In the summer of 1982 my brother Matt gave me a TDK AD-90 cassette marked “New Wave, Vol. 5,” consisting of songs he’d taped off KJHK, the radio station at the University of Kansas. “Let me know what you think.” He said. I took it with some skepticism; though my brother had rarely steered me wrong, I was pretty convinced at this time (I was 15) that there wasn’t any worthwhile contemporary music being made, and that whatever was on this tape, it probably wasn’t as good as the Dave Clark Five, or the Hollies. Although I’d already discovered and enjoyed things like the Pretenders, and even the Embarrassment from nearby (well, an hour and a half drive, anyway) Wichita, I was pretty convinced that there couldn’t be much else out there, and that rock music was a spent force as of about 1967.

This tape quite literally changed my life. I heard for the first time the Clash, the
Specials, the Cramps, Pere Ubu, the Only Ones, and many more. I asked for more, and my brother continued to supply tapes; eventually I believe there were 11-12 of them. I heard almost every important band of the late 70s/early 80s on these tapes, as well as quite a few insignificant ones. These cassettes were perhaps my biggest formative influence musically, as well as a dearly loved source of entertainment.

The tapes were flawed, however. One serious problem was that they’d been recorded on a cheap jambox that had only one speaker, and one stereo channel of all of the tapes (which were basically mono anyway) was largely hiss. But the most significant problem, was that Matt very rarely bothered to record the announcer’s voice, so I was generally left to my own devices as far as trying to figure out who the artists were. In many cases this was fairly easy, and in others quite difficult. I’ve come across many of them accidentally. I cannot adequately explain the giddiness I’ve felt when a likely looking record came in to Love Garden, and I dropped the needle on it to the sound of some long-lost tune from one of these tapes. However, a few have remained unidentified for years, and I am absolutely haunted by them. The tapes have long since disappeared, but bits of certain songs still flash in my mind.

A couple of years ago, I decided to try to re-create these tapes to the best of my memory. The idea was that they would be a Christmas present for Matt. (I sort of always thought that despite the sound quality, he always regretted giving me these tapes and letting me play them to death and lose them.) I decided to do some detective work in order to procure as many songs as possible. I posted vague descritions of some of the songs that I could never establish the identities of on the Audities Newsgroup and the Trouser Press message board. Someone kindly identified one of the songs as "Detroit Tonight" by the Necessaries.

Frankly this project involved dredging up a lot of material that was not nearly as good as I remembered it, but this track proved to be a big exception. It's not an Instant Pop Classic, but more of a slow grower. It was a great song to be young to; the images in the lyrics identified with my adolescent ennui and throbbing hormones, and at the same time suggested a bigger, more exciting world out there somewhere.

A beautiful, stunning fiesta of swirliness from the very necessary only LP by the Bird Nest Roys, which is not only one of the best looking LPs on the label, but one of the most under-appreciated. The flipside, which doesn't appear anywhere else to my knowledge, is a similarly thickly strummed version of the Hollies' "Bus Stop."

Perhaps some of you who love the Flamin' Groovies Sire LPs like Shake Some Action may have missed this obscure 45 on an Australian label which not only fits in pretty seamlessly with those records but also features a wonderful cartoon picture sleeve by lead singer Cyril Jordan. Mr. Jordan has a cool website dedicated to his artwork. You can see the paintings he did for many of the Groovies releases. Also, I found another object to add to my collection of rock related coffee mugs.

This one cracks us up. Great guitar solo too.

The first few seconds of "My Girl and Me" suggest an a-Ha single, or something equally trivial, but the first time I played it, I found myself smitten after about a minute, a feeling that only grew stronger as the record neared it's conclusion. It's just a terrific song, although the lyrics may hit a little too close to home for some of you. I know nothing about Gangway, except that they have a considerable discography and are fairly popular in their native Holland. All the info you want is here. Thanks to Brian Kirk for recommending this one.

The Primitons first record is exactly the sort that made us think about starting Little Hits. It's one of those records that gives great mileage, y'know? One of those records where your favorite track changes about four or five times, and all of the songs end up on mix tapes, and you eventually memorize every note. Despite having only seven tracks, its depth and variety make listening to it as emotionally satisfying as many a classic LP; the lyrics, contribued by non-performer Stephanie Truelove Wright mesh perfectly with Mots Roden's music to create incisive, thoughtful comments on the two subjects most often on the minds of the college-rock audience who heard this, those being parties and love (or some combination thereof). Please don't think that's any small thing. Please note also that this might be Mitch Easter's best ever production. Not as busy as some of his later stuff, but very sympathetic, with typically great guitar sounds and a big spotlight on the hook.

They had two subsequent releases on What Goes On, which I'm currently re-evaluating, but my gut instinct is that any band would have a hard time topping this record.

Dolly Mixture certainly knew some of the right people; this record was released on Paul Weller's respond Records and produced by Captain Sensible. Unfortunately, this celebrity hob-nobbing failed to catapult them to success despite their obvious talent and skill which is on full display on "Everything and More." They released an album, four singles, and an EP; There is a detailed discography/history here.

Would anyone have a CD-R of Demonstration Tapes: A Double Album to swap? I had a cassette some time back but the boys unspooled it all over the house in a frenzy of early morning playfulness. When I scolded them they acted kind of sorry, but pointed out that "It's a crap format."