10 SONGS: 4/25/2026

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 # 1333

VICKI PETERSON AND JOHN COWSILL: Downtown

We've been way too late in programming music from the fabulous Vicki Peterson and John Cowsill. We've played their respective alma maters the Bangles and the Cowsills a lot, and we've played Vicki Peterson's work with sister-in-law Susan Cowsill in the Continental Drifters, but so far our pal Rich Firestone's sublime SPARK Syracuse show Radio Deer Camp has enjoyed an exclusive right to fill the airwaves with Vicki 'n' John. Now, news that pop music's favorite couple will be visiting Syracuse's Westhill High School for a show on June 4th has us all giddy. We hope Rich doesn't mind us sharing the love for Vicki Peterson and John Cowsill.

The specifics of the duo's 6/4 Syracuse appearance are especially enticing:

"The first ever West Side Rock Show featuring The Westhill Rock Music Program! The show will feature all of the bands in Westhill’s Rock Music Program including the Killer Pancakes, Clockwork, and our faculty band, After School Special. Student performances to be followed by our headliner and special guests, Vicki Peterson and John Cowsill! Vicki was the lead guitarist and founding member of the iconic all female band in the 1980s, the Bangles. Their hits included "Walk Like an Egyptian," "Manic Monday" and "Eternal Flame." John was part of the Cowsills and also toured with the Beach Boys for almost 25 years. Vicki and John are currently touring in support of their brand new album, Long After the Fire. Vicki will even be performing some Bangles hits with the kids in the Rock Music Program! It will be an amazing evening of great music! Doors open at 6:00 PM. Performance begins at 6:45 PM. FREE CONCERT BUT TICKET RESERVATIONS ARE REQUIRED!"

To paraphrase Lenny Haise, former guitarist for teen sensations the Wonders: I'm going, you're going, we're ALL going.

And starting this week, TIRnRR is playing selections from Vicki and John's album Long After The Fire. "Downtown" joins TIRnRR here, and another track from the album will spin this Sunday night. We're happy to follow Radio Deer Camp's lead. Giddy, I tell ya. Giddy.

GENERATION X: Ready Steady Go

Congratulations to Billy Idol on being named to The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. My interest in the esteemed Mr. Idol goes back to his pre-solo days with the dynamic punk/pop combo Generation X. Man, I loved Generation X, and my favorite among Gen X favorites remains "Ready Steady Go," a willfully and triumphantly over-the-top celebration of watching the Who on UK TV in the '60s. In love with Cathy McGowan? Can't blame you, Billy. Can't blame you.

THE RAMONES: I Don't Want To Grow Up

Preach, brudders. I understand exactly what you mean.

THE ROLLING STONES: Can't You Hear Me Knocking

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

DEAN LANDEW: Summertime Friday Night

No, it's not summertime yet. And this posts on a Saturday, so even our next Friday feels like a Plimsouls-sanctioned million miles away. No matter! And why wait to the last minute anyway? Dean Landew has the song we need now. Winter? Spring? Summer? Fall? It's a year-round feeling, and I say it's Friday night until the Bay City Rollers declare otherwise.

THE GREENBERRY WOODS: Whenever You Want Me Too

It's All Good, Sugar... is a new album from fabled rockin' pop group the Greenberry Woods, and the very fact that there is such a thing as a new album from the Greenberry Woods oughta be cause for joy and merriment across the friggin' globe. The album reached us too late to include in this week's playlist, and our next show's humble salute to the life and legacy of the late Flashcubes/1.4.5. guitarist Paul Armstrong didn't allow us enough room to program any Greenberry Woods. BUT! This week's extravaganza did include an encore spin of the album's fab advance single "Whenever You Want Me Too." From a previous 10 Songs:

"Rapple Dapple! In my liner notes to Rhino's 1997 compilation Poptopia! Power Pop Classics Of The '90s, I wrote:

" 'The unfortunate fate of the Greenberry Woods offers a sobering reminder that even the best pop bands can still be resolutely ignored by the buying public. Maryland's favorite pop sons released two absolutely dreamy albums--1994's Rapple Dapple and 1995's Big Money Item--only to be met with appalling indifference by retail and radio. Following the group's apparent demise, a couple members resurfaced in a new group called Splitsville, and released an interesting, cartoony debut album on Big Deal in '96. But Splitsville ain't a proper substitute for the Greenberry Woods, whose passing we mourn here with a spin of their signature tune "Trampoline," an impossible-to-resist barrage of singalong charm and halcyon AM-pop style. Come back, guys!"

"(Before we go any further, it's important to note that, my '97 self notwithstanding, I soon became a Splitsville fan as well. Pop pundits. We can be a mite slow on the uptake sometimes.)

"And now, the return of '90s pop stars the Greenberry Woods should merit a guaranteed berth on any power pop radio playlist, and their new single 'Whenever You Want Me Too' certainly deserves that instant-add status. Hell, 'Whenever You Want Me Too' woulda fit in on Rapple Dapple, and I further dig its correct titular use of the word 'too' to create an effective pun for would-be lovers everywhere. We want this. We hope you want it too."

COCKEYED GHOST: I Hate Rock 'n' Roll

ARTHUR CONLEY: Sweet Soul Music

"I hate rock 'n' roll." "Do you like good music? That sweet soul music?" Sometimes the segues just write themselves.

THE BEATLES: Taxman

THE MONKEES: The Door Into Summer

Aftermath of Tax Day: With your fools' gold stacked up all around you, declare the pennies on your eyes. Consult your travelogue of maybe-next-year places, and be thankful they don't take it all.

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: 4/18/2026

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 # 1332

PALMYRA DELRAN AND THE DOPPEL GANG: Hold Tight

Anyone who has ever listened to Palmyra Delran hold court on her SiriusXM Underground Garage radio show Palmyra's Trash-Pop Treasures already knows that Palmyra is the real deal, blessed with impeccable taste and a thorough understanding and appreciation of the rock and the pop. As a performer, she's well capable of channeling her passion and savvy into the creation of trash-pop treasures of her own, accomplished in various incarnations with the Coolies, the Friggs, and other irresistible dbas. 

The latest single from her flagship combo Palmyra Delran and the Doppel Gang serves up an invigmoratin' workout of the '60s UK power pop classic "Hold Tight." The original 1966 version by Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich is among my all-time favorite tracks, and it was one of many gems I considered rhapsodizing in my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). I didn't have room for it in the book, but in the mean time we're thrilled with the opportunity to program Palmyra and her Gang holding tight and demonstrating their own mastery of the form. It spins here again this coming Sunday night. 

Palmyra knows her stuff. We know enough to keep playing her stuff. And bonus points to Palmyra Delran’s Doppel Gang for including guitarist and long-time friend to this show Michael Lynch.

THE CORNER LAUGHERS: Crumb Clean

There is something just so enticingly sunshiney about the music of the Corner Laughers. The blissful wave of audible illumination continues on the group's new album Concerns Of Wasp And Willow, and its warm glow is in ample evidence on the sublime current single "Crumb Clean." Little darling (as some British guy once said), it's been a long, cold, lonely winter. With the Corner Laughers on the radio, I feel warmer already.

(I'd already selected the Corner Laughers for a spot on this week's 10 Songs when I discovered that they were also guests on this week's new episode of can't-miss podcast The Spoon. Ah, I love it when a plan comes together. Especially when it comes together without benefit of, y'know...a plan.)

ROME 56: Invisible Man

THE SHIRTS: Love Is A Fiction

THE SHIRTS: Tell Me Your Plans

We love the Shirts, and the release of two previously-unissued archival live albums from these classic CBGB stalwarts (last year's 1981 recording Live Featuring Annie Golden, this year's Live At Paradise 1979) has spawned a renewed commitment to programming the Shirts as often as possible. We've heard (unsubstantiated) rumblings of more to come from the big ol' vault of Shirts; if true, we approve.

This week's show includes two tracks by the Shirts, one from Live At Paradise 1979 and one from the Shirts' second album, 1979's Street Light Shine. Our next show will also offer a pair of Shirts, reprising the Live At Paradise version of "Tell Me Your Plans" (my favorite Shirts song) and introducing the belated (and then some) TIRnRR debut of a track from their 1980 album Inner Sleeve. Shirts-O-Rama!

Shirts guitarist Arthur La Monica is currently playing with a cool combo called Rome 56, a fine group that also includes Arthur's wife Kathy La Monica. Past shows have offered a few delights from Rome 56's 2024 album Paradise Is Free and 2025 effort Pony Tales, and this week we return to Paradise Is Free for our first-ever spin of a great, great earworm called "Invisible Man."

THE STRAWBERRY ALARM CLOCK: Incense And Peppermints

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

SEX CLARK FIVE: Plastic All Over The World

THE DAVE CLARK FIVE: It Don't Feel Good

Huntsville, Alabama's phenomenal pop combo Sex Clark Five into the Tottenham Sound of the Dave Clark Five. Sometimes the segues write themselves.

THE RAMONES: All's Quiet On The Eastern Front

From a previous post, discussing my 25 favorite Ramones tracks:

"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." (My 1994 interviews with Johnny, Joey, Marky, and C.J. appear in my book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With 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 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 BEATLES: Tell Me Why [Takes 4 and 5]

And speaking of the Tottenham Sound of the Dark Clark Five....

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: 4/11/2026

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 # 1331

THE PEPPERMINT KICKS: Shaking Underground

At the top of this week's show, I said that any rockin' pop radio show that has an opportunity to open its latest presentation with a brand-new single from the Peppermint Kicks had damned well oughta open its presentation with that brand-new single from the Peppermint Kicks. The group's minty-fresh treat "Shaking Underground" shakes its shakables underground, overground, all around, and pounding around again. We're repeating it this Sunday. Shake with us!

SECTOR FRONTIER: Love Goes Out The Window

Although a contemporary track (released digitally in 2025, and on CD from our friends at Kool Kat Musik in 2026), Sector Frontier's "Love Goes Out The Window" could easily pass for a British new wave pop song from the early '80s. And if it had in fact been a work from 45 years ago, it would have been a fave rave for me, then and now.

In reality, Sector Frontier is the brainchild of Philadelphia popmeister Dave Cope, who is most familiar to TIRnRR under the dba Dave Cope and the Sass. Let's review the delightful fabricated biography of this delightfully fabricated "band:"

Sector Frontier: The Forgotten Vanguard of Post-Punk Britain

Origins in the Blitz of Boredom

Sector Frontier emerged from the smoke-choked pubs and council-estate squats of West London in 1978. The city was in pieces: strikes, bin bags piled like barricades, kids in safety pins fighting skinheads in Carnaby Street, and Margaret Thatcher’s looming iron fist promising “discipline.” Amid that chaos, Mick Murray—a sharp-jawed singer/guitarist with a sneer as wide as the Thames—decided to form a band “that sounded like the Jam after a fistfight with Devo.”

Mick recruited Ewan Swann, a lanky art-school dropout obsessed with German synths and cheap pedals. He played guitar like a buzzsaw but could just as easily hammer out a dystopian arpeggio that sounded like a factory collapsing. The rhythm section came from the Tupney brothers: Cliff on bass, perpetually sullen, and Wedge, a drummer who pounded with the subtlety of a demolition crew. They rehearsed in a condemned warehouse in Acton that smelled of damp carpets, spilled cider, and Marmite sandwiches gone rancid.

Songs from a Broken England

I approve of these lies, and I wish I'd fabricated 'em myself. Best I can do is play this sweet stuff on the radio. Open up your window! Pop love goes out to Sector Frontier.

SGT. SPLENDOR: Play On

MEN WITHOUT HATS: Eloise & I

Two disparate spins, each suggested by friends who have essential can't-miss podcasts. First up, Sgt. Splendor is fronted by Kate Vargas and Eric McFadden, and I confess I had not heard of them prior to their recent guest appearance on Only Three Lads, the weekly podcast hosted by Brett Vargo and Uncle Gregg. The Sgt. Splendor samples aired by O3L got my attention, and I made a point of snagging "Play On" (from their most recent album Isotopia) and wedging it into our playlist at the first available opportunity.

I never miss an episode of O3L, and I never miss an episode of The Spoon, the superswell podcast hosted by our friends  Robbie Rist, Chris Jackson, and Thom Bowers. Writer Will Harris (another friend, and host of his own fab podcast Letting Them Talk) appeared with The Men Of The Spoon for The Spoon # 611 ("All The Chicks Dig Writers [The Will Harris Story]"), and Will's pick for that episode's Greatest Song You've Never Heard feature was "Eloise & I," a track from the 1989 Men Without Hats album The Adventures Of Women & Men Without Hate In The 21st Century.

(Heh. "Women & Men Without Hate In The 21st Century." As if!)

Anyway, as I wrote in yesterday's blog post about "The Safety Dance," "Eloise & I" "...reminded me of a cross between circa-1966 Paul McCartney and a less-annoying version of Styx. Harris mentioned that Men Without Hats were still active, and in fact had released a new album called On The Moon in 2025." I love the Beatles and kinda detest Styx (except when I don't), but "Eloise & I" was sufficiently beguiling to compel my purchase and programming of the track as soon as I could. This same Spoon-fed sequence of events also prompted "The Safety Dance" to occupy this week's Greatest Record Ever Made! spot (see below).

With that, the TIRnRR playlist benefits from the addition of Sgt. Splendor and Men Without Hats tracks suggested by friends on their own podcasts. In the words of Alex Chilton: Thank you, friends.

THE SHIRTS: Tell Me Your Plans

Possibly my favorite archival release so far the year, the Shirts' Live At Paradise 1979 showcases the band's live prowess and undeniable rockin' pop panache. I can't explain how or why I missed out on discovering the Shirts' music when I was a punk- and pop-obsessed college student in the late '70s, but I've been trying to make up for lost time. I bought a CD reissue of the group's 1978 eponymous debut album a few decades ago. I recently purchased digital copies of the Shirts' otherwise-OOP second and third albums, and we've been programming live Shirts with manic devotion.

This week marks our first spin of the Live At Paradise rendition of debut album gem "Tell Me Your Plans." It's probably my top Shirts song (perhaps in a virtual tie with "Reduced To A Whisper," also from the debut), and we'll play this live cut again on our next show. We'll also throw in a studio track from their second album Street Light Shine, and a track by Rome 56, which is Shirts guitarist Artie LaMonica's current combo. 

MEN WITHOUT HATS: The Safety Dance [extended dance version]

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE RAMONES: Needles & Pins

When I was a college freshman in the spring of 1978, the Ramones were already on their way to becoming one of my all-time favorite groups. A few months before, "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker" assumed the title of the record that changed my life, the "Rockaway Beach" 45 was my 18th birthday gift to myself, and I saw the Ramones share a bill with the Runaways and the Flashcubes, my first of eight Ramones live experiences, 1978-1991. The American Beatles. The greatest American rock 'n' roll band of all time. I wrote a book about them.

Either before or after my first Ramones concert, I picked up the then-recent "Do You Wanna Dance"/"Babysitter" 45, immediately presumed it was gonna be a double-sided mega-platinum kazillion seller, and was stunned--STUNNED!--when it didn't attain AM Top 40 radio ubiquity. Stupid real world.

Nonetheless, in the giddy enthusiasm of the moment, I wrote a review of the single as a freelance submission to CREEM magazine, and CREEM could not have been less interested in  buying anything I wrote. Stupid, stupid real world! In the review, I wrote about the pure pop appeal of "Babysitter," and summed that up by declaring, "My GAWD, the Searchers live on!"

I meant it as a compliment, and the Ramones' decision to include their cover of the Searchers' 1964 hit "Needles & Pins" on the next Ramones LP (Road To Ruin, also in '78) validated my POV. 

THE CYNZ: Impossible Ending

The Cynz have already secured a berth on our year-end 2026 countdown show, as our carpet-bombing approach to programming "Love's So Lovely" (from the Cynz album Confess) has established the track as a bona fide TIRnRR hit. We play the hits! Now, we also wanna include a few other worthy Confessions, as "Impossible Ending" makes its debut here this week, and yet another treat from Confess will light up our sky this Sunday.

RIHANNA: Shut Up And Drive

Maybe it doesn't seem likely for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio--a show with a nominal power pop format, and taking its title from a line in a Ramones song--but Rihanna's "Shut Up And Drive" also has a good chance of making our 2026 countdown show. From a future GREM! chapter, drawn from two previous editions of 10 Songs:

Rihanna's "Shut Up And Drive" is a stupid song about sex. But it's a great stupid song about sex, probably the best-ever stupid song about sex, and a legit contender for my all-time Hot 200. Yeah, even among songs that may or may not be stupid and may or may not be about sex.

I remember hearing Rihanna's hit "Umbrella" in 2007, and not being especially taken with it. In 2008, the updated version of her Good Girl Gone Bad (Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded) landed into my consciousness via my then-teen daughter, whose interest in "Take A Bow" and "Disturbia" brought those songs to my attention as well. I was a little surprised to discover I liked them (especially "Disturbia"), but I did indeed like them.

I missed out on the track "Shut Up And Drive." I'd heard it, but I never noticed it until a random search for playlist ideas brought me to it again. It was like a brand new song to me, and I loved it.

(How did I know I loved it? The fact that I played it on obsessive repeat would be a pretty clear clue to that.)

Wikipedia describes "Shut Up And Drive" as a new wave song--no, really!--based on "Blue Monday" by New Order. No offense to the mopey British guys, but I prefer it the way Rihanna did it.

"Shut Up And Drive" strikes me as a sort-of equivalent to "Heavy Music" by Bob Seger and the Last Heard, a track I initially dismissed as a stupid song about sex before realizing it was--you guessed it!--a great stupid song about sex. 

Rihanna's song is greater. Drive, baby. Drive.

DAVE COPE AND THE SASS: Julee

As this week's show debuts Dave Cope's Sector Frontier, we close with an encore spin of the Dave Cope and the Sass record that sparked our obsession in the first place. From a previous 10 Songs:

Don't ever let anyone get away with trying to tell you there's no worthy new music. That's nonsense. Maybe the good new stuff doesn't reach your ears as effortlessly as it did when you were younger. But it's out there, and it's worth the effort to find it. Every week on TIRnRR, Dana and I try to do our part to mix the great new stuff with the great familiar stuff. Right now is always the best-ever time to be a fan of rockin' pop music.

"Julee," the title tune from a 2022 Kool Kat Musik release by Dave Cope and the Sass, is my favorite new track of this year so far. That's saying something, because as crappy as the year has been in general terms, there's been a rush of fabulous new music, courtesy of Kool Kat, Big Stir, Red On Red, Jem, Rum Bar, and so many others. In my head, "Julee" conjures a million different influences I can't quite isolate or identify; I hear some kind of mid/late '60s British vibe, which may be imaginary, but I don't care. Can't play this one enough.

Restraint is for suckers. Embrace the enthusiasm awready.

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: 3/21/2026

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 # 1328

THE ON AND ONS: Speck Of Smiling Faces

From the group's native Australia to our native Syracuse airwaves, the On and Ons have been fixtures on This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio since their 2020 EP Menacing Smile, and that unrelenting barrage of pure pop oomph will keep on keepin' on and on with the forthcoming On and Ons album Luminary. The album ain't out until April, but advance single "Speck Of Smiling Faces" has already made its way to hearts, ears, and smiling faces everywhere in the here, the now, and the AWIGHT!. One should expect no less from  luminaries like the On and Ons.

THE COCKTAIL SLIPPERS: Joyride

"St. Valentine's Day Massacre" by the great Norwegian garage pop group the Cocktail Slippers is one of my all-time favorite tracks, and it earned its own chapter in my 2024 book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). Through an evolving line-up, the group has continued to fascinate and amaze with the same tightly-executed sass that made us love 'em in the first place. New single "Joyride" offers another delighted cruise in the Slippersmobile, where speed limits are optional and the radio's volume is always set to SURRENDER!! Joy! Let's ride.

THE SURFRAJETTES: She Loves You

The Surfrajettes at Middle Ages Beer Hall In Syracuse 3/19/2026

Decades ago, I had the pleasure of witnessing a performance by the Ventures, wherein the group had the admirable audacity to open their fantastic show with "Walk--Don't Run." The club owner introduced the Ventures as "the best fucking dance band in the world," and damned if they didn't prove it.

That torch has been passed to a new generation of North Americans. Over the course of the past eleven years, Toronto's phenomenal pop combo the Surfrajettes have established themselves as one of this world's preeminent surf instrumental groups. On Thursday, the Surfrajettes and their ace opening act Bethlehem Shalom kicked off the second leg of their Road Dogs tour in our beloved Salt City for a show at Middle Ages Beer Hall, and their energetic fun-in-the-sun twang served as the perfect weapon to drive a motherlovin' stake through the icy heart of Syracuse Winter. Armed with original tunes and impeccable savvy in choosing covers (routinely reaching outside the box to convert material by Cream, Iron Butterfly, Spice Girls, and more into their own chosen style), the Surfrajettes are what the Ventures were: The best fucking dance band in the world. The Ventures would be proud to share that distinction with the Surfrajettes.

I remain chagrined by the fact that TIRnRR didn't get around to programming the Surfrajettes until last week's spin of the title track from their Easy As Pie album. We're slackers, but we're slackers with a vision. This week brings us Surfrajettes TIRnRR spin # 2, as the 'Jettes apply yeah-yeah-yeah reverb to "She Loves You" (from previous album Roller Fink). This coming Sunday night brings a reprise of "Easy As Pie," and Dana and I agree that maybe we should just commit to playing the Surfrajettes every week from now on. Pipeline to the stars, man. Surf's up.

THE GREENBERRY WOODS: Whenever You Want Me Too

Rapple Dapple! In my liner notes to Rhino's 1997 compilation Poptopia! Power Pop Classics Of The '90s, I wrote:

"The unfortunate fate of the Greenberry Woods offers a sobering reminder that even the best pop bands can still be resolutely ignored by the buying public. Maryland's favorite pop sons released two absolutely dreamy albums--1994's Rapple Dapple and 1995's Big Money Item--only to be met with appalling indifference by retail and radio. Following the group's apparent demise, a couple members resurfaced in a new group called Splitsville, and released an interesting, cartoony debut album on Big Deal in '96. But Splitsville ain't a proper substitute for the Greenberry Woods, whose passing we mourn here with a spin of their signature tune 'Trampoline,' an impossible-to-resist barrage of singalong charm and halcyon AM-pop style. Come back, guys!"

(Before we go any further, it's important to note that, my '97 self notwithstanding, I soon became a Splitsville fan as well. Pop pundits. We can be a mite slow on the uptake sometimes.)

And now, the return of '90s pop stars the Greenberry Woods should merit a guaranteed berth on any power pop radio playlist, and their new single "Whenever You Want Me Too" certainly deserves that instant-add status. Hell, "Whenever You Want Me Too" woulda fit in on Rapple Dapple, and I further dig its correct titular use of the word "too" to create an effective pun for would-be lovers everywhere. We want this. We hope you want it too.

GENERAL JOHNSON AND JOEY RAMONE: Rockaway Beach (On The Beach)

From a previous post:

I first heard about this beach-music team-up of Joey Ramone and former Chairmen of the Board singer General Johnson when Joey Ramone called to tell me about in 1994. Yes, I am cooler than you are. (I should probably let that illusion stand in place, but Joey's call to me was just a follow-up to a Goldmine interview we'd done within the previous week, as he wanted to make sure I was aware of a number of projects he was doing outside the Ramones' aegis. He never called again. My claim to being cooler than you are is, y'know, suspect at best.)

(Those interviews are, of course, preserved in my 2023 book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones. You should get yourself a copy from publisher Rare Bird Books, or contact me directly to purchase an autographed copy.)

But: back to the record! It's an ongoing testimony to the greatness of Ramones songs that they can thrive in different interpretations. The Swedish girl-pop group Shebang did a girl-pop bubblegum version of "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker." Ronnie Spector covered "Here Today Gone Tomorrow" and "She Talks To Rainbows." KISS did "Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?" with more kitchen-sink Phil Spector than the Spector-produced original. The Nutley Brass and the Ramonetures did entire albums of Ramones covers, in the respective styles of elevator music and surf instrumentals. It all worked. These Blitzkrieg bops remain more versatile and universal than anyone realized at the time.

Remaking the power-pop bubblepunk of "Rockaway Beach" as a soulful slow-groove Carolina beach shag would seem a preposterous notion...until you hear it. Whoa! Grab a blanket, grab your honey, and snuggle by the fire as the sun descends. It's not hard, not far to reach. Hitch a ride, baby.

MADONNA: Dear Jessie

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE DOLLYROTS: Attention Span

"Attention Span...?!" See, that's kind of a problem area for us, especially for me. I suffer from what my daughter calls ADOS, which is Attention Deficit...Oooooo, SHINY!

Where was I? Oh, right. "Attention Span," the flat-out full-on invigmoratin' new single from the irresistible rockin' pop forces of the Dollyrots. PAY ATTENTION! It spins here again this Sunday night.

SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE: Stand!

Good advice.

THE RAMONES: I Don't Want To Grow Up

Also good advice. 

THE LITTLE GIRLS: How To Pick Up Girls

And we finish with a snarky 'n' buoyant pop tune pretending to offer good advice while still being, y'know, snarky. I suspect the Little Girls are snickering at the odious machinations of hapless would-be Lotharios. I say we snicker right along with them.

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.