Before writing MY book, I contributed material to these books.
I’ve been telling you for a while that I have a book coming out. My first book! It is NOT my long-threatened epic The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), but it is a nonfiction work about rockin’ pop music, and it’s very dear to my heart. The publisher has asked me to hold off on announcing specifics, but the book is now scheduled to see the light of day and dark of night in Spring 2023.
Within the next few days, I’ll be chatting with the manager of the company’s sales and marketing division to discuss the road ahead. The manuscript itself was completed by the end of last year, and it’s in the hands of skilled people who know how to take my insights and ramblings and turn ’em all into a book.
This is the achievement of a lifelong dream for me. A book! I’ve contributed to other writers’ books on several occasions (as pictured in the stack of books seen up top), but it feels so razzafrazzin’ fine to finally have a book to call my own. I can’t tell you how much it means. And one book may lead to another.
On an unrelated note: Boppin’ (Like The Hip Folks Do) is nearing three-quarters of a million views. That’s not a huge number by any real-world standard, but it ain’t bad for an unknown author basically yelling at the clouds. HEY! YOU! Get off of my cloud.
But pull up a chair! The long slog to my first million views continues here. Thanks for boppin’ by.
If you like what you see here on Boppin’ (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider supporting this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon, or by visiting CC’s Tip Jar. Additional products and projects are listed here.
This Is Rock ‘n’ Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/ You can read about our history here.
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Born on this day in 1920, in Louisville, Kentucky, actor William Conrad. Conrad got his start as a character actor in radio, during the 1940’s. He transitioned into film noir in the late 1940’s and 1950’s, playing gunmen and villains. He found the role of a lifetime in 1971, as TV detective, Frank Cannon.
This was adapted in part from a previous piece for use in my long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). It is no longer part of that book’s blueprint, but will likely resurface in the even more hypothetical This Is Rock ‘n’ Roll Radio, Volume 2.
An infinite number of tracks can reach be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Today, this is THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE!
T. REX: 20th Century Boy
Written by Marc Bolan
Produced by Tony Visconti Single, Ariola [U.K.], 1973
Marc Bolan–the voice and personification of the ’70s U.K. glam act T. Rex–was killed in a car accident on September 16th, 1977. It was less than a month into my first semester at college, and I heard the news while listening to the radio in my dorm room. I went out to tell people on my floor that Marc Bolan had died. No one had any clue whatsoever about who this Marc Bolan guy was. It was another early sign that I had chosen the wrong musical environment for my college experience.
But, to be fair to my collegiate peers and their divergent musical tastes, I didn’t know all that much about Bolan at the time, either. I knew just one song: “Bang A Gong (Get It On),” an enduring radio classic from 1972, a track even more familiar to me from its inclusion on an oddball 1974 double-album various-artists set called Heavy Metal.
(I have no idea of the thought process that created Heavy Metal; if there’s a definitive account of the record’s genesis out there somewhere, I’d love to read it. The great and powerful internet suggests that Heavy Metal was a sequel to a 1973 four-record set called Superstars Of The 70’s, and I kinda wish I’d snagged a copy of that one when I was a young teen. The lineup on Superstars Of The 70’s includes Otis Redding, the Kinks, Todd Rundgren, Wilson Pickett, the Rolling Stones, Roberta Flack, Joni Mitchell, the Beach Boys, and Gordon Lightfoot, a diverse menu that whet the ol’ Me Decade musical appetite. MORE!! Heavy Metal met the next stage of that insatiable demand, with a curious disregard for any plausible parameters of its title genre. Heavy Metal includes tracks by Black Sabbath, the Allman Brothers Band, the Eagles, the Grateful Dead, Led Zeppelin, the J. Geils Band, Yes, Deep Purple, War, Van Morrison, Alice Cooper, the MC5, and T. Rex. It was the most liberal interpretation of “heavy metal” until the Grammy for Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Recording went to Jethro Tull in 1989.)
For dramatic purposes, the role of GRAMMY-winning metal act Jethro Tull will be performed by the members of Spinal Tap
My own relative ignorance about the T. Rex catalog didn’t stop me from still being appalled by the notion of no one in my dorm even recognizing Bolan’s name. I knew that much, thanks; I read rock mags, I read rock histories, and I knew Marc Bolan and T. Rex had been a big deal.
Had I ever seen T. Rex on TV by that point? Maybe? If they were on Midnight Special or the British import Supersonic, I may have had the chance to see Bolan and friends sing about jeepsters, or riding a white swan, or bangin’ a gong, gettin’ it on, bang a gong! I betcha I’d heard something on the radio, AM or FM. I definitely felt the loss one feels when a rock star passes, even if it was a star I knew upon reflection only.
My first T. Rex album was a cutout copy of 1974’s Light Of Love, itself a lesser light in the T. Rex canon. In the ’80s, regular video play on MTV Closet Classics hooked me on T. Rex’s fabulous “Jeepster.” “Bang A Gong” had become a hit again via an unsubtle cover by Power Station, but I preferred the T. Rex original.
I don’t know when I first heard “20th Century Boy.” I swear it was some time before it was used in a car commercial, but if it had been that, I would admit it proudly; I have no objection whatsoever to advertising making use of great songs when appropriate. By whatever means, “20th Century Boy” became my favorite T. Rex track, a confident, lurching guitar strut that embodies the nebulous concept of glam/glitter with greater authority than even the best of Slade, Sweet, or Suzi Quatro. Bolan’s preening yelps and wails elevate him to the status of rock god within a framework of loud, dissipated abandon. The guitar riff alone is sufficient to overcome naysayers with cool, disconnected efficiency. I’m your toy, your 20th century boy.
Gratuitous picture of Suzi Quatro. Because…BECAUSE!!
At 17, I barely knew who Marc Bolan was. But I knew enough to mourn, to feel that the pop world had suffered a loss even though so few seemed to realize it or understand it. On some level, though, I knew. Farewell, 20th century boy.
If you like what you see here on Boppin’ (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider supporting this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon, or by visiting CC’s Tip Jar. Additional products and projects are listed here.
This Is Rock ‘n’ Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/ You can read about our history here.
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If you’ve ever breathed a sigh of emotional exhaustion as your alarm went off in the morning, this track by Tamar Berk is seriously going to resonate. Berk wants you to know that you’re not alone, no matter how crummy your day-to-day has gotten. You can go on. You will go on, with this song as your anthem. Some nice, early 1990’s alt-rock production choices make Berk’s whispery delivery irresistible.
In the interest of full disclosure, the latest track from Jerry Woods is on a compilation that I also have a track on, The Light Between, which is a fine compilation benefitting St. Jude’s Hospital. Woods has produced a rollicking folky number, similar in feel to Rhett Miller’sThe El, and equally as hooky. Peppy acoustic guitars and earnest vocals make this one sound great in the car. Roll them windows down!
Steve Earle is one of those voices that you either really like or you don’t, there’s no real in between. His latest long-player has sprouted this track, which is equal parts roadhouse and back porch, which is a good thing. Earle, as usual, finds his way around the pretty notes, and with a wink and a smile, invites you to join in. Much like Tamar Berk’s track (see above), the mission is to help those in need of consoling. Boy, these times we live in…
Wow, is this one a breath of fresh air! Elena Rogers pairs classic 60’s songwriter chops with an alt-pop flavor that is catchy as all-get-out. Dandelion would fit in very well amongst the pop songs of today, yet is so much deeper in style, performance and vibe. I’m looking forward to hearing her entire album!
