The Daily Spinner (July 19)
[A continuing feature here at CITF, where I detail what LP(s) I'm listening to each day at my office while going through my long-neglected LP collection. Check out the last entry.]

I'd been in a bit of a haze finishing out the Jackson Browne collection--which started out in great fashion with the classic Running on Empty, but quickly lost steam through Hold Out (I stopped it early when he started to channel and mumbling, rambling Van Morrison spoken word section) and his early 90s politically charged comeback, World in Motion. I then headed out into a pop netherworld with Lindsey Buckingham's Law and Order--full of odd, odd melodies grafted onto 1950s pop song constructions (a la Orbison), but including one of my favorite singles, "Trouble."

But then I put the needle in this groove:

Well you tried it just for once found it all right for kicks. But now you found out that it's a habit that sticks.

And that--the Buzzcock's "Orgasm Addict" from their Singles Going Steady collection of, well, singles--was the kickstart my day needed. Definitely punky with a dash of occasional pop, the Buzzcocks were profane heroes to the ironically arched eyebrow set of teenagers back in my high school (while those devoted to the Clash wore their deep and meaningful political convictions on their sleeves and hap-hazardly buzzed mohawks; I was a bit more to the moddish side, wearing dapper 60s suit coats found at thrift stores, but I still appreciated the 'Cocks). Their songs were typically in the 2+ minute range and were tightly wound and played at 100 kilometers per hour. Perfect for a lazy, hazy sun-drenched Seattle afternoon spent trying to come up with creative blurbs for affordable sheet sets. You might be thinking that you've never heard a Buzzcocks song, but I'm guessing that you might have heard Fine Young Cannibals' rendition of "Ever Fallen in Love?" (also featured on the soundtrack to Jonathan Demme's Something Wild). Band leader Pete Shelley also went on to have a minor new wavy hit in the synthy Homosapien.