There was a moment not that long ago when rock ’n’ roll didn’t just soundtrack reality. It tried to change it.

This week’s Movie of the Week is Rock & Rule (1983), the strange, ambitious animated rock opera that emerged from a time when music still felt mythic, dangerous, and world-altering.

We’re also kicking off a new featured-artist arc focused on the members of The Nerves — beginning with Paul Collins. From power pop urgency to post-punk polish, Collins helped define a sound that still echoes through indie rock today.

Plus a clip from the legendary Greg Shaw of Bomp! Records...and plenty of melodic noise from the margins.

New year. Same mission. Digging deep into cult cinema, power pop history, and the music that refuses to disappear.

Be good. Be weird.

Today's tracks:

The Leopards - Block Party

The Voltz - Over and Done

Kim Theory - Child Star Teenybopper

The Webstirs - King of Distortion

Joe Glass - Freight Train Woman

Joint Pains - Everything Considered

The Goods - Back to You

The Vandalias - Buzzbomb!

The Go-Go's - Turn to You

Paul Collins Beat:

• Rock N Roll Girl
• That's What Life Is All About
• I Still Want You

Paul Collins:

• Kind of Girl
• All Eyes to See

Uni Boys - I Don't Wanna Dream Anymore

Sharp Pins - I Could Find Out

The Darts (U.S.) - Apocalypse

Drugs In Sport - Cooked

The Arcs - She's Just That Kind of Girl

Bellvie - Feels So Far Away

The Primitives - Way Behind Me

Welcome to this week's episode of Pop Rocks Radio! We’re shining a spotlight on artists who came from, played with, or were caught in the orbit of The Quick and their wild little corner of L.A.’s scene.

And since it’s Halloween month at Pop Rocks Radio, we’re kicking things off with our Movie of the Week — Elvira, Mistress of the Dark 👁️‍🗨️

Crank it up, grab your tassels, and let the weird times roll.

🔗 Links:

https://bompstore.com

https://bigstirrecords.com

Tracks:

The Wellingtons- Sad Today

The Allies- EMMA PEEL

The Brandos- Gettysburg

Stella and the Very Messed- Constable Garza Is Bad At His Job

PONY- Superglue

The Half-Cubes- I'll be taking her out tonight

Dom Mariani- World On Its Head

The Saints- Private Affair (Remastered)

The Quick- No No Girl

The Damned- Neat Neat Neat

The Dickies- Pretty Please Me

Great Buildings- Another Day In My Life

Cruzados- Wasted Years

The Runaways- Queens of Noise

Danny Wilde- Time Runs Wild

The Three O'Clock- When She Becomes My Girl

The Othermothers- Rodeo

LOOSE LIPS- Last Laugh

20/20- Jet Lag

💛 Share it, support it, and as always: Be good. Be weird.

Spooky Ride by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

This week, we dive into the 1990 cult classic Pump Up the Volume — Allan Moyle’s pirate-radio rallying cry for every kid who ever felt like an outsider.

Our featured artist is The Lemonheads — slacker-poet pop-punk darlings whose hooks and heartache made them icons of the ’90s underground.

🎧 Turn it up. Talk hard. Steal the air.

Links:

https://bompstore.com

Today's Tracks

Melvic Centre- Thin

Jim Basnight with The Rockinghams- Need a Car

Camp Trash- Friendship America

The chrisVandalay Project- Facing West

Thin White Rope- Wire Animals

Visqueen- Manhattan

Ty Segall- Skirts of Heaven

The Lemonheads- No Backbone

Lemonheads- Second Chance

Lemonheads- Mallo Cup

Lemonheads- It's A Shame About Ray

The Lemonheads- If I Could Talk I'd Tell You

The Lemonheads- In the Margin

Sonic Whip- Survive

Mad Haven- Wasted on You

Flutter- Standing On A Corner

The Green Pajamas- Peppermint Stick

Cosmo Topper- Green Tea Party

This Machine Kills Archons- Future Shocked

Nada Surf- Always Love

💛 Share it, support it, and as always: Be good. Be weird.

This week, Pop Rocks Radio takes it to Times Square — our Movie of the Week. Allan Moyle’s 1980 cult classic follows two girls who find their voices in the grit and chaos of New York. It’s messy, uneven, and unforgettable — just the way we like it!

We’re also featuring the brilliant Tamar Berk, tracing her journey from the Starball days through her solo work, and closing with a brand-new track from her latest album, OCD. Tamar’s music is equal parts jagged poetry and irresistible hooks.

🔗 Links:

https://tamarberkmusic.com/

https://tamarberk.bandcamp.com/

https://indivisible.org/

https://substack.com/@swlauden

Playlist:

The Chelsea Curve - Never Come Down

Fastbacks - My Letters

Smokey Brights - All in Who You Know

Shannon & The Clams - The Moon Is In The Wrong Place

PONY - Somebody Kill Me Please

PONY - Chokecherry

Starball - Say About Me

Tamar Berk - Over and Done

Tamar Berk - Better off Meditating

Tamar Berk - Dandelions in My Flowerbed

Tamar Berk - Chicago

Tamar Berk - i'm in the day after

The Cords - Fabulist

Radhika - Future Me

The Anti Groupies - Not My Problem

The Hellflowers - Spanish Bombs

Hunx & His Punx - Wild Boys

Momma - I Want You (Fever)

The Shivvers - Remember Tonight

👉 Listen now: listen.poprocksradio.com

💛 Share it, support it, and as always: Be good. Be weird.

This week we dive into Ladies & Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains—teen fury, image vs. message, and why "well-behaved" women watch while "misbehaving" women lead. Straight from the film, we have our featured artist, The Professionals (Steve Jones & Paul Cook): post-Pistols bite, big hooks, zero nostalgia naps.

Thanks for listening!

🔗 Links:

https://bompstore.com

Dom Mariani: Never Done

Today's Tracks:

• The Wellingtons – She Still Loves Me
• Dharma Bums – Jet Pilot
• Hard-ons – You Disappointed Me
• Paul Collins – Hang On to Yourself
• Eddie Money – Think I’m In Love
• The Goods – Hear Me
• Beta Trip – On My Mind
• The Pandoras – In and Out of My Life (In a Day)
• The Professionals – The Magnificent
• The Professionals – Kick Down the Doors
• The Professionals – Payola
• The Professionals – Going Going Gone
• The Riff Randells – When You Go
• Lunison – Name 3 Songs
• Hormones – If I Was Your Girl
• Carmen Toth – Pretty Dresses
• Andy Lampert – Another Song About a Train
• The 1981 – Soft Goodbye
• Absolute Losers – At The Same Time
• McCormick – The Girl I Knew Before
• Sugarbomb – Hello

🎧 Full episodes + extras: listen.poprocksradio.com

🎬 Pop Rocks Radio on YouTube

“Be good. Be weird.”

This week on Pop Rocks Radio, Bijan sits down with Dom Mariani—the Australian songwriter behind The Stems, DM3, Datura4, and a string of acclaimed solo releases. For nearly four decades, Dom has been delivering some of the most infectious power pop and garage rock hooks ever put to tape.

From the jangly brilliance of The Stems to the cult following of DM3, the heavy grooves of Datura4, and his melodic solo work, Dom shares stories from his journey, reflects on what keeps him writing, and talks about why he’s far from done.

🔗 Explore more:

• Official site: dommariani.com
• Alive Naturalsound Records: alive-records.com
• Purchase Dom’s music: bompstore.com

✨ Support the Show + Stay Connected:

• Subscribe to the podcast: listen.poprocksradio.com
• YouTube: youtube.com/@poprocksradio
• Instagram: instagram.com/pop.rocks.radio
• TikTok: tiktok.com/@pop.rocks.radio

If you liked this episode, please leave a review, share it with a friend, and help keep our weird little mixtape alive. 🎶

Thanks to Dave Brockwell for the cool Dom art!

💛 Support what you love!

If you dig what we’re doing, you can support the show directly at buymeacoffee.com/poprocksradio. Every bit helps us share more music from the margins.