garage rock

abp: xmas

abp.nickLeave a comment

Here’s the Spotify link to the playlist. You’re welcome to recreate it on any platform you choose. Just press play and read along, acting like the voice in your head is the DJ. The times listed are that of the song playing, not the full episode length. I play this with a 5-second cross-fade enabled. Have fun!

Intro

FMF#TrackArtistAlbumYear
1“Merry Christmas, Ya Filthy Animal”Black FlamingosMerry Christmas, Ya Filthy Animal2020

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 Hello and welcome to abp’s holiday episode! Today we get festive with the holiday cheer, scrooge-y with holiday grumps, and green with holiday envy. Holly and envy, what a Christmas combination! You can find a holiday playlist just about anywhere these days, with many of them featuring the classics we’ve all grown to love. Today on abp, we are venturing into unknown territory. Sure, you’ll hear a classic or two, or maybe a cover of one, but most of these songs are a bit more rare for this time of year, even though this time of year is the entire reason they were recorded!

01:10 There’s an unsurprisingly large amount of holiday punk and garage rock songs out there, and it was quite the challenge to limit this set to 30. Some topics are just more prevalent in rock and roll. A quick search on Spotify or Apple Music returns countless compilations of Christmas cookery, some of them legit releases and many of them fake playlists disguised as a formal release.

01:40 I suppose the reason for so many weird playlists or mixes is because many, many artists record and put out a Christmas song as a single or B-side only to stow it away for the rest of their years. Some recorded them as jokes or gags, some did it to fulfil contractual obligations, some just wanted to party by the punchbowl. Today, we get to dig into some of those obscure ones.

02:10 Many of you might recognize the song playing in the background. That’s the Black Flamingos covering John Williams’ brilliant Home Alone score track “The House”. The introduction song to the movie, Home Alone. Coming up and starting off our fun today, is one of the punk rock Christmas classics you hope to hear this time of year. Gwen Stefani and No Doubt covered this for the popular A Very Special Christmas series in 1997; just over a year after bringing The Vandals on tour with them as an opener. Yes, The Vandals opened for No Doubt. Here’s the story of Haji and Trevor, a turban-wearing punker and a skinhead, respectively, duking it out with a scimitar and num-chuks only to have Haji stop Trevor’s bleeding with his turban and for them both to have whiskey in the pub below. “Oi to the punks, oi to the skins, oi to the world and everyone wins…”

Set 1: He Goes By The Name Jesus And Steals Hubcaps From Cars…

2“Oi To The World”The VandalsOi To The World1996
3“Jingle Bells”The Blues MagoosJingle Bells – 7″ Single1967
4”Christmas”Chuck BerryBack Home1970
5“Run, Run Rudolph”The HumpersHappy Birthday, Baby Jesus – Compilation1993
6“Silent Night”The DickiesSilent Night – 7″ Single1978

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 What a classic! One of the oldest punk covers in existence also happens to be a Christmas song. Sounds about right. The Dickies share The Vandals’ knack for comedy and rock and roll with their jokey lyrics and superbly designed band logo. while also hailing from Southern California. I’d say The Dickies basically started the trend of the “punk cover”. Their debut featured covers of Black Sabbath and Barry McGuire songs along with their first few singles all being covers, including the one we just heard; “Silent Night”.

00:40 The Humpers jumped in to cover Chuck Berry’s smash hit “Run, Rudolph, Run”. They and many others stylize it as “Run, Run Rudolph”, though. Chuck put out the single in 1958 and it peaked at number 69 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2019, 62 years later, it hit number 45 on the same chart, setting a record for the largest gap between charting instances. The Humpers’ version came from the 1993 10″ Christmas punk rock compilation Happy Birthday, Baby Jesus.

01:10 Before that, we heard another Chuck Berry Christmas song. Chuck’s “Christmas” is a slower jam than its menacing holiday predecessor “Run, Run Rudolph”, but that song doesn’t reference spinning records with cocaine and cake! “Christmas” comes from Chuck’s 1970 blues rock album Back Home. a reference to his return to Chess Records after a few albums on Mercury.

01:40 One of the earliest psychedelic groups to form, The Blues Magoos started in NYC in 1964 as The Trenchcoats. After a couple years of lineup changes and name shifts, the band put out their debut album Psychedelic Lollipop in 1967. The album featured their lone hit “(We Ain’t Got) Nothin’ Yet”, which in my opinion is basically Ricky Nelson’s “Summertime” cover dripping in brown acid. The following year, the Magoos put out a Christmas single “Jingle Bells” with the B-side “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town”.

02:10 Up next is a song that celebrates the holiday many of us choose to observe this season for an excuse to air our grievances at one another. “I gotta lotta problems with you people, and now, you’re gonna hear about it!”. Its hard to find information on Pondicherry Bomb other than a little on their Bandcamp and some random Youtube videos. What I do know, though, is that they hail from Paris, France, play some cool surf/garage rock sounds, and put out an EP in 2015 called The Ginger. This one’s from a standalone single though in 2017, Festivus.

Intermission

7“Tidings Of Comfort And Joy”The VolcanicsChristmas Wassailing2020

Set 2: …For The Rest Of Us

8“Festivus”Pondichery BombFestivus2018
9“Deck The Halls”The SoaksDeck The Halls – Single2015
10“White Christmas”Bad ReligionChristmas Songs2013
11“Christmas Time”Dead GhostsLight Organ Records…With Bells On!2011
12“Xmas Time Again”Pointed SticksPower Pop Santa – 7″ Single2012

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 Pointed Sticks hail from the land of Nardwuar; Vancouver, BC. They were originally active in the late 70s/early 80s, but reformed in the 21st century to continue the magic. They released their debut self-titled in 1980 along with a handful of singles around that time before splitting and reuniting in 2006. In 2012, they put out a Christmas single which included the power pop tune “Xmas Time Again”.

00:40 Vancouver is also home to the garage rock band Dead Ghosts. In 2011, Light Organ Records released a holiday sampler with some exclusive recordings on it from their then-lineup, including the lofi jangle “Christmas Time” from the Canadian foursome.

01:10 The original Irving Berlin-penned, Bing Crosby tune “White Christmas” is the highest selling single of all time with an estimated 50 million copies exchanged for dough. If you look up the most covered songs of all time, “White Christmas” lands at number 11 with 200+ covers. I wonder if they counted this version by Bad Religion?

01:40 The Soaks hail from SoCal, just like Bad Religion, although a bit further south down the coast. The San Diego trio channels their band’s region and fits in well amongst the waves. Their version of “Deck The Halls” alters the vocal melody while holding to the chords and it makes for a delightful holiday delicacy.

02:10 In our next set, we talk about the man…or creature…in red. The US basically bastardized what is now known as Santa Claus, with that exact term first being printed in the Rivington’s Gazette out of NYC, December of 1773. Of course, the legend and mythology behind Santa goes back many hundreds of years, to either Saint Nicholas of the 4th century Greeks bringing dowries to poor Christians, or even more recent to the merging of Father Christmas, Sinterklaas, and other European versions of the frequent flyer. Let’s start off with giving him the rock and roll treatment, though. Here’s “Rock And Roll Santa” from The 5.6.7.8’s.

Intermission

13“Christmas In Las Vegas”Los Straightjackets‘Tis The Season For…2002

Set 3: Not A Creature Was Stirring, Not Even A..

14“Rock And Roll Santa”The 5.6.7.8’sRock And Roll Santa – 7″ Single2003
15”Santa’s Coming (Ho, Ho, Ho)”The WogglesSanta’s Coming – Single2014
16”Father Christmas”The KinksFather Christmas – 7″ Single1977
17”Santa Mouse”Bob MorrisonSanta Mouse / It’s Christmas – 7″ Single1966
18“Surfin’ Santa”Lord Douglas ByronSurfin’ Santa – 7″ Single1964

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15  Lord Douglas Byron was the frontman for The Continentals (out of LA) in 1962. There are only two known singles recorded by him and the group, with Byron dropping the band’s name from the second release – “Surfin’ Santa”. The end of the tune sounds very similar to “Alley Oop” by the Hollywood Argyles, produced by Gary Paxton. Paxton is credited with producing this one too. I think he was on to something.

00:40  Much like Gary, Bob Morrison was a songwriter based our of LA in the late 60s who eventually moved on to country music in the ’70s. His most famous pen might be “Lookin’ For Love” by Johnny Lee from the Urban Cowboy soundtrack. Back in 1965, he recorded a few singles for Columbia Records, including the novelty tune “Santa Mouse”.

01:10 “Father Christmas” is not only a bigger hit in England, but there are still many, many Americans who have no idea who Father Christmas is. The Kinks’ Ray Davies wrote the tune about a Mall Santa getting accosted after putting on such a joyful face for all the little girls and boys. The song has punk elements to it, which is probably why its been covered by numerous punk bands, such as Bad Religion.

01:40 The Woggles released a benefit album in 2019 for Jeff Walls, aka The Flesh Hammer, one of their founding members. Jeff died of a rare pulmonary disease in May of that year. The band features The Mighty Manfred, a regular DJ on Little Steven’s Underground Garage. The benefit is a compilation of earlier recordings, including one from their 2014 Christmas single Santa’s Coming, which we just heard.

02:10 Alright, continuing on with the surf theme, let’s kick of the next set with one of the pioneering surf groups, The Surfaris. Perhaps thrown in the the hat with other surf rock legends like the Beach Boys and Jan & Dean, The Surfaris reign supreme due to their early play in the game, and also due to one of the most iconic drum solos in music from “Wipe Out”. This track, though, comes from a single released a few months after “Wipe Out”, their Christmas single “A Surfer’s Christmas List”. Santa, can you please just bring him some baggies and a customized woody?

Intermission

19”Sleigh Ride” The Vara-TonesHave Yourself A “Vara”
Merry Christmas!		2011

Set 4: Surfin’ Santa’s Got Hockey Hair

20”A Surfer’s Christmas List”The SurfarisA Surfer’s Christmas List – 7″ Single1963
21”Santa And The Sidewalk Surfer”The TurtlesHappy Together Again!1974
22”Little Saint Nick”Best CoastIndie For The Holidays – Amazon Exclusive2019
23”Santa Has A Mullet”Nerf HerderHi-Voltage Christmas Rock2000
24”Santa Claus”Thee HeadcoateesSanta Claus – 7″ Single1992

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 Thee Wild Billy Childish is heard at the beginning of that last track, a cover of The Sonics’ “Santa Claus” done by Billy’s all-women protégé band Thee Headcoatees. Originally performing as The Delmonas, once Holly Golightly joined them for a cameo, Billy renamed them and they began their own storied career. More from Holly later.

00:40 Can we even really be sure that Santa doesn’t have a mullet? I think Nerf Herder makes a strong point here. Comes from the land of ice (hockey), always wears a hat with long flowing white locks out the back, has friends named Rudy, Don, Blitz, etc. What a great tune from their ultra rare holiday EP Hi-Voltage Christmas Rock from 2002.

01:10 More SoCal rock played before that with California coastal advocates Best Coast. Named as such to match Bethany Constantino’s initials, but also to plug the west coast as the best. They channeled their surf-rock ancestors the Beach Boys with a cover of “Little Saint Nick”, taken from an Amazon exclusive holiday playlist in 2019.

01:40 Before Best Coast, we played more surfin’ Santa satire from, you guessed it, Southern California. I heard they like to surf there. The Turtles were out of LA and hit it big with “Happy Together” but not before recording a few LPs and singles for White Whale. One of those singles, “Santa And The Sidewalk Surfer” wasn’t released officially until their 1974 compilation LP Happy Together Again.

02:10 While many of us who celebrate this time of year want nothing but a perfect, snowy white day with everything going our way, that almost never happens. In our next set, we hear about some holiday mishaps and non-ideal conditions to celebrate. Perhaps one of the most famous holiday mishaps, is the story of Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer. You know, the reindeer whose nose glowed red and lighted the way for Santa’s sleigh? Totally logical. Here’s the Galaxies out of the Pacific Northwest USA from the Merry Christmas garage rock compilation in 1965 singing about that magical flying hooved creature.

Intermission

25”Skating”Vince Guaraldi TrioA Charlie Brown Christmas1965

Set 5: Christ-mishaps

26“Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer”The GalaxiesMerry Christmas – Compilation1965
27“Christmas Tree On Fire”Holly GolightlyChristmas Tree On Fire – 7″ Single2006
28“Rain, Sleet, Snow”Paul Revere & The RaidersA Christmas Present…And Past1967
29“Gingerbread Man”Tommy James & The ShondellsMony Mony1968
30“Christmas In Baghdad”Black LipsMerry Christmas – 7″2007

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 There’s spending Christmas alone, and then there’s spending Christmas alone on a cot in a tent in a warzone. The Black Lips’ “Christmas In Baghdad” is one of the most depressing holiday songs around with lyrics pining over wanting to go home and not end up dead, face-down in the sand. Too real, man. To all those soldiers stuck somewhere during the holidays, even if you want to be there, this ones for you.

00:40 Tommy James & The Shondells were riding high in 1968 after their titular single “Mony Mony” hit the airwaves. Their album of the same name reached #193 on the Billboard 200, and when the next LP was due to be released, the first single, “Do Something To Me” featured the B-side “Gingerbread Man”, which was actually taken from Mony Mony.

01:10 Another sixties garage staple played prior to that with Paul Revere And The Raiders doing “Rain, Sleet, Snow”. The group was waning in popularity by 1967 with the tide changing toward a more psychedelic sound than the standard pop rock. So, naturally, the band turned up the fuzz and wah and made a Christmas album. It works though!

01:40 Holly Golightly covered a lesser-known songwriter’s ode to a burning evergreen. Tom Heinl, the Eugene, Oregon based musician wrote “Christmas Tree On Fire” for his 2003 album With Or Without Me. The album also featured a second round of every song after the final track, with the vocals removed. Tom called the “Stereoke” tracks and was hoping you’d sing along. Holly released her cover as a standalone single in 2006.

02:10 Alright, Christmas night is fast approaching and we’ve got one more set to go. Up next are some real classic holiday songs out of the punk world. blink-182 took their sound in a new direction after reforming and adding Tom Delonge-replacement Matt Skiba to the lineup. Their early records still stand with the best 90s skate punk, though. In 1997, just after releasing Dude Ranch, the band recorded “I Won’t Be Home For Christmas” for KROQ’s annual holiday concert/party. This was one of the last recordings to feature their original drummer Scott Raynor. Scott, this one’s for you, sir. Here’s Mark, Tom, and Scott doing their holiday jam.

Intermission

31”Plump Righteous”King Khan & The BBQ ShowMerry Christmas – 7″2007

Set 6: New Year’s Christmas

32”I Won’t Be Home For Christmas”blink-182I Won’t Be Home For Christmas – Single1997
33“Every Day Is Christmas”Sass DragonsSnacking Is For Sissies – Digital EP2007
34”Sweet Christmas”Shonen KnifeSweet Christmas – Single2011
35”Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want To Fight Tonight)”The RamonesBrain Drain1989
36”I Wish It Was Christmas Today”Julian CasablancasI Wish It Was Christmas Today – Single2009

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 That song was destined for greatness the moment it hit the airwaves on December 9th, 2000. Saturday Night Live premiered their Season’s Greeting bit with an original tune performed by Horatio Sanz, Jimmy Fallon, Chris Kattan, and Tracy Morgan. The song was catchy. So catchy, that fellow NYC native Julian Casablancas of The Strokes recorded this version for a standalone single to his solo album 9 years later.

00:40 More NYC holiday rock before that with The Ramones doing their famous holiday tune “Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want To Fight Tonight)”. The song’s been covered by Bowling For Soup, Mattiel, Asobi Seksu, and even Little Steven & The Disciples of Soul. Yep, that Little Steven! It also proclaims a great message. Maybe just for one night, we don’t have to fight.

01:10 Though inspired by The Ramones, Shonen Knife totally outlasted them as a punk band. The Japanese all-women trio formed in 1981 and found notoriety in America due to Kurt Cobain putting their debut tape on his “Top 50 by Nirvana” list found in his autobiography. Well, that came later, they actually opened for Nirvana on their 1991 Nevermind tour and thought the Seattle trio looked scary and very grunge. Ha! We heard “Sweet Christmas”, a single from 2007.

01:40 From the Big Apple over to the Windy City, Sass Dragons hail from the Midwest’s largest metropolis, Chicago. The punk trio contributed their 2007 song “Every Day Is Christmas” from their Snacking For Sissies split to the Chicago-based band comp Half-Assed Chicago on Johann’s Face Records.

02:10 Well that brings us to the end of the episode. I hope you enjoyed some of these tracks and facts and welcome you to join abp again next time! Now go open that “Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis” and learn about how she got pregnant…or didn’t.

02:15 (music plays and fades out)

Outro

37”The House”John WilliamsHome Alone
(Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)		1982

Check out my List for all of the releases featured!

abp: zombies

abp.nickLeave a comment

Here’s the Spotify link to the playlist. You’re welcome to recreate it on any platform you choose. Just press play and read along, acting like the voice in your head is the DJ. The times listed are that of the song playing, not the full episode length. I play this with a 5-second cross-fade enabled. Have fun!

Intro

FMF#TrackArtistAlbumYear
1“Driveway To The Cemetary (Main Title)”Morricone YouthNight Of The Living Dead2016

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 Hello and welcome to abp’s zombie episode! Today we are going to dig up from the dirt and claw our way out of our graves. Today is all about zombies! The Wikipedia definition of a what makes a zombie is a fictional undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. So, walking dead.

01:10 Zombies have become apart of normal culture now, with more and more movies and artistic works putting their own new twist on the old idea of reanimation. These days, you might find zombies spawning in other ways such as carriers, radiation, mental diseases, vectors, pathogens, parasites, scientific accidents, etc.

01:40 Zombies go well with rock and roll. They’ve been written about musically since the 60s and have always had that dark side vibe to them. Really though, they’re just shuffling bags of rotten meat meandering through the night looking for brains. The horror punk genre will be represented well today.

02:10 The Creepshow have cycled through three singers over their years, starting with Jen “Hellcat” Blackwood. Jen contribtued to the band’s debut album and recorded a music video for “Zombies Ate Her Brain”, but would ultimately leave the group after getting pregnant and starting a family. Those pesky kiddos. The group then brought on Sarah “Sin” Blackwood for a few albums before shifting to Kenda Legaspi. Here’s Jen singing that first single.

Set 1: Have We All Turned Into Zombies?

2“Zombies Ate Her Brain”The CreepshowSell Your Soul2006
3“Zombie Nation”The BrainsZombie Nation2010
4”Zombie Nay-shun”Sick VicarsTwo Nintey Nine1984
5“Zombie Girl”The QuintessentialsLegends From The Grave2005
6“Zombies”The LillingtonsThe Too Late Show2006

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 I’d like to think of that one as theme song to today’s themed episode. Well, that’s the song I quoted in the playlist artwork. The Lillingtons ask if we’ve “all turned into zombies” in their 2006 tune “Zombie”. The band has been churning out tight, three chord punk rock since the mid 90s, with lead singer Kody Templeton fueling the fight. Kody also sings and plays for Teenage Bottlerocket; Wyoming’s other punk band. Just kidding, I’m sure there are dozens of them…

00:40 Uttering the words Hawaii and punk will likely spark a conversation about The Quintessentials, Hawaii’s most famous horror punk group. Of course, “most famous” is relative and opinion-based, but you get the point. Led by Les Hernandez, the group churned out five albums since their inception. “Zombie Girl” comes from their 3rd LP, 2005’s Legends From The Grave.

01:10 Riot Squad were a punk band out of Mansfield, UK that formed in the early 80s. After forming, a few of the members started Rot Records to release their music along with other local punk acts. In 1984, they put out the compilation Two Ninety Nine, a collection of UK bands. Sick Vicars landed two songs on the comp and we heard “Zombie Nay-shun” from them.

01:40 The Brains are a Canadian psychobilly band led by Rene De La Muerte Garcia. After 18 years and a solid seven albums leading The Brains, Rene was tapped by scene legend Nekromantix frontman Kim Nekroman to play drums for them. Kim is famous for playing a standup bass shaped like a coffin. We heard “Zombie Nation”, the title track from The Brains’ 2010 LP.

02:10 Coming up next is a zombie jamboree dance fest! Mark Sultan and King Khan put out What’s For Dinner? in 2006 as The King Khan & BBQ Show. The duo channels retro sounds in all walks of their music, be it funk, soul, garage, or punk, and mixes in their own new flavors. With “Zombies”, you get that punk attitude chugging along in a very militant way accompanied by a lamenting for being alone. Here’s “Zombies”.

Intermission

7“Watusi Zombie”Jan DavisWatusi Zombie / Pooky1964

Set 2: Dead Can Dance

8“Zombies”The King Khan & BBQ ShowWhat’s For Dinner?2006
9“Zombie Dance”The CrampsSongs The Lord Taught Us1980
10“Do The Zombie”The EyelinersDo The Zombie1997
11“Zombie Hop”Zombina And The SkeletonesMondo Zombina!2005
12“Zombie Zoo”Tom PettyFull Moon Fever1989

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 Full Moon Fever showcased some of Tom Petty’s influences along with some of his extremely talented friends. Fellow Traveling Wilburys Roy Orbison, Jeff Lynne, and George Harrison all contributed to this LP, with Jeff producing it. Del Shannon, someone Tom looked up to as a kid and befriended as an adult, contributed the animal noises to the interlude, right after “Runnin’ Down A Dream”; a song that references Del himself.

00:40 Zombina & The Skeletones are a Liverpool band hopelessly devoted to horror punk. Vocalist Zombina also learned the theramin to bring that spooky, UFO sound to their music, too. Paying homage to the Ramones’ 1992 album Mondo Bizarro, the group named one of their EPs Mondo Zombina!. That EP features “Zombie Hop”.

01:10 Timmy V from The Lillingtons was the Eyeliners’ touring drummer for a while, connecting the Wyoming group with the New Mexico sisters. Lisa, Laura, and Gel Baca make up the punk trio. They recorded “Do The Zombie” in 1997 at Poop Alley Studio, the same studio that Beck recorded “Loser” at. Three years later, they would put the song on their Here Comes Trouble album.

01:40 The Cramps, the Godfathers of psychobilly, dropped in with a song the Lord taught them. The Cramps predate the Misfits by only a few months, but both bands put their own spin on spooky songs. The Cramps were more Carl Perkins than Ramones, with the Misfits being the opposite. “Zombie Dance” is a classic and must play for today’s show.

02:10 Misfits fans, rejoice! The time has come for the CEOs of Horror Business to rain blood on our episode. Coming up next is a five song set all from the Misfits, in one way or another. Misfits mastermind Glenn Danzig announced in 2016 he’d be rejoining the group, bringing the main original lineup back together. Right before that, though, Jerry Only and his son had recorded the Friday the 13th EP with drummer Chupacabra featuring the zombie tune “Mad Monster Party”.

Intermission

13“Hollywood Babylon”The Crimson GhostsSome Kinda Hits2005

Set 3: Dawn Of The Danzig

14“Mad Monster Party”MisfitsFriday The 13th2016
15”London Dungeon”The UndeadThe Morgue…The Merrier2016
16”Astro Zombies”King FlamingoCovers, Baby!, Vol. 12018
17”Braineaters”The UnbornThe Last Man On Earth2020
18“Night Of The Living Dead”88 Fingers LouieHopelessly Devoted To You1996

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15  Zombies speak in groans, and half of the Misfits’ catalog is whoas, ohs, and oohs. 88 Fingers Louie, named after a Dick Tracy character, covered the Misfits’ zombie classic “Night Of The Living Dead” for the 1996 Hopeless Records compilation Hopeless Devoted To You; a take on Grease.

00:40  The Unborn ate brains in Italian with a cover of ‘Braineaters”. The closing track from Misfits’ Walk Among Us was sang by the entire band to give the effect of a mob of zombies chasing their dinner, lunch, breakfast and brunch. The Unborn rewrote the verses with completely different lyrics, instead singing about eating heads and the lack of options in the city as a zombie leaving you to just eat brains. The song comes from their 2020 EP The Last Man On Earth.

01:10 King Flamingo earned my respect solely due to the punny genre they classify themselves as; Goo-Wop. Goo-Wop Records put out King Flamingo’s Covers Baby, Vol. 1 back in 2018 and also most of the group’s other efforts. The lo-fi garage act took a new approach to the often covered “Astro Zombies”.

01:40 Glenn Danzig wrote “London Dungeon” with Misfits’ then-guitarist Bobby Steele while the two were in a London jail cell after a battle with some local skinheads. When the Misfits returned to the US from that 1979 European tour, Bobby quit and went on to form The Undead the following year. The Undead would then go on to cover the song on their 2016 LP The Morgue…The Merrier.

02:10 Moving from the “Night of the Living Dead” now, to a set of living dead songs. The Plasmatics were a metal punk band led by the notoriously wild Wendy O. Williams. Wendy was a porn star-turned-rock star famous for her onstage antics, including chainsaws, toplessness, and other extremities. Her voice, was not that of singing birds, either. She’s almost like the opposite sex version of G.G. Allin, if such a person could exist. I stress almost. Here’s Wendy and the group doing “Living Dead” from Beyond The Valley of 1984.

Intermission

19”Zombie (Bolero)”Xavier Cugat & His OrchestraCugi’s Cocktails1963

Set 4: Blight Of The Living Dead

20”Living Dead”The PlasmaticsBeyond The Valley Of 19841981
21”Living Dead”UK SubsEndangered Species1982
22”Talk About The Living Dead”The SpookshowPsychosexual Chapter 22006
23”Living Dead”Strange HandsDead Frozen Deer2010
24”The Living Dead”Jim Burgett With Don Ralke And His OrchestraLet’s Investigate / The Living Dead1961

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 Jim Burgett was a little-known rockabilly singer out of Ceres, California who was active in the late 50s Lake Tahoe scene. Jim stuck with it for a while but his songs would never gain the national notoriety. He recorded his most well-known hit, “The Living Dead” in 1961 and would lay down a few more tracks throughout the 60s before calling it quits.

00:40 Strange Hands hail from Bordeaux, France and classify themselves as Hippie Punk. The band put out the Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things EP, which was put out on cassette by Burger Records. “Living Dead” comes from their 2010 EP Dead Frozen Deer.

01:10 The Spookshow are a Swedish horror punk group right in the vein of The Creepshow or The Horrorpops. The makeup of a horror punk group does offer a stereotypical cliche; pinup girl-esque singer, stand-up bass (sometimes shaped like a coffin), and sideburns. Lots of sideburns. The formula works, though. As many of these bands have proven. The Spookshow played “Talk About The Living Dead”, led by Laura Weed.

01:40 UK Subs became the first Western band to play Poland in 1982 after martial law had been imposed. They were touring for their recently released album Endangered Species and after the addition of Steve Roberts on drums and Alvin Gibbs on bass had taken the punk band in a more metal direction. “Living Dead” fit in nicely behind the Plasmatics.

02:10 The Horrorpops were one of the original purveyors of that special horror punk formula. That stand-up coffin bass? Signature bass of Kim Nekroman, lead singer and founder of Nekromantix; one of the first psychobilly bands. Kim is married to Patricia Day, singer of the Horrorpops, and helped launch her career after the two met in the mid 90s. Here’s Patricia singing “Walk Like A Zombie” from their sophomore LP Bring It On!.

Intermission

25”Zombie Compromise”Shadowy Men On A Shadow PlanetWow Hiss Flutter ’861986

Set 5: Dead Man Walking

26“Walk Like A Zombie”The HorrorpopsBring It On!2005
27“Zombie Walk”The CynicsSpinning Wheel Motel2011
28“I Walked With A Zombie”Roky Erickson And The Aliens Roky Erickson And The Aliens1980
29“Walking Dead”The ViciousAlienated2006
30“Walking Dead”Barb Wire DollsSlit2012

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 Barb Wire Dolls are a Greek punk band that made their name in front of the legendary Lemmy Kilmister at the Whiskey-A-Go-Go. After seeing them play, Lemmy signed them to his Warner Bros. backed subsidiary label Motorhead Music. Their sophomore album, Slit, was produced by Steve Albini and the intensity of its sound proves so. I played “Walking Dead” from that LP.

00:40 The Vicious were a Swedish garage punk band in the late 2000s that put out one EP and one album before splitting up and forming a different group. 3/4 of The Vicious went on to form Masshysteri, a similar band but with lyrics in Swedish. The Vicious’ lone EP had a song on it titled “Masshysteri”, the Swedish word for mass hysteria. “Walking Dead” came from their 2008 LP Alienated.

01:10 Speaking of aliens…Roky Erickson formed the Aliens (as blieb alien) after doing a stint at the Rusk State Hospital in Rusk, Texas. He was transferred there from the Austin State Hospital where he was being held due to his conviction of the possession of a single joint. Facing ten years, he plead insanity and was henceforth given a bunch of electroconvulsive therapy and Thorazine treatments. “I Walked With A Zombie” comes from the first two overlapping LPs recorded with the Aliens in 1980/1981.

01:40 The Cynics were formed in the early 1980s at the direction of Gregg Kostelich. Gregg would form Get Hip Records to put out the band’s material and also sign other garage rock artists that continue to carry the lo-fi fuzz torch. Get Hip has put out albums by Thee Headcoatees, The Black Hollies, The Fleshtones, The Gories, and more. From their final LP, Spinning Wheel Motel, the band contributed “Zombie Walk”.

02:10 On Tom Petty’s Full Moon Fever album, he name drops Del Shannon’s “Runaway” during “Runnin’ Down A Dream”. For Screeching Weasel’s 1988 sophomore LP, the Chicago band threw down a cover of “Runaway”, albeit only thirty-some seconds long. What more do you need? Coming up, from 1988’s Boogadaboogadaboogada, this is “Zombie”.

Intermission

31”Zombie Catchers”The EyeberriesThe Eyeberries2017

Set 6: Infidel Mars

32”Zombie”Screeching WeaselBoogadaboogadaboogada1988
33“Del Mar Zombies”The FrightsFur Sure2013
34”Zombie Features”Fake TidesFake Tides2010
35”Rockin’ Zombie”The CrewnecksRockin’ Zombie / When I First Fall In Love1959
36”Infidel Zombie’”The DickiesDawn Of The Dickies1979

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 The Crewnecks were a group of college kids that played the Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania area for a four years before splitting up. They recorded only a few singles, including “Rockin’ Zombie”, which was covered by garage rock band Messer Chups. The group would split in 1961, though, due to military commitments.

00:40 The Dickies released their sophomore LP Dawn Of The Dickies just six months after George Romero’s Dawn Of The Dead hit theaters in the US in 1979. In a clear homage to George’s film, the album cover shows the band being attacked by blue painted zombies with the lettering accompanied by blood spatter. “Infidel Zombie” tells the story of a girl on a murderous mission.

01:10 Let’s think about what makes a zombie a zombie. Undead? Check. Eating brains? Check. Shuffling along looking for their next victim? Check. These are some common zombie features. Fake Tides exemplify the sounds of their habitat perfectly. They hail from SoCal; San Diego, California. Imperial Beach exactly. That surf/punk/garage sound wafts through the air waves of herb smoke and vape emissions. Fake Tides did “Zombie Features” from their self-titled debut.

01:40 Just a few blocks away, perhaps, resides another SoCal San Diego group; The Frights. The group enlisted FIDLAR frontman Zac Carper to produce their third album Hypochondriac. For their followup, though, they enlisted bass player Richard Dotson to produce in a cabin in Idyllwild, California. From their 2nd EP, Fur Sure, that was “Del Mar Zombies”.

02:10 Alright deadites, that’s the end of it. Grab your chainsaws, your shotguns, your machetes, your flamethrowers, and any other zombie deterring weapons you have just lying around. Its time to liquify the dead! I hope you enjoyed the show and stay safe out there!

02:15 (music plays and fades out)

Outro

37”Citadel Zombies”The DamnedStrawberries1982

Check out my List for all of the releases featured!

abp: johnny

abp.nick1 Comment

Here’s the Spotify link to the playlist. You’re welcome to recreate it on any platform you choose. Just press play and read along, acting like the voice in your head is the DJ. The times listed are that of the song playing, not the full episode length. I play this with a 5-second cross-fade enabled. Have fun!

Intro

FMF#TitleArtistAlbumYear
1“Johnny One Note”Ted Heath And His MusicBig Band Percussion1961

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 Hello and welcome to abp’s Johnny episode!  Today we are going to dive into the phenomenon that surrounds an ideal of a man named “Johnny”. Now, I bet you could name at least a handful of songs that mention Johnny. I bet you could also name a bunch of songs sang by a Johnny (Rotten, Cash, Nash, Karate). Johnny is forever and Johnny is never.

00:40 Johnny seems to be the go-to character for rock songs.  It seems like everyone and their mother Mary has written about a Johnny, or vicariously lived through Johnny in the music.  John has been in the top 20 most popular baby names of the U.S. since the census began.  It was the most popular name for males until 1924 but still remains in the top 20 to this day. Other forms of John include Jon, Jonathan, Jack or Jackie.  We’re gonna stick to just Johnny today.

01:10 A bit later in the episode, we’ll be treated to a meta Johnny couple of sets. NOFX’s “Jaw, Knee, Music” quotes lyrics from a grip of punk songs about our titular subject matter. I’m gonna play at least 10 of those references. More might be scattered throughout the show.

01:40 Kicking off today’s episode is the song that started it all. Well, it wasn’t the first “Johnny” song by any means, but this song started the mythos of Johnny in rock and roll music. Not only did Chuck Berry launch an entire new genre with his new rhythm and blues sound, “rock and roll”, but he also started the legend of Johnny. And for those of you (like myself) who weren’t around when this song hit the airwaves, maybe this channels something in you to time travel…

02:10 Berry propped up Johnny as a rock star. A guitar god from the backwoods of Louisiana. That may sound a bit autobiographical for Chuck and that’s because it partially was. Chuck took parts from Bob Wills’ “Ida May” and gave it a new sound to create his first single “Maybellene”. For “Johnny” he lifted the guitar intro from Louis Jordan’s “Ain’t That Just Like A Woman“. Alright fellas, well “here’s a blues riff in B, watch me for the changes and..try to keep up.” Here is “Johnny B. Goode”.

Set 1: Jonathan, Be Well

2“Johnny B. Goode”Chuck BerryJohnny B. Goode / Around & Around1957
3“Bye Bye Johnny”The Rolling StonesThe Rolling Stones EP1964
4“Look Out Johnny”ProtexStrange Obsessions2010
5“Johnny Better Get”Zero BoysHistory Of…1984
6“Johnny”Ty SegallLemons2009

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 Whew!  That was garage rock lo-fi staple, Ty Segall.  Ty is by far one of the most productive musicians in garage rock.  After releasing his debut album in 2008, Ty put out over fifteen albums with various bands in the span of a decade.  He released three albums in 2012 alone.  This dude doesn’t stop! From early on in his career, that was “Johnny” from Lemons.   

00:40 Before Ty, we were treated with some Zero Boys. The Indiana punks put out one EP, Living In The 80s, and one LP, Vicious Circle before splitting up in 1983. They recorded songs for a second album but split before finishing it. One of those recordings was “Johnny Better Get”, and was included on the compilation album that featured those lost songs; History Of…

01:10 With our first taste of Northern Ireland punk rock today, that was Protex. The Clash are allegedly the origination of punk rock in Belfast. They were scheduled to play there in 1977 but the show was cancelled by the insurance company supporting the band. They were scared. The band still made a profound impact and launched a scene that would generate bands like Stiff Little Fingers, Rudi, Protex, and many more. Protex even took their band name from a Clash song; “Protex Blue”. They played “Look Out Johnny” after the Stones.

01:40 Chuck Berry actually wrote five songs in total about his famed Johnny. After the success of “Johnny B. Goode”, Chuck would go on to write “Johnny B. Blues”, “Go Go Go”, “Lady B. Goode”, and “Bye Bye Johnny”; the latter of which was covered by The Rolling Stones. The Stones released their eponymous debut EP in January of 1964. “Bye Bye Johnny” was the lead track on the album, leaving the absolute possibility that this track was the first Stones song some people heard.  

02:10 Chuck once said he hopes Bob Dylan lives ’til 100 and that he (Chuck) lives forever. The two formed a bond later in life that lasted until Chuck’s death in 2017. Chuck didn’t live forever, but his music will and he can keep us forever young. Some say Dylan helped create rap music with this next song. I’m not so sure about that, but he sure does quite the poetry slam. Here’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues” from Bobby D.

Intermission

7“Johnny Fool”Frankie & The Pool BoysFrankie & The Pool Boys2008

Set 2: Ride, Johnny, Ride

8“Subterranean Homesick Blues”Bob DylanBringing It All Back Home1965
9“Johnny Was A Good Boy”Mystery TrendJohnny Was A Good Boy / A House On The Hill1967
10“Bullet”The MisfitsBullet1978
11“No Colt, No Johnny”Death LensDeathFrights2014
12“Jaw Knee Music”NOFXRock Against Bush Vol. 12004

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 Fat Mike is such a punny guy. “Jaw Knee Music” caps off the set but will remain in our hearts and minds for the next half hour or so. When Mike started punkvoter.com to oust Bush Jr. from the White House in 2004, he was forced to forgo some of those punk rock hassles of selling out and mainstream media coverage. He appeared on Dennis Miller, the band played on Conan O’Brien, and they would register voters at Warped Tour. Too bad it was all for not. During that time, Fat Wreck Chords put out the Rock Against Bush compilations, which would feature unreleased cuts from some pretty big names; including an exclusive from Green Day. NOFX contributed “Jaw Knee Music” to the first comp, a song comprised of punk rock references all in the name of Johnny.

00:40 Like NOFX, Death Lens started out in Los Angeles. Also like NOFX, they’ve released a few split albums with some other stellar bands. Their first split with The Frights was titled DeathFrights and came out in 2014. It featured two originals from each band, one cover of the other band’s tune, and one collaboration song. The original version of “No Colt, No Johnny” is on this EP.

01:10 “Ride, Johnny, Ride!” The Misfits’ debut single Cough/Cool may have been recorded without a guitar, but possessed all of the demonic attitude for a Misfits record. The single, released by Glenn Danzig’s Blank Records, would stand out only to get Mercury Records to donate 30 hours of studio time to the band in exchange for the rights to Blank Records trademark. The Misfits used that to record 13 songs, none of which anyone wanted to release. So in true punk DIY fashion, they released it themselves EP by EP, starting with their 2nd EP Bullet.

01:40 On Dylan’s shotgun blast song, “Like A Rolling Stone”, he croons “You say you never compromise/with the mystery tramp/but now you realize”. The Mystery Trend misheard that lyric, although Mystery Trend is a great band name. They couldn’t get their career to take off along with all of the other San Francisco Sound psychedelic acts of that era, perhaps due to band member cycling or to the lack of promotion from Verve Records. They did release one single in 1967, though, “Johnny Was A Good Boy”.

02:10 Starting into our Jaw Knee Music sets now, here’s So-Cal band D.I. The lyrics to this song also start off “Jaw Knee Music” and feature our beloved Johnny having a problem and being out of control. Quite the change from that Southern backwoods Louisiana boy who could play a guitar like ringing a bell. Here’s “Johnny’s Got A Problem”.

Intermission

13“Stay Away From My Johnny (Instrumental)”Freda Gray & The RocketeersStay Away From My Johnny1966

Set 3: Jaw, Knee, Rum, Own

14“Johnny’s Got A Problem”D.I.Horse Bites Dog Cries1985
15“Johnny Hit And Run Paulene”XLos Angeles1980
16“Johnny, Are You Queer?”Josie CottonConvertible Music1982
17“Johnny Twobags”The VandalsLive Fast Diarrhea1995
18“Johnny’s Gonna Die”The ReplacementsSorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash1981

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 Wrapping up the first Jaw Knee Music set of the day, that was The Replacements’ “Johnny’s Gonna Die” from their 1981 debut LP Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash.  Fat Mike quoted the song verbatim with the line “Johnny always needs more than he takes/Forgets a couple chords/Forgets a couple breaks”.  The track would turn out to be the slowest and longest on an 18 track-36 minute ear blast of an album.  

00:40 The Vandals took issue with what they saw as hypocrisy when someone who had it pretty good decided to sing the blues. The blues are for when you don’t have it pretty good, right? “Johnny Twobags” is the story of a guy who thinks he has it rough, but when put into perspective, he’s just having a bad day. From the 1995 punsationally-named LP Live Fast Diarrhea, that was “Johnny Twobags”.

01:10 In verse three of “Jaw Knee”, Mike asks “Johnny, is he queer?”.  In the late 70’s, Josie Cotton moved to Los Angeles from Texas and found herself in the blooming punk scene.  After hooking up with Larson and Bobby Paine, Josie was offered the track and included it on her 1982 album Convertible Music.  She would also appear in Valley Girl, but after a second musical effort in 1984 would she would ultimately fade out of the scene.

01:40 X stopped by with “Johnny Hit And Run Paulene” from their debut album Los Angeles. Although they fit in perfectly well with their drugged-out scene cohorts, X’s angle was purposefully void. No band name (X), no bass player (John Doe). X crossed rhythm & blues guitar styles with punk rock fervor, resulting in a kind of 50s greaser meets 80s speed freak vibe.

02:10 Fat Mike also sang the line “Johnny says he’s bound by only six strings to this world”; a direct lyric lift from the Bouncing Souls song “The Ballad Of Johnny X”.  Originally recorded for the Punk Sucks compilation, the track would be re-recorded for their sophomore album Maniacal Laughter later that year and both tracks feature the actual Johnny X on them. Johnny X is Mike Cavallaro, a comic book writer and artist that went to the same high school as the Souls. Once again, Johnny is someone’s alter ego. Here’s “The Ballad of Johnny X”.

Intermission

19“Johnny October”The ChallengersGo Sidewalk Surfing!1964

Set 4: Here’s Johnny!

20“The Ballad Of Johnny X”Bouncing SoulsJohnny X1995
21“Johnny Quest Thinks We’re Sellouts”Less Than JakeLosing Streak1996
22“The Ballad Of Jimmy & Johnny”RancidLet’s Go1994
23“Degenerated”Reagan YouthYouth Anthems For The New Order1984
24“Johnny Was”Stiff Little FingersInflammable Material1979

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 Stiff Little Fingers’ version of “Johnny Was” doubles the track time of the original. The original cut, done by Bob Marley on Rastaman Vibration, was credited to his wife Rita upon release. Bob was in contractual standoffs with Cayman music and rather than battle them in court, he gave all credits to his friends and family with hopes to provide for them using future earnings from the music. Mike sings “Johnny was a good man” in reference to this song.

00:40 According to Reagan Youth, if you rang a bell, Johnny would start to drool. Also, Johnny “wastes his days eating ‘ludes”, was “a teenage vegetable”, and was “a mindless brainwashed pig”. All of those descriptors are from Reagan Youth’s “Degenerated”, fully repurposed by NOFX for the theme. Remember when this song was covered in that Airheads movie?

01:10 Fat Mike soap-boxed fellow Bay Area punkers Rancid by placing some of their Johnny lyrics in his composition. Rancid released Let’s Go in 1994 and rode the mid-90s punk/alternative wave until going full reggae-rock band by 1998. Let’s Go introduced us to Lars Frederiksen, their 2nd guitarist, and also included the song “The Ballad Of Jimmy And Johnny”. The band would return to their punk roots on their 2000 self titled release.

01:40 Towards the end of “Jaw Knee Music”, Fat Mike can be heard singing “Johnny questions sellout bands”. Before Rancid, Less Than Jake played us “Johnny Quest Thinks We’re Sellouts” from their 1996 album Losing Streak. LTJ was one of the more underground ska bands that emerged in that late 90s weird ska punk phase, leaving the fame to the Bosstones or Reel Big Fish.

02:10 Alright, well that’s done. That was fun! Coming up next is a continuation of what Johnny was. According to The Adicts, “Johnny Was A Soldier”. Furthermore, Johnny was an amputee; possibly an angry amputee? Is this what Fat Mike is referencing? The Adicts are droogs incarnate, the gang members from Anthony Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange. From their sophomore album, Sound Of Music, here’s “Johnny Was A Soldier”.

Intermission

25“Johnny Guitar”La Playa SextetJohnny Guitar1954

Set 5: Thee Johnnies

26“Johnny Was A Soldier”The AdictsSound Of Music1982
27“I Love Johnny Bravo”The DiaboliksThree Fur Burgers…And A Hot Chilli Dog To Go!2000
28“Johnny And I”Thee AttacksStrikes Back2016
29“Johnny Come Lately”The WogglesRagged But Right2003
30“Johnny 99”The Loved OnesDistractions2009

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 Bruce Springsteen wrote “Johnny 99” during his recording sessions for Nebraska after reading Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States.  The entire album is bleak and quiet, with topics limited to murder, despair, and longing; its amazing.  Philadelphia, PA punk band The Loved Ones covered Bruce’s “Johnny 99” on their Distractions EP and brought the song into a whole new light.

00:40 The Woggles are led by the Professor Mighty Manfred Jones. He hosts a radio show on Little Steven’s Underground Garage chock full of music that would fit in perfectly well with abp’s episodes. Little Steven signed The Woggles to his Wicked Cool record label right after the release of their 2003 LP Ragged But Right. From that LP, that was “Johnny Come Lately”.

01:10 The Attacks are a Danish garage rock revival band that broke up a year before releasing their reunion LP Strikes Back. Then they broke up again. That album included a cool cover of a techno song from another Danish group Superheroes that originally appeared on their label’s 15 year anniversary compilation Saluting The Crunchy Frog in 2009. That was “Johnny And I”.

01:40 The Diaboliks were a little-known garage rock band from the 90’s. Featuring a mostly female lineup, the band would put out a mixtape of an LP as a debut, a few EPs, and one full-length LP in 2000.  Lineup changes and band tension led them to split after the release of their full-length Three Fur Burgers…And A Hot Chilli Dog To Go!;  where we lifted “I Love Johnny Bravo” from.

02:10 Dead Moon was comprised of Portland legends Fred and Toody Cole along with Andrew Loomis. Fred engineered most of the band’s recordings using the mono lathe that the Kingsmen, another Portland group, used for “Louie Louie”. Dead Moon carried the torch for garage rock revival in the 80s, keeping their sound limited to the capabilities of a few instruments and analog tape. One of their more influential and well-known songs is up now. Here’s “Johnny’s Got A Gun” from their 1990 LP Defiance.

Intermission

31“Pipeline”Johnny ThundersSo Alone1978

Set 6: Joanie And Johnny

32“Johnny’s Got A Gun”Dead MoonDefiance1990
33“Johnny Got A Gun”The GizmosRock & Roll Don’t Come From New York2004
34“Joanie Loves Johnny”Screeching WeaselWiggle1993
35“Johnny Get Angry”Joanie SommersJohnny Get Angry1962
36“Little Johnny Jewel”TelevisionLittle Johnny Jewel1975

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 Television’s debut single “Little Johnny Jewel” was released on Ork Records (the same label that originally agreed to put out Misfits’ Bullet EP but the deal fell through). Richard Hell formed the group with Tom Verlaine but after a falling out left and started his own band, The Voivoids. After his departure, Richard Lloyd joined and they recorded the 7-minute epic debut. They must have enjoyed the jam session, because on their debut album Marquee Moon, they included the 10-minute epic title track to round out Side A.

00:40 After a minor charting hit in 1960 with “One Boy”, Joanie Sommers landed a #7 hit single with 1962’s “Johnny Get Angry”.  Once called “The Voice Of The Sixties”, Joanie wouldn’t repeat the success she found with “Johnny Get Angry”.  Now with clear hindsight, we can say Joanie was most likely not the voice of the sixties. Who do you think was?

01:10 Screeching Weasel play into the leather jacket Fonzie aesthetic that makes many a punk rock song fun. Keeping with that Happy Days vibe, Ben Weasel sings about the dreamed-up love affair between Joanie Cunningham and someone named Johnny. Perhaps its Johnny Suede? Or maybe this is a fantasy. I mean, the song does mention Fonzie getting fucked up on ‘ludes and Joanie and Johnny doing heroin. Screeching Weasel also covered “Johnny, Are You Queer?” on their 1994 album How To Make Enemies And Irritate People.

01:40 After Dead Moon was an old punk jam from The Gizmos, a band out of Bloomington, Indiana that’s had more lineup changes than records released.  While they never released an official full album, the band put out four EPs and split record before calling it quits.  We played “Johnny Got A Gun” from the compilation Rock & Roll Don’t Come From New York.

02:00 Alright Johnnies, that about does it for today. May the legend of Johnny live on forever in our collective imaginations. Now…what women’s name would be a good companion episode to this one….?

02:15 (music plays and fades out)

Outro

37“Death Of Johnny Riviera”Ray Daytona And GoogoobombosSpace Patrol In Mission!2002

Check out ourList for all of the releases featured!

abp: coffee

abp.nick3 Comments

Here’s the Spotify link to the playlist. You’re welcome to recreate it on any platform you choose. Just press play and read along, acting like the voice in your head is the DJ. The times listed are that of the song playing, not the full episode length. I play this with a 5-second cross-fade enabled. Have fun!

Intro

FMF#TrackArtistAlbumYear
1“Coffee In The Pot”SupergrassRoad To Rouen2005

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 Hello and welcome to abp’s coffee episode! Today we honor one of the most famous and well-known drinks of the world; coffee! Java, espresso, cappuccino, Americano, cold-press, nitro-infused, etc.; the list of styles of the usually-served hot drink may be too long for the show. Are you a zombie before you get your morning brew? Does the caffeine addiction afflict you too? I hope you’ve had your dose of daily drip because we’re about to turn up the speed.

01:10 Historical accounts of humans consuming coffee for its energizing effects date back to at least the 15th century. East Central Africans first used the beans in the modern sense of roasting and brewing. Not much ahs changed since then in the form of preparation, though certain regions do things a little differently.

01:40 National Coffee Day is celebrated on September 29th each year in the United States. The day gives millions of people an excuse to celebrate their morning caffeine addiction by justifying it as a necessary step to our days. Yes, I am also one of those coffee heads. I’ll throw all the excuses at you that you’ve already heard; kids, job, stress, sleep, blah blah.

02:10 Have you ever drank too much coffee? I can definitely say that I have. That sick feeling, nauseous like you ate something terrible, all the while you’re blood seems to be at 1000 degrees and heart is pumping like it’s running a marathon. Suck. The Promdates, out of Norway, know all about that overdose, too. The lyrics to the next track describe that moment you realize you’ve gone too far. From their 2016 split with the Meeps, here’s Norway’s best coffee-guzzling punk band with “Coffee OD”.

Set 1: Coughy

2“Coffee OD”The PromdatesThe Punk Rock Rumble – Split EP2016
3“Coffee With You”CarbonaBack To Basics1999
4“Cappuccino”Lunatics On PogosticksSleeping Till The Weekend EP2014
5“Too Much Coffee”SWMRSBerkeley’s On Fire2019
6“409 In Your Coffeemaker”Green DaySlappy EP1990

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 Sweet Children doesn’t really sound like a band that tours filling stadiums, does it? Or maybe it does, what the hell do I know? That’s what Green Day was originally called before moving to the more ambiguously colorful descriptor. Billie Joe Armstrong has been a vocal critic of the name, though, in 2001 stating it was the worst band name in the world. From early in their career on the Slappy EP, that was Green Day with “409 In Your Coffeemaker”.

00:40 A generation later, we move from Billie to Joey. Billie Joe’s son Joey Armstrong plays drums for Berkley band SWMRS. The band took influence from Green Day and others’ pop punk sound and mixed it with the EDM-tinged sounds of the 2010s. That was “Too Much Coffee” from Berkley’s On Fire.

01:10 From the West Coast, to the Gold Coast. Kinda. Lunatics On Pogosticks hail from Melbourne and channel all the right elements of garage rock. Slightly lo-fi sound, energy, simplicity, fun lyrics, they’re doing it right. The final track to their excellent 2014 EP Sleeping Till The Weekend, “Cappuccino” sits in the middle of the set.

01:40 Remaining in the Southern hemisphere, we heard Carbona from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The band takes their name from the Ramones song “Carbona Not Glue”, a track removed from their 1977 LP Leave Home because the company who made the stain remover Carbona didn’t want to be associated with, well, glue-sniffing. “Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue” might have fed them that worry. Carbona, the band, sand “Coffee With You” from their sophomore LP Back To Basics.

02:10 Up next, The Smugglers ask the age old question – “Coffee, Tea, Or Me?”. The Vancouver, British Columbia band kept garage rock alive and well in the 90s and into the 2000s before calling it quits. Their 2000 LP Rosie was released through the legendary Berkley, California punk label Lookout! Records, the same label that released Green Day’s early works. Here’s The Smugglers with “Coffee, Tea, Or Me?”

Intermission

7“Coffee Stained Shirt”Voodoo CourtThe Party’s Over2002

Set 2: Javabilly

8“Coffee, Tea, Or Me?”The SmugglersRosie2000
9“One More Cup Of Coffee”The White StripesThe White Stripes1999
10“Cup Of Coffee”The NovocainesRagdoll EP2009
11“One Cup Of Coffee And A Cigarette”Glen GlennLaurie Ann / One Cup Of Coffee And A Cigarette – 7″ Single1958
12“Coffee Break”The Rock N’ RollersRock ‘N Roll Time EP1958

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 That song seems to have a very familiar…sound to it. Very Bill Haley-ish. Perhaps that’s because the Rock ‘N’ Rollers are a studio-exec crafted band created solely for the purpose of selling records in line with a fad. If that really is the case, is “The Rock ‘N” Rollers” really the most creative name they could find? Apt, I suppose. Still. The EP Rock ‘N’ Roll Time, directed by Ken Jones, is five basic as hell rock and roll songs, and I love it. That was “Coffee Break” from said EP.

00:40  Glen Glenn was a rhythm and blues rock and roller from the 50s that did everything he could to mimic the swinging pelvis seen on TV. That is, until he got drafted. Glen recorded a few songs in 1958 and they’d actually get pressed to wax, but only days after his music hit the public he was drafted to the war and his career was over. Slightly. He would re-emerge in the 80s and record collectors began hunting for those early singles. His best known song, “One Cup Of Coffee And A Cigarette” graced our ears just now.

01:10 When Jay Watson left The Novocaines to play drums for Tame Impala, the band thought it was over. However, they reformed and put out a solid EP in 2009 titled Ragdoll. The lead single “Cup Of Coffee” starts off paying homage to Dylan with the line “One more cup of coffee before I go”.

01:40 The White Stripes covered at least three songs on their debut LP, including the Bob Dylan Desire-era ballad. The others being old blues songs from Son House and Robert Johnson and a rendition of the traditional folk song “St. James Infirmary Blues”; a track which Dylan also covered. “One More Cup Of Coffee” followed the Smugglers.

02:10 Coming up next is a trip down percolator lane. A trip that starts out light and poppy and climaxes with some real heavy psychedelic stuff; as most trips go. Starting things off is a cut from the debut record of Montreal, Quebec group Rock ‘N’ Roll Television. Here comes a bright, up-tempo discharge of television jonesing from the band titled “Coffee At Least”.

Intermission

13“Java”Al HirtHoney In The Horn1963

Set 3: In The Mud

14“Coffee At Least”Rock ‘N’ Roll TelevisionRock ‘N’ Roll Television2008
15“Coffee Monkey”The Bottle RocketsLeftovers1998
16”Coffee With My Friends”Candy HeartsAll The Ways You Let Me Down2014
17”Coffee Cup”The WildflowerA Pot Of Flowers – Compilation1967
18“Coffee”Psychedelic Porn CrumpetsHigh Visceral, Pt. 22017

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 Alright, pull your head out of the clouds now. We’re back on Earth. That sure was fun though. Another amazing Aussie group contributed to the set with Psychedelic Porn Crumpets doing “Coffee”. The song comes from the part two of their High Visceral releases. I wonder what Billie Joe Armstrong thinks of this band name?

00:40  The Wildflower, from A Pot Of Flowers, smoothed things out a bit after the Candy Hearts treat. Almost like a sip of warm coffee after a snowy breath. The Wildflower never released a proper album of their own, though they did compile all of their tracks for a release in 2008. The few songs they contributed to this comp, though, fit right in with the titular nature of the album and the whole San Fran peace-love-dope thing. We heard “Coffee Cup”.

01:10 As stated earlier, Candy Hearts represent their band name well in this set, bringing a light, poppy rock sound to what can usually be an intense set of songs around here. The New Jersey band put out two albums before reforming and renaming themselves Best Ex and going full-on pop. That was “Coffee With My Friends” from the group’s final album All The Ways You Let Me Down.

01:40 St. Louis, Missouri band The Bottle Rockets could easily be lumped into the 90s alt-country craze that took place, led by groups like Whiskeytown, Uncle Tupelo, Wilco, and the rest of the similar acts. But these guys seem to be a bit more raw, grittier, maybe even cowpunk-esque? From the Leftovers album, a literal collection of randos, that was “Coffee Monkey”.

02:10 Sometimes coffee is instant, sometimes coffee is black. Sometimes we just need to get back on the punkwagon. Up next is the seminal song from hardcore-turned-sludgepunk act Black Flag. After guitarist Greg Ginn took up a more heavy cannabis habit, things slowed down and Black Sabbath was channeled. The result spawned even more new groups looking to mimic this weird new slowed down punk thing. Here’s Black Flag doing “Black Coffee”.

Intermission

19”Black Coffee”Oscar PetersonIn A Romantic Mood1956

Set 4: On Legal Speed, The American Way

20”Black Coffee”Black FlagSlip It In1984
21“Black Coffee Blues”The Ringo JetsThe Ringo Jets2013
22”Coffee Mug”DescendentsEverything Sucks1996
23”Mr. Coffee”LagwagonDuh1992
24”Instant Coffee”BugsGrowing Up2020

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 What’s worse, instant coffee or bugs in your coffee? Bugs, obviously, you coffee snob. These Bugs, though, won’t bother you. Unless you really hate pop punk or Australian people. Brisbane group Bugs channel the late 90s/early 2000s pop punk sound while adding in new elements and lyrical relevance to the new world we live in. Of course, there are plenty of love songs though. That was “Instant Coffee” from Growing Up.

00:40 The artwork for today’s episode quotes Lagwagon’s “Mr. Coffee” from their 1992 debut Duh. Before they thought up such an eloquent band name, they were called Section VIII. Their demo tape made it to Fat Mike of NOFX/Fat Wreck Chords, who then decided to record them. A name change was in order, though. Singing “on legal speed, the American way”, that was Joey Cape and Lagwagon.

01:10 It was brief, but we got a hit of the most well known caffeine addict in the punk rock kingdom. That would be Milo Aukerman, singer of the Descendents. With many of his lyrics pointing toward his caffeine addiction and away from drugs or alcohol, Milo has championed the java jingle since the early days of the group in 1980. We heard “Coffee Mug” from 1994’s Everything Sucks.

01:40 Its not often we get Turkish rock and roll around here, so when we do I want to celebrate it. The Ringo Jets are one of the few, well-known garage rock groups in Turkey and dig up blues vibes along with their loud-fast energy. They covered Slim Harpo on their debut album, which closed out with “Black Coffee Blues”.

02:10 Londoners Margot are up next with a standalone single from 2018. “Coffee Stained Scars” was released before their debut EP Margotzeko and has yet to be placed on a physical medium. Still, that doesn’t mean I can’t play it. Here’s Margot sharing their love for BLTs.

Intermission

25”Instant Coffee”The JokersManha De Carnaval / Instant Coffee – 7″ Single1965

Set 5: Java Knife Party

26”Coffee Stained Scars”MargotCoffee Stained Scars – Single2018
27“Jave Jive”The PlattersJava Jive / Row The Boat Ashore – 7″ Single1964
28”Sugar In My Coffee”Deuces WildJohnny Rider1992
29”Knife In The Coffee”Car Seat HeadrestNervous Young Man2013
30”Coffee Girl”Skunk MonkeyEgo Deaf2020

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 Straight outta College Station, Texas and released on Valentine’s Day 2020, that was Skunk Monkey doing “Coffee Girl”. The band’s sophomore release Ego Deaf was led by the single “Cherry Girl” and includes a second coffee song – “Americano”. I liked this one more, though.

00:40 Will Toledo formed Car Seat Headrest as a solo project and released 12, yes 12 albums on Bandcamp before signing to Matador Records. This guy works. The final self-released album Nervous Young Man includes the finale “Knife In The Coffee”, a garage rock epic; how rare!

01:10 The 80s brought a resurgence of rockabilly thanks to the Stray Cats. Deuces Wild were fellow Brits in hope of achieving slicked back stardom. They released two LPs and one EP between 1989 and 1991 before dissolving. From the 2nd LP, Johnny Rider, we heard “Sugar In My Coffee”.

01:40 I couldn’t really find a punk cover of “Java Jive”, but it is absolutely necessary in a coffee show. Bob Dylan plays the original version from the Ink Spots on his coffee episode of Theme Time Radio Hour, but if I’m gonna do a punk and garage rock show about coffee I have to keep the tempo up! The Platters did a groovy version of the song in the mid 50s and included it on their Encore Of Golden Hits, perhaps being the most up-tempo version of a slow song about coffee.

02:10 Things get real weird with the next track. Its new wave-y, its punk-y, it sure is lyrically…interesting. With an ode to one of the best sensations that can come along with drinking hot liquid, dunking, we’ve got The Deep Freeze Mice. From their 1981 debut LP Teenage Head In My Refrigerator, this is “I Like Digestive Biscuits In My Coffee”. For those non-Europeans like myself, the name doesn’t necessarily imply the reaction when it comes to these cookies. Oh, and there’s a long intro so just stay tuned…

Intermission

31”Coffee & Smoke”KazamCoffee & Smoke2018

Set 6: Cream Or Sugar…Or Biscuit?

32”I Like Digestive Biscuits In My Coffee”The Deep Freeze MiceTeenage Head In My Refrigerator1981
33”Fast Coffee”Meggie BrownJourney Of Goodbye2020
34”Station Coffee”Jonathan Fire EaterWolf Songs For Lambs1997
35”A Rock Star Bucks A Coffee Shop”Neil Young + The Promise Of The RealThe Monsanto Years2015
36”The Coffee Song’”Freedom’s ChildrenThe Coffee Song / Satisfaction – 7″ Single1967

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 That is how Cream should have recorded “The Coffee Song”. The South African group Fleadom’s Children took a song not included on US versions of Fresh Cream and gave it a heavier, psyched out sound. The group would change their name to Freedom’s Children after releasing the “Coffee” single, apparently for political reasons.

00:40 Speaking of politics, Neil Young practically made a name for himself writing about his political beliefs and causes. Neil has been a vocal opponent of all things unequal since his days with Buffalo Springfield. From his album with The Promise Of The Real, The Monsanto Years, Neil tackles corporations with “A Rock Star Bucks A Coffee Shop”. Without naming them, who do you think he was talking about?

01:10 Jonathan Fire*Eater was the origination of half of the members of The Walkmen. They released two albums and an EP before calling it quits in 1998. Many claim them to be largely influential on the NYC post-punk revival sound that would spawn acts like The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and more. From their second and final album, Wolf Songs For Lamb People, that was “Station Coffee”.

01:40 Although Meggie Brown isn’t a largely known name even in her hometown of London, she still managed to land an opening spot for The Hold Steady in 2020. That is, before the pandemic ruined live music. Her debut single was produced by Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos at Edwyn Collins’ studio, which is a fantastic starting point! We heard “Fast Coffee” from the Journey Of Goodbye EP.

02:10 Well mudheads, that brings us to the end of this episode. If you’ve been sipping your coffee while listening along, you may need to head to the bathroom right about now. Maybe not, I don’t judge. Thanks for listening and I’ll see you next time!

02:15 (music plays and fades out)

Outro

37”Italian Coffee”Fabrizio FornaciThe Surfaces Vol. 22016

Check out my List for all of the releases featured!

abp: tv

abp.nick28 Comments

Here’s the Spotify link to the playlist. You’re welcome to recreate it on any platform you choose. Just press play and read along, acting like the voice in your head is the DJ. The times listed are that of the song playing, not the full episode length. I play this with a 5-second cross-fade enabled. Have fun!

Intro

FMF#TrackArtistAlbumYear
1“Theme From T.V.”Shadowy Men On A Shadowy PlanetSavvy Show Stoppers1988

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 Hello and welcome to abp’s TV episode! Today I’m all about that boob tube, the silver screen, the couch potato’s companion, that lovely television set. What once was the focal point of many a living room in the post-War USA, has since become completely remote and mobile with the wave of streaming services and TV apps that exist.

01:10 In the early days of television, families would gather around the living room with their microwaved TV dinners and TV trays and ogle at the screen displaying black and white fuzzy imagery of comedy hours, music specials, straightforward news reporting and sports games.

01:40 After the internet gave cable companies a run for their money, they adapted and put their content online. By the year 2020, people could watch live TV on a cellular phone in the middle of nowhere in HD quality. So in honor of the incredibly popular invention, I’ve got a show stacked with TV songs.

02:10 Kicking things off is one of the most well-known, if not the most well-known punk rock songs about TV. Black Flag was on singer number three by the time Henry Rollins joined the band. Their first vocalist, Keith Morris, sang on the band’s debut EP Nervous Breakdown. Keith quit and went on to form the Circle Jerks with Greg Hetson. Hetson played in Redd Kross, which featured Ron Reyes on drums. Ron sang on Black Flag’s 2nd EP, Jealous Again. After Ron left due to violence at the shows, Dez Cadena would join and tour for the year. After Dez quit, the legendary Henry Rollins joined and recorded their 1981 debut LP Damaged. Here’s their ode to television from that album, “TV Party”.

Set 1: The Silver Screen City

2“TV Party”Black FlagDamaged1981
3“TV Love”SimpletonesBeach Blvd Compilation1979
4“TV Set”The CrampsSongs The Lord Taught Us1980
5“TV Luv Song”WavvesLife Sux EP2013
6“T.V. California”CosmonautsCosmonauts2010

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 Like all of the bands in this first set, Cosmonauts hail from Southern California. The band dubs themselves “drug punk” and splashes in droney, shoegazey guitars on top of their garage sound. Their debut album was first released as a cassette-only Burger Records exclusive, but has since been repressed. From that debut, we heard “T.V. California”.

00:40 Nathan Williams and Wavves were three LPs in before releasing the EP Life Sux. The EP included 6 songs exclusive to the release and the CD version had two bonus tracks, one of which we just listened to. “TV Luv Song” was released as a digital single as well, but was included on that 2013 EP.

01:10 Things got a bit spooky in the middle of the set with The Cramps dropping in. Lux Interior and Poison Ivy Rorschach formed the group in the mid-70s and were apart of the CBGB scene in New York. Their debut record Songs The Lord Taught Us paved the way for an entire subgenre coined by Lux himself, psychobilly. Though, Lux thought The Cramps weren’t psychobilly at all.

01:40 Simpletones never put out a proper album as the original incarnations of the band, but did squeak out a couple of EPs in the late 70s on Posh Boy Records. It’s rather unfortunate, too, becuase they had a great sound. The Vandals would cover “I Have A Date” in the 90s and labels in Germany and Italy have compiled all of their tracks on an import LP with that very same title. We heard “TV Love” from the Beach Blvd compilation.

02:10 2015 curiously spawned a handful of great TV songs. Starting things off for the next set is the Philly, PA group Remember Sports. Bringing a pop-punky vibe mixed with what comes off as a Southern twangy crooner vocal style gives this band a uniquely bright sound. Great harmonies, great tune. Here’s Remember Sports, FKA Sports, with “Reality TV” from All Of Something.

Intermission

7“T.V. Song”Blue Man GroupAudio1999

Set 2: Total Victory

8“Reality TV”Remember SportsAll Of Something2015
9“TV”Colleen GreenI Want To Grow Up2015
10“T.V. Wedding”PillPill EP2015
11“TV”Summer CannibalsShow Us Your Mind2015
12“TV”Negative ScannerNose Picker2018

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 Yesssss, that was so good. 2018 saw the release of Negative Scanner’s sophomore LP Nose Picker and further advancement of their assault on the state of punk rock. Lead singer Rebecca Valeriano-Flores and the band mash together motorik and monotone in a succinct mix of power. The Chicago band released their debut self titled album in 2015 on Trouble In Mind Records.

00:40 I’d like to think that Summer Cannibals’ founder and lead singer Jessica Boudreaux named the band after the 90s Patti Smith song. I mean, it has to be that, right? Regardless, great move. Their 2nd album Show Us Your Mind launched them into national light and scored them a spot at SXSW and CMJ in 2015. “T.V.” closes out that LP and is the only sign of the band letting up after a forceful set of songs.

01:10 Brooklyn band Pill put out there 2015 debut EP on Andrew Savage of Parquet Courts’ Dull Tools label. The EP kicks off with “T.V. Wedding” walking down the aisle into your living room. Pill put out two great LPs and compiled their early recordings on The Dull Tools Tapes, but ultimately disbanded in 2019.

01:40 Colleen Green’s debut release paid homage to the Descendents when she titled it Milo Goes To Compton. She even covered their tune “Good Good Things” on it. Two albums later, we got I Want To Grow Up, possibly another Descendents reference. Colleen also covered blink 182’s Dude Ranch in its entirety in 2019 with just a bass guitar, which was very pleasing to hear. With her single “TV”, Colleen laments about how that silver screen has always been there for her through thick and thin, something I think many people can align with.

02:10 Naked Giants’ debut LP Sluff housed the single “TV”. While the first single off of the album didn’t quite gain traction, their second single “Everybody Thinks They Know (But No One Really Knows)” kicked their popularity up a notch. “TV” may have more depth and make for a more entertaining listen, but “Everybody” definitely has a poppier hook that can reel you in. Here’s that first single, though, “TV”.

Intermission

13“T.V. Dream”La LuzBrainwash – 7″ Single2013

Set 3: Crummy Commercials

14“TV”Naked GiantsSluff2018
15”Television”IDLESJoy As An Act Of Resistance2018
16”TV Adverts”The NervesTV Adverts – 7″ Single1978
17”Television’s Over”The AdvertsTelevision’s Over – 7″ Single1978
18“Television”R.M.F.C.Hive EP2018

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 R.M.F.C. is the brainchild of Buz Avenue, a young punk-trepeneuer out of Ulladulla, New South Wales, Australia. The project formed into a full band and added members and influence out of Sydney. With “Television”, Buz lives up to his name with a fuzzy scuzzy buzzy tune mixed with driving, tight drums.

00:40 The Adverts are an aptly named band for today’s theme. Adding to the fun, the lead singer’s name is T.V.! Tim (T.V.) Smith formed the band with Gaye Black in 1976 and they put out two LPs and a few EPs before calling it quits at the end of the decade. “Television’s Over” shows up on their 2nd and final LP Cast Of Thousands.

01:10 The Nerves were a three piece formed in Stafford, England in October of 1977. Not to be confused with the other Nerves, the band that wrote “Hanging On The Telephone” which would later be covered by Blondie. These Nerves put out one 7″ in 1978 featuring the song “TV Adverts” and watched it climb up the UK Alternative charts, but that’d be it for them. Great tune, nonetheless, and it fit in well next to The Adverts.

01:40 Now from Stafford over to Bristol. British band IDLES slapped their own style of rock and roll onto the set with some more motorik beats. With 2018’s Joy As An Act Of Resistance, the band channeled a new style of self-reflection, a positive one. It’s all in the album name. Find joy in life, because it seems that negativity at some point took over partnership power, and that’s just not right. “Television” comes from that joyous album.

02:10 Well now that we’ve had a delectable delve into British rock and roll, let’s take a flight back to California. Together Pangea formed in 2009 and reached new heights with the release of their third LP Badillac. The band would then tour opening for The Replacements during their final reunion tour as well as have bassist Tommy Stinson produce their EP The Phage. From 2019’s EP Non Stop Paranoia, here’s “Hi-Fi Television”.

Intermission

19”TV Troubles”BoxcutterThe Dissolve2011

Set 4: Shitcoms

20”Hi-Fi Television”Together PangeaNon Stop Paranoia EP2019
21”Television Sets Are Going Cheap”Alien Nose JobSuddenly Everything Is Twice As Loud2020
22”TV Life”The SoaksLoser EP2016
23”I Wanna Be On TV”FangWhere The Wild Things Are1984
24“TV Casualty”MisfitsStatic Age1978

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 The Misfits suffered one of the rare instances in the music industry that prevents quality material from being released due to record contract issues. Glenn Danzig founded Blank Records to put out the band’s debut single Cough/Cool. In 1977, Mercury Records wanted to use Blank Records for one of their subdivisions and offered to buy it from Glenn, to which he countered with a request for studio time. They recorded 17 songs, but no one wanted to put the record out. They released the songs in various ways throughout the 80s, but Static Age wouldn’t see daylight as a whole until 1997.

00:40 Fang sprouted up in the East Bay area around Oakland, California in 1980 and would go through some lineup shifts before putting out their 1982 debut Landshark. Green Day covered “I Wanna Be On TV” in 1995 when recording Insomniac and put the song on the Japanese version of the release and the “Geek Stink Breath” single.

01:10 The Soaks hail from California as well, albeit a full generation or two after Fang. The San Diego group was one of many bands Jordan Clark would play with. Jordan also played bass in Mrs. Magician, Hot Like (A) Robot, and Tape Deck Mountain. From their 2016 EP Loser, that was “TV Life”.

01:40 Alien Nose Job is the moniker of a self-proclaimed bedroom recorder Jake Robertson from Clunes, Australia. Jake plays in the other bands Ausmuteants and School Damage, but sticks to his abode while recording ANJ. “Television Sets” was the first single released from the 2020 LP Suddenly Everything Is Twice As Loud, which is a perfect album title for a project that seemed to feel a whole lot more punk rock this go around.

02:10 Sticking around down under, Moses Gunn Collective hail from Brisbane. The group put out one fantastic psychedelic rock album in 2015, but only a few years later many of the members formed a new indie dance pop group called Confidence Man. Its amazing how different these two acts sound. Nevertheless, here’s “Colour Television” from the 2015 release Mercy Mountain.

Intermission

25”Television Fission”Man Or Astro-Man?Experiment Zero1996

Set 5: Technicolorvision

26”Colour Television”Moses Gunn CollectiveMercy Mountain2015
27“Colour Television”Eddy Current Suppression RingPrimary Colours2008
28”Colour Television”Dune RatsSexy Beach EP2011
29“Colour TV”Two-Bit SisterRoad Gore: The Band That Drank Too Much1985
30“Color TV”Answering MachineColor TV EP2018

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 Answering Machine comes from NYC and happens to share their name with a Replacements song. Perhaps that’s why lead singer Samantha Campanile and guitarist J.D. Fetcho were asked by Two Minutes To Late Night to participate in their bedroom cover of the ‘Mats’ “Kids Don’t Follow”? Perhaps it’s just ’cause they rock? From their 2018 EP Color TV, that was the title track.

00:40 Two-Bit Sister is an unsigned band out of Margate, Kent, England. The band released their debut EP Radiator in 2020 and claims to be Margate’s number one sneez-core rock duo. Bless you. “Colour TV” comes from that debut.

01:10 Dune Rats are another Brisbane group from the Australian garage rock scene. Their debut EP Sexy Beach featured a lo-fi production sound fit for any literal garage. They’d evolve to a more alternative rock sound in later releases, but “Colour Television” remains a garage favorite.

01:40 The set started with Aussie band Moses Gunn Collective and bled into Melbourne act Eddy Current Suppression Ring. Their sophomore 2008 album Primary Colours garnered an A- rating from the legendary rock critic Robert Christgau. They took a hiatus in 2016 but returned with a new LP in 2019. “Colour Television” comes from Primary Colours.

02:10 Big Boys were apart of the early 80s Austin, Texas hardcore punk scene. Along with local legends The Dicks, Big Boys were pioneers in queer punk with both Big Boys’ singer Biscuit Turner and Dicks singer Gary Floyd being among the first openly gay singers, especially in the genre. Turner could often be seen in a pink tutu and cowboy boots when performing. Let’s let Biscuit charge us up with the Big Boys tune “T.V.”.

Intermission

31”Television in 1.5$ Room Sucks”Delicate Circumstances2019

Set 6: Channel Surfin’

32”T.V.”Big BoysWhere’s My Towel / Industry Standard1981
33”Watching T.V.”The BeetsStay Home2011
34”Dr. TV”The EatGod Punishes The Eat EP1980
35”T.V. Blues”UK SubsAnother Kind Of Blues1979
36”Television”Bad ReligionStranger Than Fiction1994

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 Bad Religion bookends the episode with their LA hardcore counterparts Black Flag. The band was seeing a peak in popularity in the mid 90s with the emergence of punk rock in the mainstream. Guitarist and songwriter Brett Gurewitz’s Epitaph Records housed The Offspring and Rancid, two of the biggest punk bands around in 1994. Tim Armstrong from Rancid even stops by to sing a bit on “Television” from 1994’s Stranger Than Fiction.

00:40 UK Subs were one of the first punk bands and formed in 1976 as the UK Subversives. Vocalist Charlie Harper is supposedly the nephew of Cesar Romero, the actor who played the original Joker in the Batman TV series. The Subs’ debut LP 1979 Another Kind Of Blues was both a play on the new sound of punk rock and the drastically different sound of the album when compared with Miles Davis’ Kind Of Blue. “T.V. Blues” comes from that debut.

01:10 The Eat is a band out of Miami, Florida whose 7″ singles and lone LP would haunt punk record collectors for years due to their scarcity and rarity. That’s what happens when great songs get limited to small presses. Luckily Jello Biafra picked up the discography and released it all as a compilation in 2007. From their 1980 sophomore EP, God Punishes The Eat, that was “Dr. TV”

01:40 The Beets were a Queens, New York band in the mid 2010s that put out some great lo-fi garage. Not to be confused with the band from the cartoon Doug, the real Beets put out a few albums including one for Hardly Art in 2011 and one for Captured Tracks that same year. “Watching T.V.” comes from the Captured Tracks one, Stay Home.

02:10 Stay home indeed, folks. That’s where the TV is. Of course, you could go screengaze anywhere else these days, but nothing feels like your own couch. In honor of that rerun machine, that LCD imagesystem, that media mumbler, thank you for stopping by for a celebration of television! I’ll see you next episode, same bat time, same bat channel…

02:15 (music plays and fades out)

Outro

37”Television Snow”Johnny JewelWindswept2017

Check out my List for all of the releases featured!


abp: school

abp.nickLeave a comment

Here’s the Spotify link to the playlist. You’re welcome to recreate it on any platform you choose. Just press play and read along, acting like the voice in your head is the DJ. The times listed are that of the song playing, not the full episode length. I play this with a 5-second cross-fade enabled. Have fun!

Intro

FMF#TitleArtistAlbumYear
1“First Day Of School”Michael GiacchinoInside Out Original Soundtrack2015

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 Happy day and welcome to abp’s school episode. Today we’re gonna take a journey down the squeaky, waxed halls of the public education system. From high school, to graduation, to college, it’s all here.

00:40 Education has been a focal point for many advanced nations for centuries, with many more underdeveloped nations joining the school force with the boom of technology. While the internet may at times seem like nothing but a destructive web, thanks to the ability to transfer information instantaneously across the world, the internet has opened up a grip of opportunities for those in more remote locations. At this point, it seems you could do anything from anywhere via satellite.

01:15 All of that aside, today is all about that typical 13-year jaunt of schooling in grades Kindergarten through your Senior year. It seems that right around the time kids get to high school, their rebellious nature kicks in and out come the punk songs.

01:45 Kicking things off with a classic, we’ve got the Ramones doing their End Of The Century track “Rock And Roll High School”. The song also scored the soundtrack to the 1979 film of the same name in which the Ramones played themselves. It’s not Scorsese material, but a fun watch if you’re a Ramones fan. Here we go with the Ramones and “Rock And Roll High School”!

Set 1: Back To Class

2“Rock ‘n’ Roll High School”The RamonesEnd Of The Century1979
3“Going Back To School”The FleshtonesTake A Good Look!2008
4“Back To School”Cheap TimeCheap Time2008
5“I Don’t Wanna Go To School”The DonnasDa Doo Ron Ron EP1996
6“Time Bomb High School”Reigning SoundTime Bomb High School2002

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 That was Greg Cartwright and Reigning Sound chiming in with the title track to their 2002 LP Time Bomb High School. In true garage rock fashion, the song clocks in at under two minutes, almost 90 seconds really. What more do you need? Verse, chorus, verse, bridge, chorus, goodnight!

00:45 Speaking of straight-forward, no-nonsense garage rock, how about The Donnas?! In the early 2000s, The Donnas broke into the mainstream riding the pop-punk explosion wave that the late 90s had created. In the 90s, though, The Donnas were paying homage to the Ramones in their early days right down to their aesthetic. Their song “I Don’t Wanna Go To School” fits in perfectly with that Ramone attitude, and with the rest of the episode.

01:10 Cheap Time got straight to the point in “Back To School”. Their debut LP was released on In The Red Records, home to garage punk icons like Mark Sultan and Ty Segall. The band has gone through countless lineup changes over the years, but founder and frontman Jeff Novak has remained the constant. Their sound has been compared to Redd Kross many times.

01:30 The Fleshtones, although not nearly as famous as the other 70s New York City punk and rock bands, cut their teeth at CBGB’s. They debuted at the club on May 19, 1976. Although that sounds like the early days of punk rock, the Ramones had already played over 100 shows at CBGB’s by then. The Fleshtones contributed “Going Back To School” from their 2008 LP Take A Good Luck!.

02:00 San Francisco garage throwback pioneer Ty Segall is up next with fellow garage head Mikal Cronin to play a track off of their first officially shared credits collaboration together, Reverse Shark Attack. Ty’s production has been everywhere since he started making waves in the scene in the 2000s, including Ex-Cult’s debut album which we’ll get to a little later. Here’s Ty and Mikal with “High School”.

Intermission

7“After School”Brock BeatsSilent Talk2019

Set 2: Hi-Skool

8“High School”Ty Segall & Mikal CroninReverse Shark Attack2009
9“High School”The BratAttitudes EP1980
10“High School Girls”The GearsRockin’ t Ground Zero1980
11“High School Girl”The FrightsFur Sure EP2013
12“High School (Don’t Like Them)”Naked GiantsThe Shadow2020

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 Seattle’s Naked Giants released their debut LP SLUFF on New West Records in 2018 to positive critical reviews. The real challenge was following it up with an equally, if not better, album. As is with every band. With their 2020 sophomore release The Shadow, the band continues their dance-the-stress-away vibe albeit with a slightly more down to earth vibe. From The Shadow, that was “High School (Don’t Like Them).

00:50 Southern California’s The Frights originally formed as a garage rock/surf punk band, but evolved more towards a pop-punk sound in their later records. From the band’s early-on Fur Sure EP, we heard their ode to their crush, “High School Girl”.

01:20 The Gears sang about their high school girl crush too, although in a little more of an aggressive tone. While I really do like this song, something about “You’re gonna get an education/I’m gonna get your ass” just seems so…off. Giving them the benefit of the doubt, what teenage boy isn’t thinking about sex? From their 1980 debut LP Rockin’ At Ground Zero, that was LA legends The Gears.

01:45 The Brat was a nice counter-attack to The Gears’ testosterone-fueled horned up anthem. Led by Chicana powerhouse Teresa Covarrubias, The Brat were also children of the LA punk scene in the late 70s/early 80s. The difference here, is that while most of the West LA punks were children of coastal royalty rebelling against the culture they were supposed to embrace, the East LA punks were generally not the wealthy class. BIPOC bands fit in with the punk scene because of the anti-establishment, DIY, struggling through life similarities. We heard “High School” from the band’s only official release, the 1980 EP Attitudes.

02:15 Now about that love/hate relationship with school. Let’s hear it in full effect. Starting things off is Nirvana with “School” from their debut album Bleach. As we move towards the middle of the set you’ll hear some very poppy and positive school tunes before we get back to hating it again. Let’s hear Kurt Cobain scream “No recess” a few times, here’s Nirvana.

Intermission

13“Middle School”Blue Wednesday Ft. Magnus KlausenChillhop Essentials – Winter 20182018

Set 3: School Spirit

14“School”NirvanaBleach2012
15“High School Roaches”Bass Drum Of DeathHigh School Roaches EP2010
16“Be True To Your School”The VeteransThe Veterans2008
17“Be True To Your School (’til You Get Kicked Out)”The White WiresII2010
18“School Days”Paint FumesUck Life2012

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 The Charlotte, North Carolina band Paint Fumes reminisce about those notorious “School Days” with a cut from their 2012 LP Uck Life. Lead singer Elijah Von Cramon helped fuel the resurgence of garage punk in the Charlotte scene by not only owning the house that hosted garage rock and punk band house parties, but also actively sought out national acts to book. That’s scene devotion.

00:40 Canadian garage rockers The White Wires sang the anti-devotion school anthem with a cut from their 2nd LP WWII. The song was the first single released from that LP. “Be True To Your School (’til You Get Kicked Out)” calls upon that faux patriotism that schools insisted you held during the post-War days of the late 50s/early 60s. Peach Kelli Pop frontwoman Allie Hanlon drums for The White Wires, too!

01:10 The Veterans covered the most famous school spirit song, doing their rendition of “Be True To Your School”. The Beach Boys released the song as a single backed by “In My Room” which featured a harp. A harp.With Andrea Manges and The Veterans covering this one, we get a fresh sound for some taste-tested melodies. The cover comes from The Veteran’s self-titled 2008 debut.

01:40 “High School Roaches” was released by Bass Drum Of Death as an EP in 2010. The also featured “Get Found” from their upcoming album GB City. “Get Found” is the song that began their rise in popularity, but that also might be due to their songs being in so many video games. “Get Found” was in MLB2K12, and other games that have featured their songs include GTA V, Forza 2, Forza 4, and Sunset Overdrive.

02:10 The Rydells claim to be New Hampshire’s finest Ramones inspired rock and roll band. Now, I definitely don’t know enough New Hampshire bands to protest this claim, so for the sake of continuity I’ll agree. In fact, if you couldn’t pick up from the first song of the episode, many of these songs and artists are Ramones-inspired. Three chords and a message. The Rydells play to that perfectly, and on their debut LP Go Mental they proclaim their disdain for school, much like the Ramones did thirty years prior. Here’s Jimmy Rydell and the Rydells doing “School Sucks”.

Intermission

19“Spy School Graduation Theme”Shadowy Men On A Shadowy PlanetSport Fishin’: The Lure Of The Bait, The Luck Of The Hook1993

Set 4: School Sucks

20“School Sucks”The RydellsGo Mental2005
21“I Hate School”Suburban StudsSlam1978
22“I Hate My School”NecrosI.Q. 32 EP1981
23“I Hate My School”Redd KrossRed Cross EP1981
24“Fuck School”The ReplacementsStink (“Kids Don’t Follow” Plus Seven) EP 1982

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 So, Paul Westerberg wasn’t really a fan of school.  The second release from The Replacements was an EP titled Stink (“Kids Don’t Follow” Plus Seven). When the band went to press the album, they went straight for DIY punk ethic and pressed blank white sleeves. The first batch of pressings were stamped with hand carved potatoes dipped in ink! Love it! We heard “Fuck School” from that EP.

00:45 I mentioned Redd Kross earlier in the episode when talking about Cheap Time. The LA punk band is famous for being the starting point of musicians Greg Hetson and Ron Reyes of Bad Religion and Black Flag, respectively. After their debut EP and the departure of those two, the band put out their first LP Born Innocent named after the Linda Blair movie. “Linda Blair” was the first song on that release, and the band was named after the scene in The Exorcist where the character Linda Blair plays masturbates with a cross. A red cross. “I Hate My School” comes from their debut EP.

01:15 Touch and Go Records put out some Midwestern punk rock staples in the 80s, including releases from bands like Big Black, Scratch Acid, and even a Nirvana split single in the 90s. Necros bassist Corey Rusk joined Touch and Go founder Tesco Vee to help run the label and in turn released Necros’ debut EP. Their follow-up EP, I.Q. 32 featured the bass-heavy sounds of “I Hate My School”, another ode to anti-institutionalization.

01:45 Suburban Studs put one album out in 1978 after spending 1977 opening for acts like The Clash and the Sex Pistols. The band comes from Birmingham, England and toured extensively in their short lived career. They were like punk rock Van Halen, in a way, with driving guitar licks leading the sound. I played their 2nd and final single released, “I Hate School”.

02:15 The Lords of Lonesome are out of Kent, England and kick off the graduation set. The next song talks about the status of England in the 80s and the changes brought upon by unions protesting their rights. This song is super catchy and has old school UK oi punk vibes to it, although it was recorded in 2014 by what some might claim as…older rockers. Age is relative. Anyway, here’s the Lords of Lonesome singing about buying a cap and gown on graduation day.

Intermission

25“Play School”Syd DaleHappy Novelties Compilation1970

Set 5: Graduation Day

26“Graduation Day”The Lords Of LonesomeThe Arse Of England Compilation2015
27“Post Graduate”Ex-CultEx-Cult2012
28“I Shoulda Graduated”The Catalogs¡Viva Los Muertos!1996
29“Schools Out”The SpitsVol. IV2009
30“School’s Out”45 GraveSchool’s Out EP1984

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 45 Grave formed in LA in 1979 right around the time the city was peaking in punk. The Germs, Black Flag, Adolescents and so many more bands were tearing up the city at their shows and word was spreading fast thanks to Rodney Bingenheimer on KROQ. Germs drummer Don Bolles drummed for 45 Grave and the band is considered one of the first American Gothic Rock bands. That darkness in rock wasn’t pioneered by them, though. Bands like Black Sabbath and Alice Cooper had that vibe early on. Makes sense that they would cover Alice here, too.

00:45 The Spits released their fourth self-titled LP in 2009, though some platforms call it School’s Out. Whatever the actual title is, the title track is great and sings of burning down the teacher’s car so that they don’t have to go to school. Failing school? No worries, just burn the teacher’s car.

01:15 The Catalogs were a short-lived 90s punk band out of Honolulu, Hawaii. The band released just one LP in 1995, ¡Viva Los Muertos!, and one EP in 1998. Although they never achieved success out of state, member Les Hernandez went on to form The Quintessentials, a fairly well-known horror punk band. Les died in 2019 after getting diagnosed with prostate cancer the previous year. They sure did one amazing parody of “I Wanna Be Sedated” though, with “I Shoulda Graduated”.

01:45 Ty Segall discovered Ex-Cult when they were still called Sex Cult before helping them with a band name re-brand and producing their debut. The punk band channels Ty’s dirty garage sound while adding their own gritty, hardcore flavor. “Post-Graduate” comes from that debut LP.

02:15 For some humans, after high school comes college. Before the Chicago, Illinois punk band Dwarves became the extreme and provocative band they are today, they started as a dirty garage rock band reminiscent of The Sonics out of Seattle. In fact, the band even spent some time on Seattle label Sub Pop before pissing them off on a hoax that the guitarist was stabbed resulting in them being dropped from the label. From their 1986 debut album Horror Stories, here is “College Town”.

Intermission

31“School’s Out”Sandy NelsonBe True To Your School1963

Set 6: Off To College

32“College Town”The DwarvesHorror Stories1986
33“Terminal Preppie”Dead KennedysPlastic Surgery Disasters1982
34“Uninversity”The Woolen MenTemporary Monument2015
35“Art School”The JamIn The City1977
36“Campus”CheatahsSunne EP2015

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 Cheatahs are another shoegaze-y throwback sort of band coming out of London. This band also channels that My Bloody Valentine aesthetic and plays a sort of indie rock that’s washed in dream pop. From their Sunne EP, we heard “Campus”.

00:45 1977 ushered in so much more punk rock than most people understand. It wasn’t just The Ramones or the Sex Pistols who put music out, but rather hundreds, if not thousands of punk bands all channeling the same fast, three-chord style. Perfection. The Jam took inspiration from the Mod movement and The Who, but fit in very well in the early days of punk before branching off into their own sound. From their first LP In The City, that was “Art School”.

01:15 The Woolen Men hail from the Pacific Northwestern United States. Portland, Oregon to be exact. Woolen Men play short punk songs with clean styles and a knack for the obscure. They fit in well with Seattle’s Wimps, which is where I first discovered them. “University” from their 2015 effort Temporary Monument played during the college set.

01:45 Jello Biafra and the Dead Kennedys jumped in with “Terminal Preppie” from their 1982 LP Plastic Surgery Disasters. The song still stands true today calling out yuppie lifestyles in the lyrics. “I’m not here to learn/I just want to get drunk/And major in business/And be taught how to fuck” is the MO of many a college preppie. Sometimes they are jocks who are there not for education but for partying and football, or sometimes they’re the rich kid whose never known a consequence. They exist, and the Dead Kennedys want you to know how much they suck.

02:15 Well students, I’m afraid that bring an end to our lesson today. I hope you’re outlook on schooling isn’t as jaded as many of the writers of the songs played today. While institutional learning has it’s downfalls, the lack of education our world is experiencing is showing some pretty nasty colors. Don’t hate, ED-U-CATE! Thank you for joining me today, I’ll see you next time.

Outro

37“Slideshow At Free University”Le TigreLe Tigre1999

Check out myList for all of the releases featured!


abp: work

abp.nick1 Comment

Here’s the Spotify link to the playlist. You’re welcome to recreate it on any platform you choose. Just press play and read along, acting like the voice in your head is the DJ. The times listed are that of the song playing, not the full episode length. I play this with a 5-second cross-fade enabled. Have fun!

Intro

FMF#TrackArtistAlbumYear
1“The Work Song”The VenturesWild Things!1966

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 Hello and welcome to ABP’s surfing episode! Today we’ll be hearing songs from all walks of the world all united in one common goal; work. Do you just love your job? Good for you. Do you just hate your job? Well, get ready to lament in like company because most of today’s songs are fairly anti-work.

01:10 Humans have been working since the dawn of their existence. Throughout most of their existence, though, a paycheck wasn’t always waiting for the laborer. The majority of human life has been exploited for someone else’s gain and it wasn’t until the past 100 years or so that employees began to gain real rights in the workplace.

01:40 What started as an ancient form of labor, artisan masters at the top with journeyman laborers studying them, started to turn into a more organized form of work right around the time the industrial revolution occurred. Many years of bloodshed and trampled human rights had to pass by for workers to be represented in a somewhat fair way, though even today there isn’t equal pay for equally qualified individuals.

02:10 In spite or because of all of that, I want to celebrate the act of work. Whether you own your own business, or are an entry level paper pusher, we all gotta serve somebody. Art Brut tells stories in their songs, and on their 2009 masterpiece Art Brut vs. Satan, they hired a legend in the storytelling punk scene, Frank Black, to produce them. The album would feature an homage track to Minneapolis band The Replacements, along with this next cut about those sweaty summer work days. Here’s “Summer Job”.

Set 1: To Work, Or Not To Work

2“Summer Job”Art BrutArt Brut vs. Satan2009
3“The Dreaded Day Job”Thee VicarsBack On The Streets2008
4“I Wanna Get A Job In The City”The KidsThe Kids1978
5“Don’t Need No Job”The A-BonesDon’t Need No Job / Wah-Hey! – 7″ Single1993
6“The Working Man”Creedence Clearwater RevivalCreedence Clearwater Revival1968

00:10  (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 The Golliwogs changed their name after reuniting during a hiatus in which two of the members were drafted by the US Army. During their reunion, they tossed around a few names, but liked the idea of somehow incorporating their friend Credence Newball’s moniker. What started as Creedence Nuball and the Ruby would evolve into Creedence Clearwater Revival and an album would follow in 1968. From that debut, we heard “The Working Man”.

00:40 The A-Bones covered an old rare rock and roll b-side from Jerry Parsons & The Blue Jeans. Jerry and the group would release Undecided / Don’t Need No Job in 1959 on Amp Records but that’s all you’ll find from them. The A-Bones covered “Don’t Need No Job” in 1993 and released it as a single backed by “Wah-Hey!”.

01:10 Belgium’s best-known punk band The Kids dropped in with an ode to getting a job in the big city. The Kids formed in 1976 and true to their name recorded their debut album when bassist Danny De Haes was only 15! “I Wanna Get A Job In The City” comes from that debut self-titled album.

01:40 Thee Vicars hailed from Bury Saint Edmunds, UK and brought that wild energy to their garage rock sound. As is the case for many stars that burn so bright, they would disband after the death of vocalist Chris Langeland at just 22 years old. Chris left us with some amazing music, though. Including “The Dreaded Day Job” from their debut LP Back On The Streets.

02:10 In the next set, we go job hunting. The stress of being out of work can eclipse even the sharpest of minds when you’re up against the wall. Minneapolis garage rock veterans The Blind Shake are here to sing about being out of work.

Intermission

7“Trip To Work”Smoke Trees.Into The Deep2017

Set 2: Wanted Help

8“Out Of Work”The Blind ShakeSeriousness2011
9“God Damn Job”The ReplacementsStink (“Kids Don’t Follow” Plus Seven)1982
10“Workin'”Black LipsLet It Bloom2005
11“Work”Frankie & The Witch FingersZAM2019
12“New Job”Dry CleaningSweet Princess EP2018

00:10  (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 London’s Dry Cleaning released their debut EP Sweet Princess before they had even played a show. While the band resents the descriptor, they do fit in nicely in the early 80s first wave post-punk sound a la Magazine, Joy Division, and the like. I played the spoken-word laden “New Job” for you today.

00:40 Indiana-born psychedelic rock group Frankie & The Witch Fingers swooped in with an ode to work. The genesis of the band came with some members collaborating with guys from Triptides. While Triptides ride the psychedelic wave a bit more, Frankie turns up the distortion.

01:10 Distortion and psychedelia are ingredients for many of the bands played on abp, including one of the more infamous groups, Black Lips. If you’ve never seen the Black Lips perform live, you’ve probably got more wholesome imagery in your head than someone who has. The band is known to get wild. From their 3rd LP Let It Bloom, the Lips’ contributed “Workin” to the show.

01:40 Before the Lips’ we heard a two-fer from Minneapolis. The Replacements released their 1982 EP Stink in a first batch of pressings that included cover art stamped from potatoes. In fact, the first 3 pressings of Stink were potato stamped, the 2nd pressing being in red ink. We heard “God Damn Job” from that EP.

02:10 Up next is the big boss set. Jimmy Reed wrote so many blues songs that inspired a new generation of artists, you could possibly crown him as rock and roll royalty. In fact, maybe we should. The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, Elvis Presley, The Grateful Dead, hell, even Bill Cosby threw is interpretation of “Big Boss Man” on an album. So here’s to Jimmy Reed with The Headcoatees covering “Big Boss Man”.

Intermission

13“Boss”The RumblersBoss1962

Set 3: Pay The Cost To Be The Boss

14“Big Boss Man”Thee HeadcoateesHave Love Will Travel1992
15”You’re Not The Boss Of Me”The GruesomesCave-In!2000
16”Boss”NeckingCut Your Teeth2019
17”My Boss”Heroine SheiksSiamese Pipe2002
18“Who’s The Boss?”The DewtonsKill Bozy2016

00:10  (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 If you’re going to play rock and roll in the USA, starting a band in Detroit might be a good idea. Home to the godfathers of punk rock The Stooges, the city generates some of the best, hardest rock and punk America has to offer. The Dewtons fit right in. Their call-and-response anthem “Tony Danza (Who’s The Boss)” can overcome every crowd member with an urge to yell out the 80s TV star’s name.

00:40 Heroine Sheiks frontman Shannon Selberg is another Minneapolis musician arguing against work. More acutely, Selberg is fed up with his boss. Selberg hails from Minneapolis art-noise outfit The Cows and started the Sheiks after moving to NYC. Butthole Surfers frontman Gibby Haynes took them on tour as well. More from him later.

01:10 Vancouver band Necking tells it like it is. With their debut 2019 LP Cut Your Teeth, the band channels unfiltered biographical experiences and lays it all out on the table. “Boss” appears like a tongue-in-cheek lashing about “the man in charge of my livelihood”, when in turn the power comes from this song’s attitude. Well done.

01:40 The Gruesomes reunited in 2000 after a ten year hiatus. They band broke up in 1990 after achieving what they felt was the most success a group like them could achieve. Luckily for them (and us), garage rock is timeless. From their 200 reunion LP Cave-In!, that was “You’re Not The Boss Of Me”.

02:10 Unfortunately for us plebs, working multiple jobs is no longer a reflection of a go-getter or someone in a rut, but is rather reflective of the typical middle-class worker. What once was something rare has since become the norm. Erik Nervous explains his situation relative to the status quo in the next cut. “Do one job, and then do another”. Sounds about right. Here’s Erik Nervous with “Eight Jobs”.

Intermission

19”The Spanish Job”Cookin’ On 3 BurnersBlind Bet2014

Set 4: Just To Get By

20”Eight Jobs”Erik NervousAssorted Anxieties2018
21”Hard Workin’ Man”Natural Child19712011
22”The Way That You Work”Les SexareenosOut To Sea EP2001
23”My Job At The Hive”CoachwhipsDouble Death2006
24”Friday On My Mind”The EasybeatsGood Friday1966

00:10  (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 While the single was released in October of 1966, the debut album from The Easybeats, Good Friday, would be the one to host the international pop hit the following year. Each verse starts in a minor key with a new day in the week, culminating in a weekend rush of major key bliss. That was “Friday On My Mind”.

00:40 Oh Sees frontman Jon Dwyer turned up the distortion on every single instrument, including the vocals, for his side project Coachwhips. The band was known for their raw, dirty, noisy garage punk sound and executed it masterfully. They sound like the Kinks run through a megaphone, then through a fuzz pedal. From the b-sides compilation Double Death, that was “My Job At The Hive”.

01:10 Mark Sultan and Les Sexareenos popped into the middle of the set with a cut from their 2001 Out To Sea EP. The Sexareenos are one of many, many groups that Mark contributed to over the years. That was “The Way That You Work”.

01:40 Natural Child channeled their inner-Stones with the release of 1971. The Rolling Stones released Sticky Fingers that year, which nearly every Natural Child song on this album pays homage to. It’s a vibe, a style, that the Brits-turned-Southern Blues rockers perfected and Natural Child cooks with those ingredients zestfully.

02:10 In the next set, the time has come for celebration. What’s everyone’s favorite part of a job? The paycheck of course! Swedish punkabilly band The Accidents are members of the Burning Heart Records family. Burning Heart is closely affiliated with Brett Gurewitz’s Epitaph Records, and Epitaph releases Burning Heart albums in the US, including major releases from The Hives, Millencolin, and the Refused. Here’s “4 Days Til’ Payday” from The Accidents.

Intermission

25”Lazarus Goes Back To Work”The Mercury FourCodename: Aurora2007

Set 5: Pay Day

26“4 Days Til’ Payday”The AccidentsPoison Chalice2005
27”Just Got Paid”SHINERSNow EP2017
28“Just Got Paid”BNLXEP #32010
29“Just Got Paid”The NaturalsWe Are The Naturals2017
30”Paycheck”FIDLARFIDLAR2012

00:10  (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 FIDLAR spawned from the settled ashes of the late 80s punk movement in an incredibly natural way; with half the band members being literal spawns of a local legend. Greg Kuehn is an accomplished keyboardist and started his career with SoCal punks T.S.O.L.. Greg’s sons Max and Elvis play in FIDLAR. FIDLAR played “Paycheck” from their debut LP.

00:40 The Jolly brothers from Philly, PA recorded their debut LP completely on their own, full DIY style. After releasing it online in 2017, the Melbourne label Popboomerang Records picked it up for distribution. From that debut, we heard the brothers’ take on what they’d do when they “Just Got Paid”.

01:10 BNLX was the brainchild of Minneapolis musician Ed Ackerson. Ed made a big name for himself in the scene by fronting the band Polara in the 90s. After Polara, Ed took up production and manned the boards for bands like The Replacements, Motion City Soundtrack, Soul Asylum and more. Ed died in 2019 somewhat unexpectedly as he had hidden his cancer diagnosis from the public. Pete Townshend wished him well on stage when he played at the Xcel Center in Saint Paul, only to learn Ed would die a month later. Ed and BNLX contributed “Just Got Paid” to the playlist today.

01:40 SHINERS hail from London and are possibly one of the more “polished” garage rock acts on the show. There is definitely a garage rock vibe going on in “Just Got Paid”, but the production quality seems to push it into pop territory. Do with that information what you will. SHINERS put out Now 2017 in, well, 2017.

02:10 As the end of the work week nears, the level of production tends to wane a bit in the average worker bee. Maybe even to the point where you’d want to quit. Let’s hear a set of songs that could inspire you to walk off the job. Starting it off is Austin, Texas band the Butthole Surfers with a deep cut demo from their earliest days. Here’s “I Hate My Job” from Gibby and the gang.

Intermission

31”Easy Job”The Dead RocksOne Million Dollar Surf Band2008

Set 6: Who’s Comin’ With Me?

32”I Hate My Job”Butthole SurfersHumpty Dumpty LSD2002
33”I Hate My Fucking Job”M.O.T.O.Eternal Standby EP1998
34”Quit Your Job”Chixdiggit!Born On The First Of July1998
35”Quit Your Job”WimpsRepeat2013
36”Take This Job And Shove It”Dead KennedysBedtime For Democracy1986

00:10  (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 With a name like Johnny Paycheck you’d better have a song or two about work. In 1977, Johnny recorded the David Allan Coe-penned tune for his comeback album of the same name. Dead Kennedys covered it on their final LP Bedtime For Democracy in 1986.

00:40 Seattle’s Wimps repeated the call to leave work with “Quit Your Job” off of their debut LP Repeat. Guitarist and lead singer Rachel Ratner founded Seattle radio station KEXP’s volunteer program while working there as a DJ. The band has since become a member of the Kill Rock Stars family.

01:10 One of the shortest songs you’ll ever hear on abp, Chixdiggit’s “Quit Your Job”, played before Wimps. The track comes from their sophomore LP Born On The First Of July but also was featured on the Fat Wreck Chords ambitious compilation Short Songs For Short People. The comp hosted 101 bands doing 30 seconds or less songs.

01:40 Masters Of The Obvious, or M.O.T.O. for short, formed in New Orleans in the early 80s by Paul Caporino. Paul would record songs by himself over the course of two decades, sometime enlisting band members for live shows. The first proper album came from Paul and the group in 2003; Kill Moto. Paul seems to really hate his job, though I can’t imagine he’s talking about playing rock and roll.

02:00 I suppose the glitz and glamour of being a rock star may wear off for some over time. For others it might be the only job they’ll ever know or want. For most, it seems, though, work is just another part of life, no matter how many songs or albums you’ve put out. Because of that, we get an entire library of music devoted to that dreaded 9-5. Thanks for joining me today, see you next time!

02:15 (music plays and fades out)

Outro

37”Work Tapes”Magic In Threes32016

Check out my List for all of the releases featured!

Heard To Find: The Jon-Lee Group – “Pork Chops”

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Artist: The Jon-Lee Group
Track:“Pork Chops”
Release: Bring It Down Front / Pork Chops (7″)
Year: 1967
Duration: 2:10

I found this buried in a box of beat up and thrown out 7″ records from a former coworker of mine. Most of the records he gave me were part of a lot sold on eBay from an old diner in California coupled with some books. The coworker wanted the books, the records came with them. So, naturally, he gave the wax to his record-loving pal; yours truly. 

Now for a little backstory on the band.

John Finley would seem like just another revolving member of The Checkmates by the time he met with the band in 1964. The Checkmates formed as Lee Jackson & The Checkmates in 1962, before experiencing a few lineup changes throughout the next few years. As Jon and Lee & The Checkmates, the band would snag some mild local scene success and even score a few huge opportunities to perform for national audiences (opening for the Rolling Stones and some ABC TV slots), but both chances fell apart. By 1967, now evolved into The Jon-Lee Group, the band would record 4 songs, two of which made it to wax. The instrumental B-side from the debut single, “Pork Chops” is the featured track today. 

The track has a down-up-down strum pattern similar to a sped up version of Otis Redding & Carla Thomas’ “Tramp“, “Good Stuff” from The B-52s’ 1992 LP of the same name,  and among many others, another Paul Rothchild connection – The Doors’ “The Changeling”. Rothchild was one of the first to offer the Jon-Lee Group a contract with his “indie” label, Elektra Records. The band declined and would shortly thereafter break up. John Finley and Paul Rothchild would continue their relationship, though, with Paul recruiting John and fellow Checkmate Michael Fonfora to form his new super-group Rhinoceros.  

As far as I know, this cut and it’s A-side companion, “Bring It Down Front”, never saw a re-release, even after The Checkmates reformed in 1999. Even though it’s a bit obscure, maybe someday a repress will happen. With it being distributed by a large label like ABC Records, there could be hope. It’s not like this was just some small private pressing, someone knows where those tapes are! In the meantime, all we have are some hard-to-find 7″ records (which I luckily landed a copy of) and the glorious YouTube rips from vinyl heads across the world. Enjoy the “Pork Chops”, bon appetit!

Check out a full bio and history of the band as well as some insight into Rhinoceros at http://www.rhinoceros-group.com/checkmates.html!

abp: radio

abp.nickLeave a comment

Here’s the Spotify link to the playlist. You’re welcome to recreate it on any platform you choose. Just press play and read along, acting like the voice in your head is the DJ. The times listed are that of the song playing, not the full episode length. I play this with a 5-second cross-fade enabled. Have fun!

Intro

FMF#TitleArtistAlbumYear
1“Midnight Radio”Mecca:83FUTURES Vol. 52018

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 Hello and welcome to abp’s radio episode! Today we’re digging into the broadcast medium that blasts sound waves across the land. Radio technology has been around since the 19th century and to this day is still used in it’s most basic form – broadcasting radio waves via transmitters to receivers all across the globe. Nowadays we have this thing called the internet, which basically does away with the old AM/FM signals and streams via the online connection, but we still want those airwaves.

00:45 I wanted to do a little something fun today, so we’re going to hear our radio episode book-ended with two versions of “Video Killed The Radio Star”. First up is Joyce Manor’s sped-up and tonally flattened version. Joyce Manor’s 2012 LP Of All Things I Will Soon Grow Tired borrows distinct design elements from the legendary Germs’ GI release. The music itself also borrows from Germs elements, though more in the vein of new age punk rock than early 80s sloppy hardcore. We lost Germs bassist Lorna Doom in 2019 to cancer and the infamous Darby Crash took his own life in 1980 by way of intentional heroin overdose. Joyce Manor’s 2018 release Million Dollars To Kill Me was named after Travis Barker’s memoir Can I Say in which Travis recounts offering a friend a million bucks to end his suffering after a horrific 2008 plane crash that injured him and DJ AM as well as killing the rest of the entourage on board. DJ AM died from an overdose the following year.

01:35 All this talk about overdose has me fixing for music. Let’s try to lighten the mood a bit. Here is Joyce Manor doing “Video Killed The Radio Star”!

Set 1: Radio Killed The Video Star

2“Video Killed The Radio Star”Joyce ManorOf All Things I Will Soon Grow Tired2012
3“Radio, Radio”Elvis Costello & The AttractionsThis Year’s Model1978
4“New Radio”Bikini KillNew Radio – 7″ Single1993
5“Radio On”Ex HexRips2014
6“Car Radio”SpoonA Series of Sneaks1998

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 Austin, Texas’ Spoon have been locked in indie rock legacy ever since the turn of the century, but it was probably thanks to some mid-to-late-90s solid releases that helped them climb there. The band’s sophomore effort A Series Of Sneaks was at the time met with flat acceptance, but since has grown into a cult classic of an album; proof once more that some artists are ahead of their time.

00:45 Washington D.C. native Mary Timony released her third solo LP Ex Hex way back in 2005 on the legendary Lookout! Records, but would take the album title and form a band under the moniker almost ten years later. Rather than the darker, brooding sounds of her solo work, Ex Hex channels the Pacific Northwest punk rock sounds of Sleater-Kinney. Mary was part of the Carrie Brownstein/Janet Weiss side project Wild Flag. The Ex Hex 2014 debut features the track “Radio On”.

01:10 Staying in the PNW, Bikini Kill dropped in with the title track to the 1993 New Radio single. A lyrical force of sexuality and rebellion, the song fits in perfectly with the writing style and content of Kathleen Hannah and Bikini Kill. Known as one of the forerunners of the riot grrrl movement, Kathleen has also released music with the electropop group Le Tigre and The Julie Ruin.

01:30 One of the most famous acts of rebellion in live music may have been when Elvis Costello stopped his band ten seconds into his Saturday Night Live performance of “Less Than Zero” to change tunes and sing the anti-corporate radio anthem “Radio, Radio”. Lorne Michaels was not amused and banned Elvis from Saturday Night Live until 1989 (supposedly giving Elvis the middle-finger during the whole performance).

02:00 Coming up in the next set we have The Shazam. Little Steven’s Underground Garage named this song their “Coolest Song Of The Week” back in 2006, though the song was actually released in 2000.  Little Steven called it the “coolest fucking thing (he’s) heard in 20 years”. The song is legit, but to say that about the decades 1980-2000 seems a bit…irresponsible? Nevertheless, let’s get to it. Taken from The Shazam’s 2000 EP Rev9, named after the Beatles’ “Revolution 9” which the band covered on that EP, here’s “On The Airwaves”.

Intermission

7“Radio Flyer”Sinitus TempoV2016

Set 2: Fresh Airwaves

8“On the Airwaves”The ShazamRev92000
9“Don’t Listen To The Radio”The VinesVision Valley2006
10“We Want The Airwaves”Shonen KnifeOsaka Ramones2011
11“Do You Remember Rock And Roll Radio”RamonesEnd Of The Century1979
12“Radio Head”Talking HeadsTrue Stories1986

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 Radiohead, of course, took their name from the Talking Heads song we just heard. David Byrne directed and starred in the feature film True Stories, along with John Goodman and Swoosie Kurtz.  Talking Heads re-recorded studio versions of the songs they played in the film and released the album True Stories to coincide with the movie. There was also a different soundtrack album released with various artists like Terry Allen & The Panhandler Mystery Band and Steve Jordan on it. Steve played the accordion on “Radio Head”.

00:50 The Ramones questioned our memories of the days of old when rock and roll ruled the radio. The imagery of “lying in bed with your covers pulled up over your head, radio playin’ so no one can see” is such a great snapshot of being a kid obsessed with music during the golden age of rock and roll.  How appropriate a song, too, being that the 1979 LP End Of The Century was produced by the legendary producer and convicted murder Phil Spector. Hear that Wall of Sound?

01:20 Osaka, Japan’s Shonen Knife formed roughly 6 months after the release of The Ramones’ 1981 LP Pleasant Dreams. Shonen Knife’s debut release is an ultimate holy grail rare cassette-only album. Minna Tanoshiku was put out by the band in 1982 in a limited release of 50 copies. Some tape cases had the band’s lip prints on them! They did a Ramones tribute album in 2011, Osaka Ramones, to celebrate the band’s 30-year career

01:45 The Vines timed their American debut juuuust right with the release of their 2001 LP Highly Evolved. Riding the garage rock wave first rippled by The Strokes and The White Stripes and The Hives and all of The “The” bands alike, The Vines would hit it big with “Get Free”, a tune they completely demolished on the Late Show With David Letterman. When Craig Nicholls did a somersault after the first verse he knocked the guitar out of tune and oh boy did things fall apart after that! Awesome performance though. We played the first single off of their third album Vision Valley, “Don’t Listen To The Radio”.

02:15 Up next we have Brooklyn, New York band Nude Beach with the album opener off of their 2012 sophomore LP II. As the song is about to explain, sometimes there’s just not much worse than a radio playing a song you just don’t wanna hear. Here’s Brooklyn’s Nude Beach with “Radio”.

Intermission

13“Hunting Bears”RadioheadAmnesiac2000

Set 3: RAD-10

14“Radio”Nude BeachII2012
15“Turn Off The Radio”The SpaceshitsMisbehavin’1999
16“Radio”Ty SegallFirst Taste2019
17“Rock N Roll Radio”SkegssRock N Roll Radio – Single2014
18“Playing On The Radio”The ShivasDark Thoughts2019

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 The Shivas hail from Portland, Oregon’s mid-aught’s house show scene. What’s more punk rock than DIY? Nothing. Can’t book a venue? Make a venue. Can’t find a promoter? Make a flier and staple it on the telephone pole. The Shivas fit right into that aesthetic, though pouring out garage rock psychedelia more often than pure punk rock. That was “Playing On The Radio” from 2019’s Dark Thoughts.

00:40 Skegss are another garage rock revival outfit from down under. The band made international headlines in 2015 when rappers Reese and Lil Yachty released a single “Do It” with perhaps the most blatantly stolen album artwork I’ve ever seen. Skegss had just started as a band the previous year and released their second single ever “Rock N Roll Radio” in 2014.

01:10 Ty Segall is a garage rock revival icon. Maybe even the millennial generation’s version of Mark Sultan and King Khan. Like those two, Ty is involved in countless bands and music projects. Ty plays everything from covers to collaborations, even TV show theme songs. His 2019 release First Taste was his second with the Freedom Band and featured “Radio”.

01:40 The Spaceshits put out one album in 1999, but are most notably known for being the group that connected Mark Sultan and King Khan. Sultan became the group’s singer shortly after joining and Khan, then known as Blacksnake, would replace one of the many guitarists that they cycled through in their short tenure as a band. When they were blacklisted from their hometown of Montreal due to violent stage shows, they toured Europe. Blacksnake stayed in Europe, Germany specifically, and began his new career as King Khan. The Spaceshits dropped “Turn Off The Radio” before The Shivas.

02:10 Red Mass is the brainchild of another Montreal garage rock vet, Roy Vucino. Vucino teamed up with Mark Sultan after The Spaceshits dissolved and formed Les Sexareenos, one of many of Mark’s projects. The Red Mass project features collaborations from up to 60 people, sometimes contributing recorded material via mail. Much like the famous Postal Service duo did in the early 2000s, Red Mass takes it to another level. Here’s “Radio Radio” from Red Mass’ 2009 Red Mass EP.

Intermission

19“Esecuzione Radiofonica”Ennio MorriconeThe Blue-Eyed Bandit Soundtrack1982

Set 4: Pirate Radio

20“Radio Radio”Red MassRed Mass EP2008
21“Radio Wunderbar”The CarpettesThe Carpettes1977
22“Sex On The Radio”Ivy GreenIvy Green1978
23“Radio Radio”The KidsNaughty Kids1978
24“Radio Rape”The CortinasTrue Romances1978

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 The Cortinas were the Bristol, UK group that paired up nicely with The Clash in 1977, but were nowhere near as successful as them. Coincidentally, though, Cortinas guitarist Nick Sheppard would go on to play on The Clash’s Cut The Crap album after Mick Jones and Topper Headon were fired from the band. The Cortinas debut album signaled the end of them, however, with the band breaking up after its release. From that 1978 album True Romances, we heard “Radio Rape”, a song about making love to the radio.

00:45 The Kids, from Belgium, were another early punk rock band that are known for their anti-fascism anthem “Fascist Cops”. They released their debut self-titled album in 1978 on Dutch company Philips Records. Yes, that same Philips that made radios that you may well have played, or perhaps you’ve used their light bulbs? The Kids’ sophomore LP was also released in 1978, from which we played “Radio Radio”.

01:15 Ivy Green were actually from the Netherlands where Philips Records was founded. They were one of the few Dutch punk bands to land a major record deal and released their self-titled debut on Pogo Records in 1978. The cut “Sex On The Radio”, another weird ode to aural love, is almost a note-for-note mimic of Black Flag’s “Black Coffee“, but the Black Flag song didn’t come out for another 6 years. Coincidence or ripoff? You decide! Ivy Green was the name of Hellen Keller’s childhood home in Alabama.

01:45 British punk band The Carpettes‘ 1977 debut self-titled EP featured the track “Radio Wunderbar” and some issues of it list that as being the title of the EP. The Carpettes lasted all but four years before breaking up in 1981. They briefly reunited in 1996 and then again after the turn of the millennium eventually touring the USA in 2011. Nothing matches the energy of that debut EP, though!

02:15 The Clash’s debut EP took a jab at the radio industry and was released with an interview comprising most of the EP with just one song finishing it off. The only way to get this EP was to mail in a coupon printed in NME, plus the red sticker found on the band’s debut studio album The Clash which had been released just that week. After hearing that the EP was being sold for unbelievably high prices, they re-recorded the song and released “Capital Radio Two” on their 2nd EP The Cost Of Living. Here’s the Clash with “Capital Radio”.

Intermission

25“Radioactivo”SuprahumanosAutomatas2015

Set 5: Ra(nci)dio

26“Capital Radio”The ClashCapital Radio EP1977
27“Radio Havana”RancidRancid2000
28“Radio”Mad SinHooligans United: A Tribute to Rancid Compilation2015
29“Please Play This Song On The Radio”NOFXWhite Trash, Two Heebs And A Bean1992
30“You Can’t Say Crap On The Radio”Stiff Little FingersStraw Dogs – 7″ Single1979

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 Ireland’s Stiff Little Fingers nearly broke into the mainstream with their 1980 single “Straw Dogs” narrowly missing the Top of the Pops charts, which is fairly ironic considering the b-side to “Straw Dogs” was the anti-mainstream radio anthem “You Can’t Say Crap On The Radio”. The track also borrowed the main riff from The Clash’s “Capital Radio” as a bit of an outro. “Caaapital radio” was changed to “Craaapital radio”.

00:45 NOFX took the Stiff Little Fingers’ idea and went a step further. In “Please Play This Song On The Radio”, the band begs the radio DJ to play their new song on the radio while slowly devolving into a cuss fest, nullifying their initial request. The song comes 1992’s biographically-named LP White Trash, Two Heebs, And A Bean. NOFX also covered Rancid’s song “Radio” for their split LP release with the group in 2002.

01:15 German psychobilly band Mad Sin contributed their version of Rancid’s legendary punk anthem “Radio” to the Hellcat Records, Tim Timebomb-sequenced Hooligans United: A Tribute To Rancid compilation.  That comp features some great takes on Rancid tunes, with some bands staying true to the songs and some taking them in an entirely new direction or language.

01:45 When Rancid recorded their 2000 self-titled fifth album, they did it one full take. Well, two full times run-through, with the second take being used. It brought such a personal feel to the record, and when Tim sings the final lines of the album you can hear him “signing off” and thanking everyone for listening. “Radio Havana” was the longest song on the LP clocking in at 3:42.

02:15 With the release of Scratching the Door: The First Recordings of the Flaming Lips, we finally got an official output of their first cassette demo. The only original song on the demo was “Killer On The Radio”, followed by a cover of the “Batman Theme”, The Who’s “Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere”, and Richie Havens’ “Handsome Johnny”. The Who covered the “Batman Theme” on their first EP, and their second ever single released was “Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere”. That’s interesting. Here’s the Lips’ only original from their debut demo, “Killer On The Radio”.

Intermission

31“Fermentação Radioativa”Light StrucksLight Strucks2017

Set 6: Radio Midwest

32“Killer On The Radio”The Flaming LipsScratching The Door: The First Recordings Of The Flaming Lips2018
33“Radio Friendly Unit Shifter”NirvanaIn Utero1993
34“Radio K”The Ergs!Jersey’s Best Prancers2007
35“Left Of The Dial”The ReplacementsTim1985
36“Video Killed The Radio Star”The Presidents Of The United States Of AmericaPure Frosting1998

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 “You are the radio star”!  The Presidents Of The United States Of America cap the episode today with their 3rd-recorded version of “Video Killed The Radio Star”. This version comes from their post-first-breakup compilation of b-sides and covers titled Pure Frosting. “Video” also caps off the 1998 Adam Sandler movie The Wedding Singer as it plays while the credits roll.

00:45 The Replacements played us a shout out to indie radio or college radio as it was known in the 80s. The term “left of the dial” comes from those stations being so low on the transmitter dials, usually with frequencies like 88.1 and 90.7. The band’s 1985 LP Tim would land them a slot on Saturday Night Live and just like Elvis Costello – they’d get banned.  This time not for performing the wrong song, but for absolutely destroying their dressing room and switching clothes with each other before the performance.

01:15 The Ergs! dropped in with an ode to The Replacements’ hometown college radio station Radio K. The University of Minnesota’s station KUOM was formed in 1993 and has been solidly playing the best up and coming tunes ever since. The Ergs! must have enjoyed it enough to write about it. The tune comes from their 2007 EP Jersey’s Best Prancers.

01:45 Just under an hour drive south of Radio K’s headquarters would bring you to Cannon Falls, MN’s Pachyderm Studio where Nirvana recorded their third and final studio album In Utero. “Radio Friendly Unit Shifter” was originally titled “Nine Month Media Blackout” and was a collage of poetry thrown back at the success of Nirvana in ’91. Kurt is reported to have hated the success, but others contest that view. In February of 1993, the band headed to the small Minnesota town and were “locked in” by the snow to get their work done and get out of there. Steve Albini brought his powerful technique and the studio’s notoriously amazing drum sounds were also captured. The result was a masterpiece in rock and the band would dissipate only a year later following Kurt’s suicide. 

02:15 We began and ended with “Video Killed The Radio Star” along with a few stories of rock stars who died young. The rock and roll lifestyle has claimed countless young ones throughout time and still continues to do so. I suppose the word of advice here is that if you choose to get into the music world, be prepared for the harsh vices that could come your way. Thank you for joining me today and listening along. See you next time!

Outro

37“Dial”David Cutter MusicSingles Two2018

Check out myList for all of the releases featured!

abp: surfing

abp.nick5 Comments

Here’s the Spotify link to the playlist. You’re welcome to recreate it on any platform you choose. Just press play and read along, acting like the voice in your head is the DJ. The times listed are that of the song playing, not the full episode length. I play this with a 5-second cross-fade enabled. Have fun!

Intro

FMF#TrackArtistAlbumYear
1“Bustin’ Surfboards”The TornadoesBustin’ Surfboards1963

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 Hello and welcome to abp’s surfing episode! Today we’re gonna grind some gnarly waves and get sooooooo pitted, dude! International Surfing Day is typically held on the third Saturday of June, right around the summer solstice. Originally brought to mainland America by Hawaiians and Native Polynesians, the sport saw an explosion in popularity in the 1960s Southern California scene.  With help from a plethora of beach movies starring Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello, the Beach Boys and Jan & Dean’s music, and the beat generation books about heading out West, the sport would become a staple in the area.  

01:10 In honor of the sport and its venue, we’re playing all kinds of surf and beach songs.  We’ll hear songs about the “locals only” mentality, surfing birds, menstruation, a few covers, and some of the most famous surf instrumentals between sets.

01:40 Behind us, we’ve got The Tornadoes doing “Bustin’ Surfboards” from 1962.  The band released one album with this tune included but would never record another.  Quentin Tarantino would later famously use this track in his 1994 cult classic film Pulp Fiction.  

02:10 Kicking off our show is the infamous So-Cal band Surf Punks.  While not making waves in the mainstream, the band definitely had a local following.  The band’s performance of this song live at the Whiskey A-Go-Go was featured in the punk documentary Urgh! A Music War. This right here, is peak 80’s “getting pitted”. So pitted.  Here are Surf Punks with “My Beach”.

Set 1: Locals Only

2“Meet Me At The Beach”Surf PunksMy Beach1980
3“King Of The Beach”WavvesKing Of The Beach2010
4“(I Hate) Surfin’ In HB”D.I.Ancient Artifacts1985
5“Max Can’t Surf”FIDLARFIDLAR2012
6“Surfin’ Bird”The TrashmenSurfin’ Bird1964

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 That was The Trashmen, Minnesota’s most well-known surf/garage group. “Surfin’ Bird” comes from their 1963 album of the same name.  The “bird” combines two other songs to form a medley of sorts; “Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow” and “The Bird’s The Word”; both by The Rivingtons. The Trashmen would stop releasing material in 1967 until 2013 when they would unite with Deke Dickerson for a four song EP.  

00:40 FIDLAR begged to be heard in their ode to drummer Max Kuehn. If you hadn’t gathered from the song itself, their red-haired drummer not only lacks the balance to execute, but gets real stoned and tries to make it work. “Max Can’t Surf” comes from their debut eponymous LP.

01:10 In our first run-in with Rikk Agnew during today’s episode, we heard D.I. playing a cut from their debut album. D.I. spawned from the Adolescents, but mostly just rearranged the players. Casey Foyer, the Adolescents drummer became D.I.’s singer, with Rikk on guitar. Rikk joined Christian Death in 1982 and released an album along with kicking out his own solo effort. We’ll hear more from that later. In our “locals only” set, we heard “(I Hate) Surfin’ In H.B.” That’s Huntington Beach to all you non-locals.

01:40 Kings of the beach Wavves played us one of their theme songs from the album of the same name. Although the production value is quite different, the song structure between “King Of The Beach” and Surf Punks’ “Meet Me At The Beach” is pretty close.  Close enough that I could picture Wavves covering Surf Punks, could you?

02:10 Some So-Cal alternative rock is headed your way now with Weezer doing “Surf Wax America” from their self-titled 1994 LP. Not to be confused with their self-titled 2001 LP, their self-titled 2008 LP, their self-titled 2016 LP, or either of their self-titled 2019 LPs. Of course, even though they’re all self-titled, they’re all a different color. So that helps. Here’s Rivers Cuomo singing about riding a surf board to work.

Intermission

7“Pipeline”The ChantaysPipeline1963

Set 2: Wavy Gravy

8“Surf Wax America”WeezerWeezer1994
9“Tidal Wave”Thee Oh SeesTidal Wave / Heart Sweats – 7″ Single2009
10“Catch A Wave”TriptidesPsychic Summer2011
11“Wave Of Mutilation (UK Surf)”The PixiesHere Comes Your Man – 12″ Single1989
12“Charlie Don’t Surf”The ClashSandinista!1980

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 That was Joe Strummer and The Clash doing “Charlie Don’t Surf” from their 1980 triple LP Sandanista!. The Sandinistas were a political party named after Augusto César Sandino, who led the Nicaraguan resistance against the United States occupation of Nicaragua in the 1930s.  The album would find mild success compared to the follow-up Combat Rock, which launched the band into international fame.  

00:40 Boston band Pixies took plenty of cues from The Clash’s punk rock views.  Black Francis notoriously put out a classified ad seeking a female bass player who liked both Peter, Paul And Mary and Hüsker Dü.  Kim Deal was the only one to answer and showed up without a bass guitar as she had not known how to play.  With the release of the single “Here Comes Your Man” in 1989, the band reworked another track from Doolittle; “Wave Of Mutilation”.  They slowed the song down and gave it a bit of a surf feel, hence the title of the version we played, “Wave Of Mutilation (UK Surf)”.  

01:10 Los Angeles’ psych-surfers Triptides chimed in with a cut from their debut release. Psychic Summer was one of the self-released cassette tapes the band had put out in the early days. The album saw a re-release in 2019 transferring the tape to wax and streaming services. Triptides gave us “Catch A Wave”, not to be confused with the Beach Boys classic.

01:40 Thee Oh Sees dropped a deep cut into our set with “Tidal Wave”. The track comes from the Tidal Wave / Heart Sweats 7″ single released in 2009. If you ever watched the TV series Breaking Bad, you may have recognized this tune. During the episode Salud, (spoiler alert) when Gus presents Don Eladio Vuente with a bottle of rare tequila, they all drink it, get poisoned, and the “heroes” escape. Almost. Either way, cool track for the scene.

02:10 Alright, let’s get into some plagiarism!  The Beach Boys ripped off Chuck Berry’s “Sweet Little Sixteen” so blatantly that Chuck Berry now shares songwriting credits with them.  Granted, the melodies are basic and easily identifiable, it is still quite similar.  This happened so much in the early days of rock and roll, that I’m truly surprised there aren’t more cases. I’m happy there aren’t, just surprised. Anyway, from 1958’s One Dozen Berrys, here’s “Sweet Little Sixteen”.

Intermission

13“Wave”Wun Two & CoryaYoWaves2015

Set 3: He Stole My Board!

14“Sweet Little Sixteen”Chuck BerryOne Dozen Berrys1958
15”Surfin’ USA”The Beach BoysSurfin’ USA1963
16”Surf City”Jan & DeanSurf City & Other Swingin’ Cities1963
17”Crimson Wave”TacocatNVM2014
18“Let’s Go Surfing”The DrumsThe Drums2010

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15  The Drums‘ first single “Let’s Go Surfing” was first released on their debut EP Summertime.  The song would get a slot on their debut album a year later and would make it onto a Volkswagen commercial.  That whistling, it’ll get you every time.  Frontman Jonny Pierce cites the Beach Boys as one of his many influences, along with reverb.

00:40 Prior to The Drums’ surf jam, we heard an ode to menstruation from Seattle’s Tacocat.  The song’s music video would put them into the national spotlight after Katy Perry stole their image and shark costumes for her infamous Super Bowl performance.  The band wasn’t too happy about getting ripped off but also wasn’t interested in a giant legal battle over a dancing shark.  To their credit, to me, it totally looks like she lifted that vibe.  

01:10 From a “Crimson Wave” to the blue waves of Malibu, we heard Jan and Dean and “Surf City”. Jan and Dean are credited with pioneering the vocal harmony sound that The Beach Boys would make famous.  Nearly every other song they wrote was about surfing, all the way to Jan Berry’s car wreck. After spending two months in a coma, Berry would work his way up to walking again and eventually make it to the studio a year later.  They recorded an incredibly psychedelic album in 1967 (Carnival Of Sound) that wouldn’t see the light of day until 2010 when Rhino would release it.

01:40 The Beach Boys’ Chuck Berry ripoff, “Surfin’ U.S.A.”, preceded Jan and Dean. Of course it was a blatant ripoff, it was on purpose. Brian Wilson had the idea of listing all the cool surf spots much like Chuck would list what was happening from city to city in “Sweet Little Sixteen”. So Brian asked his then girlfriend’s brother (who was a surfer) to give him all the hot surfing spots. They put the the list to lyric and the rest is history.  

02:10 Next up, we’re all about the beach. Starting things off is New Zealand’s Scared Of Girls. The Auckland band released a debut EP in 2017 called SUCK and followed it with the “Waihi Beach” single in December of that year. One of the songs from that EP, “Beach Teens”, channels surfing’s most famous guitar riff a la “Miserlou”. See if you can spot it. Here’s Scared Of Girls with “Beach Teens”.

Intermission

19”Wipe Out”The SurfarisWipe Out1963

Set 4: Sand Of The Beach

20”Beach Teens”Scared Of GirlsSUCK2017
21”Beach Rats”The GrowlersHung At Heart2013
22”Beach Sluts”HowlerAmerica Give Up2011
23”Beach Whatever”Surf CurseSad Boys2013
24”Beach Porn”The FrightsDead Beach EP2013

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 The Frights didn’t have intentions to become a full-time band when they played a one-off Christmas show in 2012, but after an audience member approached them in hopes to sign them, they decided to go with it.  Hailing from So-Cal, The Frights incorporate all kinds of genres into their garage rock sound. After the release of the Dead Beach EP in 2013, the band would head to the studio to record their second LP, which was produced by Zac Carper, the frontman of FIDLAR.  

00:40 It only has 6 songs, but the 2013 release from Surf Curse, Sad Boys, is apparently a debut album. Devil’s in the details I suppose. Nevertheless, the duo from Reno slipped into the 20-teens garage revival scene in hip fashion.

01:10 Howler wedged our “beach block” with “Beach Sluts”, the lead track from their debut America Give Up.  After breaking up in 2017, lead singer Jordan Gatesmith formed Wellness. Wellness doesn’t have quite the same garage feel, but puts out great indie “slacker” rock, if you will.  

01:40 SoCal beach goths The Growlers hold the annual Beach Goth festival in Oak Park, CA every year around October.  The band has seen a shift in sound from their early days of surf/psych/garage rock to a more pop-based sound. The Growlers saw some lineup changes in 2020 after allegations came out of sexual misconduct involving them and women within their circle. Whatever happened, I hope they can learn and grow and more importantly, let’s hope the victims or affected parties are listened to and respected.

02:10 The next set blasts off with a rocket…to Russia. The Ramones’ 3rd LP Rocket To Russia was released just 18 months after their debut hit the shelves. “Rockaway Beach”, from that LP, would become the band’s highest performing single ever; proof once again that Billboard charts are not an indicator for great music, just popular music. “Rockaway Beach” is a fantastic track, but The Ramones’ best? Up to you. Rocket To Russia also featured The Ramones covering The Trashmen’s “Surfin’ Bird”. Alright, take it away Dee Dee…1! 2! 3! 4!

Intermission

25”Surf Bat”45 GraveSleep In Safety1983

Set 5: Barrel Rolls

26”Rockaway Beach”The RamonesRocket To Russia1977
27“Surfers Are Back”The BarracudasDrop Out With The Barracudas1980
28”Nude Beach”Peach Kelli PopPeach Kelli Pop III2015
29”Surfin’ Away”Vivian GirlsSurf’s Up EP2008
30”Suzy Is A Surf Rocker”The CrowdBeach Blvd Compilation1979

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 The Crowd hail from Hunting Beach, or “H.B.” as D.I. stated. When Posh Boy Records put out the famous Beach Blvd compilation in 1979, they included five tracks from The Crowd, five from Simpletones, and five from Rik L Rik. The rare cassette version, though, would include the debut Redd Kross EP featuring Greg Hetson. “Suzy Is A Surf Rocker” comes from that comp.

00:40 Before The Crowd we heard a Ramone from New York City singing about surfing. No, it wasn’t those Ramones. Cassie Ramone formed Vivian Girls in 2007 with Kickball Katy and Frankie Rose. After releasing their self-titled debut LP in 2008, the band pushed out a few singles not included on the album. One of those singles, “Surfin’ Away” would get a 1000 copy press and not be included on future albums.

01:10 Allie Hanlon started Peach Kelli Pop in 2009 as a solo project. The band’s name comes from a song title on Redd Kross’s 2nd official album, 1987’s Neurotica. That album is said to have been inspired by Saturday morning cartoons and breakfast cereal, e.g. “Frosted Flakes”. Allie’s inspirations include the anime cartoon Sailor Moon. I think I’m seeing a connection now. That was “Nude Beach” from PKP’s 3rd self-titled album.

01:40 London garage/surf revival band The Barracudas dropped in with a b-side from their 1980 His Last Summer 7″ single. “Surfers Are Back” originally showed up as the b-side, but was actually put on the US version of The Barracudas debut LP Drop Out With The Barracudas in lieu of “Campus Tramp”.

02:10 Popping off our final set is the 1960s Australian group The Delltones. Originally forming as a doo-wop group, the band shifted to surf rock after the US rock n’ roll sub-genre fad spread across the Pacific Ocean. Their cult classic “Hangin’ Five” from 1963 would launch them to national stardom and would also make waves in America.  Oh, by the way, it was also featured in Aussie actor Mel Gibson’s first movie Summer City. Here’s The Delltones with half the wave power of hanging ten.

Intermission

31”Power Surf”Jerry Cole And His SpacemenSurf Age1963

Set 6: Everybody’s Goin’ Surfin’

32”Hangin’ Five”The DelltonesSurf ‘N Stomp1964
33”Surfside”Rikk AgnewAll By Myself1982
34”Surf Combat”Naked RaygunThrob Throb1984
35”Surfin’ Cow”The Dead MilkmenBucky Fellini1987
36”Surfin’”The OrlonsEverybody’s Goin’ Surfin’1962

00:10 (music fades low for voice-over)

00:15 “Surfin’ is the only life/The only way for me/Now surf”. Simple as that. That was the Philadelphia R&B group The Orlons doing a Beach Boys cover from the 1962 surf rock compilation Everybody’s Goin’ Surfin’. The Orlons are perhaps best known for launching the Watusi dance craze with their single “The Wah Watusi” in 1962. Ahh the 60s dance fad craze. Mashed Potatoes, Watusis, Twists, what a time to be alive and be a dancer!

00:40 Keeping things in Philly, we turn to The Dead Milkmen next. They were part of the obscure bands that got lumped in with hardcore punk during the early 80s scene. The Milkmen didn’t have loud, fast songs filled with aggression, but rather with filled their sound with sarcasm and clean guitars. “Surfin’ Cow” from their 1987 LP Bucky Fellini graced the final set.

01:10 I’ve seen surfers on Lake Michigan in thermal suits and ice cold water. I’m still not sure what the draw is though. Chicago 80s punk path-pavers Naked Raygun were perhaps the most prominent early punk band of that scene. With “Surf Combat” off of Throb Throb, the band takes shots at the glitz and glamour of the 80s. “Muscle Beach is now Pork Chop Hill” is such a fantastic, metaphoric line.

01:40 In our final Rikk Agnew run-in for the day we heard a track from his 1982 solo debut All By Myself. Rikk and Casy Royer spent some time in Social Distortion in the band’s early days before splitting off and forming the Adolescents. It’s amazing how connected that So-Cal punk rock scene was. Everyone was in everyone else’s band at some point. Rikk’s tune “Surfside” accompanied The Orlon’s R&B jam.

02:10 And that, surfers, is the end of the swells. The tide is low. The crests are flat. It’s time to go home and wipe the sand off your feet. Thank you very much for stopping by and riding some waves with me today. I look forward to seeing you here again next time!

02:15 (music plays and fades out)

Outro

37”Spudnik (Surf Rider)”The VenturesSurfing1963

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