Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to violence. Welcome
to another edition of Pop Rocks Radio, where
obscurity isn't a curse, it's an aesthetic. As
always, I am your host, Bijan. Today we're taking
a paisley pattern detour into that glorious early
80s movement when a bunch of Los Angeles kids
decided, what if Sid Barrett joined a garage
band and learned how to harmonize? Yes, that's
right. Today we'll be featuring bands from the
Paisley Underground. I'll tell you more as we
go, but first things first, here's a shimmering
slice of 60s magic by way of a power pop legend.
This is Tommy Keene with Carrie Ann. the janitor
you played a monitor then you played with all
the boys and prefects what's the attraction and
what they're doing hey Carrie Ann what's your
game now can anybody play hey Carrie Ann what's
your game now can anybody play you're always
something special See you. That was Seattle's
own Young Fresh Fellows with two lives from 1985's
Topsy Turvy. Continuing my quest to highlight
great Seattle bands, these guys, to me, have
always been the sound of Seattle. We featured
Scott McCoy and some of his bands like The Minus
Five on an episode a few weeks back. She was
the kind of woman that made you want to drop
to your knees, and thank God you were a man.
She reminded me of my mother all right, no doubt
about it. This next band has quite a storied
history, and with the help of Greg Shaw of Bomp
Records on his subsidiary label Vox, they also
have a legend that was built from the ground
up. They pretended to be a 60s band releasing
an anthology of work in 1983, but they were really
an 80s power pop band. A gentleman named Matthew
Street on YouTube does far more justice to them
than I ever could. I will put a link to his latest
video on the band in the show notes. He's done
a few now. The band is called The Numbers, and
they just released their first album in over
40 years, and it's pretty damn cool. This is
off their latest, Mad Day Out. This is She Is
Everything. She said she had to go. I don't remember
how she walked away now. Time had moved so slow.
And I don't recall any rationale that would make
this my idea. Just other thoughts and late night
hearts and wishes she was here. just one thing
I think of her and she is everything I've forgotten
the colors and the street noise thoughts I carry
sun came up so cold guess I'll carry on and tell
you why it all remains untold but the wind blows
cold out on the street where we used to walk
last spring I remember All I remember is her
and she is everything All I remember is her and
she is everything Un, deux, trois, je suis Kudos
proving once again that Southern California actually
begins somewhere in London. Before that, we heard
the Peppermint Kicks from Boston with Too Sweet
Oh Yeah off their latest album on Rumbar Records
with a name that I think is pretty awesome, Pop
Rocks and My Chewing Gum. ABC presents Tuesday
Movie of the Week. All Tom Hanks Wanted. was
a quiet vacation at home. This is what I need,
Carol. I need this. Welcome to Mayfield Place.
A typical street in The Burbs. Our movie of the
week is one of my favorite comedies of all time,
The Burbs. In my opinion, it's not only Tom Hanks'
funniest performance, and it is funny as hell.
but a subversive little gem about the glossy
veneer of 1980s suburban conformity and the darkness
festering just beneath it, usually in the basement.
Directed by Joe Dante, the film stars Tom Hanks,
Carrie Fisher, Bruce Dern, Rick Ducomen, Corey
Feldman, Henry Gibson, and the one and only Brother
Theodore. The story takes place in a quiet little
suburban paradise shot on the Universal Studios
backlot to give the most 50s sitcom leave -it
-to -beaver look possible. Monotony is king until
a mysterious new family, the Klopeks, moves in
next door and refuses to come outside during
the day. Everyone is concerned about the noises
that are coming from the basement and the fact
that their last name Klopek sounds Slavic. It's
like they're cooking a goddamn cat over there.
Tom Hanks plays Ray Peterson, a bored family
man on vacation who wants to relax but gets pulled
into the madness by his neighbor Art, played
by Rick Ducoman. Ray, do you want him to take
your family, kidnap them, tear their livers out
and make some kind of satanic pate? Bruce Dern
is at his best as a sometimes unhinged Vietnam
vet who also has settled into suburban life,
eating animal crackers while on lookout in survival
gear. In Southeast Asia, we call this type of
thing. Bad karma. Rounding out the cast, Corey
Feldman plays the teenage neighbor who treats
the escalating chaos like live theater, inviting
his buddies over to watch the show. Ray tries
to resist Art's escalating theories, but he's
already cracking under the pressure of lawn maintenance,
golf, and nightly Jeopardy sessions with his
wife, played by Carrie Fisher. Art's childhood
story about a well -liked drugstore clerk from
the neighborhood who suddenly snapped and murdered
his family rattles him. because deep down, Ray
worries that just may be him. The Klopeks, sure,
they're weird. They inexplicably dig what look
like graves in their backyard at night and drive
their dripping bags of garbage from the house
to the curb. But is it sinister, or are they
just different? What have you got in the cellar
here, Klopek? Brother Theodore plays Reuben Klopek,
who lives in the house with his nephew and...
My brother, the doctor. Played by Henry Gibson.
For those of you too young to have watched Laugh
-In, and granted I watched it in reruns as a
kid, Henry Gibson was the sincere poet. My potato
is falling off by Henry Gibson. My potato is
falling off and I haven't even got to peel it.
I guess I should have stood still or put up a
fence, but I got so used to the way it just balanced,
I never imagined it might just, whoops, there
it goes. Oh, well, I've still got my turnip.
Hey, man, that stuff killed back then. The wives,
for their part, also find the clopex strange,
but offer far more sensible explanations. But
sensibility goes out the window as the guys work
themselves into a paranoid frenzy involving giant
dogs, swarms of bees, boilers, gas explosions,
and lots of pizza, all played with that cartoonish
chaos that Joe Dante has brought to other films
like Rock and Roll High School and Gremlins.
In Reagan's America, this movie highlighted the
fact that you couldn't just put a nice white
coat of paint over everything and make all the
bad stuff go away. And maybe, just maybe, it's
you who are the crazy one. Although it's easy
for some to get suspicious of those not like
themselves, being just like everyone else denies
the reality that there is no such thing as perfect,
there is no such thing as normal. That's why
this film made such an impression on me as a
young man. It confirmed my suspicions that for
every person who pointed at my earrings and spiky
hair, yeah, so radical, I know. Everyone has
their own dark secrets, and pretending they're
not there, deep down, fools no one. I saw Bruce
Dern talk about this movie at a film festival
in Port Townsend a few years back, where he lamented
that no one remembered the film. I made a point
of going up afterwards and telling him otherwise.
The Burbs is the best kind of comedy. Sweet,
clever, subversive, and hysterically freaking
funny. Which makes it, as far as I'm concerned,
damn near perfect. And is there something sinister
going on in the Klopeks' house? Could be. You'll
get no spoilers out of me this time. But the
really scary part? It's probably the same thing
that's happening at your neighbor's house right
now. Anytime. We closed out that set with the
latest single from Eric Barlow, originally from
New England and part of the Boston music scene,
but he has since relocated to New York. That
was Burn, released on Soundcove out of Boston,
a digital singles -only label. Before that, we
had the Gypsy Boss, also out of Boston. That
was And You Know I Do from their EP 5x5 from
4, now out on Rumbar Records. And of course,
kicking off that set, we had Start All Over from
the Jimmy C from Melbourne, Australia. All of
these are available on Bandcamp, so show some
love and pick them up there. Ladies and gentlemen,
it is my sincere wish that immediately after
my death, my head be severed from my body and
that it be replaced by a bouquet of broccoli.
Since we've been talking about what lies beneath
the surface of the mainstream of 1980s America,
our featured artists this week all come from
the L .A. musical movement in the 1980s known
as the Paisley Underground. Bands who were inspired
by artists like Love and The Birds, incorporating
elements of psychedelia, pop, and garage rock.
All those bands? Jangly, psychedelic, doomed,
romantic, never as huge as they deserved. but
casting a long shadow over everything from indie
rock to dream pop to cow punk. Our first band
is one of the more successful of the era. They
started out being called Salvation Army, but
as you can imagine, that was problematic. So
they changed their name to the Three O 'Clock.
Michael Corchio, the band's founder, actually
coined the term the Paisley Underground to describe
what they and other bands we are featuring today
were doing. This is from their 1984 album, 16
Tambourines, produced by Earl Mankey, who also
produced the album Mondo Deco by The Quick, a
band that included the 3 O 'Clock's drummer,
Danny Bonaire. This is Stupid Einstein. If you
ever wished the birds were sadder and slightly
more stoned, congratulations. Rain Parade made
that wish come true. Rain Parade included brothers
David and Stephen Roback, who had been in a band
called Unconscious with Susanna Hoffs, who went
on, obviously, to join the Bangles. As I mentioned,
they are a bit darker amongst the bands in this
list, but their 1983 album, Emergency Third Rail
Power Trip, has been hailed as perhaps the best
album to come out of that movement. One critic
even said that it ranked among the best psychedelic
albums from any era. This is from that album,
though the song was released as a single before
as well. This is what she's done to your mind.
Probably, well, actually not probably, definitely
the most successful band to have come from the
Paisley Underground is The Bangles. Formed in
1980 as first The Colors, then later The Bangs,
the lineup included Vicki and Debbie Peterson,
Susanna Hoffs, and Annette Zielinskas. After
Zielinskas left to work on her own project, Michael
Steele, a founding member of The Runaways, joined
the band and the classic lineup was set. The
band leaned more and more into their pop and
power pop roots throughout their career and were
hugely successful for it. Though not really representative
of their sound, their hit Walk Like an Egyptian
has become a sort of shorthand when talking about
mid -80s pop. I've mentioned it before, but I
saw them at the peak of their popularity and
they were just absolutely a kick -ass rock band.
This is a Bangles cover of a song by Rain Parade
done for a compilation album where bands from
the Baisley Underground swap songs. This is Talking
In My Sleep. To say all these bands shared a
sound is honestly selling them a bit short. They
may have all leaned on similar influences, but
as a testament to their talent, they all took
those influences and did their own amazing things
with them. One band that had a moodier, darker
take was the band Opal. Opal formed in the mid
-80s with David Roback from Rain Parade and Kendra
Smith from Dream Syndicate, along with drummer
Keith Mitchell. They released their first full
-length album, Happy Nightmare Baby, in 1987,
and Smith left the band during that subsequent
tour. Hope Sandoval took over on vocals, and
that band eventually morphed into Mazzy Star,
best known for their moody 90s hit, Fade Into
You. This is from a collection of Opal's early
recordings, called Early Recordings. With Kendra
Smith on vocals, this is Fell From The Sun. Another
band that was part of the movement but had their
own distinct sound was the Long Riders. Their
approach was more Graham Parsons, Flying Burrito
Brothers mixed with their punk sensibilities
to give us something more along the lines of
The Blasters or Beat Farmers, a sound that has
come to be known as cow punk. Gene Clark from
the Byrds is also credited on their first album,
Native Sons, in 1984. This one is from their
sophomore album State of the Union on Island
Records and produced by Will Birch, a founding
member of the band The Records. This is Lights
of Downtown. The next band is the Dream Syndicate.
Founding member Steve Wynn had played in many
bands while away at college, till moving back
to Los Angeles to form the Dream Syndicate in
1981. They've always been a critically loved
band, and their debut album The Days of Wine
and Roses has proven to be an underground classic.
But even though they opened for bands like REM
and U2, they never found commercial success,
and found themselves dropped from their label
A &M. and eventually breaking up in 1989. Wynn
reformed the band in 2012, and they have been
playing and releasing music together since. I
believe they have a show coming up in Seattle
soon, too. Gotta get on that. This is from 50
in a 25 Zone, an EP released in 1987, but it
also found its way onto a deluxe release of their
1986 album, Out of the Gray. This is Drinking
Problem. one more band for you today i wanted
to end on something that just felt epic to that
end i give you green on red they're another band
that like the long riders moved more into a country
rock sound but their earlier records embraced
the psychedelic influences broadly the band formed
in 1979 in tucson but later moved to la just
to show how the bands of the paisley underground
all kind of moved in the same circles Green on
Red's first EP, Two Bibles, was released on the
Down There label, started by Steve Wynn from
Dream Syndicate. And Keith Mitchell from Opal
and Mazzy Star also joined the band after the
release of 1985's Gas Food Lodging. After many
configuration changes, they disbanded in 1992,
reforming in 2005 to do a few shows with their
classic lineup. Our final track from the Paisley
Underground today is from Gas Food Lodging. an
album that has in some circles been listed among
the best alt -country albums of all time. This
is the opening track from the album. This is
That's What Dreams. Okay, that's it for our featured
artists today. Hope you enjoyed that little detour
to the punk and power pop adjacent this week.
If there is an artist you'd like us to feature
on Pop Rocks Radio, drop me a note and we'll
show them some love. Ray, you're chanting. Ray.
Ray, look. Ray. Unconscious chanting. You're
chanting. I want to kill everyone. Satan is good.
Satan is our pal. Ray, Ray, you're chanting.
Hey, once they get in here, it's over, pal. lot
of good stuff that last set we kick things off
with time thieves from chicago with their latest
single stare at the sun after that we had a dream
ain't perfect by edward salinski implosion from
pittsburgh and he will be releasing a full album
later this fall and we close things out with
a band called 65 miles per hour from the uk with
their single didn't you know all these artists
are on band camp so please show them you are
loving their music by supporting them there Okay,
more to come here on Pop Rocks Radio, but first,
a word from our sponsor. But, as you know, since
we don't have a sponsor, it's really just a word.
From Portland to Paraguay, Girls Rock Camp Alliance
helps young women, trans, and gender -expansive
youth grab instruments, form bands, scream their
truth, and absolutely wreck your idea of what
a girl band sounds like. They don't just teach
power chords, they teach confidence, community,
and how to fix your own amp when it starts smoking.
Visit girlsrockcampalliance .org and toss them
a few bucks, because today's camper could be
tomorrow's Paisley Underground legend, or at
the very least, someone way cooler than your
eye was at age 13. That was Drugs and Sport closing
out our all -Aussie set with their single Gravitational
Crush from their album If Only We Could Use These
Powers for Good. Before that, we had Seven Saint,
the project of Bruce Schneider from Maitland,
Australia, with their track I'd Do Anything to
See You Once Again. And we kicked that one off
with a classic Australian band, The Scientists,
with their 1979 single Frantic Romantic. The
Aussie language is a naturally smart -ass language.
Like you ask someone how they are in Australia,
they don't tell you how they are. They tell you
what they're not. And you get to guess the rest.
Okay, mate, how you going? Oh, not bad. What
have you been doing? Oh, not much. Where is this
place? Oh, it's not far. When are we going? Oh,
not long now. How much was that, mate? Wasn't
cheap. This old bloke who lives next door to
me, he only ever tells me part of a story. So
they go, hey, John, he's not feeling too bloody
good, mate. I'll tell you that much. Looks like
we have time for one more set today. This is
another one from Australia. Those sugar beets
from Wollongong. Sorry, that was harder for me
to say than I thought it would be. This is from
their latest. The song is Beat to My Heart. Closing
out that set, we had the band Dan Murphy and
High on Stress with Tethered, a track written
by members Nick Leet and Dan Murphy. Dan Murphy
was one of the founding members of Soul Asylum,
another great band. And before that, we had the
latest single from the martial arts with Paul
Kelly, who was originally from BMX Bandits. That
was Empty Out Here. And with that, we have come
to the end of another episode of Pop Rocks Radio.
Join us again next time when we'll remain proudly
underproduced, overdressed, and severely emotionally
invested. This is Dennis Schockett and Cliff
Hillis with Violet Blue. And this is Bijan from
Pop Rocks Radio. Be good, be weird, and we'll
see you next time.