10 SONGS: 11/22/2025

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 # 1311

SQUEEZE: Goodbye Girl

SQUEEZE: Vicky Verky

SQUEEZE: If It's Love

From a previous 10 Songs regarding "Goodbye Girl" by Squeeze:

"My favorite Squeeze song. Although I was a relative latecomer to Squeeze fandom, I fell hard for 'Pulling Mussels (From The Shell),' and also liked 'Annie Get Your Gun.' Then they broke up. Then they got back together! I didn't own any of Squeeze's stuff until the late '80s, when Singles--45's And Under became one of my early CD purchases. More purchases would follow. I now have many favorite Squeeze songs. 'Goodbye Girl' remains my # 1."

With the passing of former Squeeze drummer Gilson Lavis, it seemed imperative for a pop-obsessed radio show like ours to attempt some sort of proper salute and appreciation. We figured our best way to do that was to open the show with three Squeeze classics in a row, then circle back to one more Squeeze perennial near the end of the show.

And I wanted to start with "Goodbye Girl," not just because it's my top Squeeze track, but because Lavis's distinctive arrangement of the song's percussion stands as testimony to his talent and ingenuity. Squeezing our way forward, the 1980 Argybargy album track "Vicky Verky" has been a frequent fixture on TIRnRR playlists, and "If It's Love" (from 1989's Frank.) finally makes its long-overdue TIRnRR debut this week, as This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio remembers Gilson Lavis.

THE PEPPERMINT KICKS: Number One Record

"Number One Record?" Hey! We PLAY the hits! "Number One Records" is the latest single from the Peppermint Kicks' exquisite new album Pop Rocks In My Chewing Gum, and it's an exercise in needle-to-groove exuberance directed by a benevolent deity toward eager disciples of rock 'n' roll radio. Since this IS rock 'n' roll radio, it's our Heavenly obligation to play the Peppermint Kicks. Writhe with the tithe, baby. Like the Rutles before them, the Peppermint Kicks are number one, number one.

THE ARMOIRES: You're Not The Police

It was my great, great pleasure to curate the 2025 various-artists blockbuster Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes. The album was released by our friends at Big Stir Records, and I'll piddle all over the sin of false modesty and tell you it's really, really good. As further evidence of the set's essential 'n' undeniable awesomeness, we offer another spin of Big Stir's de facto house band the Armoires and their irresistible channeling of Cheap Trick and the Byrds for this epic cover of the Flashcubes' "You're Not The Police."

THE LEMON TWIGS: Play On

My pal Ken Sharp is to the ace compilation Play On: A Raspberries Tribute as I am to Make Something Happen!, a passionate rockin' pop advocate eager to proclaim and celebrate the legacy of an all-time favorite combo. Among the many 'Berries-flavored treats Ken assembled for Play On, he recruited current pop buzzsters the Lemon Twigs to contribute a sublime rendition of the album's title track, a song which also happens to be one of my own top Raspberries tunes. We'll hear two more tracks from Play On: A Raspberries Tribute on our next show, including a Raspberries rocker by Ken Sharp hisself. Play on? Damned straight we will.

MATERIAL ISSUE: I'd Wait A Million Years

Material Issue's cover of the Grass Roots' hit "I'd Wait A Million Years" comes to us via Yellow Pills Volume 4, the beyond-fab 1997 chapter in Jordan Oakes's essential series of power pop compilations. I'm a little surprised to see we've never played it before, but its presumed million-year wait for TIRnRR airplay ends now, thanks to Dean Brownrout. 

Dean was the co-owner of the Big Deal Records label, which was the home of the Yellow Pills CDs and to a big, big stack o' worthies by a big, big roster of TIRnRR Fave Raves. Dean has been promoting his new book No Big Deal (subtitled "Chasing the indie music dream in the last days of the record business"), and that promotion brought him to an appearance on the 1000 Greatest Misses podcast. You can hear that episode right here. The music on this very special Big Deal edition of 1000 Greatest Misses included Material Issue's "I'd Wait A Million Years" (alongside worthies by Wondermints, Adam Schmitt, Splitsville, and the Sighs), and we couldn't miss this inspiration and opportunity to program a Material Issue track we ain't played before. Worth the wait!

BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD: Sit Down I Think I Love You

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE FLASHCUBES: Reminisce

Also from Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes, one of three new nonpareil tracks by the Flashcubes. 'Cubes guitarist Paul Armstrong's "Reminisce" serves as the album's opening salvo, it was the first advance single, and it is without question my top track of 2025. Reminiscing AND looking forward. It's all I want to do.

SQUEEZE: Pulling Mussels (From The Shell)

My first favorite Squeeze song. "Goodbye Girl" more or less supplanted it over time, but it's still just fantastic, and you can't go wrong with the best of Squeeze. Godspeed, Gilson Lavis.

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: 7/5/2024 [THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE!, Part 3]

 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 will really be 40 Songs, presented in four parts. The selections draw from the playlist for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1240, presenting a few of the tracks featured in my new book THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! (VOLUME 1).

We played 48 tracks on this week's show; for ten of those, I read on-air excerpts from the book's chapter about that track. This four-part collection of 10 Songs columns will offer snippets on behalf of the other 38 tracks, with two bonus tracks at the end.

You can read Part 1 here, and Part 2 here.

BIG BROTHER AND THE HOLDING COMPANY: Piece Of My Heart

I'm gonna show you, baby, that a woman can be tough.

There was this girl who sang the blues.

In the 1975 film That's the Way Of the World (starring Harvey Keitel and Earth, Wind and Fire), actress Cynthia Bostick plays Velour Page, an ambitious and amoral singer with a squeaky-clean public image. In one scene, Velour mentions Janis Joplin. "I saw her once," Velour says between swigs from her bottle. "God, what an ugly bitch. You know, on the outside. Inside she was beautiful. She was me turned inside out."

Of course, Velour Page was fictional. Maybe we can forgive her for having her head up her ass....

THE FLAMIN' GROOVIES: Shake Some Action

...By the spring of 1979, a friend who shared my fondness of punk and new wave allowed me to borrow his copy of an import sampler LP called New Wave. This New Wave compilation had tracks by the New York Dolls, the Damned, the Dead Boys, the Ramones, the Runaways, Richard Hell and the Voidoids, Talking Heads…and a Flamin' Groovies song.

"Shake Some Action."

I’m the sort of wide-eyed pop fan that can fall in love with a song or a band instantly. It's like a communion with an ethereal, ultimate radio station beamin' directly to me. It's magic, and there's no other word that applies. It was magic when I first heard "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker" by the Ramones. It was magic when I first saw the Flashcubes live. And it was magic when I discovered "Shake Some Action."

The song was just...hypnotic. There were so many little elements combining and clashing within that track, bits of the Byrds and Phil Spector, a brooding, booming bass, guitars that seemed to snarl and jangle at the same time, punk swagger, pop yearning, and an insistent instrumental hook that whispered silkily in my ear, You're with us now, son. It was a recipe for cacophony, a surefire roadmap to a sonic mess...except that it wasn't. It was precise. It was perfect. 

I wanted this record....

MATERIAL ISSUE: Kim The Waitress

...Material Issue's version of "Kim the Waitress" was made for radio, a brooding, simmering cautionary tale, teeming with melancholy, delivered with peerless pop panache. It turned out to be a cover of a song written by Jeff Kelly, originally recorded by Kelly's group the Green Pajamas. Fans of the Green Pajamas have routinely referred to "Kim the Waitress" as "that song Material Issue ruined." As if. To my ears, Material Issue took a quirky left-of-the-dial ditty and transformed it into a potential hit single, perhaps even a pop classic.

Maybe things would have gone differently if it had been the hit it deserved to be. Maybe not. Hit records didn't save Kurt Cobain. No one can save us. Material Issue frontman Jim Ellison killed himself on June 20th, 1996. Because commercial success had eluded Material Issue? Because he'd broken up with his girlfriend? Some other reason entirely? We'll never have any real clue. We only know one thing, again and again: 

No one can save us....

THE SPONGETONES: (My Girl) Maryanne

The early Beatles reborn, or an incredible simulation?

Taking inspiration from the Fab Four, Charlotte, North Carolina's phenomenal pop combo the Spongetones have delighted discerning pop fans with avowedly Beatlesque hooks and harmonies. The group's earliest efforts are engaging pastiches of Beatles '65--much like the Rutles played straight--with each tune a familiar-sounding rummage through the British Invasion songbook. The appeal transcends mere mimicry; its magic lies not in where the group nicked its initial tricks, but in the self-assured manner in which such thefts became irresistible new pop confections. The greatness of the Spongetones has always been their ability to make all of this their own....

THE TRAAMPS: Disco Inferno

...Later on, as the know-nothing Disco Sucks movement built its flammable foundation upon a bedrock of racism and homophobia, I began to realize I'd chosen the wrong side. The loudest parties chortling at the notion of smashing mirrored disco balls and stoking a bonfire of Saturday Night Fever soundtrack LPs were often just chuckleheads, the advance guard of reactionaries commencing the implementation of mourning in America. 

Me? I was a power-poppin' punk, and the Disco Sucks fascists hated me, too. Fuck them. I'd rather hear "Disco Inferno" than "Cat Scratch Fever" any freakin' day of the week. Burn those records instead. I heard somebody say, "Burn baby burn!" Yeah, I'd rather hear the Trammps....

HAROLD MELVIN AND THE BLUE NOTES: Don't Leave Me This Way

...Is this a disco record? Don't know, don't care. It's got that beat, plus genuine passion, real soul, bred in both the clubs and the church, drawing upon Gospel and dance mix alike. It's the sexual pursuit that played out so often beneath flashing disco lights, yet it seems sincere, earnest. Only your good lovin' can set me free. I look back on those few times I did set foot in discos, only to hightail it outta there at my first opportunity. Maybe I should have stayed and talked to some of those disco girls after all. 

THE KINKS: Waterloo Sunset

It's one of the most beautiful depictions of burgeoning romance ever committed to song. And it's told, not from the perspective of the young lovers themselves, but from the viewpoint of a benevolent onlooker, wishing them well as they cross over the river, where they feel safe and sound. Dirty old river, must you keep rolling, flowing into the night?....

HOLLY GOLIGHTLY: Time Will Tell

..."Holly Golightly" may seem as if it must be a stage name, and I guess you could say it is, but no more so than that of Paul Revere of the Raiders. Unconsciously following in the synchronized footsteps of the former Paul Revere Dick, British-born singer and guitarist Holly Golightly Smith likewise shed her surname to settle on a shorter and snazzier DBA. Dream-maker, you heartbreaker....

THE COWSILLS: She Said To Me

A family band. 

The ongoing reference to the Cowsills as the real-life inspiration for TV's fictional Partridge Family is tiresome but unavoidable. The true story is so much more than what was fabricated for prime time.

Because the Cowsills were a real band, initially a band of brothers who--like so many others in the '60s--wanted to be the Beatles....

LULU: To Sir, With Love [museum outings montage]

Here, we must make an important distinction. Lulu's familiar hit single of "To Sir, With Love" is fabulous and unforgettable. This different version, the "Museum Outings Montage" from the soundtrack of the film To Sir, With Love, is even better.

"To Sir, With Love" is one of my wife's favorite songs, perhaps even her all-time # 1. Brenda was surprised to discover some years back that I also love it, and more surprised to learn that my This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio co-host Dana loves it, too. I dunno, maybe she thought we thought we were too cool for the song.

As if anyone could possibly be too cool for Lulu....

TOMORROW: Part 4!

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar. 

My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available for order; you can see details here. My 2023 book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones is also still available, courtesy of the good folks at Rare Bird Books. 

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

BOPPIN' PLAYS THE HITS! My 25 All-Time Most-Viewed Posts

Above image by Tyrone Biljan, courtesy of 13thdimension.com

My clinically stupid commitment to keep a daily blog commenced on January 18, 2016. I haven't missed a day yet. 

Along the way, a few of my posts have found an audience. Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do) passed the one million clicks mark in January, and continues to amass views on its own modest scale. Sure, some posts draw the cyber equivalent of bupkis. Some draw thousands.

These are the twenty-five Boppin' posts that have drawn the most traffic. The list is based on what Blogger's logistics tell me, and comparing viewer stats for each individual post. The result does not match what Blogger lists publicly in the Popular Posts columns on the blog page itself. 

Stupid algorithms. 

I don't know which list is more accurate, but the list I've compiled below is based on what analytics claim as accumulated clicks for each post. Right or wrong: Let's BOP!

HONORABLE MENTION: THE KINKS and QUICK TAKES FOR K

Two posts in my series The Everlasting First fell short of making our countdown, but there's an asterisk that would have placed them. Both The Everlasting First: Quick Takes For K [music edition] (March 3, 2017) and The Everlasting First: The Kinks (March 6, 2018) would have been Top 40 posts on their own. But they were originally a single post, with the Kinks bit the featured part. I revamped the format for The Everlasting First in 2018, retroactively separating main features from Quick Takes. If I hadn't done that, the combined stats would have lifted the original Kinks plus Quick Takes post to # 8 overall.

25. VIRTUAL TICKET STUB GALLERY: THE RAMONES, THE RUNAWAYS, and THE FLASHCUBES (1/25/2017)

24. THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! The Dave Clark Five, "Any Way You Want It" [1/10/17]

23. THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT! THE HISTORY OF POWER POP [2/25/2016]

22. SINGERS, SUPERHEROES, AND SONGS ON THE RADIO: My Life In Pop Culture, The 1960s [4/2/2016]

21. ONCE UPON A ONCE-IN-A-WHILE: My 25 Favorite Monkees Tracks [9/13/2017]

20. ON BROADWAY [6/17/2016]

19. HE BUYS EVERY ROCK 'N' ROLL BOOK ON THE MAGAZINE STANDS, PART 3: Power Pop Means Pop With POWER! (Not Some Whimpering Simp In A Beatles Haircut) [3/9/2018]

18. GAME SHOWS, PART TWO: MTV'S REMOTE CONTROL [3/8/2018]

17. MAIN STREET RECORDS, BROCKPORT, NY [1/26/2016]

16. THE MONKEES BRING THE SUMMER: A GIRL I KNEW SOMEWHERE [5/4/2016]

15. AMAZING HEROES: Who's...WHO?! Lesser-Known Characters In The DC Comics Universe [6/3/2016]

14. PAT DiNIZIO [a guest tribute by RICH FIRESTONE] [12/14/2017]

Pat DiNizio, State Theater, Falls Church, VA. January, 2012. Photo courtesy Laura Lynn Music Photography

13. THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! The Searchers, "Hearts In Her Eyes" [3/14/2018]

12. MY ALL-TIME HOT 100 [With An Asterisk] [9/11/2018]

11. MOVIES IN MY MIND [BEHIND THE SCENES]: The Fictional Players In JUKEBOX EXPRESS [2/15/2018]

(NOTE: This was an annotation for a previous flight of fancy called Jukebox Express; the annotation drew considerably more clicks than its source material did.)

10. THE MONKEES: Me And Magdalena [5/20/2016]

9. THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! Badfinger, "Baby Blue" [10/27/2016]

(NOTE: This was the very first entry in my long-running Greatest Record Ever Made! series, dedicated to the notion that an infinite number of tracks can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. And they've GOTTA take turns! They're records! That's what records do!

You see a few other GREM entries sprinkled within this Top 25, and there have been dozens of others that have appeared on this blog, and still a bunch more that have not. I have written a book called The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1); that book is in the hands of a potential publisher. As always: Here's hopin'. And I guess that's all I have to say.)

8. THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! Baron Daemon and the Vampires, "The Transylvania Twist" [10/31/2017]

7. THE MONKEES: GOOD TIMES! review [5/26/2016]

6. THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! The First Class, "Beach Baby" [2/24/2017]

5. THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! The Smithereens, "Behind The Wall Of Sleep" [7/10/2019]

4. THE FLAMIN' GROOVIES, PART 1: Red-Hot & Groovy [5/26/2018]

(NOTE: I've always thought it weird that this introductory piece got so much more traction than PART 2, which was my 1993 interview with the Groovies' Cyril Jordan.)

3. THE MONKEES: Welcome To The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame [9/10/2016]

2. BATMAN MEETS THE MONKEES [4/14/2017]

1. AN INFORMAL HISTORY OF BUBBLEGUM MUSIC [7/30/2016]

And let me tell ya: This wasn't even close, and it doesn't even account for additional clicks from when I presented the piece in serialized form. This bubblegum history, which I originally wrote for Goldmine magazine in 1997, is certifiably my greatest hit. An edited version also appeared in the 2001 book Bubblegum Music Is The Naked Truth.

BONUS TRACKS!!

A good retrospective plays the hits. A great retrospective adds deeper cuts. These are a few of my favorite Boppin' posts that bubbled under--in some case WAY under--our Top 25:

THE FLASHCUBES: A Brighter Light In My Mind [11/23/2016]

THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! Material Issue, "Kim The Waitress" [8/1//2018]

THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! Eytan Mirsky, "This Year's Gonna Be Our Year" [1/17/2019]

THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! Stevie Wonder, "I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever" [7/21/2020]

I've Got The Music In Me (And That's Where It's Gonna Stay) [1/21/2017]

And what may be my # 1 favorite:

The Road To GOLDMINE [12/20/2016]

Your Boppin' may vary. But there's always tomorrow. And the next day. And the next....

My first book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones was published in 2023. I don't think it would have happened if not for this blog. Will The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) be next? Stay tuned....

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