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Oh Dad, We’re All DEVO

New NPR Tiny Desk Concert! Jerry needs to stop with the facelifts and hair dye, he’s starting to look like somebody’s grandmother.

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“Here Comes the Night … Oh! Oh!”

I consider myself a hopeless sucker for vocal pop.  But even I have my limits.  This was produced by the once-great master of sunshine pop, Curt Boettcher.  For more on him, listen to Andrew Hickey’s excellent episode on “My World Fell Down” by Sagittarius.

Disco was an odd phenomenon.  For a year or two people couldn’t get enough, then a massive “disco sucks” reaction set in.  I struggle to think of another popular genre that lost so many of its fans so quickly and vehemently.  I also struggle to think of a genre where so many artists from other genres so spectacularly made asses of themselves trying to cash in.

There’s also an extended club mix of “Here Comes the Night” posted on YouTube, if you really must.

Fun fact (just learned from Hickey): that’s Glen Campbell singing the lead on the verses of “My World Fell Down.”

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We Can’t Rewind / We’ve Gone Too Far

I have to say I watched a fuck-ton of MTV in its first year. I thought it was the greatest thing ever until it wasn’t. This is pretty fun to watch the first day’s broadcast (43 years ago today!). Also, everyone knows Video Killed the Radio Star was the first video, but what was the second?!

Also, Atari ad around 27 minutes in!

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Clever

Marshall Crenshaw kind of fell off my radar during the past decade or two, then I ran across some cheap and decent copies of his first two lps in a store last week.  I’d forgotten how strong those albums are.  I’ve always liked how this song bridges the double verses with a false start of the chorus.  A clever tactic.  I’m sure other songs have done it, but for some reason I’m drawing a blank trying to think of one.

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A.V. Undercover Is Back!

And so is GWAR. They’ve done Undercover eight times now, which must be a record. Below is my favorite AVU performance of theirs, Kansas’s “Carry On My Wayward Son.”

A.V. Undercover archives are up now too. Right here.

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I’m In x 2

These both look excellent. August 16 for Alien: Romulus and July 26 for Deadpool & Wolverine. Word on the street is that D&W is going to get Disney and Marvel back on track. Not even sure I want that, but it looks fun.