffin' picture, though, I need to risk contradicting myself: Pleasant Dreams is a fantastic record. Fantastic. I know Marky Ramone liked it, and we've established that Johnny hated it, but the fact that it wasn't Rocket To Russia doesn't prevent it from being compelling in its own right.

Pleasant Dreams is loaded with great Ramones songs, from "We Want The Airwaves" to "It's Not My Place (In The 9 To 5 World)" to "She's A Sensation" to the superb album closer "Sitting In My Room." "The KKK Took My Baby Away" is the best-known of the bunch. Would the tracks sound better if Ed Stasium or Tommy Ramone had produced them? Possibly. They sound pretty good as-is.

"All's Quiet On The Eastern Front" was my immediate pick 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 ISLEY BROTHERS: Shout (Part 1)

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE HIGH FREQUENCIES: Cleanup Time

From the High Frequencies' current album Get High, "Cleanup Time" has become one of my top go-to tracks of late. Invigmoratin'! And it plays here again on Sunday, within an added political context. In this country, it is long, long past cleanup time.

SORROWS: Cricket Man

Epic. Power pop greats Sorrows recorded their originally-unreleased farewell album Parting Such Sweet Sorrow in one single night's session in 1981. Decades later, this eminently satisfying record was rescued from the archives and at long last issued by the visionary Big Stir Records label in 2025. It was one of the best albums of the year.

"Never Mind" became our show's pick hit from the record--it was our # 15 most-played track in 2025--but the mic-drop moment is "Cricket Man," Sorrows' immense and heartfelt tribute to the recently-slain John Lennon. It takes TIRnRR a while to find sufficient airspace to accommodate a five-and-a-half-minute track in our short-attention-span format, no matter how utterly wonderful the track is. "Cricket Man" was worth waiting for. Nothing is Sorrow-proof, and "Cricket Man" provides a stunning salute to one of the prime architects of the music we love, and a stirring farewell from a great band deeply affected by the pop world the Beatles helped build.

Fab. Sweet. Unforgettable.

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.

10 SONGS: 12/6/2025

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 # 1313

THE FLASHCUBES: The Sweet Spot

While I didn't get any books published in 2025, I'm insanely proud of the one major project I did manage to complete this year: Compiling and curating the various-artists blockbuster Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes for the mighty Big Stir Records label. The release of this salute to my all-time favorite power pop group was a dream come true, fulfilling my long-standing wish that some of the Flashcubes' outstanding original songs needed to be recognized and celebrated, in this case via fresh interpretations by a number of other rockin' pop bright lights, from Graham Parker and Mike Gent through Tom Kenny and the Hi-Seas. We even got the Flashcubes themselves to contribute three stellar new tracks, and each of those seems certain to be among TIRnRR's most-played tracks of 2025. (We'll find out for sure when we get to our COUNTDOWN! show on December 28th.)

Meanwhile, the good folks at Big Stir are doing their own well-deserved end of year victory lap with the release of the budget compilation 25 For '25: The Big Stir Records Hit Machine. With the CD priced at a mere $5 American, it presents a unique opportunity to program 2025 Big Stir winners by Sorrows, 20/20, Chris Church, the Bablers, Crossword Smiles, Nelson Bragg, Splitsville, the Spongetones, Maple Mars, Shplang, the Jack Rubies, Strawberry Alarm Clock, the Armoires, Hungrytown, Dolph Chaney featuring the Speed of Sound, the Pepper's Ghost Players, the Gold Needles, Lady Darkevyl, the Corner Laughers, Michael Simmons, and the Legal Matters in one swell foop. In one glorious, low-priced swell foop!

Since the above listing only presents 21 for '25, you would be correct in presuming the other four tracks are from the Flashcubes tribute: "Make Something Happen" by sparkle*jets u.k., "Gone Too Far" by Librarians With Hickeys. the Graham Parker-Mike Gent triumph "Pathetic," and the Flashcubes' "The Sweet Spot."

In my ongoing capacity as the world's most-insistent Flashcubes fan, I purchased my very own copy for my burgeoning collection of compilation albums that include a little sumpin by Syracuse's own power pop powerhouse. From Waves Vol. 1 in 1979 through 2025's I Wanna Be A Teen Again--American Power Pop 1980-1989, Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes, and now 25 For '25: The Big Stir Records Hit Machine, the lights remain bright and glow even brighter still. Smile everyone! It's the Flashcubes.

THE RAMONES: I'm Affected

The 2023 publication of my first book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones prompted me to reassess my feelings toward each of the Ramones' studio albums. I'd always regarded the first four albums--Ramones, Leave Home, Rocket To Russia, and Road To Ruin--as bedrock, while still thinking Road To Ruin was a slight step down from the essential Ramonesness of its three predecessors. Now, I regard Road To Ruin as the Ramones' masterpiece, but ya can't go wrong with any of that nonpareil set of 1-2-3-4!!

I'm still disappointed with the fifth album, 1980's End Of The Century, which has moments of promise, even brilliance, but just ain't in the same league as Ramones through Road To Ruin. As I wrote in my second book, 2024's The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1):

"...By this point, legendary record producer Phil Spector viewed himself as the Ramones' anointed savior, and he wanted the chance to prove it. "Do you want to make a good record," he asked them, "or do you wanna make a great one?" His resumé of 45 rpm success was impressive, his early '60s Wall of Sound production responsible for the Ronettes and Crystals hits that were integral parts of the AM pop world during the formative years of the young Ramones-to-be. A perfect match?

"No. It was not a perfect match.

"Sure, the Spector-produced End Of The Century would be the Ramones' highest-charting album (albeit still with no radio hits), but his painstaking, glossy technique diluted the Ramones' power rather than enhancing it. Joey and Phil got along well--it's been said that Spector really wanted to produce a Joey Ramone solo LP--while Johnny despised Spector, and Spector pulled a gun on Dee Dee during the making of the album. End Of The Century has its moments, but it is nowhere near the equal of the four Ramones albums that preceded it. Spector delivered the opposite of what he'd promised: With Spector at the helm, the Ramones had made a good album rather than a great one...."

The album's lead-off track "Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?" is perfect--there's a reason we named our little mutant radio show after a line in that song--and second track "I'm Affected" sure does rock, even with Spector's ham-handed weakening of its power. It would have been something to hear it as, y'know, a purer Ramones track.

(For the record: I'm also way fonder of the Ramones' sixth album Pleasant Dreams than I was before, and it now rivals its follow-up Subterranean Jungle for the # 5 spot on my Ramones Albums Hit Parade. I remain one of the few Ramones fans who thinks Too Tough To Die is merely...okay. The Ramones never made a bad studio album, and they only made one bad live album [Loco Live]. But yeah, some of the albums were better than others.)

THE HIGH FREQUENCIES: Cleanup Time

"Cleanup Time" is my fave among faves on the High Frequencies ace new album Get High, and that's a statement of Hell, YEAH! when you're dealing with an album as good as this. I wish I'd jumped on the track a tiny bit sooner than I did--mathematically, it's too late for "Cleanup Time" to accrue sufficient spins to secure a berth on the countdown show--but I betcha it would have otherwise cleaned up nicely.

JIMMY SILVA AND THE EMPTY SET FEATURING KIM WONDERLY: Train Crossing

Always steal from the best. When friend to TIRnRR Rich Firestone played this wonderful Jimmy Silva track on his fab Spark Radio show Radio Deer Camp last week, I immediately realized it was a programming idea well worth swiping outright. Thanks, Reechie! I've owned the track for many years, but sometimes you need a good DJ to remind you of what ya should have already known. Always, always steal from the best.

JIMMY CLIFF: Miss Jamaica

This week's show included a few spins in memory of reggae music icon Jimmy Cliff. From a previous 10 Songs:

As I think back, I can't remember where I first heard the music of Jimmy Cliff. I've never seen the film The Harder They Come, and I don't know when I was first exposed to Cliff's classic tracks "Many Rivers To Cross" and "You Can Get It If You Really Want It." The latter was included on the mix tapes I made for my daughter Meghan when she was little. My first vicarious contact with Cliff was likely the Animals' cover of "Many Rivers To Cross" on their 1977 reunion album Before We Were So Rudely Interrupted.

But I do know that I first heard Cliff's 1962 ska tune "Miss Jamaica" in 1992, when Dana played it one week on our old TIRnRR precursor We're Your Friends For Now on WNMA. The song is certainly unlike Cliff's subsequent and better-known reggae sides; it's agreeably goofy, and I immediately found the difference between early Jimmy Cliff and later Jimmy Cliff noteworthy and fascinating. 

THE OHMS: License To Kill

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

POPDUDES: Drivin' Around

This intrepid radio show has been carpet-bombing our playlists with selections from Play On: A Raspberries Tribute. This week's ritual Play On spin belongs to the always-reliable Popdudes, who give us an effervescently cruisin' take on Raspberrries' beach-bound classic "Drivin' Around." We have a lengthy and way cool history with Popdudes principals John M. Borack and Michael Simmons, and we're delighted to program their fine, fine music. Popdudes have appeared on several of the This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio compilation CDs, John was a colleague when I was freelancing for Goldmine magazine (for whom John still writes), and Michael Simmons was the magic maestro masterin' the magnificent music on Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes. We're fans!!

We're also big fans of Michael's own music, both with his group sparkle*jets u.k. (whose most recent album Box Of Letters was one of the tippety-top best records of 2024) and as a solo guy. Our Michael has released a simply splendid new covers album called Fun Where You Can Find It, and it is an absolutely essential purchase. We've already played the album's cover of the Beach Boys' "Sail On, Sailor" back when it was a pre-release teaser, and we will open our next show with another fine shot of Fun Where You Can Find It.

Meanwhile: PLAY ON! Long hot days, we'll be catchin' the rays. Popdudes at the wheel. Let's cruise.

THE SLAPBACKS: Make Something Happen

THE LEGAL MATTERS: Everybody Knows

Speaking of John M. Borack, he was also the drummer on the world's first Flashcubes cover, the Slapbacks' "Make Something Happen." Man, that title is familiar. The Slapbacks provided this treat for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4 in 2017, and you can read that track's back story right here.

The Slapbacks were fronted by Keith Klingensmith, whose Futureman Records label is the digital home of most of the TIRnRR compilations. Keith's main rockin' pop recording gig is with indie sooperstars the Legal Matters, and that combo has a new album (Lost At Sea) due out on Big Stir in 2026. We started playing the advance single "Everybody Knows" last week, we played it again this week, it will spin again on our next show, and it's out in physical form on the 25 For '25 comp we extolled at the top of today's blog. Everybody knows? Everybody WINS!

JIMMY CLIFF: The Harder They Come

We will all fall. We are defined by how we stand before that inevitable fall. Across all rivers, Jimmy Cliff stood tall. Godspeed to one of reggae's enduring legends. 

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.

10 SONGS: 11/29/2025

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 # 1312

THE RAMONES: Punishment Fits The Crime

Each week, when getting ready to plan the show's playlist with Dana, I keep a list of potential track choices to consider. The list includes new stuff, recent faves, old faves, old tracks we've never played before, and assorted items of varying vintage and familiarity that might fit into the presumed master plan of whatever it is we do on TIRnRR. The list carries through from week to week, its contents adjusted as we go.

The Ramones' "Punishment Fits The Crime" has been on that list for many weeks. The song was written by bassist Dee Dee Ramone and Plasmatics guitarist Richie Stotts, sung by Dee Dee, and included on the group's 1989 album Brain Drain (the last Ramones studio album to include Dee Dee as anything other than just songwriter). Frankly, Brain Drain is a contender for my least favorite Ramones album, but it does give us the fantastic "I Believe In Miracles," plus "Pet Sematary" and "Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight Tonight)," proving that even the merest Ramones album is still A RAMONES ALBUM!! Anyway, "Punishment Fits The Crime" fits in the category of "old tracks we've never played before," and that status is what placed it in my week-to-week list of playlist possibilities.

Prior to this week's programming session, I realized it had been a little while since we'd opened a show with the Ramones. I considered programming one of my many, many Ramones Picks T' Click in that leadoff spot, but opted to finally give "Punishment Fits The Crime" its long-overdue TIRnRR debut.

Throughout the process, it didn't even occur to me that the song's title could apply to...you know who. Let's hope we find a legal punishment to fit that guy in the very near future. As another punk band said: All crimes are paid.

THE LEGAL MATTERS: Everybody Knows

The minute I found out that the Legal Matters were doing a new album for Big Stir Records, I immediately petitioned the band and label for permission and access to play the then-forthcoming advance single. The album, Lost At Sea, is due in 2026, and the single "Everybody Knows" was released to radio just after this week's show was recorded. But we got it! Everybody knows we would be playing it; we knew we could not wait another week to do so. And everybody should know now: We're playing it again this Sunday. 

SHOES: Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)

We don't get many opportunities to program new music by power pop legends Shoes, and we've never before had an opportunity to play Shows covering power pop's Ur group Raspberries. Opportunity SEIZED! Shoes' rendition of the Raspberries hit "Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)" comes to us from the superb various-artists 'Berries salute Play On: A Raspberries Tribute, a tribute curated by our friend Ken Sharp. Want a hit record? Look no further.

(Raspberries' original version of "Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)" ands Shoes' own incredible 1978 single "Tomorrow Night" are among the 145 tracks--one 45 at a time!--I discuss in my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! [Volume 1]. SPOILER ALERT: I like both of those records a lot. You can read all about them and their 143 GREM! brethren and sistren by ordering your own copy of the book. I'm Carl Cafarelli, and I approve this message.  The Greatest Record Ever Made [Volume 2] is [very] tentatively planned for 2027.)

THE BUSBOYS: The Boys Are Back In Town

When Robbie Rist saw in this week's show hype that we were playing the BusBoys, he immediately wanted to know if we were playing new music by this great group. Alas, although we did program the BusBoys' then-recent single "In My Heart" back in 2024 (and likewise with "Love On My Mind" in 2022), we weren't even aware that there was new BusBoys music available. Honestly, I'd fire the TIRnRR research department, but that department is, y'know, me, and I've got tenure.

Robbie's (presumably) figurative headslap to our collective noggin prompted a fresh search for new BusBoys tuneage, resulting in a purchase of the 2025 digital-only album In My Heart. Target acquired! The album includes both of the 2020s singles mentioned above, and we'll debut another track from In My Heart on Sunday. Thanks for the nudzh, Robbie! Meanwhile, here's another spin of the BusBoys' best-known track "The Boys Are Back In Town," as heard when the BusBoys appeared in the 1982 Eddie Murphy-Nick Nolte flick 48 Hours. 'Cuz when the boys are back, there ain't no foolin' around.

THE MONKEES: Papa Gene's Blues

PLAY, magic fingers!

TAYLOR SWIFT: The Last Great American Dynasty

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

KEN SHARP: I'm A Rocker

One more from Play On: A Raspberries Tribute, "I'm A Rocker" as performed by the set's auteur Ken Sharp. I owned the original Raspberries 45 of "I'm A Rocker" when I was a teen in the '70s, and I was puzzled that it wasn't on the Raspberries' Best Featuring Eric Carmen compilation LP. Our Ken knows Raspberries' best better'n anybody, and he honors that legacy here.

DIRTY LOOKS: Let Go

Staten Island's phenomenal pop combo Dirty Looks with their signature tune. From a previous 10 Songs:

Statement of intent. This Staten Island trio's eponymous debut LP was released on the Stiff America label in 1980, and "Let Go" was an immediate fave rave on 97 Power Rock, a Sunday night alternative-rock showcase aired on Buffalo's 97 Rock FM. Hmmm. A Sunday night rock 'n' roll radio show? I may have made note of that particular notion for possible future use. 

"Let Go" is a perfect post-punk radio pop song, fueled by new wave rock energy, rooted in catchy 1960s radio fare, and dead certain that the Ramones, the Who, Joe Jackson, and Paul Revere and the Raiders are Heaven-sent inspirations.

It's not easy to write a song about rock 'n' roll. It's not. Too many attempts at rock anthems feel forced, or overly earnest, pompous, clueless, heavy-handed, and...blechh. With "Let Go," Dirty Looks pull it off with style, and they make it seem like a cinch. Don't you know that rock 'n' roll is still the best drug? The drumming is hyperactive, the bass pushy (in a good way), the guitar simple and authoritative, the vocals and harmonies steadfast, reflecting the confidence of a group secure in the knowledge that it has God on its side. All you gotta do, let go, let go, let GO! GO! GO! GO! Belief is infectious. And godDAMN, this sounds so exhilarating on the radio. 

It always has.

ELVIS COSTELLO AND THE ATTRACTIONS: Clowntime Is Over

Is clowntime over? All respect to Elvis Costello and the Attractions, but clowntime ain't really over until we heed the words of the Ramones:

Let the punishment fit the crime.

THE HIGH FREQUENCIES: Cleanup Time

And if there is any justice, clowntime will give way to cleanup time. "Cleanup Time" is my favorite track on the High Frequencies' super groovy new album Get High, and like our opening track by the Ramones, the title's topically apt nature didn't strike me until after the fact. Nonetheless: CLEANUP ON PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE! Mops at the ready. Let's go.

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.