friday random ten, 1979 edition

1. Chic, "Good Times." Bernard Edwards' most lasting contribution to the music world: the bass line to this song.

2. The B-52's, "52 Girls." I was picking out music at a party around the time this album came out, and I thought to play "Rock Lobster." A woman I didn't know pushed me out of the way and put on "52 Girls." She was right. The video shows the bad v.early in their career.

3. Marianne Faithfull, "The Ballad of Lucy Jordan." Rock and roll is full of people reinventing themselves. Marianne Faithfull's resurrection remains one of the more remarkable. The video captures her at that moment ... she's got her past, she's ravaged yet somehow reborn, and she's as hot as ever ... she doesn't just sing the song, she acts it.

4. The Boomtown Rats, "I Don't Like Mondays." Usually the argument is that rock and roll leads to bad behavior ... Judas Priest made him do it! This works in the other direction: a teenage girl goes on a shooting rampage, gives as her excuse that she didn't like Mondays, and within a month, the Rats are playing this song in the city where the shooting took place.

5. Smokey Robinson, "Cruisin'." This song is so transcendent, I forgive Smokey for starting that whole Quiet Storm thing.

6. Neil Young, "Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)." I don't know who the loudest band is supposed to be ... as I recall, The Who used to be the record-holders, and I saw them back in the Moonie Era. But the loudest show I ever attended was the one where this song was recorded. You can find out for yourself by watching the movie Rust Never Sleeps (look for me in the audience!).

7. Donna Summer, "Hot Stuff." Never just a disco diva, Summer was arguably the most rock-oriented of the disco singers. I mean, she recorded a Bruce Springsteen song, ferchrissake! Got a Grammy nomination for it: Best Female Rock Vocal.

8. M, "Pop Musik." Plastic Bertrand's hit was better.

9. Nick Lowe, "Cracking Up." This guy wrote some seriously depressing songs for a pop star. I don't think it's funny no more.

10. The Clash, "Rudie Can't Fail." London Calling is really a 1980 album, but it was released in December of '79, so here it is. Far as I am concerned, it's greatness just grows with time. This album meant so much to me at the time ... along with Darkness on the Edge of Town, it was the album that got me through all those years working in the factory. It still sounds great.