When arriving in the OKC area in
late 1974 at seventeen, my tastes naturally gravitated to stations like “Rock
100 -- the KATT” or KOMA,
AM-1520, which at the time played top-40 hits by groups like the
Eagles and Fleetwood Mac.
However, thanks to my wonderful
parents (mostly Mom), I’d been exposed to classical music through many compilations
of classical music melodies, which usually proved to be only excerpts from
composers’ signature works.
I soon encountered KCSC, the classical
music station from Edmond, OK’s Central State University. It became a constant go-to friend throughout
the college years and married life, into the 1980s. And to the present day, even after they treacherously changed their call letters.
Beginning around 1980, I discovered
an exciting fact: After midnight, the
sometimes-stuffy classical music was replaced by cutting-edge, new music that
wasn’t being played on the other radio stations I knew about. Several of these acts, such as the Pretenders
or Devo, later became big names.
Another socially important thing the
student DJs did: On the night of December 8, 1980, these
guys played every Beatles song, in alphabetical order by title, all night long.
Since I was a normal working stiff,
I couldn’t stay up all the time and listen into the wee hours of the
morning. So, I tuned the radio in, popped
a cassette into my deck, and hit “RECORD” -- a real catch-as-catch-can
operation, as you may imagine. I
listened the next day and being hi-tech (in my own mind) because I owned two
component stereo cassette decks wired “in sequence,” I re-dubbed the songs I
liked, assembling my own compilation of new favorites.
I named my anthology tape after the
KCSC radio show, “The Insect Lounge.” I
listened to that dang tape so often that I could remember the set list, even
after I lost the actual cassette. And
being a compulsive type (had you noticed?), I eventually tried online to find
all the songs I remembered.
Speaking of remembrances of “The
Insect Lounge” on KCSC, I’m not alone:
- · bio of unnamed DJ who worked on “Insect Lounge” show http://fun-dj.com/bio
- · audio on YouTube referencing “Insect Lounge” show https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwaD39b9tWs
- · blog post mentioning memories of the show http://jamescaseysjournal.blogspot.com/2012/03/recovering-my-memories-1st-computer.html
- · another blog post https://markdrubin.blogspot.com/2006/05/there-but-for-grace-of-god-go.html
My quest came to encompass the other
fun songs I found along the way My “It [verb beginning with ‘E’] from the
1980s” series, still all available from various posts here.
Well, I finally found all the songs
I remembered! They are herewith
presented, the track sequence dictated by how I dubbed them thirty-plus years
ago. Of course, all the art is generated
and mangled by yours truly.
01 - Shut Up and
Dance - Pearl Harbor and The Explosions 1980 (4:02)
02 - I Get Around -
The Bakersfield Boogie Boys
1980 (2:17)
03 - Message of
Love - The Pretenders 1981 (3:24)
04 - We Are the
Nowtones - Blotto 1979 (3:37)
05 - Once in a
Lifetime - Talking Heads 1980 (4:18)
06 - Don't Stand So
Close to Me - The Police 1980 (3:57)
07 - I'm in Gear -
The Insect Surfers
1980 (3:41)
08 - Whip It (Live) - Devo 1980 (2:53)
09 - Girl U
Want (Live) - Devo 1980 (2:56)
10 - Sheila - The
Greg Kihn Band 1981 (2:49)
11 - Do the Nip - Aunt
Helen 1980 (3:31)
12 - Dancin' with
Myself - Billy Idol 1980 (3:17)
13 - Debi - The
International Broadcasters 1980 (3:13)
14 - White Sweater
- Romeo Void 1981 (4:46)
15 - Turn Me Loose
- Loverboy 1981 (5:34)
16 - What's He Got
- The Producers 1980 (2:30)
17 - She's Got a
Big Boyfriend - Blotto 1980 (3:25)
The unknown platter-spinners
cross-faded some of the tracks, so of course that’s how I received them. These are
Tracks 3-4, 5-6, 8-9, and 13-14.
If you want a cross-faded experience of the music, here’s the
single-file version.
My special thanks to spavid at Willfully
Obscure blog. He provided Track 11, and his suggestions
inspired me to finally locate Track 13, after a fruitless search through
about 2000 releases on Discogs.
I hope at least a few people in the
Great Internet Beyond can find a little escapist fun and joy in these songs.
And worlds of gratitude to the
unknown student platter-spinners of KCSC in the early 1980s!
See you back here on Monday for some 1970s STAR TREK fannish nonsense.
