Phil Maq

For as long as I’ve been on the radio, and definitely for as long as I’ve been writing a blog, I will occasionally make a reference to a song being “One of the Greatest Songs Ever Recorded!” (GSER)

I would usually follow that by saying that I would eventually start a category for it, but then never get around to it.

Well, now I’m getting around to it!

It will pretty much follow the pattern of The Most Awesomest Song of the Day.

I’ll select a song to celebrate and then give my thoughts about it. Nothing really brand new here that hasn’t been done before. But since I have a website, I can collect them and lay out what my own greatest songs are.

My radio show, “Prime Time Theme Attic,”  is on Monday nights 8PM-10PM ET but is on hiatus because of the pandemic.

Here’s the link for when the show returns: http://rdo.fm/r/4qntu )

Even though I always emphasize new music and artists, it’s always fun to take a short drive through the legendary artists, since they influenced those other artists!

But a song doesn’t have to be old or done by a legendary Theme Attic Hall of Fame member to be thus honored.

I can think of several songs that are only a few years old or less that I could identify as One of the Greatest Songs Ever Recorded.

This will be fun, and hopefully you will join me on my journey…at least sometimes!

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Let’s kick off the Semi-Annual Theme Attic Hall of Fame week with the first person I enshrined, Nick Lowe!

How does one go about starting a Hall of Fame?

I decided that I would do a segment starting on my first radio show for a Hall of Fame.

I wanted to honor artists that I felt inspired me to develop a lifelong addiction to music.

Since the station policy is to not play artists that are widely played on other stations, or widely known, the Hall of Fame has always been a tricky maneuver for me. That also explains why some truly great artists are still not in it.

Since my format is musical themes, I had the added incentive to develop a Hall of Fame, because I planned on using it as a theme twice a year: in May a week before Memorial Day, and the week of Thanksgiving. I saw that as a way to play more known artists occasionally because they would fit my theme.

Who does one pick to start a Hall of Fame?

I guess a chronological order of great musicians could be one way, but that would be very rigid and not much fun. I like to jump around!

Why Nick Lowe?

Since I wasn’t sure how long I might be doing a show back then, I decided to grab something that was handy and Nick Lowe had always been a staple around the house for many years. He and Bruce Springsteen were pretty much a major part of my post Beatle listening life for decades.

When I first ran across today’s song, “So It Goes” from the album “Pure Pop for Now People,”– a title I almost always mess up, even today. (I prefer the British one: “Jesus of Cool!” Now that one I can remember!), I wasn’t familiar with Nick at all.

I was going to Michigan State at the time, and roamed the East Lansing, Michigan, Grand River record stores frequently.

I remember going into the narrow one on the eastern side of town. It was the one that was very narrow and seemed to only have about 100 albums total in the store. Albums were displayed on the wall on very narrow shelves. I wish I could recall the name of the place.

It wasn’t really much of a store, and I never could figure out how they stayed in business, because the albums were priced at least $1 higher than the other places. However, it was closest, so it was first stop, and a welcome one t that when the weather was sub zero.

The music was always loud and pumping there, and if anything was cutting edge, they would have it first.

Staring back at me for the first time, I remember seeing the cover, one of the greatest album covers of all time, “Pure Pop for Now People” and those six profile images of what I presumed to be band members, and I thought, “This is going home with me today, no matter what’s on it!”

I had no idea who Nick Lowe was, but I recognized his name as the producer of Elvis Costello’s, “My Aim Is True,” an album that had monopolized my turntable for several months up until then. I also feel that there was a “Jesus of Cool” reference on the back of the album. The album title was changed to avoid any religious issues in the U.S..

But I had a choice to make: There was only one copy. Do I buy it now, or do I take a chance and go up the street to see if State Discount, which was a drug store but had the best prices on music and therefore where I spent most of my music money, had it?

I noticed it was on Columbia Records, a major label, and that meant State Discount might have it for less.

They didn’t.

After walking the two miles or so back and forth between the two stores, I went back to the first one.

They still had it!

I had rolled the dice and lucked out, even though it was more expensive.

“Pure Pop,”  went home with me!

When I brought it home and heard the opening sonic blast of “So It Goes,” I was hooked and knew I had made a wise investment!

I was falling ever deeper into Punk Rock at the time, but here was a style of music that rocked and still managed to seem relevant by fitting in the “discussions with the Russians” lyric!

That sucker got played repeatedly before I even moved on to the other pop masterpieces on the album!

“We’ve [sic] got 50,000 watts of broadcasting power!”

That’s right!  I heard the lyric incorrectly, but we were in control, me and Nick, and would remain so for quite a while!

One of the Greatest Songs Ever Recorded is “So It Goes” by Nick Lowe!!!

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