- Elvis Costello, Welcome To The Working Week
- Elvis Costello, Waiting For The End Of The World
- The Selecter, On My Radio
- Pretenders, Mystery Achievement
- Graham Parker and The Rumour, Don’t Ask Me Questions
- Talking Heads, Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)
- Ramones, Beat On The Brat
- Blondie, Rip Her To Shreds
- Dead Kennedys, Holiday In Cambodia
- The Clash, The Guns Of Brixton
- BB Gabor, Simulated Groove
- XTC, Ten Feet Tall
- Teenage Head, Brand New Cadillac
- Ian Dury, I’m Partial To Your Abracadabra
- The Boomtown Rats, Mary Of The 4th Form
- The Cars, Dangerous Type
- The Police, Bring On The Night
- Joe Jackson, In Every Dream Home (A Nightmare)
- The Beat, Tears Of A Clown
- The B-52’s, Planet Claire
- Nick Lowe, American Squirm
- The Specials, Ghost Town
- The Sex Pistols, Submission
- Love Sculpture, Sabre Dance (single version)
- The Rolling Stones, Hey Negrita
- Joe Walsh, I Can Play That Rock & Roll
- Chet Atkins & Mark Knopfler, Yakety Axe
- The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Lovin’ Cup
- J.J. Cale, Crazy Mama
- Elton John, Have Mercy On The Criminal
- David Bowie, Fascination
It was suggested to me I might play a punk/new wave show and I dabble in such tunes on occasion, what I call my ‘college days’ soundtrack, for me that being 1978-80. But I’ve rarely done the bulk of a show to this extent. So anyway, here it is, happy to do it, followed towards the end by some more let’s say my typical classic rock fare. It was interesting in putting the set together because while I still like the ‘new wave’ tunes, and it was a fun period in my musical life, it also occurred to me that many of the bands represented, to me anyway, were good singles bands but didn’t have much depth to their catalogs. Blondie, for instance. I like the hits but not much else grabs me, the same certainly for The B-52’s – two good songs/singles to me, Planet Claire and even Rock Lobster hasn’t aged well – and XTC whose music, aside from a few cuts, I find to be pretty wimpy Brit pop type stuff. Even The Police, to me, have not aged well and I was a huge fan at one time. Just my changing ears, what can I say? And the Ramones, I dunno, love-hate relationship, I ‘get’ them and their influence I guess but at same time, it’s pretty much all one interchangeable song. Most of the early punk and new wave bands that lasted (The Clash, Joe Jackson, Nick Lowe, Elvis Costello, Pretenders, Talking Heads etc.) wound up doing exactly what some of them initially criticized their forebears for doing – creatively expanding their musical palettes. Nothing wrong with that, in my book.