web analytics

Pop Rock Nation

Author: Mikey Hersh

  • Out There!- Dario (Can You Get Me Into Studio 54) by Dana & Gene

    I’ve always said that if I could ever go back in time, I’d love to experience  New York City during the Summer Of Sam.  The mean streets, the peep shows, the filth.  But most of all I would want to turn the beat around at Studio 54.  I’ve talked to a few people who have been there back in 1977 and they refuse to discuss because either they were too coked up to remember or choose not to remember what they did there.

    Studio 54 was known for the drugs, the mix of random celebrities, the tunes, and of course the debauchery.  Open sex on the dance floor, cross dancers, and owner Steve Rubell being obnoxious as all hell.  This place wasn’t just a dance club, it was the buzz of the pop culture world, and the place you had to be if you lived in the metropolitan area.  So much so that a band recorded a song about how difficult it was to get in.   We all have heard the story of Chic’s classic 1978 song Le Freak being a reaction to not getting into the club.  Nile Rodgers is adamant that the song was originally called “Fuck off!  Who knows?  The song that really defines Studio 54 to me was a little-known novelty tune by Dana And Gene called Dario (Can You Get Me Into Studio 54) in 1979 which was a tribute to the guy at the velvet rope who gave access to the club.

    This probably may be the obscurest of the obscure songs I’m going to feature in this article.  Good luck finding this one.  It’s not on any music sites, compilation albums, Yadda yadda.  It took us a few months for us to track it down. It’s so rare to find, that not even Youtube has any clip using the song.  It was released as a 12” single, but didn’t chart on the Top 100 Single chart, although it may have hit the Dance Charts.  It’s your typical cheesy disco tune with the catchy bass groove, electric drum beat, and strings.

    Dario is a fun little song that pays tribute to one of the most influential dance clubs in our nations’s history.  Is it one of the most influential disco songs of the 70s’?  No way!  Is it one of the best novelty tunes?  Maybe.  Is it one of the rarest songs to find from the 70’s?  Absolutely!  Youtube doesn’t even have a video for it.  The closest I got was what you see below: A cover version by Kid Creole which doesn’t do the original tune much justice.

    I wonder if Dario would grant access to me and my brother?  Probably not!

  • MisenPOPic: The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Is A Fuckin’ Joke!

    Every year around this time, the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame nominating committee submits their list of finalists of which five artists will be selected for future induction.  I always get excited each time but then always forget that the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame is a fuckin’ joke.  Instead of inducting bands that have truly made an impact on popular music, what seems to happen is that Jann Wenner and his cronies go with the bands on their personal favorites list.  If they don’t like the artist,  accomplishments like album sales and influences on other artists still won’t matter.  Jann Wenner is such an egotistical bastard that he even inducted himself into the Hall Of Fame.  I won’t discredit his contributions as founder and editor of Rolling Stone, but shouldn’t he be inducted when he’s bit older, or maybe when he’s dead?  I understand that listening to music is very subjective, and we all love to argue about who’s deserving to be in the hall of fame as much as we do about best songs of a decade, or greatest guitarist, etc.  But of any shrine to an art form or sport, the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame has totally missed the boat.  I respect the following artists, but of any bands in the Hall Of Fame, they are the best examples of musicians whose overall impact is questionable: Traffic, Frank Zappa, Buffalo Springfield, Sex Pistols, and The Talking Heads.   Traffic introduced the world to Steve Winwood, but have they really ever produced a meaningful song?  Frank Zappa might have been innovative, but for a guy whose best known song is Valley Girl, does he really deserve to be in the hall?  Buffalo Springfield only had one album with Stephen Stills and Neil Young and have only one relevant song (For What It’s Worth)!  The Sex Pistols are also known for one album, and it’s a fact that Sid Vicious wasn’t even good enough to play bass, so he performed without his guitar even plugged in.  I personally like the Talking Heads, but they are more known for their unique videos on MTV than their actual music. Only the creme de la creme should be in the Hall Of Fame: those that no sane person could argue such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Michael Jackson.

    (more…)

  • Rock On The Charts: Mainstream & Modern Rock Charts Wk of 9/22

    Mainstream Rock

    1. Bad Girlfriend/Theory Of A Deadman (17 weeks on chart, Peak#1)
    2. The Day That Never Comes/Metallica  (5 weeks on chart, Peak#1)
    3. Rock & Roll Train/AC/DC (4 weeks on chart, Peak#3)
    4. Use Me/Hinder (11 weeks on chart, Peak#3)
    5. Believe/Staind (13 weeks on chart, Peak#4)
    6. I Don’t Care/Apocalyptica Featuring Adam Gontier (13 weeks on chart, Peak#6)
    7. Too Drunk…/Buckcherry (10 weeks on chart, Peak#7)
    8. Psychosocial/Slipknot (13 weeks on chart, Peak#8)
    9. Addicted/Saving Abel (33 weeks on chart, Peak#2)
    10. Train/Three Doors Down (18 weeks on chart, Peak#10)

    Analysis:

    Theory Of A Deadman regains the #1 spot with their sentimental rocker about a relationship gone sour.  The song is beginning to grow on me….  AC/DC stays put at #3, I’m still waiting for them to hit the top spot which I think is going to happen in the next two weeks….  Use Me by Hinder might make my Top #5 singles of the year, the song really kicks ass…  Did anybody think Three Doors Down would be still be relevant in today’s music scene? almost ten years after their debut?  They enter the Top 10 with their second single (Train) from their self-titled new album… I’m curious to see if Tesla can make the Top 10 with their new single, I Wanna Live, which is getting a lot of local radio play.  They haven’t had a Top 10 Mainstream Rock hit since 1994’s Mama’s Fool which peaked at #5…  Not much else movement this week.


    Modern Rock

    1. You’re Gonna Go So Far Kid/The Offspring (9 weeks on chart, Peak#1)
    2. Believe/Staind (13 weeks on chart, Peak#1)
    3. Troublemaker/Weezer (11 weeks on chart, Peak#3)
    4. I’m Not Over/Carolina Liar (21 weeks on chart, Peak#3)
    5. Re-Education (Through Labor)/Rise Against (5 weeks on chart, Peak#5)
    6. The Day That Never Comes/Metallica  (6 weeks on chart, Peak#5)
    7. Let It Die/Foo Fighters (25 weeks on chart, Peak#1)
    8. I Don’t Care/Apocalyptica Featuring Adam Gontier (12 weeks on chart, Peak#8)
    9. Viva La Vida/Coldplay (16 weeks on chart, Peak#1)
    10. Into The Fire/Disturbed (26 weeks on chart, Peak#4)

    Analysis:

    The Offspring grab the #1 spot with their new single which is their third ever #1, and their first since Hit That topped the Modern Rock charts in 2004.  Personally, I think the song is pretty bland, and it hasn’t gotten much exposure on my local rock radio.  Maybe I’m listening at the wrong times…  Can Weezer get their new song to the top spot and make it two #1 Modern Rock singles from the new album?  Maybe, maybe not!…Rise Against was the biggest mover up three spots to #5 with their new single.  I have to do my homework on these guys as I’m not too aware of what they are all about.