The ’70s were the golden age of the double A-side single, a curious little thing where a record company would release a single and promote both sides to radio, all in an effort to get listeners to trade up to the full album since, hey, two good songs on this 45, so why not? But for every “We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions,” where both sides got equal acclaim, there were dozens more where one side was just a liiiittle better and got much more airplay. That’s the case with today’s entry, Ringo Starr’s double A-side single, “No No Song/Snookeroo.”

Plucked from Ringo’s fourth album, Goodnight Vienna, both songs were strong as Ringo tunes go, but it was “No No Song,” with its “no, no, no, I don’t *sniff* no mo‘” refrain that won the hearts of radio programmers and most of the public. Oldies radio stations still play it often — in fact, I heard it last week on Sirius Classic Vinyl. But I prefer the flip side, “Snookeroo” (download), an Elton John/Bernie Taupin composition that sounds just like, well, a John/Taupin song. Elton even plays piano on the rocking track, which sounds like it could have been plucked right off Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, released that same year.

While “No No Song” is one of those typical Ringo songs (by that I don’t mean it was written by Ringo, just that it was a country-flavored number bordering on novelty, like “Octopus’s Garden” or “Oh, My My”), but “Snookeroo’s” rollicking tale of a pool hall cad born the eve of Halloween has a “Crocodile Rock” feel that lifts it above the normal Ringo fare. Some radio stations did play the two in a row at the time, but most chose to spotlight “No No Song,” leaving poor “Snookeroo” lost in the ’70s.

Tangentally related observation: My favorite Stuttering John (former celebrity interviewer for the Howard Stern Show) moment was when he asked Ringo what he “(did) with the money” (What money? “The money your mother gave you for singing lessons”) and if it was difficult writing “It Don’t Come Easy.”

“Snookeroo” peaked at #3 on the Billboard Pop Singles Chart in 1975 as part of a double A-side with “No No Song.”

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“I been in the right place, but it must have been the wrong time.” —Dr. John

Boy, if that doesn’t sum up the self-titled debut/swan song of Bounce the Ocean, I don’t know what does. Picture it: Washington, 1991. Hawk Bjorn and John Utter are surrounded by the burgeoning world of grunge, but choosing to follow their muse rather than the trends of the day, they produce an album of glossy, harmony-laden pop music that would’ve sounded more at home on the radio in 1981. They still managed to score a decent-sized radio hit, though, thanks to the album’s opening track, “Throw It All Away,” and another song — “Wasting My Time” — earned them at least a little bit of airplay, though it admittedly did so without ever actually charting.

You’d like to think that it was a testament to the quality of their work (because, wow, those harmonies are fucking incredible), but really, when was the last time quality had anything to do with a song becoming a hit?

In truth, the band had been working their way up through the ranks for a while, first getting some exposure by getting their music placed in the Patrick Dempsey flick Some Girls (1988), then by getting signed to Private Music, a label that had previously been known solely for its new-age artists (Yanni, Suzanne Ciani) but in ‘91 was getting ink in the music trades for securing Ringo Starr for their roster. It was probably the Private Music connection that did the most for their profile, but a high profile can only do so much when the music you’re making isn’t anything remotely like what “the kids” are listening to. In fact, looking back, it’s somewhat ironic that the band’s big-nosed labelmate was actually playing more to current musical trends than the members of Bounce the Ocean were, since Starr’s album featured a cover of the Posies’ “Golden Blunders” and had Andy Sturmer and Roger Manning from Jellyfish providing harmonies.

But, really, who’s complaining?

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On March 8, 2008, the Rutland Times reported the breathtaking news that the world and elsewhere would soon be privy to something quite remarkable: “Rutlemania! The Tribute Concert.” Even more impressive to fans of the Prefab Four, however, was the announcement that the famed Mods & Rockers Film Festival would be handling the official 30th-anniversary celebration of the Rutles on March 17, with Dirk (Eric Idle), Nasty (Neil Innes), Ricky Fataar (Stig), and John Halsey (Barry) all in attendance for a screening of the original 1978 version of The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash, the 1975 British TV skit that inspired the film, Rutles-related footage from Saturday Night Live, and highlights from the 2003 film The Rutles 2: Can’t Buy Me Lunch.

Damn. I really wish I could’ve been there for that.

Fortunately, David Haber from WhatGoesOn.com was there, and provided two separate reports over at his website, one a general summary and the other focusing specifically on the Rutles’ first full reunion performance ever. Better you should go there yourself rather than allow me to cannibalize all the good stuff here, but let’s just say that any event that can draw an audience that includes Andy Summers, Jeff Lynne, Aimee Mann, Michael Penn, Stephen Bishop, Howard Kaylan of the Turtles, producer extraordinaire Peter Asher (who was also half of Peter & Gordon), Emo Phillips, Marcia Strassman, and Dan Castellaneta was clearly the place to be that night.

If you’re a Beatles fan who’s never heard the genius parody that is the Rutles, you’re really missing out. It’s a fair assessment to suggest that 90 percent of all power pop is unabashedly derivative of the works of John, Paul, George, and Ringo, and plenty of comedians have taken the world’s most famous Liverpudlians and had a laugh at their expense, but few have done such an exquisite job of it and gotten the blessing of the members themselves to boot — well, three-quarters of them, anyway. George actually made a cameo in the original film; as for the others (if we can trust Wikipedia’s word on the matter), Ringo liked the happier scenes but felt the ones that mimicked the sadder times in the band’s career hit too close to home, while John loved the film so much that he refused to return the videotape and soundtrack he was given for his approval, warning Neil Innes that “Get Up and Go” was too close to “Get Back” and to be careful so as not to be sued by Paul. This might explain why Macca always said “no comment” when asked of the film at the time of its release, as well as Innes’s remark that Sir Paul “had a dinner at some awards thing at the same table as Eric one night, and Eric said it was a little frosty.”

Well, fair enough, you can kind of understand that. It’s fine and well for us to have a laugh at it all, but then, we didn’t live it. George was around for much of the planning of the original film, but according to producer Gary Weis, even the Quiet One got a bit testy at one point, snapping, “We were the Beatles, you know!” Moments later, however, he shook his head and said, “Aw, never mind.”

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