Ah the early 80s, when the only cloud in the sky was the dark threat of nuclear holocaust. My tribute set would include "World Destruction" from the Afrika Bambaataa/John Lydon collaboration Timezone, "Party at Ground Zero" from Fishbone and... "Sally."

"Sally" is the record most emblematic of the Little Hits ethos for me – bought with nothing to go on besides its DIY cover art, but this radio-station reject turned out to be a rather worthy purchase. It's a new wave mash of ska rhythms and sassy female pop vocals, No Doubt decades early.

Hard to find out much about NRC, who also give their name spelled out as Nuclear Regulatory Commission. What info is there on the web indicates they were from Tennessee and earlier released an album and another single. Songwriting for Sally is credited on the label to "V. Kadavr."

-Zach Coleman

Personally, I tend to run hot and cold on Human Sexual Response, but they're one of my wife's absolute favorite bands. (One of her fonder concert memories is a show at the Paradise, our neighborhood rock club, where they gave away a dish drainer set from Woolworth's as a door prize.) Even as a fan of odd voices, I find Larry Bangor's affected, theatrical vocals kind of irritating on some of their songs, and I don't find the lyrics as transgressive as I think they were supposed to be, but then, it's been a quarter century and writing a song called "Buttfuck" maybe doesn't have quite the same zing these days. "Pound" is one of the several HSR tracks I really like, though, because it works up a good post-punk dance groove that showcases what a great drummer Malcolm Travis was. "Pound" is from their second album, 1982's In A Roman Mood, which for some reason has STILL never been reissued on CD, but this is an extended dance mix taken from the b-side of the UK single of "Andy Fell."

-Stewart Mason