Thursday, April 28, 2011

An Earlier Than Usual (And Also, Frankly, Better Than Usual) Clue to the New Direction

From 1995, please enjoy Stop -- featuring Joey Ramone's younger brother Mickey Leigh on guitar and vocals (he wrote the song, too) -- and one of the great lost singles of its decade.

The succinctly titled "Jerk."

From the album Never, as you can plainly see.




As I seem to recall saying in a review at the time, this is essentially what the Ramones would have sounded like with a more interesting guitarist. For example, that Keith Richards-ish "Before They Make Run" slide solo (introduced with "Let's give it to them!" no less) that materializes, unexpectedly, in the last third of the song is just so cool.

In any case, as always, a coveted PowerPop No-Prize will be awarded to the first reader who gleans the clip's relevance to the theme of tomorrow's Weekend Listomania.