10 SONGS: 8/29/2026

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 # 1350

THE HALF/CUBES: The Mighty Quinn

For our 1,350th show, we wanted to mix some of our old TIRnRR favorites with some new and recent TIRnRR favorites. Yes, just like any other episode of this show. We're remarkably consistent. Albums in the Jem Records Celebrates series of tribute albums have been consistent fixtures on our playlists, and we've looooooong been consistent supporters of anything related to Syracuse's own power pop powerhouses the Flashcubes. Combining the two? Well, that gives us the opening track for TIRnRR # 1350.

The Half/Cubes are Flashcubes Gary Frenay and Tommy Allen, working with Randy Klawon, Fernando Perdomo, and the occasional Special Guest Bat-Hero. The Half/Cubes make their way-overdue Jem Records Celebrates debut with this track from the newly-released Jem Records Celebrates Bob Dylan. Many years ago, I remember seeing Gary sing "The Mighty Quinn" with one of his other groups (Frenay and the Rays at Earthquake Ethel's); they sounded great, the Half/Cubes sound great, and Bashful Bobby Dylan hisself would be proud. We'll hear the Half/Cubes' "Quinn The Eskimo" again on our next show.

THE CHELSEA CURVE: Jamie, C'mon

THE CHELSEA CURVE: I Can't Help

I didn't know Linda Bean Pardee very well; we were Facebook friends, and Dana and I were big fans of her group the Chelsea Curve. But news of Linda's passing was a punch to the gut. "Jamie, C'mon" has been our top go-to Chelsea Curve track, and we made sure to include that in this week's opening set. We opened our second set with "I Can't Help," from the most recent Chelsea Curve album The Rideout. We've already been programming that one for a couple of weeks--we play the hits, man--and we aim to keep right on doing that. We play it not just in memory of Linda (though that would be enough), but in celebration of her life and ongoing relevance to the sounds we wanna hear. The music helps. Rest easy, Linda.

THE SPONGETONES: The Music At The Close

Earlier this week, someone asked me about depression. I replied that anyone who isn't depressed nowadays isn't paying attention. Still, we soldier on to the best of our mortal ability, and art is one of the many resources we use to fuel our resilience. Whether as comfort or catharsis (or both), music stands at the ready.

If, like Brian Wilson, we just weren't made for these times, the Spongetones' current single "The Music At The Close" provides a soundtrack that fits the tsuris and uncertainty tsunami-ing across all directions.  As stated in last week's 10 Songs:

"...A 'We'll Meet Again' to meet the overarching yechh of modern times, 'The Music At The Close' is the virtual 45 RPM equivalent of whistling through the graveyard, a joyride on the Titanic, stubbornly blessed with incongruous will to keep boppin' no matter how futile the boppin' may seem. 

"The song was co-written by Spongetones bassist Steve Stoeckel and his Pop Co-Op cohort Joel Tinnel--two longtime friends of TIRnRR-- and if its stiff upper lip might be equally likely to contort into a sneer or a smile, one senses it's open to the promise of singing past the close--particularly if the 'close' refers to what the damned walls feel like they're doing all around us...."

CHUCK BERRY: Promised Land

Take us there, Chuck. Please...?!

STYX: Kiss Your Ass Goodbye

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE COWSILLS: She Said To Me

One of the many cool little bonus opportunities brought to us by doing this little mutant radio show has been the chance to put together several fine various-artists compilation albums for national release. That experience has allowed us to work with so many compelling recording artists from the past and the present, including people whose work we've admired for decades and decades. A partial list of TIRnRR compilation album participants includes the Rubinoos, Paul Collins, the Smithereens, John Wicks and the Records, the Catholic Girls, Blotto, Carolyne Mas...

...and THE COWSILLS!

The Cowsills' 1998 album Global is my favorite album of the 1990s, and Bob Cowsill was so incredibly nice to allow us the use of the sublime Global track "She Said To Me" on 2006's This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 2. Twenty years later, we are still giddy, and we will always be grateful.

And speaking of the This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio compilation albums....

LAURIE BIAGINI: Hey Mr. DJ

The final set of TIRnRR # 1350 needed to open with a track from our own 2022 compilation album This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 5. I won't pretend any kind of modesty here: I regard this as one of the very best power pop (or power pop adjacent) comps ever done, and actually think it's the all-time # 1. SPOILER ALERT: I'm biased. But I mean it. There have been a lot of fantastic compilations in this broad category of rockin' pop, most notably the wonderful Yellow Pills collections curated by the ever-fab Jordan Oakes. I won't concede that anything in this realm is superior to This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 5.

That album opens with a spoken introduction by my daughter Meghan ("These guys are still at it? Some people never grow up"), leading directly into Vancouver's phenomenal pop songstress Laurie Biagini with a call to action:

"Hey Mr. DJ, play me a song!"

As written here previously: "As much as we've loved pret' near everything Laurie has crafted over the years, 'Hey Mr. DJ' stands at the pinnacle. We realize it's not about us--the song's titular DJ is Laurie's beacon on a Saturday night, the evening before our own declaration that the weekend stops here--but man, it resonates in a way that's just magic to anyone who ever loved the radio. The track was on her 2022 album Stranger In The Mirror; when we started putting together This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 5, 'Hey Mr. DJ' was the only thing we considered for that compilation's opening track. It initiates TIRnRR Volume 5's girl-and-boy song cycle (an idea that was a sort-of reimagining of this song cycle). 'Hey Mr. DJ' is absolutely essential to the concept for TIRnRR Volume 5."

Laurie Biagini asked us to play her a song. And we did. It is, after all, what we do. Thank you for being a part of this, Laurie. And thank you for helping us build an extraordinary album. We remain in your debt.

[REDACTED] FEATURING [REDACTED]: [REDACTED]

A great and special new single due out in November from our friends at Big Stir Records. BUT! It's a secret. Can't tell you about it because, y'know...secret. Nonetheless, we can play it! And we're playing it again at the top of our next show. Grab your bright lights and bikini bottoms--bikini tops are optional--and let's groove.

THE FLASHCUBES: Reminisce

And for this moment: All I wanna do is reminisce with you. 

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

THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! Styx, "Kiss Your Ass Goodbye"

Drawn from previous posts, 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!

STYX: Kiss Your Ass Goodbye

Written by Glen Burtnik, Tommy Shaw, Lawrence Gowan, James Young, and Todd Sucherman

Produced by Gary Loizzo, James Young, and Tommy Shaw

From the album Cyclorama, Sanctuary Records, 2003

A few years back, writer S. W. Lauden (alias musician Steve Coulter of Tsar and the Brothers Steve) posted an excellent piece called "Let's Argue About Power Pop!," wherein our Steve ably took on the endless battles among power pop fans to agree on...anything. ANYthing. Roses are red. Water is wet. The sky is above, not below. Bounty is the quicker picker-upper. Anything! Steve gets it. And I can say that even though I (predictably) disagree with some aspects of his power pop description. Those are just details. Steve gets the essence exactly right.

One of the things that drives power pop traditionalists batty is suggesting that some popular mainstream rock band is a power pop act. Styx comes up as an occasional example, and trust me, Styx is not and has never been power pop.

I mean, except for the time that Styx was power pop.

Listen, man: I hated Styx. Hated 'em. In the late '70s, when I was a bourgeoning young punk rocker and power pop fan in college, proudly sporting a chip on my shoulder and the Ramones in my heart, Styx was the freakin' enemy, THE enemy, more than disco, more than prog, more than Southern Rock, more than Eagles, even: Pompous and bloated, anti-punk, anti-pop. The music of Styx represented everything I despised. One night out drinking, I used my jackknife to carve STYX STYNX into the tabletop at a local nightspot. It is safe to say that I was not a fan of Styx.

For all that, I usually declared a ceasefire in my war on Styx when their song "Lorelei" came on. Unabashedly pop, loaded with harmonies, the group's prerequisite bombast largely held in check, a bit too slick but still energetic, "Lorelei" is almost power pop. Its path to true 'n' everlasting janglebuzz is blocked only by lead singer Dennis DeYoung sounding annoyingly and whiningly like Dennis DeYoung. And it's still a great track anyway. I wished it had been by the Hollies instead of...these guys.

There's no such qualifier for "Kiss Your Ass Goodbye." This track from the 2003 Styx album Cyclorama is certified 100% DeYoung-free. Glen Burtnik (now a member of the Weeklings) was the main songwriter, sharing a co-write with the other members of Styx at the time. Burtnik sings lead, and the result is as power pop as the Raspberries or the Rubinoos. Hell, Burtnik even sounds a bit like noted pop fan Robbie Rist, and that is a compliment for damned sure. Perfect pop. Perfect power pop. By Styx. As hell freezes over and the power pop curmudgeons rail in protest, this track invites naysayers to pucker up already.

I came to the song via an online friend named Kathryn Francis. I haven't heard from Fran in a very, very long time, and I hope she's doing well. She was a fan of both Styx AND This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, and she was determined to break down my aversion to this band she loved. She pointed out a few lesser-known Styx tracks for subsequent airplay on TIRnRR, and our pop worlds co-existed in peace.

BUT! In 2003, Fran told me there was this new Styx song that would demolish my antipathy, no matter how hard I resisted. Man, when Kathyrn's right, she's right! "Kiss Your Ass Goodbye" remains an incredible track, a power pop tune--I said, A POWER POP TUNE!!--that has carved out a permanent berth in my ongoing All-Time Top 200. I haven't changed my mind about the familiar stuff, and I hear that many actual Styx fans disdain "Kiss Your Ass Goodbye," so I guess that dynamic remains in place between us.

I say this a lot: An act you actively despise may still be capable of creating one or more tracks you flat-out adore. And make no mistake: I loathed Styx. Still, an open mind can reap benefits. "Kiss Your Ass Goodbye" is now an all-time Fave Rave, and there are a handful of other Styx tracks that I don't mind: "Lorelei" as noted, plus "Too Much Time On My Hands" and a 2005 track called "Everybody Raise A Glass," the latter introduced to me via The Spoon, the essential podcast hosted by the above-mentioned Robbie Rist with Chris Jackson and Thom Bowers. I don't think the day will come when I have any use whatsoever for "Babe" or "Renegade" or goddamned "Mr. Roboto," but I concede that the Styx brand name doesn't necessarily have to prompt an immediate revulsion.

Yeah, y'know...not necessarily.

Even with the bands we don't like as much as some of our friends do, that damned, cheery open mind can unlock the doors of discovery. Raise a glass! Seize a little of that too much time on our hands! Tell Lorelei we oughta live together! In the ending you can bet everyone's an equal. Here's to the Men of The Spoon, and also to our old correspondent Kathryn Francis, wherever she is. Thank you, friends. Domo arigato. It's Styx, babe.

And, of course, this one Styx song is fully, resolutely power pop. Don't argue with me.

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: 1/31/2026

10 Songs is a weekly list of ten songs that happen to be on my mind at the moment. The lists are usually dominated by songs played on the previous Sunday night's edition of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl. The idea was inspired by Don Valentine of the essential blog I Don't Hear A Single

This week's edition of 10 Songs draws exclusively from the playlist for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1321

THE LEGAL MATTERS: Stuck With Me

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

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

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

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

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

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

STYX: Everybody Raise A Glass

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

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

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

Yeah, y'know...not necessarily.

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

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

TALKING HEADS: Burning Down The House

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

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

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

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

THE LITTLE GIRLS: How To Pick Up Girls

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

SPECTRAFLAME: Love Don't Live Here No More

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

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

THE RAMONES: All's Quiet On The Eastern Front

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

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

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

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

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

"All's Quiet On The Eastern Front" was my immediate pick when I bought the album in '81, and it has remained so. It's the sprightliest song ever done about a serial killer, stalking the street 'til the break of day, a track delivered with decidedly un-Ramoneslike percussion, and with backing vocals from Dee Dee Ramone asking that musical question, Can't you think my movements talk? Hey, you unsuspecting soon-to-be victims: Pleasant dreams!

THE ISLEY BROTHERS: Shout (Part 1)

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE HIGH FREQUENCIES: Cleanup Time

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

SORROWS: Cricket Man

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

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

Fab. Sweet. Unforgettable.

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar. You can also become a Boppin' booster on my Patreon page.

I compiled a various-artists tribute album called Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes, and it's pretty damned good; you can read about it here and order it here. My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get my previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books, OR an autographed copy here. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming at SPARK stream and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. You can read about our history here.

10 SONGS: 2/10/2023

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 # 1167. This show is available as a podcast.

TELEVISION: Marquee Moon

Much of this week's playlist was programmed in reaction to the death of Television's Tom Verlaine. When I was 17 in 1977, Television's debut album Marquee Moon was an integral part of my enthusiastic assimilation into punk and what would later be called new wave. That impact was immense, and it's still with me.

So both Dana and I wanted to play a few tracks from relevant acts of that era, culminating in a closing set of NYC artists. Over the course of the show, we figured we needed to play four songs by Television, and we supplemented those with a bunch of others we felt were also part of this general discussion of '70s punk and its periphery: Blondie, Gang of Four, the Ramones, the Buzzcocks, Tom Robinson Band, Talking Heads, Lou Reed, the Shirts, Public Image Ltd., Richard Hell and the VoidOids, Elvis Costello and the Attractions, the Flashcubes, Graham Parker and the Rumour, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Eddie and the Hot Rods, the Velvet Underground, the New York Dolls, Patti Smith, Johnny Thunders (with the other Heartbreakers), the Dictators, and the late Robert Gordon with Tuff Darts. The acts are too varied to be lumped together within one genre. But trust me: at the time, each of them was part of our full-tilt embrace of NEW MUSIC! When I was a young punk, all of these acts were part of the punk conversation.

Our little mutant radio show is named after a spoken line in a Ramones song, and a show-specific edit of "Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?" serves as our usual opening theme. This week, Dana suggested replacing the regular theme song with the ten-minute title track from Television's Marquee Moon. I thought that was a superb idea, and we went with it.

I don't want to exaggerate how important Marquee Moon was to me...but I don't wish to understate it either. I bought my copy of Marquee Moon before I owned Ramones, probably before I got My Aim Is True, maybe before Blank Generation, definitely before Blondie or Go Girl Crazy or Talking Heads 77, maybe just before or just after my girlfriend gave me Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols. I played Marquee Moon in my dorm room, and I most especially played its track "Elevation" over and over and over. But I listened to all of its tracks, including the long one that gave the album its title:

I remember

How the darkness doubled

I recall

Lightning struck itself

I was listening

Listening to the rain

I was hearing

Hearing something else

At the age of 17, "something else" was what I needed to hear. I heard it in Television.

BLONDIE: Little Girl Lies

When I got to college in the fall of '77, one of my first and most pressing bits of business was getting the campus radio station at Brockport to play me some of the punk and associated records I'd read about in Phonograph Record Magazine. 

Blondie's "X-Offender" was near the top of my list of requests. The prurient 'n' pulchritudinous appeal of singer Debbie Harry was irresistible to this teen, and I was reeled in hook, line, and more hooks by PRM writer Mark Shipper's description of Blondie as looking like Marilyn Monroe backed by the Dave Clark Five. See, THAT'S playing directly into the CC demographic.

My first Blondie record purchase was the "Rip Her To Shreds" 12" single, acquired specifically as a budget approach to owning "X-Offender" without springing for the cost of the whole LP. Efficient! I did hear more of the eponymous debut album as well, either on the radio station or at the on-campus bar the Rat. That exposure included tracks "You Look Good In Blue" and "Little Girl Lies."

When I finally did buy a copy of Blondie's first album in the summer of '79, I was staying at my girlfriend's apartment and gave my newly-acquired record a spin on her turntable. One of the other girls living there heard "Little Girl Lies," and declared it the worst excuse for music she had ever experienced.

Heh. And you thought Blondie wasn't punk?

28 IF: Hold Tight

Our friend Ray Paul's group 28IF is prepping release of their new single, a cover of Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich's fabulous "Hold Tight." We played it on the radio, because that's where ya play stuff. And if you'd like to hear 28IF perform the song live, proximity to Rochester, NY this weekend will give you a chance to realize that dream. 28IF are playing a show at Lovin' Cup in Rochester on Saturday February 11th, celebrating the 59th anniversary of the British Invasion. Their music is just, well, their music. We say thee FAB!

STYX: Kiss Your Ass Goodbye

THE WEEKLINGS: I've Just Seen A Face

We've been playing the Weeklings' ace new cover of the Beatles' "I've Just Seen A Face;" SPOILER ALERT: we're playing it again next week, at a deliberately climactic part of the program. Showmanship. We're all about the showmanship. 

Last week, we received a note from Weekling Glen Burtnik--I can never remember if Glen is the Shy One, the Smart One, the Cute One, or the Endowed-With-Powers-And-Abilities-Far-Beyond-Those-Of-Mortal-Men One--acknowledging the airplay on TIRnRR.

We were gonna play "I've Just Seen A Face" again this week anyway, but hearing from Glen also inspired us to dig out Styx's "Kiss Your Ass Goodbye," an incredible, incredible song Glen wrote a few years back. Glen was (briefly) a member of Styx at the time, and he also recorded the song as a solo track. But we knew it from Styx, and we were blown away by how an act that was, frankly, one of my designated bands to hate when I was a young punk and power popper, could be capable of such a flat-out great and explosive number.

Styx absolutely was not and should never be considered a power pop group. But if their version of "Kiss Your Ass Goodbye" isn't power pop, there ain't no such thing as power pop.

MAJOR LANCE: You Don't Want Me No More

Dana's been on a major Major Lance kick lately, and that interest is resulting in some terrific additions to the ol' TIRnRR playlists. I remember Lance's 1964 hit "Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um" from when I was a kid--someone in the family circle had the 45 on Okeh Records--and I eventually knew his previous hit "The Monkey Time," but never did any kind of deeper dive into the Major Lance songbook. Now, Dana's playing different Major Lance gems, and I'm lovin' each and every one of 'em. More, Dana! MORE!!

THE FLASHCUBES: You Really Got Me

The Flashcubes' unreleased live cover of the Kinks' "You Really Got Me" comes from a show at the Jabberwocky in Syracuse in early March of 1978, a little more than a month after my first Flashcubes show. The Flashcubes' prowess as an exciting live rock 'n' roll group and their ability to craft killer original power pop tunes are a large reason why they became my all-time favorite act not named the Beatles or the Ramones. 

And when it comes to executing cover versions of essential ditties written and previously recorded by someone else, the Flashcubes' super powers are also nearly nonpareil. It's evident on this live Kinks cover, and it's equally evident in the superfine series of covers they've done recently as digital singles for the mighty Big Stir Records.  There's more to come in that category. I've heard them, and I do believe you're gonna love them.

TELEVISION: Elevation

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE RAMONES: Sheena Is A Punk Rocker

The record that changed my life. It's not an exaggeration. This radio show, my blog, the book I have coming out the spring--man, none of it happens for me if not for my first spin of "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker" in late '77. Music matters. Musicians matter. A record can change your life. I'll testify to that under oath.

SYD STRAW: CBGB's

I regret that I never once set foot inside CBGB's. I think I walked by the club once, Spring '79, heading to or from a Flashcubes show at Gildersleeve's. That 'Cubes gig is the only NYC club show I ever saw; like Arty Lenin said in the Flashcubes' "Angry Young Man," I'm a million miles away from all the clubs I wanna play.

(Dana says that on his first visit to CBGB's, he was met at the door by a bum stumbling out, who then promptly puked on Dana's shoes. Ah, concert memories....)

Syd Straw made it to CBGB's. And there's a song about it on her 1996 album War And Peace, an album she did with members of the amazing Springfield, Missouri band the Skeletons. This week, we offer that song as a toast to a place I never knew first-hand, but which impacted me in ways beyond measure. In memory of Tom Verlain. In memory of Robert Gordon. In memory of the Ramones, and in recognition of sounds that still play in our heads, inspirations that live on eternally. 

At CBGB's. And everywhere else, too.

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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.