10 SONGS: 5/20/2023

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 # 1181. This show is available as a podcast.

THE RAMONES: Blitzkrieg Bop/Teenage Lobotomy/California Sun/Pinhead/She's The One [live]

We begin Part 2 of our three-week salute to THE RAMONES AT THE MOVIES with the eleven-minute five-song live medley from their 1979 film Rock 'n' Roll High School. Well, it's referred to as a medley, and it's all a single track on LP, CD, digital download, or streaming, but each individual song is complete. Because the Ramones could do five songs in eleven minutes. Obviously. The laws of physics do not apply to the Ramones.

Also obvious: eleven minutes of live Ramones music is a great way to open a rock 'n' roll radio show. Hey-ho!

Following a 45 B-side in 1977 and the fantastic It's Alive album (released earlier in '79 but recorded in '77 with original drummer Tommy Ramone), this was the third live Ramones performance to see legit issue. And it was the first with Tommy's replacement Marky Ramone, who had joined your Joey Ramone, Johnny Ramone, and Dee Dee Ramone in time for the 1978 studio album Road To Ruin. 

Drumming for the Ramones is a challenge. Marky Ramone rose to that challenge.

THE MIDNIGHT CALLERS: Baby Let Me Be

Man, we love the Midnight Callers. Hell, we've been fans of the group since their earlier incarnation as Chris Paine and the Lettertrain, and even before that we followed Paine and fellow MCer Julien Budrino in their previous combo London Egg. The Midnight Callers' 2020 debut album Red Letter Glow gave us the TIRnRR Fave Rave "41 Miles To Roscoe," and we've playlist-programmed the group's ace contributions to Jem Recordings' John Lennon, Brian Wilson, and Pete Townshend tributes. "Baby Let Me Be"--the first single off their forthcoming album Rattled Humming Heart--is very likely to follow suit. We played it this week. We're playing it again next week. We call it a hit, at any time of day.

POPSICKO: No Better Time

Popsicko's "No Better Time" (from their excellent archival set Off To A Bad Start) has been in my brain a lot lately, for no other reason than because it's insanely catchy and irresistible. There can be no better reason. And no better time.

GAME THEORY: Linus And Lucy

And that's what This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio is all about, Charlie Brown.

THE RAMONES: Do You Wanna Dance

As much as we associate Rock 'n' Roll High School with the Ramones, actress P. J. Soles was the film's actual star, playing Riff Randell, teen rock 'n' roller. But the Ramones are at the heart of it all, and I can't imagine how the movie would have played with its previous intended band Cheap Trick (or director Allan Arkush's teen fantasy of a making a movie with the Yardbirds), nor how producer Roger Corman's original concept of Disco High could have succeeded on any aesthetic level. The essential nature of the Ramones' involvement here reminds me of what Roger Ebert said about the Beatles' first movie: if A Hard Day's Night had been shot in color, but was otherwise identical, frame by frame, it would not have been the same classic (and classic feeling) film as it is in black and white. The iconic black and white images of the Beatles are an essential part of A Hard Day's Night, just as the Ramones are central to Rock 'n' Roll High School.

Ramones music plays throughout the film, mixed with treats by Chuck Berry, Eddie and the Hot Rods, Devo, MC5, Alice Cooper, Brownsville Station, the Velvet Underground, and more. Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee, and Marky have brief "acting" bits, and five on-screen musical appearances. When we first see them, they lip-sync "I Just Want To Have Something To Do," and they show up in a dream sequence in Riff's bedroom--nice work if you can get it--serenading her with "I Want You Around." We played both of those tracks on last week's show. Then comes the in-concert sequence mentioned up top. 

The Ramones return for two more songs at the film's climax. The first of the two is "Do You Wanna Dance," a cover of the familiar rock 'n' roll classic. For a very, very long time I regarded this as my all-time favorite cover of anything by anybody. And while I've kinda shifted my allegiance to the Ramones' cover of Tom Waits' "I Don't Want To Grow Up," I still wanna dance.

Don't you?

THE MYNAH BIRDS: I Got You (In My Soul)

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE RAMONES: Rock 'n' Roll High School

Like Riff Randell says in the movie, Hit it, MARKY! The Ramones play the title tune that Riff wrote for them, the school blows up, and authority is soundly defeated. A happy ending all around.

THE FLASHCUBES: Got No Mind/Dizzy Miss Lizzy

Presenting Big Stir Records recording artists the Flashcubes in their natural habitat, recorded live at The Firebarn in Syracuse, May 1979. I was (and remain) a huge, huge fan of the 'Cubes, who occupy a point in my rock 'n' roll trinity alongside the Beatles and the Ramones. Anecdotal evidence suggests that I was not in attendance at this particular Firebarn show, but I had seen the 'Cubes many times before that and many more times going forward. And I saw them a little over a month after that Firebarn gig, July 6th of 1979, playing on a bill with the Ramones at the first Central New York screening of Rock 'n' Roll High School.

The Flashcubes have a new album, Pop Masters, due in August. It's beyond great, and I can't wait for you to hear it. Meanwhile, knowing that 'Cubes guitarist Paul Armstrong was bringing his other group 1.4.5. to Syracuse to play at last Saturday's release party for my new book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones--the party raging on before this week's show aired but after it was recorded--I wanted to include the single most Ramones-influenced song the Flashcubes ever created. 

That would be Paul's "Got No Mind," carrying the DNA of "Teenage Lobotomy" and "Rockaway Beach" and applying shock treatment as needed. The live version is best, that Firebarn performance preserved on the album Flashcubes On Fire, segued perfectly into the 'Cubes covering Larry Williams via the Beatles. The Beatles, the Ramones, and the Flashcubes. 

My trinity.

I did not expect 1.4.5. to perform "Got No Mind" at my book release party. Happy surprise! We'll hear a track from Pop Masters on our next show.

THE RAMONES: I Believe In Miracles

Part 2 of our salute to THE RAMONES AT THE MOVIES concludes with the defiant and chillingly determined (if unexpected) optimism of "I Believe In Miracles." The Ramones lip-synced the song in the otherwise-horrible 1994 feature film remake of Car 54, Where Are You? Outside of Rock 'n' Roll High School, I'm pretty sure this was the Ramones' only on-screen appearance in a non-documentary motion picture.

With the Ramones' appearances in Rock 'n' Roll High School and Car 54, Where Are You? now addressed, THE RAMONES AT THE MOVIES will conclude next week with four Ramones tracks heard in non-Ramones films. That starts with a little something from a 1979 flick called That Summer! Chewin' out a rhythm on our bubblegum, this Sunday night on TIRnRR.

No, not that rendition of the chewin'-on-my-bubblegum thing. C.C. Ramone has retired from the stage.

PERILOUS: Rock & Roll Kiss

Drummer Paul Doherty was an early cheerleader for my Ramones book. This status goes back a couple of years, when the book was still a secret known only to a few people. Given that, there was no freakin' way I was gonna attempt a book release party without enlisting the services of Paul's group Perilous.

Both Perilous and 1.4.5. rocked the 443 last Saturday, as I knew they would. It was my first opportunity to witness Perilous in concert, and man, did they ever deliver! We played their 2022 TIRnRR Pick Hit "Rock & Roll Kiss" on this week's show. We'll play their brand new single next week, as well as music from 1.4.5. and a track apiece from two of Perilous' seed groups, the Trend and Pauline and the Perils. 

Ya wanna get loud? Okay, we can get loud. It's as simple as 1-2-3-4!

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, 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/

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

10 SONGS: 3/24/2023

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 # 1173. This show is available as a podcast.

POPSICKO: No Better Time

I believe in advocating on behalf of our pop passions. It's the reason I write, the reason I blog, and the reason I cohost a radio show. Whatever soapbox I can find or concoct, I'm gonna hop on and testify. 

I can't speak for my friends at the mighty Big Stir Records label, but I betcha they feel the same way. Big Stir's Rex Broome and Christina Bulbenko run a business, so they have to mind their bottom line and keep their lights on, but their actions are driven by interest and inspiration. The same can be said of writer S. W. Lauden, as it can be said of my many fellow music journalists, pundits, bloggers, indie enablers, and cheerleaders. We're fans. We do what we do because we're fans.

Popsicko was a group on an upward trajectory in the mid '90s, potentially primed for big things when the death of frontman Keith Brown ended their story in 1995. They left behind an album, 1994's Off To A Bad Start, some cherished memories for their faithful, and some wistful wondering about what might have been.

Today, Lauden and our friends at Big Stir remain faithful. And they're collaborating with the surviving members of Popsicko to continue the band's story past its tragic conclusion, to share that story with new fans, and to keep that story alive. 

Big Stir has released two Popsicko digital singles, and the label is now offering the first-ever vinyl release of Off To A Bad Start, accompanied by a 48-page book detailing Lauden's oral history of the group. This is a work of passion. This is a work of belief.

Some years back, I wrote an introduction for the first issue of Big Stir's ambitious and altogether swell Big Stir magazine. The first line from that introduction sums up our shared approach to pop advocacy:

"Enthusiasm isn't everything. But nothing of value endures without it."

In the '90s, I did not know Popsicko's music. I know it now, and I appreciate it, thanks to Big Stir and S. W. Lauden. Thanks to advocacy. Thanks to fans. Thanks to all of those who believe.

CAT STEVENS: Another Saturday Night

We discover favorite pop songs through many different means, and our first exposure to individual songs can sometimes come by proxy. I heard the Beatles' cover of "Words Of Love" well before I heard Buddy Holly, the Pretenders introduced me to the Kinks' "Stop Your Sobbing," and I first knew "Do You Wanna Dance" from the seemingly unlikely resource of Bette Midler.

I was fourteen years old in 1974. I remembered Sam Cooke's "Chain Gang," a hit the year of my birth, but which still got sufficient spins somewhere in my early conscious youth for me to recall it as a much-loved classic. I did not know Cooke's "Another Saturday Night." Awareness of that song was provided by a '74 radio hit remake by Cat Stevens.

As a teen, I liked Stevens' hits; I don't dislike them now, but for the most part my taste has kinda migrated away from them. I adore some of his '60s material, especially "Matthew And Son," "The First Cut Is The Deepest," "Here Comes My Baby," and "Come On And Dance." And I still love his version of "Another Saturday Night."

ROBIN SCHELL: Lost In America

Hey, all that stuff I said up top about Rex and Christine at Big Stir, and the redemptive power of enthusiasm? All of that applies equally to Ray Gianchetti, whose own Kool Kat Musik label is an essential pipeline and lifeline for those who love rockin' pop music. Sure, Kool Kat is the home of the This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio compilation CDs, but we connected with Ray for our releases because of his demonstrated and unwavering commitment to the greater power pop world and its periphery. Ray's a believer, too.

Kool Kat maintains a very busy release schedule, and the label puts out a lot of very interesting stuff. This week's show includes three Kool Kat Releases (by the Decibels, Stephen Lawrenson, and Robin Schell), plus tracks from This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volumes 3 and 4. Next week's show will have new Kool Kat-associated tracks by the Speedways, West Coast Music Club, and Marco Busato. We're Kool Kat boosters, and proud of it.

Robin Schell scored some TIRnRR airplay years ago, when he DBA'd as the Marshmellows, purveyor(s) of the psychedelicized pick hit "Mad Sense Of Alice." The Macchiato, originally released digitally in 2018 and now a minty-fresh Kool Kat CD, is less overtly evocative of the lysergic, perhaps more reminiscent of Stackridge or even Supertramp. I can imagine "Lost In America" trippin' some lights fantastically with "What You Own" from Rent, transferred from the Broadway stage into progressive AOR with an indie edge. Quite a comparison, and maybe quite a leap to consider, but an indication of The Macchiato's ambition and accomplishment.

THE ISLEY BROTHERS: Twist And Shout

Each week's playlist mixes great records from the '60s and succeeding decades with whatever glittery pretties capture our attention in the present day. We reach back to the '50s in some weeks (as we did with this week's Chuck Berry and Little Richard selections), but the '60s and '70s were our formative decades. 

When I scrawl out potential playlist ideas prior to my weekly programming call with Dana, I always include some '60s and '70s material. This week, my scribbles of Martha and the Vandellas, the Monkees, the Toys, Millie Small, the Four Tops, and Tower of Power transitioned from notebook to playlist. That's how one builds a better radio show.

By contrast, though I don't remember whether or not the Isley Brothers were penned into my notes come programming time, I know I didn't have any premeditated intention of playing "Twist And Shout." Its appearance this week was a spontaneous generation: Dana picked Graham Parker's "Help Me Shake It," and I immediately blurted out, Shake it up, baby! 

See, the act of programming is guided by a higher power. That's also how one builds a better radio show.  

EYTAN MIRSKY: Lost You In The Jet Stream

Singer! Songwriter! Performer! Debonaire man about town! Let's face it, Eytan Mirsky is a bit of awright. Brother Eytan is a frequent participant in our weekly playlists, and his song "This Year's Gonna Be Our Year" is plainly the greatest record ever made. 

"Lost You In The Jet Stream" is Eytan's latest single, and (following "If I Could Only Draw") it's the second of his two recent singles for which he wrote music to someone else's lyrics. Either process works A-OK for us, as long as we can keep getting new Eytan Mirsky tracks to play on the radio.

DAISY JONES AND THE SIX: Regret Me

Ah, my favorite Daisy Jones and the Six track! For those of us at the right young age in the '70s, the band's masterpiece Aurora was a touchstone, no less important than Fleetwood Mac's Rumours. My subsequent embrace of punk may have lessened Aurora's impact within my short teen attention span, as Rocket To Russia and Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols (and college life) beckoned, but nor did I forsake this band and this album that meant so much...

...wait. What?

Oh yeah. Sorry! Aurora is a 2023 release by a fake band. A pretty cool fake band, actually. It's part of the soundtrack to Daisy Jones And The Six, a new series currently streaming on Amazon Prime. I'm really digging the show and its music, and I'm looking forward to reading the novel upon which all this is based. No regrets here.

THE RAMONES: I Can't Get You Out Of My Mind

"I Can't Get You Out Of My Mind" was an unreleased early '80s Ramones outtake. Shorn of its personal pronoun, "Can't Get You Out Of My Mind" did appear on 1989's Brain Drain album; in 2002, the "I"-equipped outtake was included on Rhino Records' expanded reissue of the Ramones' 1981 album Pleasant Dreams. That's what we played this week.

In my new book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones, the interview with Johnny Ramone revealed his dissatisfaction with the choice of 10cc's Graham Gouldman as the producer of Pleasant Dreams. "The guy from 10cc producing the Ramones? 10cc sucks, and it's not right for the Ramones." Marky Ramone liked the album a lot more than Johnny did (and a lot more than its follow-up Subterranean Jungle), and both Marky and Joey Ramone were aware of Gouldman's impressive '60s songwriting credits for the Yardbirds, the Hollies, and Herman's Hermits.

My opinion of Pleasant Dreams inhabits a DMZ in between Johnny's and Marky's views. I think it's a very good album that doesn't sound like any other Ramones album. Too slick? Maybe. It's not the equal of any of the Ramones' classic first four albums, nor perhaps of '90s albums Mondo Bizarro and ¡Adios Amigos! But I do like it, and one of its tracks ("All's Quiet On The Eastern Front") will probably be included in a forthcoming post about my 25 favorite Ramones tracks. And we'll be playing one of Pleasant Dreams' other original album tracks on next week's show.

AMY RIGBY: Dancing With Joey Ramone

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE RULERS: I Want My Ramones Records Back

When Goldmine contributing editor John Borack reviewed our 2017 compilation This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4, his thumbs-up review mentioned the Rulers' ace Volume 4 contribution "I Want My Ramones Records Back," with John adding: Who wouldn't?

We agree with ya there, John. We agree with ya there.

THE RAMONES: Do You Wanna Dance

Do you wanna dance? Who wouldn't? Bette Midler asked me first. Is it okay if I dance with the girl while the Ramones' version plays? Take it, Dee Dee...!

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

10 SONGS: 2/17/2023

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 # 1168. This show is available as a podcast.

THE HALFCUBES: The Weakest Shade Of Blue

Well, this is how ya start a superior rockin' pop radio program. The Halfcubes, of course, are two members of the Flashcubes--drummer/producer Tommy Allen and bassist Gary Frenay--working with guitarist Randy Klawon and the occasional Special Guest Bat Villain. This is the third different Halfcubes track we've played, following their covers of the Guess Who's "Hand Me Down World" and Jason Falkner's "I Live." As Gary tells us, "Half a 'Cubes is better than none!"

And as today's Special Guest Bat Villain, the Halfcubes welcome Bob Pernice for a new (and wonderful) version of the Pernice Brothers' sublime gem "The Weakest Shade Of Blue." None of the Halfcubes' works have been released yet. We should all hope that changes very, very soon.

THE RAMONES: I Need Your Love

FIRST, THE PLUG! My new book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones is due out in early May, and I humbly invite you to preorder it here. Feel free to regard the "humbly" thing as a joke.

I like the Ramones' 1983 album Subterranean Jungle album more than some other folks seem to like it. To my ears, it was, if not quite a peer to the transcendent oomph of the first four Ramones albums, at least a return to form after the relatively less compelling End Of The Century and Pleasant Dreams.

Subterranean Jungle includes this cover of '80s NYC combo the Boyfriends' "I Need Your Love," a sprightly but mostly unknown pop ditty. When I interviewed Johnny Ramone in 1994, Johnny said "I heard the Boyfriends do the song. They did it great, and then we tried to do it and didn't do it very well."

Me? I love the Ramones' version of "I Need Your Love." We must agree to disagree on this one, Johnny.

THE SHIRTS: Tell Me Your Plans

My enthusiastic immersion in punk, new wave, and other assorted rock 'n' roll labels in the late '70s did not include the music of the Shirts. It wasn't a rejection of the Shirts; I just wasn't exposed to their recordings until many years later. Lack of opportunity? I guess. The only thing I remember hearing from them at the time was a track on the various-artists LP Live At CBGB's, wherein singer and actress Annie Golden's greeting to the Bowery audience was something like, We're the Shoits, from Brooklyn. She exaggerated the accent deliberately.

Nice Shoit, Annie

(I don't remember whether or not I've ever seen any of Golden's performances as an actress. I have never watched Orange Is The New Black. I do remember reading a letter she wrote to CREEM magazine in the late '80s, dismissing the artistic validity of the Monkees. Her opinion of the Monkees did not match mine. I'M a believer!)

Still, I didn't really hear the Shirts until a very long time after the fact. I snapped up a used CD reissue of their 1979 eponymous album in, I dunno, the early '00s?  I was immediately and overwhelmingly taken by that album's opening track "Reduced To A Whisper," hypnotized by a guitar sound that reminded me of the Shirts' CBGB's contemporaries Television. 

As a whole, the Shirts didn't really sound at all like Television; the comparison was based almost entirely on a similarly serpentine six-string thrum and the two groups' shared stomping grounds. The Shirts were...well, I don't wanna call them more mainstream than Television, 'cause that ain't exactly it either. But there were hints of connection to some things beyond the Bowery, to, say, the progressive-folk mix aura of Renaissance, or maybe even post-Woodstock FM radio, but at least a little more aggressive. It all still felt like part of Television's world, the Ramones' world, the world of Blondie, Talking Heads, Patti Smith, Max's Kansas City. CBGB's. New York City really has it all.

From that first album, the track "Tell Me Your Plans" just clicked with me recently. Its simmering blend of regret, resignation, yearning, and unmeasured dollops of uncertainty suggests a love affair approaching a crossroads without benefit of a map. Or a plan. There is, at best, a bumpy road ahead. There may not even be a road at all.

What's the plan, then? It's hard to tell.

THE CYNZ: Tell That Girl To Shut Up

We've been hittin' hard on "Tell That Girl To Shut Up," the current single by the Cynz. Holly and the Italians' original version of the song is nonpareil, and attempting to cover it is a daunting task indeed. The Cynz acquit themselves well, looking Holly square in the eye, not flinching, not ceding ground, and succeeding on their own confident 'n' groovin' merit. This track seems likely to score a berth on our 2023 year-end Countdown show.

But it's taking a break next week. Our February 19th playlist will give a different act a shot at channeling Holly and her Italians, but we're not forsaking our Cynz. We'll program an older Cynz track instead, one we've never played before. Tell that girl to STEP UP! Let's hear it for the Cynz.

THE EXCITERS: If You Want My Love

As Cheap Trick would later say (in a different song): If you want my love, you got it.

Man, the Exciters were such a great recording act. Until recently, I only knew them from their sole big pop hit ("Tell Him" in 1962), their 1964 Forgotten Original of "Do-Wah-Diddy" (a song that entered the public consciousness later the same year when covered [with an extraneous "Diddy" added to its title] by Manfred Mann), and 1963's "He's Got The Power" (from its inclusion on Rhino's girl group boxed set One Kiss Can Lead To Another). 

But Dana's been on an Exciters kick lately, and that's been good news for all of us. Such good material, and it's been a pleasure to hear Dana's Exciters pick each week. "If You Want My Love" is an A1 pop track.

Next week's Exciters track is even better.

RONNIE SPECTOR & THE E STREET BAND: Say Goodbye To Hollywood

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE BAY CITY ROLLERS: Honey Don't Leave L.A.

My CD reissue of the 1980 album Voxx credits the artist as the Bay City Rollers, but it's really just the Rollers, the post-Tartan, post-teenbeat incarnation of our erstwhile S! A! T-U-R! D-A-Y! chanters. Make no mistake: I loved a lot of the Bay City Rollers' stuff (particularly "Rock And Roll Love Letter"), but the latter-day Rollers were almost a different band. 

Er, not literally a different band. The Rollers did include 4/5 of the Bay City Rollers lineup that hit big in America as a one-band Scottish Invasion in '75. But it was a different vibe, as former lead singer Les McKeown split and the "Bay City" was dropped from the marquee; bassist Woody Wood, drummer Derek Longmuir, and guitarists Eric Faulkner and Alan Longmuir remained, and new recruit Duncan Faure brought his John Lennon-influenced vocals to this valiant effort to shuck the group's old image and continue as a more mature new wave pop band.

The Rollers' records didn't sell, but they should have. 1979's Elevator is quite good, and 1981's Richochet has its own irresistible moments. In between, Voxx was a contract-breaker, the kiss-off fulfillment of the group's commitment to Arista Records. It's the greatest contract-breaking kiss-off in pop history. If you dig great groups like the Records, then ya gotta hear what the Rollers did in their brief lifespan. The Voxx track "Honey Don't Leave L.A." is evidence of a worthy combo the world decided not to notice.

And it was the world's loss.

POPSICKO: Same Old Me

Our friends at Big Stir Records are going all-in on Popsicko. See, I like when Big Stir goes all-in on something. This '90s alt-rock combo appears to be a specific passion for Big Stir, and we'll be hearing the fruits of that passion in due time. For now, I direct you to S.W. Lauden's oral history of Popsicko for a little bit of background, and invite you to brace yourself for more from the legacy of Popsicko in 2023.

THE BEATLES: I Want To Hold Your Hand

THE BEATLES: She Loves You

The twist and shout heard 'round the world. 59 years after the Beatles assumed command, they're still my primary musical reference. They weren't the only great rock 'n' roll band, and I don't ever want to listen to only the Beatles and the Beatles only. There's still a lot of other old gold we need to crank up just as loud, and shiny-fresh new gold awaiting our delighted discovery each and every day.

Nonetheless: the TIRnRR POV starts with the Beatles. This week, we commemorated the anniversary of that POV's initial spark with two of the songs that annexed my ears and my pop ideals when I was four years old. Oh yeah, I'll tell you something. Nothing is Beatleproof. Keep those yeah-yeahs comin'.

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.