Our celebration of Motor City Power Pop is dedicated to Nicole!
*Nicole- The Singles Sweet Tooth
*Back Seat Love- Nikki & The Corvettes Nikki & The Corvettes
*More Time- Toby Redd A To Z
*When I Look in Your Eyes- The Romantics The Romantics
*Queen Of Hearts- Bobby Emmett Learning Love
So Far Down- Sloan Based on the Best Seller
Fast Dreams- Wyldlife sorted.
Dreaming in Stereo- The Jellybricks Dreaming In Stereo
Good Enough- Genuine Fakes 3
^Someday, Someway- Marshall Crenshaw Marshall Crenshaw
*Love on Mars- The 3-D Invisibles Love On Mars
*Heart Stops Beating- Nick Piunti Beyond The Static
*So American- The Mutants So American
*Rockstar- The Fags Light 'Em Up
*You and Me- The Brunettes You and Me
*So So Alone- The Reruns So So Alone
*Ain't Gonna Take It- The Look Look Again
Starchild- Death By Unga Bunga Raw Muscular Power
I Can’t Get Over You- The Dogmatics Nowheresville
She Says- Gyasi Here Comes The Good Part
>Light of Love- The Pleasure Seekers Light of Love
>One Love- Sky Don't Hold Back
>Shakin' Street- MC5 Back In The U.S.A.
*I Like My Dad- The Plugs I Like My Dad
*Don't Come Crying To Me- Cinecyde I Left My Heart in Detroit City
*X-15- The Ivories X-15
*Jesus Chrysler- Luke Warm Featuring Jesus Chrysler And Other Original Recordings From 1980-81
*Richest Man- Brendan Benson Dear Life
^Power Pop Peak: #36 Billboard Hot 100 8/28/82
*SacroSet[s]: Detroit Power Pop
>Power Pop Prototype: 1968, 1970, 1970
My wife Jaime was born in East Lansing, MI and in June 1968, when she was 9, moved to Plymouth, MI in Wayne County- about 45 minutes west of Detroit. Their timing could've been better...
Less than a year after the July 1967 12th Street Riot there was another riot in Detroit following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King in April 1968. Fearmongering around forced desegration busing in the early 70's and the surging crime rate leading to "Murder City" headlines only made things worse. For my wife and many other white suburban Detroit kids, parents portrayed the city as a terrifying hellscape to be avoided at all costs. On her family's rare trips to Detroit for a Tigers game, to see a show at the Fisher Theater, or visit the Detroit Institute of Arts it would be in and out, making sure the gas tank was full beforehand and no stopping for shopping or a meal after. Even on my first visit to Plymouth in the early 90's I remember my future mother in law warning "don't go past 8 Mile," which my wife had heard thousands of times during her teen years. As a map guy, I immediately had to see what she was talking about and discovered that 8 Mile is LONG east/west road that starts at Lake St. Clair:
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To go "past 8 Mile" from Plymouth you'd be driving north, away from Detroit. I pointed this out to my wife and she patiently explained that "past 8 Mile" is not just a geographic boundary, something we'd all learn from a movie 10 years later. Google AI explains it this way (my first use of AI in a blog post!):
- "Don't go past 8 Mile" refers to the significant cultural, racial, and geographical boundary of Eight Mile Road in Detroit, Michigan, separating the Black city from its predominantly white suburbs, famously depicted in Eminem's movie 8 Mile, where characters constantly navigate this line as a social challenge, urging others to "go back" across it. The phrase embodies themes of class, race, and finding your place, especially in hip-hop culture, like in Eminem's breakout hit "Lose Yourself" from the film, about seizing the moment despite these barriers.
I grew up on Boston's South Shore and going "in town" with my family or on school trips was a regular occurrence. The Museum of Science, Fenway Park, MFA, Symphony Hall, Quincy Market, the Aquarium, Boston Common/Public Garden, seeing Santa at Jordan Marsh- Boston was a wonderland growing up and I moved there the first chance I got. Needless to say, this was not the case for Jaime when the playground chatter is about whether or not the National Guard is going to blow up bridges to stop rioters from getting "past 8 mile."
Before
every trip back to Plymouth in the 90's and 2000's I'd tell myself
"this time I'm going to check out Detroit" yet seeing how anxious it
made my mother-in-law I couldn't go through with it. We'd go to Ann
Arbor instead- a very cool college town west of Plymouth, though no one has yet written "Ann Arbor Rock City." (Bonus points for being Tom Brady's alma mater- I'd say "Go Blue!" here but my father-in-law was a Spartan and I don't want to disturb his eternal slumber.)
It wasn't until 2021, years after my in-laws passed, that Jaime and I got back to Detroit and it was an awesome trip. Cool bars, restaurants, record stores, the biggest farmer's market I've ever seen, a hopping downtown with tons of people out on the streets, Belle Isle Park- we were finally "past 8 mile" and loving every minute of it! The Motown Museum was unfortunately closed due to flooding but there was still plenty to see. We even got out to the Grande Ballroom- closed for decades but still standing:
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While I picked up The Look's first two albums on our Detroit 
trip, I didn't come upon the record that inspired tonight's show until earlier this year at the great Record Safari in Silver Lake during a trip to Long Beach to meet my new Grandson. Toby Redd's A to Z may be my favorite discovery of the past five years. A to Z, by a Detroit band in 1982, feels more like a British band in 1979. These are accomplished musicians inspired by the "keep it simple" ethos of late 70's Punk, New Wave, and Power Pop. Sadly it didn't last- on the next album, 1986's In The Light where they were joined by future Red Hot Chili Pepper Chad Smith on drums, they succumbed to a trendy 80's MTV sound that is not my thing. A to Z though, man it is awesome!
trip, I didn't come upon the record that inspired tonight's show until earlier this year at the great Record Safari in Silver Lake during a trip to Long Beach to meet my new Grandson. Toby Redd's A to Z may be my favorite discovery of the past five years. A to Z, by a Detroit band in 1982, feels more like a British band in 1979. These are accomplished musicians inspired by the "keep it simple" ethos of late 70's Punk, New Wave, and Power Pop. Sadly it didn't last- on the next album, 1986's In The Light where they were joined by future Red Hot Chili Pepper Chad Smith on drums, they succumbed to a trendy 80's MTV sound that is not my thing. A to Z though, man it is awesome!
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| Jack White and illustrator Elinor Blake |
Click the link below to stream/download this week's show:
