126. Rock n Roll Girl by The Beat 1979

1979. 2 minutes and 17 seconds of power pop perfection. When Little Murders began playing gigs our set was full of short rock and roll songs played with as much energy and melody as we could muster up (with a dose of harmonies too) We weren't tagging ourselves power pop. We were just rocking out the best we could. Gradually we slipped into the Mod scene that was just starting up and became a Mod band but often were tagged power pop as well. Power pop in my mind was a scene dominated by a lot of light vocals and I while I appreciated a lot of the songs and loved a few it wasn't tough enough for me. Rock n Roll Girl broke down the doors for me and put this particular niche of music right upfront.
I first heard it sang by Chris Harrington and the Larges. The song just clicked with me. So I hunted down the record which wasn't easy back then. When I got it I found the album was full of classics. Later when Chris and I put together a band "Blow Up" that played about 4 gigs all together I was so excited at playing the song live.
In the 90s when I was running Swerve Records I gave the album to Jonestown and told them ..this is the blueprint for a great record and please cover some of these songs. they ended up covering "Walking out on love" live.
Last year when making the new Little Murders album I went back to this record for inspiration when writing and recording. Driving to the other side of the city The Beat featured heavily on my mixCD. Great song.