10 SONGS: 3/22/2025

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 # 1277

THE RAMONES: What's Your Game

I love the Ramones. My first book was about the Ramones, I co-host a radio show that takes its title from a line in a Ramones song, and I regard "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker" as the record that changed my life. I'm a fan, and I'm proud to be a fan. My three favorite bands are always going to be the Beatles, the Ramones, and the Flashcubes. Ain't gonna change at this age.

For all that, there are still some Ramones tracks that have yet to be played on TIRnRR. But I was a little surprised to discover we'd never played "What's Your Game" before. It's from their second album, 1977's incredible Leave Home, and I just figured we must have played everything from the first four Ramones albums by now. Better late than never! It's all in the game.

SORROWS: Somethin' Else

THE ARTWOODS: Day Tripper

Given that Sorrows guitarist Arthur Alexander has expressed his affection for the  music of mid '60s rockin' Mods the Artwoods, our recent playlists have taken to playing the two acts in close proximity. We're breaking that trend on our next show--my fault!--but I betcha we'll get back to it in short order.

Meanwhile, both of these fine acts are represented this week by covers. The Artwoods' BBC radio performance of the Beatles' "Day Tripper" is influenced less by Her Majesty's Fab Ramones and more by Otis Redding's own soulful version. It jumps, it swaggers, and it doesn't take the easy way out as it tries to please us. Got a good reason!

Sorrows' righteously boppin' run-through of Eddie Cochran's "Somethin' Else" comes to us from their current record Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow, an archival release that rescues an irresistible previously-unreleased Sorrows album from more'n four decades ago, and serves now as Sorrows' farewell work. The Artwoods are taking next week off, but we will hear another track from Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow.

In our Ramones entry up above, I mentioned that Syracuse's own power pop powerhouse the Flashcubes mingle all celestial-like with the Beatles and Ramones as the Trinity in my rock 'n' roll cosmology. I think my first exposure to Cochran's power pop prototype "Somethin' Else" was provided by the Flashcubes, who used to include the song in their live sets circa 1979; pretty sure I heard the 'Cubes play it before I heard the Sex Pistols' cover, and a couple of years before I heard Cochran's original. So, nice connection here between the Flashcubes and Sorrows.

(Connections between the Flashcubes and Sorrows.... Do we want to get into spoilers? Most of you already know about a forthcoming project we've been teasing for a bit. More details yet to come. A connection between the Flashcubes and Sorrows? On the radio, pop music is their religion....)

LIBRARIANS WITH HICKEYS: Ship To Shore

This little mutant radio show is wholeheartedly and enthusiastically in favor of Librarians With Hickeys. That's the band Librarians With Hickeys, though I guess we're not opposed to nibbling playfully on Marian the Librarian's neck if she were open to the notion. There were bells on a hill, but we never heard them ringing....

Where were we? Ah, right...pop music. Librarians With Hickeys' current album How To Make Friends By Telephone is a ripe 'n' ready resource for rockin' pop radio picks, and we move now to the latest single "Ship To Shore." Hailing frequencies open, and message received. 

(We've also just heard a great new, currently unreleased track from Librarians With Hickeys. Do we want to get into spoilers? Maybe not yet. In saying even that much, I hope we haven't gone too far.)

THE SPONGETONES: Words And Music

No spoiler here: We've been playing the SpongeTones' cover of the Flashcubes' "Nothing Really Matters When You're Young," loving it, and we'll for damned sure be playing it again (and again) in the future. As other tracks from this various-artists project shift from secret to spoiler to HERE IT IS!!, the SpongeTones' "Nothing Really Matters When You're Young" has already secured a guaranteed berth on the year-end Countdown show of our most-played tracks in 2025. And we're not even done with March yet!

This week, we wanted to reach back for a spin of one of the 'Tones' own tunes: "Words And Music," from their 1991 album Oh Yeah! Oh Yeah! was my first SpongeTones album; I was smitten, I caught up with its predecessors in the SpongeTones library PDQ, and I've been on board ever since. Words AND music. I'm sold!

P. HUX: Better Than Good

As referenced at the tippy-top of today's rant, my first book was 2023's Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones, coming soon to a remainder table near you. My second book was 2024's The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), dedicated to the notion that an infinite number of tracks can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns.

If/when I do a GREM! Volume 2 book, that volume will include a celebration of "Double Our Numbers," a sublime song from Parthenon Huxley's 1988 album Sunny Nights.  You can read that GREM! chapter here.

Speaking of books, Mr. Huxley has his own new tome. Parthenon's memoir Electric Light Odyssey is subtitled "My Zigzag Life And The Iconic Band That Changed Everything," and it chronicles his personal and professional history, including his dbas under his own name and fronting his combo P. Hux, and his tenure with the Orchestra, the current incarnation representing the legacy of the Electric Light Orchestra. A book by Parthenon Huixley covering all of that? To paraphrase Lenny Haise, the great philosopher who used to play guitar in Erie, PA's phenomenal pop combo the Wonders: I bought it, you're buyin' it, we're ALL buyin' it. Do so here.

Some years back, Parthenon allowed us the use of his P. Hux track "Better Than Good" on our compilation album This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4. Thanks again, Parthenon! It seemed high time for a repeat spin, and that is indeed the better-than-good option we chose this week. Better and better!

(Do we want to get into spoilers? That would be premature in this case anyway. I guess we will have to wait another night.)

BADFINGER: Day After Day

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

SUPER 8 FEATURING LISA MYCHOLS: Pop Radio

The assembled forces of Super 8 Featuring Lisa Mychols have crafted this lovely statement of intent "Pop Radio," a delicious ditty which serves as manifesto for TIRnRR in all our imaginary glory. We've been playing "Pop Radio" a lot, and we have an even newer track from Super 8 Featuring Lisa Mychols set to open our next show.

(As for the identity of this new new Super 8/Lisa Mychols track: Do we want to get into spoilers? We DO! And this will be revealed at the top of this coming Sunday night's show, when we close our eyes.)

THE FLASHCUBES: Reminisce

Do we want to get into spoilers? Even if we don't wanna do that, this isn't a spoiler at all. The Flashcubes' absolutely ace new number "Reminisce" will be one of three new Flashcubes tracks appearing alongside 21 other artists covering various Flashcubes originals on Make Something Happen! A Tribute To A DIY Power Pop Band Called THE FLASHCUBES. The album is due from our friends at Big Stir Records in September, and "Reminisce" will be the opening track. "Reminisce" will lead into sparkle*jets u.k.'s cover of "Make Something Happen," which will flow into...

...Heh. No more spoilers for now. Stay tuned. Things are about to get brilliantly Cubic around here.

WONDERBOY: Girl Songs

Listen: They're ALL girl songs, man. Our boy Robbie Rist understands. Oh! One spoilery question for Robbie: Is one of the girls named Sybil? Something about a girl with more than one personality...?

And with that, 10 Songs takes five.

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar. 

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. Recent shows are archived at Westcott Radio. You can read about our history here.

10 SONGS: 1/15/2025

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 # 1268

THE NON-PROPHETS: Alibi

We're as punched as pleased to welcome the Non-Prophets back to the TIRnRR playlist. The Non-Prophets are the dba of our bud Allan Kaplon, who scored some significant airplay here with his solo album Notes On A Napkin. Our Allan returns to the collective Non-Prophets billing for "Alibi." For this track, the Non-Prophets also include Stacy Carson and Bruce Gordon (half of TIRnRR Fave Raves Pop Co-Op), it's produced by Don Dixon, and it's a match made in Heaven's boppin' li'l nightspot. "Alibi" opens this week's show, and it will be back next week. We believe this particular "Alibi."

THE OSMONDS: Crazy Horses

WONDERBOY: Down By The Lazy River

The passing of Wayne Osmond prompted us to program a few tracks by the Osmonds. I wasn't much of an Osmonds fan during my prime AM Top 40 era in the early- to mid-'70s, but I later came to appreciate some of the group's harder rock efforts.

It's no joke to combine "the Osmonds" and "harder rock efforts" in the same sentence. The title tune from the group's 1972 Crazy Horses proved that Led Zeppelin had nothing on them Osmonds. We've played "Crazy Horses" before, and we've played similarly head-bangin' Osmonds nuggets like "Yo Yo" and "Hold Her Tight." This week, it felt imperative to bang the noggin once again to the sturm und drang of "Crazy Horses," as This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio remembers Wayne Osmond.

(The Osmonds also opened our second set this week, with a spin of "One Way Ticket To Anywhere" from their 1973--ahem--CONCEPT ALBUM The Plan. We circled back to the Osmonds in the show's last hour, when we finally got around to one of their biggest hits, the superswell bubblesoul classic "One Bad Apple [Don't Spoil The Whole Bunch]." Oddly enough, of our three Osmonds selections this week, "One Bad Apple"--the best-known of that whole bunch, girl--is the only one we had never played before.)

One Osmonds hit that I did enjoy contemporary to its chart life was 1971's "Down By The Lazy River." I was eleven years old, and it may have been the first instance of me realizing that I liked a song or group that wasn't considered cool, but I didn't care--I liked it anyway. There's your blueprint for my life, right there, the precursor of when I was in college a few years later, with a Bay City Rollers poster tacked on my dorm room wall as a conscious act of defiance (and of many decades proudly sneering in the face of any sucker who tried to tell me I couldn't love the Monkees). Get thee behind me, hipsters!

"Down By The Lazy River" is represented on the playlist by a faithful, rollickin' cover performed by TIRnRR superstars Wonderboy. Wonderboy's ace rendition appeared on the fantastic 2002 various-artists set Right To Chews: Bubblegum Classic Revisited, and it's also available as a digital single.

THE COOLIES: Pathetica

THE FLASHCUBES: Pathetic

As experienced rockin' pop radio programmers, Dana and I know better than to shy away from a good segue, no matter how obvious the segue is. Sometimes the obvious choice is the unerringly proper choice. We pursued that notion in this week's show with a four-play of tambourine-related ditties by the Tambourine People, Johnny Johnson and the Bandwagon, the Lemon Pipers, and ABBA, and again a bit later in the playlist, as Dana's selection of Amy Rigby's coiffure-related cut "Bangs" compelled me to follow with the Cowsills' follicly-focused gem "Hair." We are SO damned clever.

By the same literal-minded token, it seemed imperative to tailgate the paradoxically righteous self-doubt of the Coolies' "Pathetica" with the Flashcubes' disdainful dismissal "Pathetic." The former was written by the late, great Kim Shattuck, and is native to the Coolies' certified great EP Uh-Oh! It's...The Coolies, the latter penned by 'Cubes guitarist Paul Armstrong and featured on the Flashcubes' 2003 album Brilliant. Opposing POVs, but they go great together.

(Speaking of the Flashcubes' "Pathetic:" A persistent rumor--if not quite the Rumour--suggests we can look forward to a newly-recorded cover of "Pathetic," courtesy of a British singer, songwriter, and performer of some note. We must note that rumour...er, rumor is not yet confirmed.) 

ELVIS PRESLEY: Heartbreak Hotel

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE SPONGETONES: Nothing Really Matters When You're Young

As debuted on last week's show: The SpongeTones cover the Flashcubes. This track is not yet available to the general public. The same can be said of as-yet-unreleased Flashcubes covers by sparkle*jets u.k., the Kennedys, and Pop Co-Op, each of which we've already played here, and forthcoming dives into the Cubic songbook courtesy of such fabulous acts as...well, that would be telling. For now: [REDACTED]. But perhaps not redacted for very much longer. At some point, you've just gotta make something happen.

THE ON AND ONS: Been There

The On and Ons' new album Come On In is officially released this Friday, January 17th. Hey, Happy Birthday to ME!! I celebrate with pop music. And pop music from the On and Ons is for damned sure worth celebrating. Nonetheless: Get off my lawn, you kids. 

20/20: King Of The Whole Wide World

20/20's new album Back To California is officially released this Friday, January 17th. Hey, another Happy Birthday to me! I am indeed worth it. The celebration continues. Hell, I guess the kids can stay on my lawn if they really want to.

THE RAMONES: I Don't Want To Grow Up

As I near the completion of my 65th solar orbit, my thoughts on the strange concept of Growing up...?! remain resolute and unchanged:

Don't want to. 

Won't need to. 

Ain't gonna.

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar. 

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. Recent shows are archived at Westcott Radio. You can read about our history 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. Recent shows are archived at Westcott Radio. You can read about our history here.

10 SONGS: 1/11/2025

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 # 1267

EYTAN MIRSKY: This Year's Gonna Be Our Year

THE ZOMBIES: This Will Be Our Year

THE SMITHEREENS: Face The World With Pride

TIRnRR kicked off the new year with a hopeful spin of Brother Eytan Mirsky's "This Year's Gonna Be Our Year," followed by its benevolent forebear "This Will Be Our Year" by the Zombies. "Hopeful?" Maybe naive or even delusional would be closer to reality, but we're not quite ready to surrender just yet.

And so we followed that opening salvo with the Smithereens' "Face The World With Pride." I'll be returning to the subject of this fantastic track in the very near future. For now, we offer it alongside Eytan and Zombies alike: As manifesto, as line in the sand, as statement of stubborn, defiant intent. Hell, throw in a little Twisted Sister and O'Jays for good measure. Face front, true believers. With pride on our side, let's keep on kickin'.

SUGAR PIE DeSANTO: Soulful Dress

The ongoing reality of time elapsing and shadows growing longer brings a never-ending supply of goodbyes. Soul singer Sugar Pie DeSanto passed in December, and while she never became the household name she deserved to be, her music has been an occasional fixture of this little mutant radio show. I've gotta admit that, if not for Dana, I wouldn't be at all familiar with Sugar Pie DeSanto, but when he's played her, I've listened and enjoyed. I need to do a deep, deep dive into the DeSanto oeuvre, so I deferred to Dana as he made the essential Sugar Pie selections for our miniature tribute. 

"Soulful Dress" was the first track we played after the three-song opening HOPE?! barrage detailed above, and we circled back later in the show for DeSanto's "Witch For A Night" and "In The Basement (Part 1)," the latter side a collaboration with Etta James. Our encore spot presented two additional slices of Sugar Pie, "It Won't Be Long" and "Mr And Mrs." Sugar Pie DeSanto was a giant talent; more folks need to hear her stuff, just so they can fall in love with it like I fell in love with it.

THE SPONGETONES: Nothing Really Matters When You're Young

As we stumble forth into the potential morass of 2025, we do look forward to the September release of [REDACTED]. What, exactly, is [REDACTED]? If we could tell you, it wouldn't be [REDACTED]. It won't be [REDACTED] for much longer.

In the meantime....

"Nothing Really Matters When You're Young" is a song by Arty Lenin, guitarist and founding member of Syracuse's own power pop powerhouse the Flashcubes. It was first performed by the Flashcubes in 1979, demoed by the 'Cubes, subsequently recorded and released by Flashcubes offshoot Screen Test, and eventually redone in this brightly-lit new century for the Flashcubes' 2003 album Brilliant. The song's lyrics are among the most effective expressions of teen alienation I've ever heard, a clique-inflicted miasma buoyed and ameliorated by the transcendence of its pop. Even now, listening to it with senior-citizen ears more years removed from high school than Beatlemania was removed from America's entry into World War I, "Nothing Really Matters When You're Young" can still make me feel the snub and the sting of my time serving that sentence in teen purgatory. Yet I love the song. That's the power of art, the power of music.

Power Pop Hall of Famers the SpongeTones have recorded an as-yet-unreleased cover of "Nothing Really Matters When You're Young," and their new rendition lives up to its incredible Cubic legacy. I'm stunned, I'm grateful, and I'm thrilled that Dana and I have the opportunity to play this on the radio. We'll play it again this Sunday night, and we look forward to the day you'll be able to add this great track to your rockin' pop library.

When, where, and how will you be able to snag your own copy of the SpongeTones' "Nothing Really Matters When You're Young?"

Well. That's [REDACTED].

THE ISLEY BROTHERS: Shout (Part One)

Our passions help (or try to help) sustain us in troubled times. Our hobbies and interests can provide the distraction or involvement we need to function when we might feel tempted to just shut down. Music, movies, books, gaming, competitive napping, writin' a blog, et al. fall within the broad category of things that ease our efforts to get through the all-of-this of all of this. In the words of a former Beatle: Whatever gets you through the night. 

For me, my night- and day-clearing activities include listening to music, reading comic books and pulp fiction, watching TV, and following a few sports teams. One of those sports teams is the Buffalo Bills.

The Bills have had a pretty good season so far. As the playoffs commence, they have at least an outside shot at getting to the Super Bowl, which means they have a shot at winning the Super Bowl. 

That would be cool. It won't take away any of the tsuris and misery of the real world, it won't heal the sick, feed the hungry, or end the wars. A victory for Buffalo won't extinguish flames in California, nor prevent the national tragedy that will occur on January 20th. In schemes that are grand, the meaning of a sports competition will be small.

But it's something to cheer for. Those inconsequential somethings, however ephemeral, do have meaning in the moment. We take the win or endure the loss, and try to fight on through another day.

When the Buffalo Bills score a touchdown, fans sing along to a variation of the Isley Brothers' R & B touchstone "Shout," reworded The Bills make me wanna SHOUT! We can use some shoutin'. Primal scream! Big, BIG primal scream. Catharsis and comfort serve a purpose. Let's go, Buffalo. Survive and advance. Just like the rest of us.

(NOTE: If you're a Denver fan, it's okay; we can still be friends, win or lose. Cheers.)

20/20: Laurel Canyon

One guaranteed good thing about 2025 is the release of a new album by 20/20. 20/20 is one of power pop's defining acts, and their new stuff is just as compelling as the acknowledged classics they did so many decades ago. We've already played a couple of advance tracks from the group's forthcoming new album Back To California, and we'll have yet another one spinning on our very next show Sunday night. In between, we offer this debut TIRnRR airing of "Laurel Canyon," which is my early choice for the album's top track. 

AMERICA: Sister Golden Hair

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

WONDERBOY: Happy? That's Me!

The lads of Wonderboy react to the news that their splendid Hero Isle album cut "Girl Songs" was TIRnRR's # 1 most-played track in 2024: Happy? That's ME! We're ALL happy, lads. Or at least we're trying to be.

THE RAMONES: Blitzkrieg Bop

Happy or not: 1-2-3-4! This malevolent new year for damned sure won't cruise to higher ground if we don't provide a little course correction. Armed with pride, eyes on redemption, this year will be our year, or we will fall fighting back. Hey-ho. Let's go, goddammit. Let's go.

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar. 

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. Recent shows are archived at Westcott Radio. You can read about our history 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. Recent shows are archived at Westcott Radio. You can read about our history here.

10 SONGS: 1/4/2025--THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO's Most-Played Tracks In 2024

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.

Kidd Video did not make our countdown. But their bass player did.

This week's edition of 10 Songs draws exclusively from the playlist for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1266: The Countdown Show. These are TIRnRR's ten most-played tracks in 2024, and the individual entries are reprised from previous 10 Songs features.

10. THE GRIP WEEDS: Lady Friend

The Grip Weeds' 2022 covers album DiG offers the enduring reward of New Jersey's Phenomenal Pop Combo taking on a splendid array of classics and obscurities alike. The standard single-disc version of DiG finds the Grip Weeds mining nuggets previously, um...dug by Paul Revere and the Raiders, the Zombies, the Velvet Underground, the Knickerbockers, the Rolling Stones, and more; the double-disc edition adds (among others) the Monkees, the Beatles, the Turtles, and Frosty's "Organ Grinder's Monkey." There's even a three-disc version, so, y'know, buy that. Whatever it takes: Get a GRIP!

TIRnRR's top DiG has been this sublime cover of the Byrds' "Lady Friend." It was # 6 on our 2022 Countdown, # 9 in 2023, and it hangs in at # 10 for 2024. Here it comes again. 

9. THE GRIP WEEDS: Strange Bird

Hey, a chance to hear a TIRnRR classic again for the first time! The Grip Weeds' original version of "Strange Bird" was the B-side of a single released in Germany, later re-recorded for the group's album The Sound Is In You. The Grip Weeds also gave us an exclusive remix/retweak of the original single for our 2017 compilation This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4 (a tale told here, and you can still get that CD here and its download edition here). 

And now, the Grip Weeds have recorded brand-new versions of both "Strange Bird" and its original A-side "She Brings The Rain," offered in a teaser EP in advance of their forthcoming album. We're told the tracks will not be on the album, so grab 'em now. Strange birds of the world, UNITE!

8. LEATHER CATSUIT: Can't Get You Off My Mind

Leather Catsuit's "Can't Get You Off My Mind" comes equipped with a title that mirrors my opinion of the track: I can't get it off my mind. I don't wanna get it off my mind. It's pop music! I wanna hear it again and again. 

7. SLYBOOTS: Blindsided

Ace NYC combo Slyboots made their TIRnRR debut in May, with a spin of their recent cover of Meat Puppets' "Oh, Me." All well 'n' groovy. Now, we dig a little bit deeper for a way swell Slyboots original called "Blindsided." "Blindsided" was released last summer, but you know the drill: 

Any record you ain't heard is a new record.

And, new or old, we're delighted to hear this record. We'll hear it again.

(Worth noting: Slyboots' subsequent single "If We Could Let Go" made it to # 15 on our countdown, and it is my favorite new track of 2024.)

6. JUNIPER: Baby Doll

Our worlds collide. In a good way! From her absolutely wonderful 2023 album She Steals Candy, teen sensation and TIRnRR Fave Rave Juniper covers another TIRnRR Fave Rave, Amy Rigby. And Juniper does a mighty fine job of it, too, fortifying the world-weary shrug of Amy's original with a post-adolescent patina of quiet, simmering pissed-offedness. Both versions are equally mature, and in either case the listener really, really wants to track down the clueless would-be Lothario and swat him with extreme prejudice.

Would serve him right. Bastard!

5. CARLA OLSON AND TALL POPPY SYNDROME: Is It True

As pop fans, when we listen to multiple versions of the same song, we often develop an allegiance to the version that hooked us first. So even the combined forces of Carla Olson and Tall Poppy Syndrome may face long odds in trying to pry my devotion away from Brenda Lee with their new cover of our Brenda's 1964 single "Is It True."

"Is It True" is far and away my favorite Brenda Lee track. It wasn't a hit in America, and I didn't hear it until Rhino Records included "Is It True" in the fabulous 2005 various-artists boxed set One Kiss Can Lead To Another: Girl Group Sounds Lost And Found. This amazing 4-CD compilation is like the Nuggets of the '60s girl-group sound, and Brenda Lee's "Is It True" is one of its absolute highlights. I adored the song immediately, and have never stopped loving it.

So my gosh, Carla and her Tall Poppy comrades deserve mega accolades for holding their own here. It's not just that their "Is It True" is accomplished and well-performed--I would have expected nothing less from that level of talent--it's that the elusive mojo is there. You believe them. I believe them. I'm not prepared to relinquish my torch for Brenda Lee's original, but I'm very happy to say that I now have two go-to versions of "Is It True." Is it true? Yep. I'll testify to that under oath. 

4. ELENA ROGERS: I Feel Alive

This is so good. Elena Rogers first entered TIRnRR's sovereign air space on a recommendation from pop giant Jamie Hoover. Jamie's been working with the young singer for a few years, he's clearly (and understandably) knocked out by her talent and musical prowess, and he would kindly like the world at large to wake the hell up and get hip to Elena Rogers awready. 

Elena's 2024 single "I Feel Alive" is her best track yet, ambitious and audacious in its approach while remaining absolutely, unerringly pop. During Jamie's 2023 appearance on the way-swell Only Three Lads podcast, our esteemed Mr. Hoover promised a new Elena Rogers album in '24. That album was Prelude To Whatever, and its first advance single "I Feel Alive" ratcheted up the anticipation.

Can you feel it? 

In a recent email to some musicians, I made a passing reference to Elena Rogers as "insanely talented." That is, if anything, selling her short.

3. THE CYNZ: Woman Child

This little mutant radio show has demonstrated its pervasive and prevailing interest in the music of the Cynz. We love 'em. We play 'em. We're fans.

Given the above truths, I think it means even more when I say the current Cynz single "Woman Child" just might be the best thing they've done yet. "Woman Child" offers further empirical evidence of their essential asskickin' capability. Bless us, Lord. We have CYNZ!

2. PAUL COLLINS: I'm The Only One For You

One of the new albums I was most looking forward to hearing this year was Stand Back And Take A Good Look, courtesy of power pop king Paul Collins and the intrepid Jem Records label. I've been a Paul Collins fan since I was in college in the late '70s, listening to his work with the Nerves, the Breakaways, and his own subsequent combo the Beat, aka the Paul Collins Beat. The Beat's 1979 debut LP is an acknowledged classic of power pop, and Paul's "Walking Out On Love" was among the tracks celebrated in my 2024 book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). Power pop fan? That's MY beat!

Based on a spin of the album's first single "I'm The Only One For You" (recorded alongside another power pop great, the late Dwight Twilley), it was immediately clear that this record was gonna kick what needed kickin'. Can't stop the beat, man. Can't stop the beat.

1. WONDERBOY: Girl Songs

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

I can't even tell you how much I love "Girl Songs" by Wonderboy. Recorded in the '90s, finally released just a few years back, this exuberant embrace of the transcendent act of swooning over chicks is like the TIRnRR mindset in microcosm. It was unchallenged as our # 1 most-played track in 2024. To paraphrase country singer Beyoncé: Who run the world? GIRL SONGS!

BONUS TRACK!!

11. THE FLASHCUBES: Make Something Happen

Before we go, we wanna say a few words about our # 11 most-played track in 2024: "Make Something Happen" by Syracuse's own power pop powerhouse the Flashcubes.  Let's start with these few words about an already-announced project, then circle back for a few more words about an as-yet-unannounced project

"Make something happen?" Okeydokey! I'm in the very early stages of writing a new book about Power Pop Hall of Famers the Flashcubes. The book's working (and probable official) title is Make Something Happen! The DIY Story Of A Power Pop Band Called THE FLASHCUBES, and the project was initiated by the Flashcubes themselves. Well, I'M in! 

And when I say "early stages," I mean it, man. I've had a couple of planning meetings with members of the 'Cubes, and I've begun trying to find and learn appropriate tech to record and transcribe interviews. My next task is to write a one-sheet on the book's behalf, and then to start talking to the Flashcubes and their entourage. It's all very exciting, and we hope to bring the book to retail by the Summer of 2025. From the book's first public announcement:

"This will be an oral history of the band, with personal stories related by the 'Cubes themselves--Tommy Allen, Paul Armstrong, Gary Frenay, and Arty Lenin--discussing their roots as rockin' pop fans in the '60s and '70s, their formation in the punk rock crucible of 1977, their frenzied live shows with the Ramones, the Runaways, the Police, the Jam, David Johansen, Joe Jackson, the Scruffs, the Romantics, Artful Dodger, 999, and more, their irresistible original songs, their indie 45s, their demo tapes, their breakup at the end of the '70s, and the subsequent recognition that the Flashcubes were a legit power pop legend. This growing awareness and celebration reunited the Flashcubes in the '90s, culminating in their award-winning 2023 album Pop Masters.

"In Make Something Happen!, the Flashcubes story will also be told by eyewitnesses: Fans, fellow musicians, industry insiders, and maybe the occasional drunken pogo dancer yelling out GOT NO MIND!, or swooning to 'Christi Girl,' vowing to wait till next week, it'll be all right. This is the first-hand story of Syracuse's own power pop powerhouse, a band that thrived under bright lights of their own invention."

More details to come. Oh, rest assured there will be more details to come. As I've written elsewhere: I think everyone knows that I'm possibly the world's most insistent Flashcubes fan. The Flashcubes are my favorite power pop band, they rank with the Beatles and the Ramones in the troika of my top rock 'n' roll groups, and I've long wished they enjoyed the sort of mass notoriety and adulation I think they deserve. "Make Something Happen" was first recorded by Gary Frenay's post-Flashcubes band Screen Test in the '80s, then recorded again by the reunited 'Cubes for their 2003 album Brilliant. It's a hit record, no matter how few the number of people who've heard it.

And it makes a dandy title for a book about the Flashcubes. 

"Make something happen."

Good advice.

BUT WAIT...! There's more....

I'm targeting the book's tentative publication date for September of this year. It will be accompanied by a companion project, something we've hinted at but not yet acknowledged on record. That project remains [REDACTED], but it's coming in September from Big Stir Records. [REDACTED] just so happens to involve a number of acts who made this year's TIRnRR countdown, including Slyboots, Librarians With Hickeys, sparkle*jets u.k., Pop Co-Op, Wonderboy's Robbie Rist, the Flashcubes themselves, and (we're hoping) Carla Olson, plus more TIRnRR Fave Raves like the Kennedys, Sorrows, Chris von Sneidern, Jim Basnight and Beth Peabody, Tom Kenny, and others we can't name quite yet. 

But we will. Hell, let's name one more right now: The SpongeTones. We'll hear their [REDACTED] contribution on the radio in Syracuse this Sunday night. It's all part of this rewarding business of making something happen.

 If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar. 

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. Recent shows are archived at Westcott Radio. You can read about our history 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. Recent shows are archived at Westcott Radio. You can read about our history here.