10 SONGS: 4/26/2025

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 # 1282

THE FLASHCUBES: The Sweet Spot

Work continues with blinding bright-lights speed on Make Something Happen! A Tribute To A DIY Power Pop Band Called THE FLASHCUBES. There's a lot of stuff that still needs doin', mind you, but we're on track for the album's planned September release from the good folks at Big Stir Records. We've already played Make Something Happen! contributions from sparkle*jets u.k., Joe Giddings, the Kennedys, Pop Co-Op, the Spongetones, and Super 8 Featuring Lisa Mychols, we've revealed that the album will also include 'Cubes covers by Chris von Sneidern, Callan Foster, and Hamell On Trial, and we have two more tracks to debut on our next show. 

We have three Make Something Happen! debuts this week.

In planning a Flashcubes tribute album, I was determined to include at least one new track by the Flashcubes themselves. In fact, we will have a 'Cubic trinity of fresh Flashcubes offerings, one apiece written or co-written by Paul Armstrong, Arty Lenin, and Gary Frenay. This show's already been pummelin' the airwaves with Paul's irresistible new tune "Reminisce," and we'll hear Arty's "If These Hands" on this coming Sunday night's broadcast.

This week's show opens with a sublime new Flashcubes track called "The Sweet Spot." Gary co-wrote "The Sweet Spot" with the late B.D. Love, who was also known to long-time Syracuse music fans as Buddy Love. That's not the NYC pop performer of the same dba, nor is it Jerry Lewis for that matter. Our Buddy/B.D. fronted Buddy Love and the Tearjerkers and My Sin, and he was an integral part of our local scene in the new wave era.  

Other than times 'Cubes guitarist Arty Lenin sat in on drums for Buddy Love and the Tearjerkers, I believe "The Sweet Spot" is the first Flashcubes-B.D. Love collaboration. And oh, it's magnificent. We are honored to be able to honor B.D. Love's memory by including this track on Make Something Happen! And we'll hear "The Sweet Spot" again on our next show.

Sweet.

CHUBBY CHECKER: Slow Twistin'

The many, many flaws of The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame notwithstanding, I remain adamant in my view that rock 'n' roll should honor its own. So I keep preaching that the Hall should finally correct its biggest snub to date (INDUCT THE MONKEES!!!), and that such honors should likewise be awarded to the New York Dolls, the Bangles, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Rick James, the Shangri Las, and a long list of other worthies.

NOW, dammit!

After the Monkees, my pick for the Hall's second-most egregious omission to date is Chubby Checker. Unlike these others, Chubby is at least on the ballot this year, so here's hopin'. We'll find out Sunday night. 

THE CHOOSERS: Christi Girl

In the summer of 1978, I haunted Gerber Music's Penn Can Mall location, badgering the (remarkably patient) staff about when the Flashcubes' debut single "Christi Girl" would be available for purchase. I was 18 years old, in between my freshman and second years at college, with a part-time job at another Penn Can store (which made it even easier for me to haunt Gerber Music at will). 

Anyway. Gerber had a promo copy of the 45 on hand, so even though they couldn't sell it to me just yet, they did let me hear the record play through the store's sound system. And I was fully stoked when it finally became time to trade cash for 'Cubes.

We should have a special place nobody else can go

We should know the things nobody else can know

When I was a teenaged Flashcubes fan, a newly-minted owner of my very own "Christi Girl" 45, could I have imagined that 47 years later I would be involved in getting a bunch of fab rockin' pop bands to record a bunch of Flashcubes songs for a Flashcubes tribute? Would I even conceive the possibility of a Japanese band doing "Christi Girl?" 

Whatever I coulda/couldn'ta at the time, these fanciful notions are coming true now. A few years ago, the Choosers offered a live video of their rendition of "Christi Girl," it for damned sure passed the audition, so Gary Frenay reached out to recruit the Choosers for this project. And the Choosers' finished version of "Christi Girl" will indeed help take Make Something Happen! to that special place nobody else can go.

THE POPPEES: She's Got It

The Poppees were an avowedly fab, Beatles-influenced NYC combo machin' schau in the late '70s. The group included Arthur Alexander, who went on to noted TIRnRR Fave Raves Sorrows, and we're fans. An ace 1978 single by the Poppees sported an effervescent beat original called "Jealousy" backed with this boppin' cover of Little Richard's "She's Got It" on the flip.

Remember this 45. We'll be mentioning it again before this week's edition of 10 Songs is done. Got it?

THE COWSILLS: She Said To Me

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE KINKS: Add It Up

As noted here, our pal and stats man Fritz Van Leaven informed us that this week's show would include TIRnRR's 70,000th spin, and that the milestone would be achieved with whatever track wound up being our 44th song of the night. We teased the event a few times throughout the show--Are we up to our 70,000th spin yet, Dana? How about now? Must be there by now, right?--until we were set to begin our next-to-last set with Spin # 69,999.

We called in the house band to help us tabulate. And the Kinks led us into...

BIG STAR: September Gurls

Our 70,000th spin, and it had to be "September Gurls" by Big Star. Had to be! Our all-time most-played individual track, the first song we ever proclaimed on-air to be The greatest record ever made! (way, waaaaay before it even occurred to me to write a Greatest Record Ever Made book), and a song that's emblematic of this little mutant radio show. Great pick, Dana.

SUPER 8 FEATURING LISA MYCHOLS: Pop Radio

Spin # 70,001. As we continue on the road to 100,000 spins, we start the next leg of the journey with a specific salute to the joy of radio. "POP RADIO!" Here's to every AM Top 40 hit and every left-of-the-dial communiqué that built TIRnRR. And we'll hear Trip 'n' Lisa's prototype for what became "Pop Radio" on our next program.

But right now, speakin' of "Radio"....

SORROWS: Radio

"Radio" was the B-side of the Flashcubes' second single "Wait Til Next Week." I bought the 45 directly from Gary Frenay at a show on Bowery in 1979. The song was co-written by Paul Armstrong and Gary Frenay, and although it was a live favorite at the time, it fell into disfavor within the band and was dropped from the set.

Coincidentally, within days of snaggin' my copy of "Wait Til Next Week"/"Radio" from Gary, I also picked up "Jealousy"/"She's Got It" by the Poppees. Yes! The same Poppees 45 referenced a few entries back! I love how this stuff ties together!

Sorrows formed out of the aftermath of the Poppees, and Sorrows' recent album Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow is guaranteed representation on TIRnRR's 2025 year-end countdown show. Guaranteed. 

And for Make Something Happen!, Sorrows have given us a cover of "Radio" that is nothing short of full-on freakin' phenomenal. 

Listen: You can search the four corners of the globe, and by the time you realize globes don't have corners, you'll already know that I'm the world's most insistent Flashcubes fan. Given that, consider the sheer gravity of me saying that Sorrows have accomplished the definitive version of the Flashcubes' "Radio." Pop music is my religion. Radio is one of my pulpits. With "Radio," Sorrows deliver the sermon we need.

Testify. And put your antenna to the sky.

THE ZOMBIES: What More Can I Do

TIRnRR spin # 70,015. What more can we do? Just keep spinning. Join us again on Sunday night for spin # 70,016 and counting.

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: 1/11/2025

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: 7/21/2023

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 # 1190. This show is available as a podcast.

THE FLASHCUBES: Forget About You

There's a great new video for the Flashcubes' absolutely ace cover of the Motors' "Forget About You." GO! WATCH IT! I'll be glad you did.

"Forget About You" is the latest single (released TODAY!) from the Flashcubes' forthcoming all-covers album Pop Masters, which is due August 11th and available for preorder right now. It's a magnificent album, and I do believe "Forget About You" is its most magnificent individual track.

I testified on behalf of Pop Masters here. I'm a fan, proudly so. Never forget that. If you're not already a Flashcubes fan, one spin of "Forget About You" just might make you one of us.

And it's about damned time.

DERRICK ANDERSON: When I Was Your Man

Vicki, Debbie, Derrick, Kim

Most of our weekly playlists include an appearance by the late Kim Shattuck, who passed away four years ago this October. Her work as Chief Rockin' Officer of the Muffs is our top go-to Shattuck stuff, and we also frequently program her a-singin' and a-playin' with the Coolies, the Beards, and the Pandoras. We also dig this fabulous, fabulous track by Derrick Anderson, which features the ever-effervescent Kim alongside Derek and his Bangles bandmates Debbie and Vickie Peterson, doot-doot-dooting with gleeful abandon. 

This past Monday would have been Kim Shattuck's 60th birthday. We play Kim almost every week. We'll celebrate her legacy in style on our next program.

MEN AT WORK: Be Good Johnny

Years ago, when I was attempting to concoct a façade of seeming more responsible than I've ever really been, I asked various friends to provide me with info on their birthdays so I could keep track of, I guess, potential birthday parties. Even then, I guess I knew I wasn't really going to be all that responsible, since my phrasing in the request always promised to add the many-happy-returns dates to a list of folks to whom I could send belated greeting cards. See? I know me!

And to prove it: I lost the list. Yeah, I admire my consistency.

You know whose birthday was among those on that list? TIRnRR's beloved stats man Fritz Van Leaven. I've known Fritz for almost 40 years, so I owe him a big ol' bunch of belated birthday cards. Fritz is the biggest Sex Pistols fan I know, and he also digs Men At Work. Fritz is a bass player, and while I've rarely seen him take a lead vocal with any of his bands, I do recall witnessing him execute a killer Colin Hay proxy when one of his combos performed a cover of Men At Work's "It's A Mistake."

But no mistake here: "Be Good Johnny" is my favorite Men At Work song, and we dedicate its spin this week to our man Fritz. Think of it as another belated virtual greeting card. It's too late to be good. But it's never too late to try being better.

HÜSKER DÜ: Eight Miles High

Dana played this on the show this week, and I wanna reach back to a previous 10 Songs to talk about it. Sherman! Set the WABAC Machine to May 20th, 2020. Let's hit cruising altitude....

Given my general affinity for melody and disdain for noise, Dana was surprised to discover how much I like Hüsker Dü's chaotic cover of the Byrds' "Eight Miles High." The Byrds' 1966 recording of "Eight Miles High" was probably the first Byrds record I ever owned, an oldies reissue 45 purchased when I was still a high school student in the mid '70s. I was (and remain) taken with the audacity and ambition the Byrds brought to the original, mixing their well-known vocal blend with an adventurous arrangement intended to adapt the free-form improvisational style of jazz saxophonist John Coltrane to a pop song played by an American folk-rock guitar band at the height of the British Invasion..

If there was a subtle embrace of cacophony inherent in the Byrds' creation of "Eight Miles High," Hüsker Dü grabs the noisier elements in a freakin' headlock, wringing out every bit of grunge and distortion to be found. On paper, I shouldn't dig this, and should probably hate it. But I've loved it for decades, ever since hearing it on Buffalo's WBNY-FM in the mid '80s and snappin' up my copy of the 45 from visionary rock writer Gary Sperrazza! at Apollo Records. As much as I still adore the Byrds' version, Hüsker Dü's cover has become my preferred take on "Eight Miles High."

And we're back in this far future world of 2023. The passing of centuries...er, the passing of more than three years since I wrote the above paragraphs has brought its own shift in attitude. Nowadays, I still adore Hüsker Dü's cover, but the Byrds' original version has reclaimed its status as my preferred take on "Eight Miles High." That version will serve as, at least, a tangent in tomorrow's blog post.

STEPPENWOLF: Born To Be Wild

Steppenwolf finally makes their TIRnRR debut. It sometimes takes us a bit to get around to stuff. We've played Wilson Pickett's version of "Born To Be Wild." I guess we've been an eensy bit slowpoked in programming Steppenwolf's original hit rendition.

I had this 45 when I was a kid. Or I should say my sister had the 45. But I played it a lot. I liked smoke and lightning! HEAVY METAL THUNDER!

[NOTE: Stats man Fritz says I'm crazy, and this is like the FIFTH time we've played Steppenwolf, and the third time we've played Steppenwolf's "Born To Be Wild." I really need to develop an understanding of how the alphabet works before I check our records.

AND! Coincidentally, ya wanna know when it was that we first played Steppenwolf? Yeah. It was on Fritz's birthday in 2010.

Now THAT's wild!]

JENSEN BELL: Possible Jane Situation

The lovely and talented Robbie Rist pointed us in the direction of Jensen Bell, basically telling us something along the lines of, HEY! WHY AREN'T YOU BOZOS PLAYING JENSEN BELL...?! Subtle but effective--that's our Robbie!

And Robbie is right to champion Jensen Bell's music. Bell recently sent us his 2005 album Modern Dating Tips, and I rue all that wasted time lost in not hearing the album until now. 

Curse our limited awareness! I blame the media. Never mind that I am part of the media. I'll find a hapless underling to take the fall for this one.

And I'm very happy to have the album now. I need to set aside some time to give it a proper A-Z listen, but even my initial hit 'n' run scan of Modern Dating Tips revealed a record I wanna get to know better. We played "Her City's Got A Train" last week, and followed with "Possible Jane Situation" this week. More to come. Even bozos like us can learn our lessons.

Eventually.

THE RUNAWAYS: Cherry Bomb

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE FLASHCUBES: The Summer Sun

Pop Masters began its path to the rockin' pop galleries as a series of digital singles for the good folks at Big Stir Records, as the 'Cubes remake the classics of power pop in their own Cubic image. The series kicked off in 2021, with a cover of Pezband's "Baby It's Cold Outside," with Pezband's own Mimi Betinis duly deputized as an auxiliary Flashcube for one night only. Hijinks ensued. 

And then, more singles ensued, too. We've played 'em all, and they're all included on Pop Masters. We've also played a bunch of Pop Masters gems that haven't been released yet. Hell, "Forget About You" officially came out today, and we've already played it at least three times pre-release, with another spin on tap this Sunday night.

Of the twelve tracks on Pop Masters, this little mutant radio show played eleven of them at least once prior to this week, including the as-yet-unreleased versions of Sparks' "Nothing To Do" and the Posies' "Flavor Of The Month." 

We've been saving the Flashcubes' triumphant occupation of Chris Stamey's "The Summer Sun," just 'cuz we wanted to have one more unheard track to play closer to Pop Masters' release date. We could wait no longer. The summer sun's here, and the time is right.

And ya can't get more righteous than Pop Masters.

THE 5TH DIMENSION: Carpet Man

THE ZOMBIES: She Does Everything For Me

We play the hits. How we define a hit may occasionally differ from the standard view.

The 5th Dimension had Billboard # 1 hits with "Aquarius" and "Wedding Bell Blues," a # 2 smash with "One Less Bell To Answer," Top 10 hits with "Up, Up And Away," "Stoned Soul Picnic," "Last Night (I Didn't Get To Sleep At All)," and "If I Could Reach You," came close to the Top 10 with the # 12 "Never My Love," the # 13 "Sweet Blindness," and the # 16 "Go Where You Wanna Go." The 5th Dimension sold some records, man, and they deserved to.

British Invasion stalwarts the Zombies didn't enjoy a level of Stateside success to rival contemporaries like the Rolling Stones, the Animals, Herman's Hermits, or that familiar Fab quartet outta Liverpool, but they had impact. The Zombies had three big hits in America--"She's Not There," "Tell Her No," and "Time Of The Season"--and their 1968 LP Odessey And Oracle is rightly considered a classic, the band's inability to spell odyssey notwithstanding.

So, two impressive bodies of work, with a number of recognized favorites contained within each. Is it weird that both my # 1 pick from the 5th Dimension and my top fave rave from the Zombies represent the groove less traveled?

"Carpet Man" was at least a 45 A-side for the 5th Dimension, and it scored a better'n respectable # 29 berth on The Hot 100. "She Does Everything For Me" was an obscure non-LP B-side, issued in England as the non-plug flip of "Goin' Out Of My Head;" neither side charted for the Zombies anywhere.

I love the 5th Dimension's hits, especially "Aquarius." I love the Zombies' hits, and I love Odessey And Oracle, especially its album track "This Will Be Our Year." With each of these two bands, I just happen to love a lesser-known song even more.

We play the hits. A record's a hit if we say it's a hit. Here, then, are couple of big, big hits, in our world if not in the real world. Still hits, my friends. In this dimension, we do everything for you.

More hits next time. Tune us in.

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider supporting this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon, or by visiting CC's Tip Jar. Additional products and projects are listed here.

Carl's new book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones is now available, courtesy of the good folks at Rare Bird Books. Gabba Gabba YAY!! https://rarebirdlit.com/gabba-gabba-hey-a-conversation-with-the-ramones-by-carl-cafarelli/

If it's true that one book leads to another, my next book will be The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). Stay tuned. Your turn is coming.

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/ You can read about our history here.

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl

10 SONGS: 6/16/2022

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.

Please don't bother trying to find this song; it's not here

This week's edition of 10 Songs draws exclusively from the playlist for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1133.

ROBIN LANE: All I'll Ever Need

A new single from Robin Lane? Yes, please. My first awareness of Lane's work came in 1980, with the release of the eponymous debut album by her band Robin Lane and the Chartbusters.  The memory's imprecise, but I likely came to the Chartbusters via mentions in Trouser Press or maybe CREEM magazine, my interest heightened by the fact that two of the Chartbusters--Asa Brebner and Leroy Radcliffe--had previously been in Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers. But if the erstwhile Modern Lovers hooked me initially on the Chartbusters, Robin Lane was undeniably Chartbuster # 1 (Number ONE!ONE!ONE...!)

I played Robin Lane and the Chartbusters frequently, particularly its tracks "Don't Cry," "When Things Go Wrong," and "Many Years Ago." That first album was part of my soundtrack in the early '80s, when I was a recent college grad, a professional burger-flipper, and sharing an apartment with my girlfriend. Our little Sony stereo actually belonged to Brenda, but she usually let me use it (at least when she wasn't playing her Soft Cell "Tainted Love" 45 over and over). When things go wrong, don't walk away/That will only make it harder. A Robin Lane and the Chartbusters lyric provided a working model for the art of living together. Something musta stuck. Decades later, Brenda and I are still together.

And, decades later, Robin Lane is still crafting irresistible rockin' pop music. "All I'll Ever Need" is Lane's first single for the mighty Red On Red Records label, and we eagerly await further fresh Robin Lane releases in the imminent realm of right-NOW-dammit! More new music from Robin Lane? Yes, yes, yes. Please. It's all we'll ever need. Meanwhile, we'll hear "All I'll Ever Need" again on next week's show.

ROSE ROYCE: Wishing On A Star

Well before discovering Soft Cell, Brenda's own pop obsessions included the sweet and soulful sound of Rose Royce. When Brenda and I met in 1978, I don't think I really knew any of Rose Royce's music beyond "Car Wash," the hit disco tune from the 1976 film of the same name. Well, that's not 100 % accurate; I had seen the movie, so I'd heard Rose Royce's soundtrack contributions (including the fabulous "I Wanna Get Next To You," which was a hit in its own right). Nonetheless, the songs didn't register in my teenaged mind at the time.

Brenda owned the Car Wash soundtrack on cassette, but her primary Rose Royce allegiance wasn't to that album. Her fave rave "Wishing On A Star" was the lead-off track from the group's 1977 album In Full Bloom, and it was (along with "September" by Earth, Wind & Fire) Brenda's toppermost of the poppermost. Somewhere in my vast accumulation of stuff, I have a cartoon portrait of Brenda, rendered by one of her college suitemates the year Brenda and I met. The drawing spotlights the dichotomy of R & B-lovin' Brenda falling for the likes of little punk rocker me, depicting Brenda in a Flashcubes t-shirt, wondering aloud, "Who could like a band called the Sex Pistols?" and singing lines from CC-approved numbers by the Ramones and the Rolling Stones. In the midst of this overabundance of attention to the strange stuff I liked, Brenda's suitemate allowed one word balloon expressing Brenda's own musical taste:

I'm wishing on a staaaaaaaaaaar....

Oooo, what a lovely pop record. Although I only knew the song through Brenda, we were both recently amazed to discover that it had never been a pop hit. It bubbled under Billboard's Hot 100; even on the R & B chart, it only managed a peak position of # 52. It fared better in Europe. In America, it was still always a hit in Brenda's ears, its lack of chart success notwithstanding.

We play the hits. TIRnRR's concept of what is and what is not a hit is aware of real-world considerations that define the term in the popular sense...but we don't care about that. We say a hit record is anything that sounds like it oughtta be a hit. When we played "Wishing On A Star" this week, intrepid TIRnRR listener (and Radio Deer Camp host) Rich Firestone remarked that the song was new to him, but he liked it. Brenda was surprised but pleased that she knew the song before Rich did. 

Any record you ain't heard is a new record. And a hit's a hit. Wishing on a star? Thanks to Brenda for knowing a hit when she heard it.

IN DEED: Peace & Quiet

IN DEED: Don't Kill The Babe

We were pleased 'n' pumped to play the Swedish group In Deed's new Big Stir Records single "Don't Kill The Babe" on last week's show, and we were guaranteed to play it again this week (and--SPOILER ALERT!--next week, too). This week, though, we wanted to pair the latest from In Deed with a track from the group's fabulous debut album, 2001's At 4000 Meters. That CD's been out of print for an approximate forever, and has never been issued in physical form here in the States. 

Everything old is new again. The At 4000 Meters track "Peace & Quiet" will be on a readily-available domestic CD in the very near future, when it appears on our own forthcoming Kool Kat Musik compilation album This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 5. You've got your new In Deed from Big Stir. You've got your old In Deed made new from Kool Kat and TIRnRR. And we hear tell that Big Stir's got even more In Deed in store. 

We're in.

TIGER BOMB: Rave On Again

Yeah, this is good. A HIT! Portland, Maine's phenomenal pop combo Tiger Bomb have flown under my myopic radar for far too long, but Lynda Mandolin herself alerted me to the group's new single on the Dionysus label, and sudden, blissful awareness dawned immediately. And it will rave on again next week. Obviously. My radar's got some myopia to correct.

POP CO-OP: I Just Love To Watch Her Dance

Once again: Your Favorite Album Of 2022. If memory serves--and there's a first time for everything--we've played five different tracks so far from Pop Co-Op's new album Suspension. We've played "I Just Love To Watch Her Dance" several times, making it our pick hit. We'll add a sixth Suspension track to our log with next week's playlist.

JESSE BRYSON: Abilene

JESSE BRYSON: Come Back

Hey, rockin' pop with a pedigree! Jesse Bryson is no stranger to the TIRnRR playlist--his track "Abilene" is considered an all-time classic in this particular playground, and we gave that one another spin this week--and his Dad Wally Bryson is power pop legend for his own iconic guitar work with the Raspberries and Fotomaker. Yes, pundits overuse the word "iconic." Fine. If you fancy yourself a power pop fan, just think of those opening guitar bits to the Raspberries hits "Go All The Way" and "I Wanna Be With You." If you don't agree those are iconic, I don't agree that you're a power pop fan.

My favorite Fotomaker track is 1978's "Come Back," which the elder Bryson wrote and recorded for the group's second album, Vis á Vis. Now, Jesse has recorded his own new version of "Come Back" as a Big Stir single, performed with panache alongside the Flashcubes' Gary Frenay and Tommy Allen and Fotomaker's Frankie Vinci and Lex Marchesi. As good as its pedigree? And then some. I'll see your icon, and raise ya one.

EYTAN MIRSKY: This Year's Gonna Be Our Year

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE ZOMBIES: What More Can I Do

Sometimes the specific time constraints of a three-hour slot prevent us from playing a record we wanted to play. We end most shows with a post-tag track, something short, that plays after we've said goodbye for the week. WAIT!WAIT!WAIT!WAIT!WAIT!WAIT! We got a little more This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio. The little post-tag track usually brings the show up to its three-hour mark.

This week, I wanted the post-tag track to be "She's Not There" by the Zombies. Alas, there was not sufficient space left for "She's Not There," forcing us to sub the Zombies' "What More Can I Do" in its place. 

Now, ya can't complain about any opportunity to play the Zombies, whatever track you wind up with. But "She's Not There" had a specific li'l spot in pop culture last week, when it was referenced (and not named) on the June 8th episode of Jeopardy!

The category: Put It On What? The clue: Decca F.11940, released 1963 The correct response (which no contestant offered): What is a turntable?

The record cited is the original British 45 of "She's Not There." While we wish we could have played that, "What More Can I Do" is at least a fine stand-in. What more can we do?

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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.

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl