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Mar 12Liked by S.W. Lauden

Read this piece just prior to hearing of Eric Carmen's death over the weekend. So sad...

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Big loss for the power pop/rock community. "Go All The Way" basically helped define and launch the power pop subgenre. #RIP

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"Hero Takes A Fall"—mmmmwaaa! It's one of the most egregiously overlooked songs, in my opinion. For me, that is The Bangles. The more popular stuff is okay(ish), but this? Perfection. When I saw it was the same year as the Mats '"I Will Dare," I started thinking how great it would be to hear Susanna Hoffs sing some Westerberg tunes. That should happen.

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A Hoffs/Westerberg mashup/collab would be incredible!

I kind of had the same revelation—several times—putting this piece together. We think of these things as separate/distinct, but there are often connections/commonalities that reveal themselves over time. It's an interesting way to consider genre music. Might be something I turn into some kind of series.

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I think this might be my favorite Bangles song?

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Hard to beat!

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Mar 13Liked by S.W. Lauden

Autosalvage, the Searchers, Funkadelic, the Shoes

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Shoes are so great!

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The Posies, Big Star.

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Great bands! Funny enough, Big Star's 'Radio City' is where this idea started—but I've written about "September Gurls"/'Radio City' twice in recent months, so I bumped them down to second position in 1974. Thanks for checking it out.

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I don't know much of The Raspberries beyond the obvious and had never heard of Farrah. The Bangles still sound so great and Sloan is evergreen.

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Raspberries are incredible if you're in rabbit hole mode. Or just click the links in the article. Farrah is great too. The Bangles are all-timers...and Sloan? Amazing pop rock and roll. What a catalog!

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