Radio What Wave Playlist January 4/2019
The first show of 2019, and instead of playing a bunch of songs from 2018, we go back 40 years and play songs only from 1978 and yammer about those times.
- Sex Pistol…..Problems….from their Never Mind The Bollocks release, which technically came out at the end of 1977, but few heard it before 1978. And upon first listen, it was nothing like what the media was trying to shove down our throats. Guitars that crunch, snotty vocals that cut through, throbbing bass and loud drums all sonically mixed to perfection! Fuck what the media says, I want on this bandwagon!
- The Diodes….Tired Of Waking Up Tired….from the recent Rarities release and 40 years ago, The Diodes were fighting snowstorms in their futile attempt to tour the US. Chicago with The Ramones and The Runaways made up for the weather cancelled shows!
- The Ugly….One Foot In The Gutter….from the Disorder release on OPM records that collects unreleased recordings from this Toronto thug combo. When they were all out of jail, they made some righteous noise!
- The Viletones….Swastika Girl….from the A Taste Of Honey release on OPM Records and also on their second EP. Toronto’s other thug combo, and the more remembered one.
- The Secrets….Suzie Peroxide….from the Teenage Rampage release on OPM Records and this is The Viletones and Johnny Diode without Steven Leckie. A frat rock band that coulda and should gone far if drugs hadn’t intervened.
- The Mods….Step Out Tonight….from the Reactions release on Ugly Pop and a 7” that came out in 1978. These guys played the Cedar Lounge twice (second time they were re-named The News as there were other Mods out there) and were so much fun to see live! Singer Greg was always super animated and local photog Bob Gliddon was able to catch them live and on film.
- The Scenics….In The Summer….from their In The Summer release and singer guitar/bass player Andy had a record store here in London in the mid 80’s.
- The Cads….Do The Cadwalk….from a 7” EP and from Toronto.
- Cardboard Brains….Babies Run My World….from the Last Pogo LP and my fave song by this combo! The Last Pogo Jumps Again documentary is a great overview of the Toronto and area scene from this era.
- Simply Saucer….Bullet Proof Heart….from the Cyborgs Revisited release and took until 1989 for this to be released by The Mole in Hamilton. Once released, Simply Saucer finally got (and still does) get the recognition they deserved. Played this as Treat Me Like Dirt is the chorus (?) of this one, the name of the book by Liz Worth that documents the Toronto and area punk/new wave era.
- Simply Saucer….I Can Change My Mind….from their lone 7” on Pig Records and for years was the only existence of this band on any media.
- Teenage Head….Top Down….the 1978 version of this song, what I refer to as the Beach Boys version due to the background harmony vocals and car/motorcycle noises in the intro. One of my fave records!
- The Demics….Talk’s Cheap….live recording from the Cedar Lounge in 1978. The Blue Boot was renamed the Cedar Lounge in June 1978 and kept that name until closing May 1 1982. It was London’s first exclusive punk/new wave/whatever music venue. Huge Thanx to Frank and Jack from Uranus for talking the owners into hosting rock’n’roll bands over the bluegrass that was playing there.
- The Demics….Possibilities…. as above.
- Elvis Costello….Radio Radio…from his This Year’s Model release and EC played Alumni Hall in October of 1978. I stupidly didn’t go as I didn’t think EC was punk enough for me….
- Elvis Costello….Miracle Man…from the Live at the El Mocambo and broadcast over CHUM FM in early 1978. The Diodes did a similar broadcast around the same time and there were some politics involved.
- Goddo….Kiss My Whip….from the Who Cares? Release and all about Carole Pope from Rough Trade. Goddo were taking a bit of a swipe at the Toronto punk scene as they were totally ignoring Goddo and considered them the dinosaurs of the era. I rather like early Goddo and my buddy Derek and I caught them all 3 nights the first time they played at Ye Olde City Hall here in London. We even had Greg jump on our table to do a solo and we had to hold the table so he didn’t go flying off into the crowd. Think that was the third night when the place was filled with bikers and their women.
- Battered Wives…..Daredevil….from their first long player and they opened up for Elvis Costello at Alumni Hall. They weren’t really part of the punk scene, but got tossed into it for their name and attitude. Toronto premier tub thumper Cleave Anderson was in this band.
- X Ray Spex….Oh Bondage Up Yours…..a fave of just about everyone that was into this music back in 1978 and from a 7”.
- Venus and the Razorblades…..I Wanna Be Where the Boys Are….from the Songs From The Sunshine Jungle release and this was a Kim Fowley project.
- Blondie….One Way Or Another….from the Parallel Lines release and one of those records that everyone owned back then. Clem Burke held down the beat on the tubs and is still playing to this day and one of the best!
- The Ramones….Something To Do….from the Road To Ruin release and this is the lineup that played Centennial Hall back in May 1980. Demics opened and the kids came out of the woodwork for this one!
- The Saints….Know Your Product….from the Eternally Yours release and the horns added so much power to the sound on this one! Their first long player is one of my fave albums from the era!
- Graham Parker…..Hey Lord Don’t Ask Me Questions….from the Parkerilla release and Nick Perry and I went to Hamilton last summer to catch Graham and Brinsley Schwarz, a great show!
- TRB….Grey Cortina…from the TRB2 release and a fave for its “8 track blazin’ Brucie Springsteen, bomber jacket dressed to kill” line! In North America we had the rednecks cruisin’ in Cameros filled with smoke and rolling down their windows to yell out ‘ Hey Devo’ or ‘Hey faggot, nice leotards’ at us punk rockers. I was usually able to run pretty quick or they couldn’t be bothered bashing my head in as I was a skinny runt and not worth the effort.
- Devo….Uncontrollable Urge…from their first release and a real ear opener at the time. Radically different from everything else at the time, and a new form of art!
- Devo….Satisfaction…. as above and couldn’t resist spinning 2 by these guys.
- The Vibrators…..Into The Future….from the Pure Mania release, that actually came out in 1977, but this was one of my fave records to listen to in 1978. Fast and frantic guitars with hooks galore and quick to the point songs that begged for repeated listens! They finally came to London, 1992, The Electric Banana on Clarence St.
- Siouxsie and the Banshees……Hong Kong Garden….from The Scream release and another that got played way too many times! The guitar sounds on this blow me away every time!! And Siouxsie was every young punkers wet dream!
- The Curse….Killer Bees….from their only 7” and it came with 2 different sleeves. The Curse were also Toronto’s first all female punk combo. They played at Forest City Gallery here in London in the fall of 1977 and meat was tossed around.
- Pointed Sticks…..What Do You Want Me To Do….from a 7” and these guys played The Cedar for a weekend as well as opening for Teenage Head when they did their live to air on CHRW back in 1980. Does anyone know if the audio for Pointed Sticks aired? Or was recorded?
- The Real Kids…..Better Be Good….from a recent Crypt release and recorded live at The Rat in Boston back in 1978. Had to cut this one down as we ran outta time….
HUGE Thanx for all the phone calls, emails, FB messages, texts and Heys!!! There was so much more music that coulda and shoulda been played as 1978 was the era that the doors opened and the crazies were able to make music and it got out to the masses! That era sure didn’t last long!
Back again next week with a few requests and who knows what else.