Heavy Rotation: The Ramones, Herman's Hermits, Can

The Ramones, "Surfin' Bird"
So, everyone knows that the greatest film ever made is 1987's Back to the Beach, starring Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello, and Uncle Jesse's wife from Full House. But until I rewatched it last week, I'd kind of forgotten about the part where Pee Wee Herman crashes the nighttime beach party and performs his own rendition of "Surfin' Bird" by The Trashmen (probably 'cause I was too caught up and reminiscing about the other beach singalong scene, starring my beloved Fishbone). Since then I've been "Surfin' Bird"-obsessed, playing the hell out of the Ramones version - it's probably my favorite of all songs to incorporate "papa-oom-mow-mow" as a lyrical refrain (though "Matthew Modine" by Pony Up! and "Die Schule Ist Aus" by Die Sweetles would be fairly close runners-up). It's also one of the two best-ever pieces of music to be playing right when you walk into a party. (The other, in case you're wondering, is 2:30 - 2:51 on "Novacane" by Beck). (Liz)

Bonnie Hayes With The Wild Combo, "Girls Like Me"
More Valley Girl love! This track's both in the opening credits and in my favorite non-Nic-Cage scene, that spazzy slumber-party lip-sync bit with all the girls in their underwear. I don't know much about Bonnie Hayes, but I've decided to make one of her couplets from the first verse ("I'm gonna do just what I wanna/I'm going drive to Tijuana") my credo for the summer. Though I think I'd maybe rather go to, like, Rio Caliente than Tijuana - but that's just me. (Liz)

Herman's Hermits, "Museum"
Donovan, Donovan, Donovan: you'll always be the man I love to hate. As much as "Atlantis" and "Superlungs My Supergirl" are two of my favorite songs ever and I will probably listen to them consistently until the day I die, I wish that they were by anybody else in the world besides crappy Donovan. I really dislike Donovan as a human being. It bugs me that he infiltrated the Beatles' Rishikesh trip, and how he always makes such a damned grand deal out of how he's "Britain's answer to Bob Dylan." That claim is so inaccurate! Why can't he just be confident and secure in being Donovan? As far as things go, it gets a lot worse than being Donovan. Anyway, my all-time favorite Donovan song is this Herman's Hermits version of "Museum." I didn't realize it was a Donovan cover my first listen, and thought, "Whoa! Peter Noone! You really pushed yourself lyrically on this one! I'm impressed!" before realizing the truth of the matter. But it all works out- Peter Noone looks way more like Peter Pan than Donovan does, although it makes perfect sense that loserface Donovan would want the world to perceive him as a fey, gorgeous little elf-boy. "Meet me under the whale at the Natural History Museum," is such a charming lyric it makes me want to jump for joy, or maybe just go to the Museum of Natural History. Though definitely NOT with Donovan Leitch. (Laura)

The Peanut Butter Conspiracy, "Why Did I Get So High?"
This is a GREAT drug song by a GREAT hippy-dippy psych band with a GREAT band name and a GREAT sophomore album title (The Peanut Butter Conspiracy is Spreading- GET IT???) My favorite thing about this song is that for the majority of its duration, it forces you to wonder if the lyric pertains to actually getting high or if it is just a metaphor for losing touch with your inner balance or self-worth or something. Then you get to the last line and you're like "OH! It's totally about smoking pot!" You'll just have to listen for yourself to find out what I mean. (Laura)

Can, "Mother Sky"
I'm really into very long songs lately because I'm very lazy, and I can keep them on the stereo without having to change them. Plus, they go on long enough to become kind of wallpaper-y, an effect I find oddly soothing and comforting. Take any noisy, crazy song, play it long enough and it becomes sort of background music. This long, long track from Can manages that trick of being kind of skronk-y and noisy, but there's something very hypnotic about it as it elongates and goes and goes and goes, becoming this kind of monument of experimental rock psychedelia. And it's sort of a prime example of the crazy nonsensical genius of singer Damo Suzuki. I have no idea what he's singing at all; no one really ever does, and it's spawned a cottage industry of "Mother Sky" covers by the likes of Calla, Th' Faith Healers and many others where they all interpret his lyrics to increasingly creative effect. "I think madness is too pure like mother sky"? Okay! (Kat)

Posted by Kat, Liz and Laura in Heavy Rotation
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