BOPPIN' A TO Z: A Gallery Of Some Pop Culture Stuff I Like

Acting on a whim--a process which is at the heart of Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do)--I've compiled an alphabetical gallery of some stuff I just really, really like. Most of you already know of my abiding affection for Batman, The Monkees, The Ramones, power pop, Suzi Quatro, et al., so I tried to steer clear of subjects I've already written about at length. I'll likely return to some of these in future editions of The Greatest Record Ever Made or The Everlasting First, while others will only get their brief moment in the Boppin' spotlight right here. Let's GO!

All Over The Place by The Bangles



The group's first full-length album is a long-standing fave rave, and it would be a candidate for coverage in Love At First Spin if not for its underwhelming final track, "More Than Meets The Eye."

Buffy The Vampire Slayer 



Although it's now one of my all-time favorite TV series, I never saw a single episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer during its original run. But I was a faithful fan of writer Peter David's run on DC Comics' Supergirl book, which shared a lot of surface similarities with Buffy. I figured it was too late to even try to catch up with the Buffyverse, and let it pass. Many years later, at a particularly difficult time in my life, it became the first TV series I ever binge-watched. There have been a few others since.

"Capital Radio Two" by The Clash



I bought The Clash's Cost Of Living EP to get their cover of The Bobby Fuller Four's "I Fought The Law," but "Capital Radio" (henceforth "Capital Radio Two," to differentiate it from the group's then-rare original version) was the true keeper. Now, this version is the less common one. I didn't hear the earlier take until much later, and it could never duplicate the affection I'd developed for the remake.

"Dizzy" by Tommy Roe



Pure pop. In my college days, when I joined the other guys in my suite for 25-cent pitcher night at a local watering hole, we would stumble back to campus singing this song. Dizzy, indeed.

El Diablo



I don't care to get into why discussing this great '80s DC series can be problematic today, except to note that we need to keep our view of creators separate from our view of their creations. I adored this comic book, and once wrote a letter to The Comics Buyer's Guide defending it against another comics fan who wanted DC to cancel El Diablo in favor of Infinity, Inc. (a book that never really grabbed me). I was polite.

The Flash



Smallville provided the template for modern TV series based on DC Comics characters. A few years later, The CW's Arrow initiated a specific shared universe--the Arrowverse--that led to The Flash, DC's Legends Of Tomorrow, Supergirl, and Black Lightning (though Supergirl is set on a different Earth that nonetheless crosses over with Earth-Arrowverse, and Black Lightning has yet to link to any of the other shows). Arrow has occasionally been up-and-down in quality, but is currently nearing the climax of a strong season. Legends Of Tomorrow hasn't been great, but it's been just good enough to keep me watching. Supergirl can be hit and miss, and Black Lightning's recently-concluded debut season was terrific. The Flash has been my favorite, a show that acknowledges and embraces its funnybook roots and...er, runs with them.

Global by The Cowsills




Not merely the best '90s album that no one heard, The Cowsills' 1990 release Global was one of the greatest albums of the decade...hell, maybe the greatest. We remain humbled and grateful that The Cowsills allowed us to use a track from Global--the magnificent "She Said To Me," my choice for The Cowsills' all-time finest work--on our second This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio compilation CD.

"He'd Be A Diamond" by The Bevis Frond



My This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio co-host Dana Bonn is a big fan of The Bevis Frond, and Dana turned me on to the wonder of this track, a timeless lament of lost love, with lyrics I wish to God I could have written. Credit belongs instead to Nick Saloman:

When the tape runs out, the music keeps playing
And when the walls come down, it's still hard to cross the line
And when his love is gone, he says he still needs you
And he wants to let you know
That if he had his chance again
He'd be a diamond

I, The Jury by Mickey Spillane



Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler were arguably the greatest writers to ever work within the genre of hardboiled detective fiction. They were certainly better writers than Mickey Spillane, a pulp workhorse who loathed the term "author" and cranked out potboiling page-turners with cold-blooded efficiency. But Spillane knew what he was doing, and he for damned sure knew how to tell a story. Spillane's I, The Jury introduced his dark knight Mike Hammer, and it is the single definitive private eye novel, hands down. Hammer's last line in the book (which I won't spoil here) is the absolute epitome of pulp noir.

Jessica Jones



I'm primarily a DC Comics guy, but I also love Marvel Comics, and I've gotta concede that Marvel is kicking DC's ass in creating a compelling cinematic universe. On broadcast television, I've found DC's The Flash more interesting than Marvel's Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. (which I do like, though I'm about a season behind at the moment). Marvel's Agent Carter was cool, and Marvel's Netflix series have occasionally been fantastic. Well, maybe not Iron Fist, and I'm not interested in The Punisher. Daredevil got a bit intense, but its two seasons were compelling as a whole. I liked The Defenders, too. My favorites, without question, have been Luke Cage and Jessica Jones, both of which are as good as this stuff gets.

"Kiss Your Ass Goodbye" by Styx



Lord, I hated Styx. Hated 'em. As a bourgeoning young punk rocker in the late '70s, I regarded Styx as The Enemy, pompous and bloated, anti-punk, anti-pop. I would have grudgingly conceded that Styx's "Lorelei" was a good tune, worthy of The Hollies, but otherwise? Hatred. I once carved "STYX STYNX" on a tabletop in a bar during my misspent young adulthood. BUT! In 2003, a friend and fellow pop fan named Kathryn Francis told me there was a 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" is an incredible track, 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 older stuff, and I hear that many Styx fans disdain "Kiss Your Ass Goodbye," so I guess that dynamic remains in place between us.

Love Ain't Nothing But Sex Misspelled by Harlan Ellison



As a voracious reader and wannabe writer when I was in high school, I worshipped Harlan Ellison. I bought as many of Ellison's books as I could find, beginning with Paingod And Other Delusions and working my way through No Doors, No Windows (which I had Ellison autograph for me at a lecture appearance in '76), The Glass Teat, The Other Glass Teat, Spider Kiss, Memos From Purgatory, I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream, and Love Ain't Nothing But Sex Misspelled. Asked in English class to name my favorite book, the latter was my choice.

"May My Heart Be Cast Into Stone" by The Toys



The only reason this hasn't already been considered for an essay in The Greatest Record Ever Made is that I don't have much to say about it. Except that it's The Greatest Record Ever Made. It's such pimply hyperbole, such an over-the-top girl-group pop gush, that it renders me inarticulate. Each time I hear it, I wanna hear it again.

"Nothing But A Heartache" by The Flirtations



Speaking of over-the-top girl-group pop, this 45 by The Flirtations was just something hangin' around the house when I was an adolescent in the early '70s, and it has never bothered to relinquish its grip on me.

Our Town



Go ahead. Call me a sentimental ol' softie, because you would be correct in that assessment. All I can say is that I watched the 1977 TV adaptation of Thornton Wilder's Our Town, featuring Hal Holbrook, Robby Benson, and the absolutely adorable Glynnis O'Connor, and I bawled like a baby. 'Sokay. I am as God made me.

Pushing Daisies



The facts were these: A uniquely quirky TV series that should have lasted longer. I'm generally not much of a fan of quirk, to tell you the truth, but this show? Its quirk was heartfelt and sincere, its audacity given divine direction with unforgettable results.

"Queen Of Hearts" by Juice Newton



While I am aware of the sheer heresy of preferring Juice Newton's hit country-pop cover of "Queen Of Hearts" to Dave Edmunds' original version, I blame the media. Specifically, I blame radio, 'cause Ms. Newton's record was the best freakin' thing on AM Top 40 in 1981, and I was so grateful for its mere existence.

Ramones Songbook by The Nutley Brass



What may seem on paper a pointless exercise in smug snark--an album of elevator music covers of Ramones classics--transcends expectation and illustrates the durability and adaptability of The Ramones' canon. This is so cool.

Supergirl (Volume 4)



I mentioned writer Peter David's work on the Supergirl comic book contemporary to Buffy The Vampire Slayer. The similarities are coincidental--the works were contemporaneous, and neither could have really influenced the other--but I betcha most Buffy fans aren't even aware of this 1996-2003 comics run, and I further betcha some of 'em might dig it.

That Thing You Do!



The Greatest Movie Ever Made.

Undertones by The Undertones




Pristine, piledrivin' adrenalin. The Irish Ramones!

Veronica Mars



After Buffy The Vampire Slayer introduced me to the joy of binge-watching old TV shows that I'd missed, I moved on to the Buffy spinoff Angel, plus Firefly, The Newsroom, and Dollhouse, though I've still yet to move past the first season of the latter. Friday Night Lights is in the queue, but the show for which I fell the hardest was Veronica Mars. I couldn't get enough of this show, burned through its three seasons in no time, watched the feature film sequel, bought and read the tie-in novels...I was obsessed. I guess it's over now. But we'll always have Neptune.

What's Up, Doc?



No offense intended to Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn, but Peter Bogdonovich's 1972 film What's Up, Doc? is the greatest screwball comedy in the history of screwball comedies. Ryan O'Neal is winningly hapless, Barbra Streisand is wacky but somehow likable throughout her character's careless machinations, Madeline Kahn is a hoot, and everything is perfect. And funny. Like, laugh-out-loud, capering, giggling, funny. I've seen this, oh, a million times, and even read the paperback novelization to tatters when I was in middle school. In 1972, before the home video revolution, that paperback was the only way to keep re-living the film experience, and I wanted to keep living the sheer, giddy joy of What's Up, Doc?

XXI by Dwight Twilley



Is it cheating to use the Roman numeral for 21 as my X entry? I could've put Blondie's "X-Offender" in this spot, or X-Men (the comic book or the first two movies), Xaviera Meets Marilyn Chambers, or even X-Ray, the "unauthorized autobiography" by Ray Davies of The Kinks. But y'know, I really don't give enough attention to Dwight Twilley, who is certainly one of the key figures in power pop, and this anthology is a great introduction to some of his irresistible work, from "I'm On Fire" and other gems from his days fronting The Dwight Twilley Band through solo material like "Girls" and his proposed title theme for That Thing You Do!

"You Movin'" by The Byrds



When we think of the music of The Byrds, I'd say we're picturing earnest folk-rockers chimin' and singin' with an aura of cool detachment. "You Movin'" is an anomaly, an early Byrds track that revels in the goofy abandon of falling in love with a girl movin' on the dance floor, the sound of young men who'd just seen A Hard Day's Night and suddenly wanted to go paradin' like The Beatles.

Zorro by Isabel Allende



I've long been a fan of superhero prose novels, from the original pulp adventures of The Shadow and Doc Savage through Tom DeHaven's It's Superman! I'll be taking an extended look at Zorro in an upcoming edition of The Everlasting First, and today's A-Z gallery concludes with this magnificent novel from 2005.

TIP THE BLOGGER: CC's Tip Jar!

You can support this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon: Fund me, baby! 

Our new compilation CD This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4 is now available from Kool Kat Musik! 29 tracks of irresistible rockin' pop, starring Pop Co-Op, Ray Paul, Circe Link & Christian Nesmith, Vegas With Randolph Featuring Lannie Flowers, The Slapbacks, P. Hux, Irene Peña, Michael Oliver & the Sacred Band Featuring Dave Merritt, The Rubinoos, Stepford Knives, The Grip Weeds, Popdudes, Ronnie Dark, The Flashcubes,Chris von Sneidern, The Bottle Kids, 1.4.5., The Smithereens, Paul Collins' Beat, The Hit Squad, The Rulers, The Legal Matters, Maura & the Bright Lights, Lisa Mychols, and Mr. Encrypto & the Cyphers. You gotta have it, so order it here. 

UNFINISHED AND ABANDONED: The Notebook Notions, Part 2: Talk About Pop Musicals

Unfinished And Abandoned digs deeeeep into my unpublished archives, and exhumes projects that I started (sometimes barely started) but abandoned, unfinished. I am such a quitter.


When I was a fledgling teen-aged writer, I filled notebook after notebook with vague notions of things I might like to write some day.  The Notebook Notions is a series of backwards glances at those early glimmers of almost-ideas.  In Part 1, I looked back at Catch Us If You Can, a feature film I envisioned as a starring vehicle for The Bay City Rollers.  While we're on the subject of rock 'n' roll movies, let's look at the other pop musicals languishing among my Notebook Notions.
                                             


Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart in They Ain't The Beatles, But....

You know what?  This one doesn't even qualify as a raw notion.  I loved The Monkees (as evidenced by, oh, just about anywhere you look on this blog), so I was intrigued by any prospect of them returning to the limelight.  In 1976, it was welcome news when I heard that ex-Monkees Micky Dolenz and Davy Jones had joined former Monkees songwriters Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart as Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart (subtitled "The Guys Who Wrote 'Em And The Guys Who Sang 'Em").  I didn't actually buy their eponymous album until many years later, but I, y'know...cheered 'em on from the sidelines, I guess.  I read somewhere that DJB&H wanted to maybe do another TV series, so I got as far as conceptualizing the notably dumb title cited above. They Ain't The Beatles, But...!  Yep, that's inspiring.  It would have been The Monkees with Tommy & Bobby standing in for Michael & Peter, and also similar to the roughly-contemporary Saturday morning show The Kids From C.A.P.E.R.  Always aim high! The fact that I find this recollection more amusing than embarrassing should say something about my ongoing relative lack of shame.
--


Bo Derek in Let's Go Out Tonight!

I doubt I'm alone in saying that I only liked actress Bo Derek when she was naked.  On screen, she was a vapid presence:  attractive, but empty, a pretty face with a pretty body but no discernible acting chops, no force of personality, not even any sense of earthiness or eroticism.  Even unclothed, she was an empty suit.  But she looked good; she looked good in Playboy, she looked good in the overrated, creepy film 10, and her nude assets were the only good-looking aspect of the horrible Tarzan Of The Apes remake in 1981. Pretty?  Yes.  Pretty vacant?  Also yes.

So why did I envision a fully-clothed Ms. Derek as the star of Let's Go Out Tonight!, my PG-rated rock 'n' roll comedy (with no nude scenes)?  Well, in 1980, Bo Derek was hot, and I mean that in the sense of popular-hot:  a potentially bankable box-office draw. So, when fantasizing about writing a bubbly indie-rock flick, why not imagine a hot star as its star?  I don't remember whether or not I'd yet seen 10 when I came up with the notion of Let's Go Out Tonight!--probably not--but I'm sure I figured Derek must have had some thespian skill.  The role wasn't going to quite rise to the level of Ibsen anyway; all it would require was a pretty actress who could speak, who could deliver lines, and who could be funny and likable. And yeah, it probably would have been beyond Bo Derek's reach.

I was dying for there to be more rock films the way I wanted rock films to be.  I wasn't looking for concert films or documentaries; I wanted flicks like A Hard Day's Night, Help!, like The Ramones in Rock 'n' Roll High School, and like The Monkees on TV or in Head.  I was bummed when The Sex Pistols broke up before completing Who Killed Bambi?, and The Runaways split before even starting We're All Crazy Now! There was a then-recent film called Times Square, a Robert Stigwood production that was supposed to do for punk/new wave what Stigwood's Saturday Night Fever did for dat ole debbil disco, but I never saw it, and I heard that it was devoid of spark or joy anyway.

Unlike previous celluloid pop-star vehicles for The Beatles, Herman's Hermits, The Monkees, The Dave Clark Five, and The Ramones, Let's Go Out Tonight! would draw inspiration from the very first great rock 'n' roll movie, the 1956 classic The Girl Can't Help It.  I probably hadn't seen that film yet, but I knew its reputation, and its basic template of a frothy pop storyline--a romantic comedy--interspersed with performances by actual rockin' pop recording acts.  It was the same bare-bones structure followed by many a low-budget teen jukebox flick thereafter, but I wanted Let's Go Out Tonight! to be good, like The Girl Can't Help It, and authentic and engaging in ways that Ski Party and Get Yourself A College Girl could never be.

That's what I wanted, anyway; I didn't have the talent, or the experience, or the know-how, or the discipline, or the connections, or the backing, or the money, or anything at all that could make it happen, but that's what I wanted.

But I did have the film's opening scene sorta-kinda blocked out in my head:  the sun has gone down in the Syracuse suburbs.  Inside a lovely split-level home, voices are raised: If you think you're going out dressed like that, young lady, you've got another think coming! Objects fly.  A vase shatters against a wall. A cheery-seeming teen-aged girl listens politely as her mom and dad vent their anger and frustration with their impossible daughter. You're grounded, do you hear?  GROUNDED!!  The girl replies with a pleasant Okey-dokey!, then kisses each of her parents on the cheek.  'Night, Mom! 'Night, Daddy!  She goes upstairs to her room, closes the door, and--without pausing--crawls straight out her window, shimmies from the roof of the house down to the next door neighbor's yard.  She passes her neighbors, an elderly couple named The Shapiros, who seem undisturbed by her seemingly unorthodox arrival in their yard.  Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Shapiro!  Lovely evening, isn't it?  The Shapiros smile and say, Good evening, Tina.  Any big plans tonight?  Tina shrugs, Nah, just the usual.  The Shapiros' Mazel tov! is implied, if not spoken.  Tina reaches the street and jumps into a crowded '69 Impala, already stuffed with a mixed-gender half-dozen of Tina's pals.  Whaddaya wanna do tonight, Tina?  And a close-up of Tina as she says, Let's go out!

And cut to The Most, a Syracuse rock 'n' roll band of that era, live in a nightclub, singing the movie's title song:  Come on all you little girls and boys, let's all go out tonight!  The opening credits roll, and we're on our way.




Since that was as far as I ever got with this notion (and far more than I've ever previously committed to the written word), I have no idea what part I wanted Bo Derek to play.  She seemed too old for the role of Tina, and I doubt I saw her as Tina's mother. Maybe a club owner, or a band manager?  Ah, who cares?  She would have been pretty, the storyline would've been breezy and fun, and we'd get to see cameos by The Most, The Flashcubes, The Ramones, David Johansen, Josie Cotton, The Records, The Beat, The Heartbreakers, and--why the hell not?--The Monkees, playing their hits as Tina finds the boy of her dreams and her parents loosen up a bit.

Looking back now, Let's Go Out Tonight! almost seems like a precursor to both Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Valley Girl, crossed with Rock 'n' Roll High School and, God help me, a less stodgy version of Grease.  It's not a movie I could have ever actually written, but it's for damned sure a movie I wish I could see right now!
--




Jump Boys:  A Pop Musical In Times Of Trouble

Another raw not-quite-notion.  I loved the Irish rock 'n' roll band The Undertones, particularly their eponymous debut album.  That album included the classics "Teenage Kicks" and "Get Over You," but I gravitated especially to an album track called "Jump Boys." I listened to that album and that song over and over, and I imagined The Undertones in a movie set in Northern Ireland, detailing a star-crossed romance between a Catholic boy and a Protestant girl. The issue of difficulties caused by religious differences resonated with me, since I had recently embarked upon an interfaith romance myself (though, I hasten to add, a romance without any of the potentially violent peril of Catholics and Protestants mingling in the time and place of The Troubles).  I think I lack the intellectual depth to do the subject justice, and that I would have oversimplified things to a near criminal degree.
--
And that was the full extent of ideas for pop musicals in my Notebook Notions. Many, many years later, I did have two other projects I kicked around as prose works that could be adapted into film.  One of these, Meet The Frantiks, got as far as a hand-written introductory chapter; another, Bright Lights, is something I've started, abandoned, and come back to several times.  These are subjects for another day.

WHEN NOTEBOOK NOTIONS RETURNS:  If The '70s Were The '40s!  Movies, movie serials, comic books, and radio shows, with The Marx Brothers, Captain Marvel, The Lone Ranger, The Justice Society of America, and Charlie Chaplin.