Big Star's 3rd could have only been done in that kind of environment.

Damn straight. Booker T & The MGs also could have only come from that environment.

Damn straight. Booker T & The MGs also could have only come from that environment.

Yeah, that's why I loved Palmer's book, because you really got a sense of what made Memphis special musically. Have you heard the Memphis Goons, Hayden? Bunch of smartass teenagers in the early 70s who never played out but did a lot of recording with big Beefheart influences. Those recordings came out in the 90s. Actually some legendary Ardent recordings have come out in the last year or so for bands like the Hot Dogs (which we feature in the book) and Rock City (the precursor to Big Star).

Memphis Goons from AMG:

Even if the Memphis Goons weren't a great rock band, they'd be a great rock story. Back in 1969, piano playerRobert Hull, guitarist/bassist Phil Jones, and guitarist/bassist Mike Lantrip were three fellas from the Memphis suburb of Whitehaven, bored jut like plenty of their peers. So they formed a band and adopted new names (Hull was Xavier Tarpit, Jones became Wally Moth, and Lantrip took on Jackass Thompson). But the Goons weren't like the thousands of other garage bands of the era, out playing school dances and parties. No, the Goons' concise and private m.o. went like this: write, practice, record, move on to the next tune. Over the next few years, they captured hundreds of songs on tape. Though the term lo-fi wouldn't emerge for another two decades with bands such as Pavement and Guided By Voices, the Goons created the early blueprint for the sound: raggedy guitar, oddball lyrics, basement-value home recording, and dollops of passion. Not that anyone other than themselves heard it. As the players grew up and started having families, they stopped conducting their sonic experiments. Xavier Tarpit took the pen name Robot Hull and began writing for Creem under Lester Bangs. Eventually he went back to Robert and became an executive producer for Time-Life Music. Then, in 1996, Hull wrote an essay for Rolling Stone's Alt-Rock-a-Rama called "The Original Punks: The Greatest Garage Recordings of the Twentieth Century." Number two on the list (behind a tied number one for the Sonics and the Kingsmen's "Louie, Louie") were a band no one had ever heard of called the Memphis Goons. The piece set the stage for Shangri-La to release the Goons' only proper album, Teenage BBQ, later that year. Though the disc collects vintage cuts from reel upon reel of homemade tapes, the band would not be confined to yesteryear. In 1998 they performed a surprisingly inspired show back in Memphis — their first ever.

Top 30 songs of 1974 or my favorite song from each year 1974-2004.

When I first saw this, I thought you meant, the 30 biggest hits from 1974.

Before you decide to go that route, be aware that the 2 biggest hits of the year were "The Way We Were" and "Seasons in the Sun."

"Seasons in the Sun."

We had joy, we had fun
We went streaking in the sun
But the cops had the gun
And they shot us in the bun

At least that's how it went on our schoolyard.

At least that's how it went on our schoolyard.

I'll have to teach that one to Emmett.

The original was by Jacques Brel, of course. Rod McKuen did the translation into English. Terry Jacks, who had the big hit with it, was in a band called The Poppy Family (which my co-editor, Kim, wrote a big piece about in Scram).

Scrappy, if you ever got around to watching that Cassavetes movie I loaned you on tape, its got a Bobby Darin TV special on it afterwards with The Poppy Family.

Terry Jacks, who had the big hit with it, was in a band called The Poppy Family (which my co-editor, Kim, wrote a big piece about in Scram).

And your bubblegum book had a piece about the Poppy Family. "Which Way You Goin', Billy?" is a personal favorite -- great sound, but I keep thinking I'm missing something in the lyrics.

Boggling at Jacques Brel having written "Seasons in the Sun." But it all makes a weird kind of sense ...

Boggling at Jacques Brel having written "Seasons in the Sun." But it all makes a weird kind of sense ...

Hey, its about death. It might be less sentimental in French.

"My Way"? Also French.