10 (no--13!!) SONGS: 7/25/2026

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 # 1346

THE AMPLIFIER HEADS: A Girl Named Chop Suey

A rock 'n' roll riot! That's the promise offered and honored by the Amplifier Heads' new album Super 8. Amplified head Head Sal Baglio has made it clear in whose memory Super 8 is proclaimed:

"The Amplifier Heads' new album Super 8 is dedicated to Paul Armstrong and Ducky Carlisle — two much beloved and missed friends gone way too soon.

"Ducky introduced me to Paul the way he introduced everyone. He said: 'Do you know Paul Armstrong? Yeah, he’s a genius. You two guys should be friends.'

"And that’s exactly what happened. Both Ducky and Paul were crazed rock n’ roll FANATICS and we loved all the same music.

"We played on many stages together, including The Cavern in Liverpool. They both appear on the Amplifier Heads' Loudah album, which was also recorded and mixed by Ducky Carlisle at his Ice Station Zebra Studio.

"Both are missed very much. Super 8 is dedicated to their shining light and crazed rock n’ roll spirit. They live on in all the music we created back then, that we create right now, and that we are destined to create in the future."

TIRnRR offers a great big HELL YEAH!! to all of the above. To the Amplifier Heads, I say Ducky and PA would be proud of you.

THE MONKEES: A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You

From a previous blog post about my 25 favorite Monkees tracks:

Don Kirshner's last stand, but it's a really, really good last stand. Most regard this Neil Diamond ditty as an inferior follow-up to his SuperMegaSmash Monkees hit "I'm A Believer," but I actually like it better. Part of the reason is circumstantial: the original Colgems 45 of "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" pounds and pops in a way no CD (or LP) reissue has ever managed to recapture. "I'm A Believer" is a better song, and arguably a better record, but I feel a vibrant and pervasive connection to "A Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You," a connection its "Believer" big brother can't equal. (For a coincidental commentary on Kirshner's exit from the Monkees project, read the lyrics to this song as an approximation of what I think Kirshner shoulda said to the Monkees at the time. Except maybe not addressing the group as "Girl.")

CIRCE LINK: I'm On Your Side

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

MONOGROOVE: Back To School

THE MnM'S: I'm Tired

P. J. SOLES: Rock 'n' Roll High School

THE MUFFS: That's For Me

THE RUNAWAYS: School Days

THE RAMONES: 7 And 7 Is

THE COASTERS: Charlie Brown

JUNIPER: Boys! Boys! Boys! Boys! Boys!

High school reunion time! I'm pretty sure I haven't learned anything. Here's my chance to prove it.

For my share of programming this week's penultimate set, I picked four tracks to sorta kinda represent the high school experience. The set begins with Monogroove's "Back To School," a certifiable TIRnRR Pick Hit found on the group's current 30th anniversary collection Anthology. Let Alice Cooper crow that school's out for the summer; Monogroove has your essential teen guide to navigating the halls and kicking the cliques. Back? It's like I never left.

The MnM's

Following Dana's spin of "I'm Tired" by the MnM's, we inserted a bit of dialogue from the classic--that's motherlovin' CLASSIC, man!-1979 feature film Rock 'n' Roll High School, as the Ramones walk around campus and the evil principal Miss Togar asks them in a shrieking tone, Do your parents KNOW you're Ramones...?! This snippet segues into a performance of the movie's title theme as executed by its star, perfectly-cast actress P. J. Soles in her hypmotizin' role as Riff Randell, rock 'n' roller.

Riff's winning warbling flows into Dana's selection of the Muffs' "That's For Me" (from their farewell album No Holiday), which in turn sets up "School Days" by the Runaways. That song was the subject of a previous Greatest Record Ever Made! post, and it remains my favorite Runaways track. Then--just like when I saw the Runaways open for the Ramones in 1978!--the Queens of Noise lead us into glue-sniffin' temptation, as the Ramones cover Love's supercharged '60s proto-punk nugget "7 And 7 Is."

And then, the Coasters! I've described "Yakety Yak" as the all-time best song about the generation gap, and it would have seemed the likeliest Coasters track to place here. Instead, we return to my introduction to the Coasters; I heard "Charlie Brown" when I discovered a copy of the 45 in the family collection circa 1972-73--eighth grade for me--and delighted in the fee-fee-fi-fi-fo-fo-fum tale of this cat Charlie who was either the high school's biggest troublemaker or just terribly, terribly misunderstood. Dana closes the set with Juniper's "Boys! Boys! Boys! Boys! Boys!," which properly places the blame for mischief on those unruly lads. I bet they're ALL named Charlie Brown! WHY'S everybody always picking on me? I'm innocent, I tell ya! INNOCENT!

Right. I'm ditching study hall. Wanna meet up in the smoking area? But in the immortal words of Peter Tork: I don't smoke...those.

THE GREENBERRY WOODS: Waiting 'Round For Something To Go Wrong

Speaking of high school, the Greenberry Woods' new album It's All Good, Sugar includes a track called "Waiting 'Round For Something To Go Wrong," and that song title describes high school about as accurately as anything ever. The album as a whole is a welcome return for these power pop greats, and "Waiting 'Round For Something To Go Wrong" has become my go-to. We'll play it again on our next show.

THE BEATLES: I'm A Loser

And still speaking of high school....

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.

My new book of short stories Guitars Vs. Rayguns!! Short Stories And Other White Lies is out now, and you can get autographed copies of the new book and my previous book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) directly from me. You can still get my previous 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.

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. 

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: 5/30/2026

 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 # 1338

THE HALF/CUBES: Starless Summer Sky

It was a rare treat for us to preview no less than three new and as-yet-unreleased tracks from the Half/Cubes. Their next single (a cover of Jellyfish's "Ghost At Number One") is due out soon, and we gave that li'l gem its debut airing in this week's closing set. We placed the Half/Cubes' ace cover of Gilbert O'Sullivan's "Get Down" in the middle of the show, and we kicked our shindig off with their superb rendition of Marshall Crenshaw's luscious pop treasure "Starless Summer Sky." AND! We threw in another spin of the Half/Cubes' current single, joining forces with Glenn Burtnick for a bravura rendition of the American Breed's "Bend Me, Shape Me." The three new tracks will surely return in eventual future playlists. "Bend Me, Shape Me" plays again this Sunday night.

THE KNACK: Pop Is Dead

Get the Knack! Dana has been quite taken with the new Knack retrospective Knackology: The Zen Recordings, a set that mixes studio and live tracks from the 1990s and early 2000s, supplemented by demos and a live "Let Me Out" from 1979. The Knack's 1998 album Zoom was my favorite album that year, and it's possible that I like Zoom even more than I like Get The Knack. I'm delighted that Dana programmed Zoom's "Pop Is Dead," and you can bet on more Knackology to come on TIRnRR.

GRAHAM PARKER AND THE GOLDTOPS: Hotel Chambermaid

As pop fans worldwide clear space in their music libraries for Quality Footwear: Live At The Brook, the forthcoming new live album from the mighty Graham Parker and the Goldtops, we've been playing the album's advance singles. This week, I wanted to program a live version of a Graham Parker song that has specific meaning for me.

From a previous 10 Songs:

"Hotel Chambermaid" was the first Graham Parker and the Rumour I recall hearing, a favorite on Utica's WOUR-FM circa '76-'77, my senior year in high school. For some reason, I thought it was by Greg Kihn, whose take on Bruce Springsteen's "For You" was also getting some significant airplay on OUR, and I don't know why my mind put those two songs together. But both were part of my early FM radio listening, along with Nick Lowe's "So It Goes," the Kinks' "No More Looking Back," Joan Baez's "Time Rag," Michael Nesmith's "Rio," and, eventually, the Sex Pistols' "God Save The Queen." Radio's been good to me.

THE AMPLIFIER HEADS: A Song Called Sha La La

And the song chose its name well! The Amplifier Heads' new single "A Song Called Sha La La" is a perfect addition to our sovereign airwaves, channeling the Troggs and fortifying each Sha, La, and La with the essential oomph we require. Sha la LA! All three syllables (and, y;know, the rest of the record, too) return to the playlist on our next show.

THE SMALL FACES: Sha-La-La-La-Lee

Well, how else could you follow our first spin of "A Song Called Sha La La?" The Small Faces answer the call!

THE FLASHCUBES: Got No Mind

I've come to regard the Flashcubes' "Got No Mind" as 'Cubes guitarist Paul Armstrong's signature song. "Got No Mind" made its retail debut in a 4-track recording found (alongside a 4-track of 'Cubes bassist Gary Frenay's "Guernica") on the B-side of the Flashcubes' debut single "Christi Girl" in 1978. The definitive version was recorded live at The Firebarn in Syracuse in 1979, included on the group's 1997 anthology Bright Lights, and eventually reprised on the live at The Firebarn CD document Flashcubes On Fire. In the wake of PA's recent passing, we've been playing it a lot, and we will continue to do so. A friend recently told me that she used to think "Got No Mind" was a Sex Pistols cover rather than a Flashcubes original, and I say that's a testament to the great Paul Armstrong's ability to embody the raucous best of punk, and the Flashcubes' collective knack for making punk pop, and pop punk. Got no mind? I don't mind.

THE RUNAWAYS: Wait For Me

When I was a college student in the late '70s, I became a huge fan of the Runaways, and I consider myself fortunate to have seen them on a 1978 live bill with the Flashcubes and the Ramones (a concert memory recalled here). I played their third album Waitin' For The Night a lot--a lot--and I'm a little surprised we never got around to playlisting the album track "Wait For Me" until this week. Glad they were willing to wait!

THE CYNZ: Ghost Rider

My new book Guitars Vs. Rayguns!! Short Stories And Other White Lies is finished, with a fingers-crossed publication date of June 12th. HEY! That's an excuse to display the book's cover graphic again right here!

Well, that felt good. The book is a collection of some of my short fiction, and the rock 'n' roll in its DNA mandates passing references to a long list of real-life music performers (and you can read that list here). The Cynz are, of course, among TIRnRR's Fave Raves, so it makes sense that my imaginary planet-hoppin' combo Guitars Vs. Rayguns likes to include the occasional Cynz cover in their own outer space live sets:

"...Now, Leiko, Beckie, and FeeFEE! were all dressed the same as me (though each of 'em considerably better-looking than your boy Rocky), like co-ed Beatles at CBGB. The setlist was still peppered with covers, everything from the Buzzcocks and the Selecter to the Cynz and Etta James...."

Literary immortality! This week, we celebrate the notion of the Cynz as intergalactic superstars by returning their recent single "Ghost Rider" (from their current album Confess) to the real-world airwaves.

RIHANNA: Shut Up And Drive

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE RAMONES: Surfin' Safari

From a previous 10 Songs:

In my continuing efforts to fool people into thinking I'm way cooler than I really I am, I'll casually mention that I first learned that the Ramones had recorded a cover of the Beach Boys' "Surfin' Safari" when Joey Ramone told me that the Ramones had recorded a cover of the Beach Boys' "Surfin' Safari." Gabba Gabba HEY! 

The revelation came during my 1994 telephone interviews with the Ramones [as detailed in my first book, Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones]. Our Carbona-huffin' heroes had tackled the song previously, their version used as a backing track for a 1978 single by Rodney and the Brunettes. That would be legendary DJ Rodney Bingenheimer, with the Honeys handling the vocal heavy lifting. The Ramones had hoped to exhume their original parts (minus Rodney and his Brunette Honeys) to use in their All The Stuff (And More) reissue series, but the tracks could not be located.

Instead, the Ramones wound up recording it again during the sessions for their 1993 all-covers album Acid Eaters. Their '90s "Surfin' Safari" was only used as a bonus track on the album's Japanese edition, though it did eventually appear on a British reissue of Acid Eaters. It has never been released in America.

And lemme just add here in the present day: Surf's UP. A safari awaits.

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 of short stories Guitars Vs. Rayguns!! Short Stories And Other White Lies is due out soon; meanwhile, you can get an autographed copy of my previous book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) here, and you can still get my previous 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: 3/7/2026

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 # 1326

THE RAMONES: I WANNA BE SEDATED

Compiled from a pair of previous posts:

She was asleep, sitting up, her head resting on my shoulder. I was in love with her. And I was already in love with the music of the band whose new album was about to be played on the radio. Love and music. Reasonable goals. I just want to have something to do.

It was October of 1978. Brenda and I had just met, already exchanged I love yous, and were determined to see where that road would lead us next....

Those were the opening paragraphs of a Love At First Spin piece I had planned to write about the Ramones' fourth album Road To Ruin. I felt the story would have too much overlap with my Love At First Spin tribute to Rocket To Russia, so the Road To Ruin entry will likely remain unfinished. But the facts remain: I first heard Road To Ruin when Rochester's WCMF-FM played it in its entirety, listening as I sat in my dorm suite with my arm around this girl I'd just met and fallen for. Road to ruin? Road to something better.

"I Wanna Be Sedated" stood out immediately, helped in no small part by its superficial resemblance to Alice Cooper's "Elected," transcending that influence with its paradoxical hybrid of a wish to be numbed combined with a full-throttle approach that couldn't be taken down by a flurry of tranquilizer darts. I can't control my fingers, I can't control my brain. Sounds a lot like the act of being smitten. I want it.

The Ramones--I do prefer referring to them with a definite article--never had a hit record. Their Billboard Hot 100 peak was # 66 for "Rockaway Beach" in 1977. Their highest-charting album was End Of The Century (# 44 in 1980), edging out Rocket To Russia (# 49 in '77), the only two Ramones LPs to ascend beyond the # 50 slot. They did better overseas, but as Johnny Ramone once told me, "...It was never no big deal, really, having a hit in England. All that mattered, really, was America. It's okay having a hit in England, but the main thing was you wanna make it at home."

Their legacy endured, and just about everyone now has at least some general familiarity with some of the Ramones' recorded work. Hell, you can hear the Ramones in TV commercials. "Blitzkrieg Bop" is likely the Ramones' most universally-recognized track, but "I Wanna Be Sedated" comes close. It was not released as an American single from Road To Ruin, only achieving 7" status when reissued in the late '80s in conjunction with the best-of set Ramones Mania. One imagines edge-averse 1979 radio programmers wouldn't have been quick to embrace a pop tune about sedation, just as that notoriously timid lot had been skittish about playing the Ramones up to that point. But one also wonders if such a single might have found a wider audience, if only it had been released at the time.

(The Johnny Ramone quote cited above comes from my 1994 interviews with the Ramones, contained within my 2023 book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones.)

MR. BRUCE GORDON: Every Day You Get To Choose

Our pal Mr. Bruce Gordon has been a fixture on This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio pret' much from the get-go. The components of that fixture have included Bruce's fine pop work as Mr. Encrypto and Mr. Encrypto and the Ciphers, with Pop Co-Op and TIR'N'RR Allstars, and through current wonders under the Mr. Bruce Gordon dba. As I wrote upon the release of Mr. Bruce Gordon's 2023 release One Tall Order:

"Ladies and gentlemen, MR. BRUCE GORDON! You know him and love him as Mr. Encypto and as one-fourth of the irresistible Pop Co-Op. Now Bruce Gordon is ditching the 'Encrypto' moniker, retaining his alter ego's honorific, and steppin' out under his own name for the first time since the dawn of ever.

"Mr. Bruce Gordon's emergence from the power pop witness protection program results in the sublimely easy-going new album One Tall Order. One Tall Order is a sweet sway of ten engaging tracks steeped in lessons learned from a lifetime of listening: listening to the radio, AM and FM, listening to deep LP cuts, and listening between the grooves, to Motown and new wave, Steely Dan and British Invasion, folk and rock and singer-songwriter, the Church of Brian Wilson, and always to the rising voice within. 

"Fan and artist in one man, this peerless pop mister is ready to reveal his secret identity. Mr. Bruce Gordon. It's time we ALL knew that name."

Now, the unencrypted Mr. Bruce Gordon returns to reinforce the ol' fixtures with a brand-new single, "Every Day You Get To Choose." You can choose to get that here, and you can choose to tune in to hear it again on our next show. 

THE CORNER LAUGHERS: Dusking

"Dusking" is the latest advance tease from the Corner Laughers' forthcoming new album Concerns Of Wasp And Willow, and it serves as yet another inviting point of entry into the group's luscious blend of folk-pop, accomplished with sheer heartwinning beauty. Calling this music "gorgeous" sells it short. As dusk heralds darkness, we'll light a fire and gather together.

SPECTRAFLAME: I Always Wanted You To Stay

Man, we can't keep up with these prolific pop guys. By the time we were able to debut the splendor of Spectraflame's recent single "I Always Wanted You To Stay" on this week's show, the lads had already released another new track, "The Pawn And The Prize." WE CAN'T KEEP UP...!! 

But what the hell--it's worth the effort. We'll give "I Always Wanted You To Stay" another playlist berth on our next show, and we'll attempt to catch up with "The Pawn And The Prize"...eventually. Spectraflame will probably have released a triple-LP live album and a boxed set by then. 

AIMEE MANN: Driving With One Hand On The Wheel

One of the greatest rewards of doing this radio show has been the opportunity to discover so much great new music, and so much great new-to-me music. A lot of those fresh revelations are courtesy of Dana, including his spin this week of Aimee Mann's 1995 non-album single "Driving With One Hand On The Wheel." Supernifty! The road of discovery motors on.

THE CYNZ: You Wreck Me

The Cynz get a significant amount of airplay on this little mutant radio show, mostly because both Dana and I recognize the empirical truth that every rock 'n' roll radio show that claims to be a rock 'n' roll radio show oughta be slotting a significant amount of airplay to the Cynz. I mean, come on, people! Duh!

Lately, TIRnRR has been pummeling the atmosphere with tracks from the current Cynz album Confess, including this resolutely ace cover of Tom Petty's "You Wreck Me." Wreckin' the airwaves for the greater good! It's what a rock 'n' roll radio show should do. We'll return to another track from Confess on our next show. 

DAVID RUFFIN: I Want You Back

From my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1):

When working on a new recording, there are times when an artist is absolutely confident the great track at hand will become a surefire hit. Book it. Top of the pops, # 1 with a bullet. In the '80s, the members of a fantastic pop band called the dB's were certain, certain that they'd created an irresistible worldwide smash with their recording of a terrific song called "Love Is For Lovers." The song didn't even chart. But it felt like a hit, and it still feels like it should have been a hit. 

One wonders if David Ruffin had that feeling when he was recording "I Want You Back," that surefire faith that he would hit the toppermost of the poppermost with this new hit. If he did, he could not have been more wrong.

In this situation, some hubris would have seemed justified, really. Ruffin had been a proven and experienced hitmaker with the Temptations. If Motown was the sound of young America in the '60s, the Temptations were arguably the sound of Motown. Their hits were many, their popularity vast, and "My Girl" in particular is immortal, and perhaps the definitive Motown single...

...Ruffin had been the lead voice on "My Girl," as well as on the Temptations' "Ain't Too Proud To Beg," "(I Know) I'm Losing You," and "I Wish It Would Rain," among others. But by 1968, being one of the Temptations had ceased to bring Ruffin sunshine on a cloudy day. With that, he was no longer a Temptation.

Solo success ultimately proved fleeting for Ruffin. 1969's "My Whole World Ended (The Moment You Left Me)" was a Top 10 hit on both the pop and R & B charts, and "I've Lost Everything I've Ever Loved" and "I'm So Glad I Fell For You" were Top 20 soul hits ignored by the pop Top 40. As the success of the Temptations continued into the early '70s, the group's former lead singer could have used a sweeter song than the birds in the trees. For Ruffin, the hits had stopped.

Could Ruffin's version of "I Want You Back" have been the hit it deserved to be, the hit Ruffin's recording career kinda needed it to be? Alas, not in the real world. Some believe that Ruffin recorded "I Want You Back" roughly contemporary to when the Jackson Five cut the version that would become their smash debut Motown single. It was, after all, standard operating procedure for acts within Berry Gordy's empire to record competing versions of the same song, with a designated Chosen One then anointed as hit-worthy. But the J5's "I Want You Back" ascended the charts in 1969; Ruffin's version was likely recorded in 1970, part of the sessions for a proposed 1971 album shelved by Motown. 

Nonetheless: It should have been released. And it should have been a hit....

THE RUNAWAYS: School Days

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

SAM COOKE: (What A) Wonderful World

"Wonderful world?" With all due respect to the legendary Sam Cooke, I'd like to get a second opinion regarding his diagnosis of this world's attributes. At its core, Cooke was right: There is great wonder to be found within the heart of this frantic planet. Alas, we are led by far too many who don't know much about history. 

Nor anything else.

THE BEATLES: Carry That Weight/The End

The love you take is equal to the love you make? That sounds like a lot of weight to carry, lads. Here's hoping Abbey Road leads to a freeway.

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.

THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! The Runaways, “School Days”

Drawn from a previous post, this is not part of my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1).

An infinite number of tracks can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Today, this is THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE!

THE RUNAWAYS: School Days

Written by Joan Jett and Kim Fowley

Produced by Kim Fowley

Single from the album Waitin' For The Night, Mercury Records, 1977

During spring break of 1978, I saw the Flashcubes, the Runaways, and the Ramones on an incredible triple bill at a nightclub in Syracuse. Although "Cherry Bomb" is undeniably the Runaways' signature tune (and it gets its own entry in The Greatest Record Ever Made! [Volume 1]), "School Days" is my favorite Runaways track. It's the most straight-ahead, no-frills rocker in Runaways canon, uncluttered by pouting or preening, unsullied by metal moves, just pure, punk-fueled Joan Jett oomph 'n' aggro.

Listening to "School Days" conjures a random memory of a girl I met that summer of '78. Janis was a co-worker, a fellow janitor on the morning crew at Sears. We were not a couple, and never likely to be a couple. There was no chemistry of that sort. I don't think I could even say that we were friends, really. Co-workers. She was cute, roughly my age, and in retrospect I guess it's odd that the thought of asking her out never occurred to me. I knew she had a boyfriend, so that was like an automatic KEEP OUT! sign to me. I may not have been the gentleman I wanted to be, but I was willfully determined not to be an asshole. To try not to be an asshole. That determination had already failed me at school, as I stole a friend's girlfriend and warred constantly with my roommate. But I continued to try.

For dramatic purposes, the part of Janis will be played by Lita Ford

Anyway, Janis and I were friendly enough, as co-workers can be, and during breaks she confided to me (and to everyone else on our small maintenance crew) that she was worried that she was pregnant. The worry became a dead certainty in her mind that she was pregnant, and that her stupid boyfriend remained, y'know, stupid, like boys are. (I'm a boy, and she's right; boys are stupid). Janis said Stupid Boyfriend--apparently unfazed by the daunting possibility of fatherhood--suggested they make with the bouncy-bouncy more often and try for twins. Janis rolled her eyes and sputtered in recounting the tale told by her idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

And nothing was the precise result. Over the course of breaktime conversations spanning days into a week and more, Janis's salutation of Carl, I might be pregnant evolved into Carl, I think I'm pregnant, and finally Guess what, Carl, I'm not pregnant! There may have been a little more back-and-forth of uncertainty, dread, and relief in Janis's story, but that was the gist of it. She broke up with Stupid Boyfriend. I still didn't ask her out. It was getting near time to return to school.

Janis wasn't a Runaways fan, at least not as far as I was aware. But the song reminds me of that summer. Timing, I guess. I associate the Runaways' "School Days" with that period of my life, when I was working and partying during vacation, flirting with getting into some real trouble--at separate times that summer, I sheltered an AWOL Marine and a teenage girl running away from home--but getting away with it as unscathed as any of us can claim. I had a little bit of money. There were bands to see, records to hear, friends to join, fun to have. School days. In between school days, sure, but still...

Used to be the troublemaker

Hated homework, was a sweet heartbreaker

Now I have my dream

I'm so rowdy for eighteen

School days. Here's to ya, Janis. Friends?

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.

GABBA GABBA HEY, SOUND GARDEN! Another upcoming in-store appearance on behalf of my Ramones book

Author and This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio With Dana & Carl cohost Carl Cafarelli will speak about his new book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones. The book collects Cafarelli's 1994 interviews with Joey, Johnny, Marky, and C.J. Ramone, interviews cited by The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame as recommended reading when the Ramones were inducted in 2002. Cafarelli will talk about the Ramones, reminisce about seeing the Ramones in Syracuse in the late 1970s (on bills with the Flashcubes, the Runaways, and the Ramones' movie Rock 'n' Roll High School), answer questions, and play a few brief audio snippets from the original telephone interviews. Copies of the book will be available for purchase. The event is free.

WHERE: Sound Garden, 310 West Jefferson Street, Syracuse

WHEN: Wednesday, August 16, 6:30 to 7:30 pm

POSTSCRIPT: Gabba Gabba HEY!

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/

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, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/ You can read about our history here.

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl