Each Friday I pick a song–new, old, borrowed, blue–that’s been on my mind and in my ears, and write a short post about it.

This is “Sex Bomb” by Flipper:

Are you thinking about starting a punk or rock ‘n’ roll band of any kind?  Here’s your starting point: “Sex Bomb” by Flipper.  There’s one line of lyrics to learn. There’s one pretty simple and very fun riff to learn. It doesn’t matter–as Flipper amply demonstrates–how tight or sloppy you play it.  You can keep playing it, if you want to, for hours. Play and play and play and play. You’ll have a great time. Take turns yelling “Sex Bomb, baby, yeah!” Keep playing.  It’s basically a jam band song for people who hate jam bands. Keep cranking away on it and you’ll develop just enough chops to play in a punk band, and you’ll be having a stupid good time while you’re doing it. Yeah!

I was reminded of Flipper, and of “Sex Bomb” specifically, for the first time in a while this week while reading a book about Yo La Tengo, Big Day Coming by Jesse Jarnow. I loved the book, partly because I love Yo La Tengo, though mainly because it’s a smart, thoughtful, enthusiastic, and loving account not just of a band, but of a particular musical era (the rise, from punk, of “indie rock,” 1980s-2000s) and place (Hoboken, NJ).  Jarnow is a dj at WFMU, the (legendary? famous?) New Jersey-based independent freeform radio station (basically, a college radio station without a college), and the book tells not only the story of Yo La Tengo, but also the (entirely related) story of WFMU, as well as the story of the rise of American “indie” rock, too. If you’re at all interested in Yo La Tengo, it’s a book well worth buying (follow the link embedded in the title, or go to a bookshop and order it) and reading (open to page 1, start at the top left). Now go get a drum and a guitar and a bass and whatever else you want, and start playing “Sex Bomb”.