Show #8 May 2, 2009

Hey Beverlys...you ROCK!


Beverly- The Flashcubes Bright Lights
Drive My Car- Nasty Facts Drive My Car 7"
2-4-6-8 Motorway- Tom Robinson Band DIY Teenage Kicks: UK Pop I (1976-79)
Take It Like A Man- Yankees High 'N' Inside
Fat Loose Fancies Me- Denzil Pub
^Turning Japanese- The Vapors New Clear Days
As You Were (Tomorrow)- The Crowd A World Apart
Freddy Mercury- De Cylinders Freddy Mercury 7"
*Radio Heart- The Secrets Titan: It's All Pop!
*Goodbye Goodtimes- Gary Charlson Titan: It's All Pop!
*Please Change Your Mind- Boys Titan: It's All Pop!
*No Way Baby- Arlis Titan: It's All Pop!
Pretty Please- The Quick Untold Rock Stories
Inner City Pressure- Flight Of The Conchords Flight Of The Conchords
Take It Easy- The Lonely Boys The Lonely Boys
Crocodile Tears- Mumps Crocodile Tears 45

^Power Pop Peak: #36 Billboard Hot 100 9/27/80

*SacroSet: Titan! Records Kansas City, MO

I remember hearing The Vapors' "Turning Japanese" for the first time and thinking "Nah, the song can't really be about THAT joke." For one thing, the joke I heard went "Why do CHINESE people have squinty eyes and buck teeth?" Second, you generally don't hear songs about onanism on the radio. Although now that I think about it, there's The Divinyl's "I Touch Myself," Cyndi Lauper's "She Bop," a few Madonna hits and Prince's entire catalog, so I probably shouldn't have been surprised. The band denied the song is about spanking the monkey, but after picking up these lyrics from the radio and MTV, I wasn't buying it:

I've got your picture... I'd like a million of you all round my cell...
I often kiss you when there's no one else around....
I want a doctor to take your picture so I can look at you from inside as well...
No sex, no drugs, no wine, no women no fun, no sin, no you, no wonder it's dark....

As if that wasn't enough, then there's the chorus:

You've got me turning up and turning down and turning in and turning 'round....I'm turning Japanese I think I'm turning Japanese I really think so...

I'm sorry but mixing prison with a picture of a girl is a recipe for autoeroticism and no one will EVER convince me otherwise. In any case, the song was a Top 40 hit in many countries, including Japan, and reached #1 in Australia, so let's give it a big hand....

As for tonight's SacroSet, here's what AllMusic says about Kansas City's Titan! Records: 

"the label's output sounded like chart-topping hits from an alternate universe where The Raspberries were bigger than The Beatles, Emitt Rhodes ruled the airwaves, and The Scruffs and Dwight Twilley were the hottest new acts on the scene." (I'd like to think All Kindsa Girls would be a top rated radio show in this same alternative universe.) 

Between 1978 and 1981, Mark Prellberg and Tom Sorrells, two music "industry" neophytes, released a slew of buoyant power pop gems that were criminally ignored and thus commercial failures. The Numero Group's Titan! It's All Pop! album compiles all of the label's releases along with 20 bonus tracks- it is pure Power Pop Heaven! Titan! Records is what All Kindsa Girls is all about.

Click this link to stream tonight's show or to download, right click and "Save Link As:"
ALL KINDSA GIRLS #8