Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to violence. Welcome
to the season finale of Pop Rocks Radio. What
does that mean? Well, it just means that we've
done enough episodes that I arbitrarily decided
we should start a new season soon. That work
for everyone? All right then. As always, I am
your host, Bijan. Even though it's arbitrary,
that doesn't mean I haven't tried to make this
show special. Not only do we have great new music
from Sharkeologist, The Dogmatics, HAIM, The
Coolies, and so much more, our movie of the week
is perhaps the greatest rock and roll cult movie
of all time, Rock and Roll High School. And we'll
be featuring artists from that soundtrack as
well. So sit back, put your headphones on, and
enjoy the latest from the Dogmatics. This is
their new single on Rumbar Records. Their new
album is due out on July 18th. This is You've
Got What I Want. You've got what I want Last
week we played something from one of Steve Allen's
solo works. This was the other half of what is
now 2020. Ron Flynt with 3rd Street Girl from
his 2004 album L .A. Story. Together or apart,
these guys have just written the kind of songs
that make you fall in love with your radio all
over again. Whatever, dude. Whatever. Peace.
God bless. Welcome to Pop Rocks Radio. I can't
believe this is our 50th show. This is normally
the part where I would say, it feels like just
yesterday we started this, but really, sometimes
I look back and realize no matter how far we
have left to go, man, we've come a long way,
baby. Though I still love the playlist of the
first show, I cringe to listen to that now. Of
course, it could be not so long till I cringe
at this show, too. In fact, depending on how
this turns out, that could be tomorrow. But I
digress. This next band is a Seattle band that
I have just had the good fortune to be introduced
to. And to me, they really embody so much of
what I love about the Seattle music scene. Okay,
now I want you to think of the Seattle music
scene and what is the first thing that comes
to your mind? Is it a naked baby swimming after
a dollar bill? Of course it is. But the reality
is that even though grunge gave us some indelible
contributions to rock history with bands like
Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Alice in Chains, to
name a few, the history of Seattle music is so
unbelievably diverse. Whether we're talking about
the Posies, the presidents of the United States
of America, the Young Fresh Fellows, the Heats,
the Cowboys, the Allies, to even Hart. the Sonics,
and of course, Jimi Hendrix. And now the Seattle
music scene is just brimming with that same sort
of eclectic diversity that only this place and
its unique flavor can bring. Bands like Sugar
Bones, Jaws of Brooklyn, The Home Team, Chico
Detour, and this next band. This is Sharkiologist,
who just released their debut self -titled album
on 20 Minute Records. They describe themselves
as a synth rock band, but having listened to
the album, I think that really just scratches
the surface. They just did a gig at Easy Street
Records in Seattle. If you're into record stores,
and I hope you are, Rolling Stone called this
place one of the top 10 record stores in the
country. This is a track from the Sharkiologist
album that I particularly like. This is Told
You So. You were sitting around. You were gathering
dust. And I was drinking all tools like a miserable
tooth. Cause my liver had fattened too much.
We laughed at the thought. Maybe a little too
hard. Yeah. We both wanted to scream like we
were 17 in the back of your grandmama's car.
Disco, we can scream like we just saw Jesus.
We're here. With a word or two and a memory of
youth gallivanting around in your head. I laugh
at the thought as I clean up the sink. And it
was all I could do to put down the Sudoku and
drown myself in spiritless drinks. Or ride down
to the disco with sweet screams. Like we just
saw Jesus we hear We're here. We closed out that
set with Sloan, our friends from Toronto with
You Don't Need Excuses to Be Good from 2014's
Commonwealth. The cool thing about Sloan is that
all their members contribute their own songs
to the band, so each track has a distinct flavor.
Much like another popular foursome from across
the pond, huh? Before that, we had the Blusterfields
from North Carolina with their latest single,
Be Your Man. How else do you describe our Tuesday
movie of the week on Wednesday? The ultimate
cult classic midnight teen movie and the only
film smart enough to cast the Ramones. And one
of the only movies to truly get what teen rebellion
feels like. Messy, loud, idealistic, and just
smart enough to burn it all down. I'm talking
about 1979's Rock and Roll High School, directed
by Alan Arkush for Roger Corman's New World Pictures.
Roger Corman was the walking embodiment of punk
DIY spirit. Sure, that spirit may have been born
from his being notoriously cheap, but there's
genius in that thrift. His autobiography says
it all, how I made a hundred movies in Hollywood
and never lost a dime. Before our cush blew up
a high school with the Ramones, he cut his teeth
on Hollywood Boulevard, an exploitation film
about exploitation films made from actual exploitation
films. That film, like this one, starred Mary
Warrenoff and Paul Bartel, both veterans of the
underground movie scene. Mary having done films
with Andy Warhol and Paul having worked before
with Corman. But the real star of Rock and Roll
High School is the irrepressible PJ Souls as...
A teenage girl, played by a nearly 30 -year -old
woman, of course, whose dream is to join the
Ramones and have them perform her songs. She
writes a tune for them, skips school to catch
them live at the Roxy, and sets off a chain reaction
of rock -fueled rebellion. This is the big time,
girlie. This is rock and roll. Yeah, well, this
is rock and roll high school. Rock and roll high
school? I just love Joey's delivery there. What
starts as one fangirl chasing her dream turns
into a full -blown youth uprising. Books are
burned, records are blasted, and by the end,
the students are literally running the school.
Meanwhile, her best friend, Kate Rambeau, the
school's straight -A student, is quietly in love
with Tom Roberts, the painfully dorky quarterback.
Tell me exactly what you want out of life. I
want someone with huge breasts. Ah, youth. No
teen movie is complete without unrequited love,
even if it's surrounded by blow -up dolls, exploding
lab mice, and a giant rodent smoking a peace
pipe. Standing in their way is the fascist principal
Togar, played to camp perfection by Warrenoff,
who believes rock music rots the mind. Her hall
monitors are like leftover recruits from the
Hitler Youth, and she spends most of the film
trying to squash teenage joy with military -grade
discipline. The movie doesn't just borrow the
spirit of 1950s rock and roll, it's built on
it. Like the early days of Elvis and Jerry Lee
Lewis, rock and roll high school is all about
music as rebellion. But instead of ducktail hair
and leather jackets, well, we have leather jackets,
but we get shaggy bangs, loud guitars, and lyrics
about sniffing glue. There's also a giant mouse
and his wife. They show up in multiple scenes.
No one explains why. No one asks, this is normal
here. And the Ramones, punk pioneers, yes. But
beneath the leather and the snarls are melodies
worth of brill -building pop. They're not only
the soundtrack, they are the soul of this chaos.
For all the mayhem they spark in the film, they
come across as, well, just four nice, shaggy
-haired boys who happen to make things explode
by showing up. Things sure have changed since
we got kicked out of high school. Oh! Where are
you going? I'm going to Mr. McGree's class. Oh,
well, I'm proud to see that some students still
are interested in their studies. Hey, we're not
students. We're the Ramones. Ramones? You're
responsible for making that horrible rock and
roll music. You turned the whole school against
me. Movie -starring bands weren't unheard of.
The 60s gave us a whole wave of them in the wake
of a hard day's night. But by the late 70s, they
were mostly a punchline. Aside from oddities
like Kiss's Phantom of the Amusement Park or
the infamous Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club
Band movie starring the Bee Gees, there hadn't
been anything like Rock and Roll High School
for a while. A film where the band isn't just
a cameo, they're the heart of the rebellion.
But it's not just Ramones songs on the soundtrack,
the mood - is secretly packing one of the coolest,
most varied soundtracks of any teen film ever.
You get Devo bringing the twitchy new wave, Fleetwood
Mac, that's blues era Mac before these scarves
and soap operas, Eddie and the Hot Rods repping
early British punk, and even Alice Cooper slathering
the whole thing in hard rock attitude. It's like
someone raided a record store in 1979 and just
threw everything loud, weird, or cool into the
mix. It shouldn't work, and yet it absolutely
does. Speaking of punk pioneers, blink and you'll
miss him, but that's Darby Crash from the germs
in the front row of the concert scene. I'm not
even sure midnight movies like this really exist
anymore. That whole world cult film screened
after polite society went to bed feels like it
slipped into the past. But there was a time when
these movies were more than entertainment. They
were rites of passage. Secret handshakes, soundtracks
for sneaking out of your bedroom window. Oh,
and did you know there was a sequel? 1991's Rock
and Roll High School Forever, starring none other
than Corey Feldman. It tries to bring the same
chaotic energy, but trades the Ramones for a
fictional band and swaps punk rage for cringe
early 90s energy. Let's just say it exists. Rock
and Roll High School isn't a masterpiece. It's
barely a movie. But it's a feeling. A fever dream
where punk saves the day, the school burns to
the ground, and the Ramones leave a cloud of
distortion and glue fumes. By the way, because
Ramone songs are awesome, to the point, blasts
of rock mayhem, I needed three of them to serve
as the background for this segment instead of
the usual one. For our featured artists this
week, like we did last week with Valley Girl,
we're going to spotlight a few of the artists
connected to Rock and Roll High School. And not
necessarily tracks from the film, but songs I
particularly love from those artists. Let's start
with the Ramones. Look, in my opinion, they are
the quintessential American band. Scrappy, messy,
loud, and unlike anything the world had ever
seen. They didn't just change punk, they defined
it. In less than 20 years, they cranked out 14
studio albums. I got to see them live at the
Paramount in Seattle in 1992, co -headlining
with Social Distortion. That lineup was Joey,
Johnny, Marky, and CJ Ramone, and they were still
pure fire. After they disbanded in 96, each of
the Ramones went their own way. Dee Dee had always
been the most adventurous. At one point, he even
recorded a rap album and later formed a Ramones
tribute band called The Remains. Yes, really.
But today we're playing something from Joey Ramone's
first official solo album, which didn't come
out until after his death in 2001. This is from
Don't Worry About Me. This is Maria Bartiromo.
Nick Lowe is a legend. Even by the time Rock
and Roll High School came out, he'd already made
his mark, with Brinsley Schwartz, alongside Dave
Edmonds in Rock Pile, and as a solo artist scoring
a hit in 1979 with Cruel to be Kind. So it goes,
his contribution to the Rock and Roll High School
soundtrack originally appeared on his 1978 album
Jesus of Cool. Beyond his own music, Nick Lowe
has produced artists like Elvis Costello and
The Damned, and he's still releasing great records,
including his 2024 album Indoor Safari with Low
Straight Jackets. Now we are jumping to 1983
from the abominable showman This Is Raging Eyes.
One band on the Rock and Roll High School soundtrack
that holds a special place for me is the Paley
Brothers. I actually featured them in one of
my long -lost power pop band videos on YouTube.
If you haven't seen that, please go check that
out. They had this clean -cut look and pure pop
sound, but they came out of a much grittier scene.
Jonathan was already part of the Boston punk
scene when he started performing together with
his brother Andy. leaning into these gorgeous
harmonies and power pop hooks that somehow felt
both timeless and totally out of step with the
punk movement around them. They only released
one official album, but it's packed with charm.
And they show up on the Rock and Roll High School
soundtrack with a collaboration with the Ramones
that is just gold. After they disbanded, Jonathan
played with the Nervous Eaters, one of Boston's
best raw rock bands of the era. And Andy, who
sadly passed away in November of last year, wasn't
just one half of the Paley brothers. He was a
brilliant producer and songwriter who went on
to work with everyone from Brian Wilson, The
Real Kids, Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers,
and the Greenberry Woods. This is one of my favorite
Paley Brothers tracks from their 2013 compilation,
The Paley Brothers, The Complete Recordings.
This is Ecstasy. Yeah. I heard a story from a
gentleman named Dave Krenko, one of the masterminds
of the 80s power pop band The Bings. He worked
for Bomp Records starting in the late 70s, and
he recalled an in -store performance that Eddie
and the Hot Rods had at Bomp on Laurel Canyon
Boulevard. Something went wrong with the lights
outside where the band was set up to play, but
Dave ended up pulling his car up and lighting
the stage with his headlights. Eddie and the
Hot Rods were part of that crucial bridge between
British pub rock and punk. They were fast, loud,
and tight and brought pure high -energy rock
that felt a bit like a runaway train. Oh, by
the way, I asked Susie Shaw from Bomp, who is
literally one of the funniest people I've ever
met. I asked her what she recalled from the Eddie
and the Hot Rods performance at Bomp. She told
me that when bands played there, Greg Shaw was
actually in charge of socializing and that she
was always behind the counter keeping a close
eye on the money. Since she didn't really have
any interactions with the bands most of the time,
she said I was free to make up whatever crazy
shit I wanted to and attribute it to her. Because
no matter how crazy the story I came up with,
it probably happened. What she does remember,
though, is that they were really nice guys and
played a great set at the store. Eddie and the
Hot Rods had a top ten hit in the UK with Do
Anything You Wanna Do in 1977. This is from their
second album, Life on the Line, that came out
late in 1977. This is Quit This Town. Separately,
all these artists on the Rock and Roll High School
soundtrack were misfits, punks, pop smiths, outsiders
with too much heart and too much volume. But
together, they lit the fuse on something bigger,
a messy, melodic rebellion that still echoes
through busted speakers and backroom stages.
They were the mixtape for anyone who felt out
of step and proud of it. They were the reason
the school exploded. And that's it for this week's
featured artists. If you have someone you'd like
to see featured on Pop Rocks Radio, drop me a
note in the comments or go ahead and email me
at bijan, that's B -I -J -A -N, at poprocksradio
.com. Gabba gabba hey. We started that set with
the artist Soraya, a band from Philadelphia with
lead singer and songwriter Zuzu Mansour. That
was their latest single, Alright Okay. We also
had two great punk tracks, Shiftless When Idle
from The Replacements off their 1981 album Sorry
Ma Forgot to Take Out the Trash, and Rebel Girl
from Riot Grrrl Pioneers from Olympia, Bikini
Kill off 1993's Pussy Whipped. More to come here
on Pop Rocks Radio, but first, a word from our
sponsor. But, since we don't have a sponsor,
it's really just a word. Hey everyone, this is
Bijan from Pop Rocks Radio. Kim Shattuck, frontwoman
for the Muffs, bassist for the Pandoras, and
a member of the Coolies, a band that we're going
to be playing here shortly, was one of punk's
brightest sparks. She lost her battle with ALS
in 2019. If you're able, please consider supporting
the ALS Association in her honor, because we
shouldn't have to lose any more artists like
her, or anyone for that matter. Learn more or
donate at ALS .org. We'll see you next time.
He loves to play. Like he'd done so many times
before He's on the aisle with the other boys
Checkin' the latest action figure toys Owns every
episode of Ultraman He had him special ordered
from Japan We closed out that set with the latest
from The Coolies. That was Bad Bad Boy. The Coolies
are a super group whose core is Melanie Vaman
from bands like The Pandoras and The Muffs, Palmyra
Delran from The Freaks, Pink Slip Daddy, and
of course the awesome show on Sirius XM, Palmyra's
Trash Pop Shindig, and of course the late great
Kim Shattuck, who was a member of The Pandoras
before starting her own band, The Muffs. They
have done such great work on behalf of those
suffering from ALS, which of course included
Shattuck herself. This single was written by
Shattuck and Delran, with Delran on vocals, and
also included Kathy Valentine from the Go -Go's
on bass and the late Clem Burke from Blondie
on drums. Kim Shattuck is listed on the track
as Ghost Echo. That single is out now on Little
Steven's Wicked Cool Records, so check that out.
Before that, we had Greg Pope from Nashville
with Fanboy off the album of the same name from
2015. And we kicked off that set with the latest
single from Haim called Take Me Back. Just love
that song. Their new album, I Quit, is out now.
And since it's out on Columbia, obviously you'll
be able to pick that up just about anywhere you
can find music online. However, if you want to
do your local folks a solid... Head down to a
local record store in your town and pick it up
there. Don't know where your local record stores
are? Ah, we've got you covered. Just go to recordstoreday
.com and enter your city, state, or zip code,
and they'll show you the record stores nearest
you. I will put a link in the show notes. Well,
la -dee -freaking -da! Okay, we have time for
a couple more sets. This is from the band Sharp
Pins from Chicago, the project of Kai Slater.
The album Radio DDR was mostly recorded last
year and released back in March. This is the
lead track from that album. This is Every Time
I Hear. The Bats have a new album coming out,
so before that happens, I thought I would plumb
the depths of their so far amazing catalog for
your listening pleasure. That one was Dying to
Believe from Jump Rope Gazers in 2020. Their
new album, Straight Line, was a lie is due out
in August. You can pre -order that on Bandcamp.
Before that, we had an artist from Sweden, Kristoffer
Karlsson, who records under the name No Tears.
That was Echo In My Head from his excellent debut
album Heart -Shaped Eyes from 2023. I have to
thank my friend Dave Franco for the recommendation
on this. Dave is an amazing drummer who has worked
with his friend Chris Vandelay for a number of
years in bands like Oh Boy, The Quick, and The
Vandelays. He has impeccable taste in music and
has never steered me wrong. And he's probably
the biggest Tommy Keene fan I've ever met, which
is cool all by itself. Here's one from one of
my new favorite labels. Well, the label isn't
new, just their place on my favorite list. Well,
la -dee -frickin' -da! Jeez, I'm getting heckled
twice by the same guy on my own show. Okay, this
is from Josie Cotton's Kitten Robot Records.
This L .A. band is called Tombstones In Their
Eyes. This is their new single, I Am Cold. We
closed out that set with Hazy Maze by Eric Vox
and the Ghosters from their 2023 album It Means
Nothing Now. That was another recommendation
from my friend Dave Franco. See? Told you he
never steers me wrong. And with that, we have
come to the end of season one of Pop Rocks Radio.
We'll be back August 6th with a whole new season.
Now, what does that mean? Well, join us and find
out. That last track, Hazy Maze, was mixed by
the one and only Adam Schmitt, whose 1991 album,
World So Bright, is really some of the best that
power pop has to offer. I couldn't think of a
better way to wrap up this season than with a
track from this amazing artist. Where have you
gone, Adam Schmitt? Our nation turns its lonely
eyes to you. This is from, to date, his last
album, Demolition in 2001. This is Looking for
Fate. And this is Bijan from Pop Rocks Radio.
Thanks for listening. We hope to see you back
here for season two. Till then, be good, be weird,
and we'll see you next time.