Lost Hits of the New Wave #30

Donnie Iris may be a name solidly from the past, but it's one that is back in the news recently.

Dominic Ierace, better known by his stage name of Donnie Iris climbed to fame as a member of The Jaggerz and the writer of "The Rapper." That was in 1970.

Later he floated into Wild Cherry, that 1970s band known for playing that funky music, white boy.

After that he became a solo act, sometimes backed up by The Cruisers and produced vintage FM classics in the early 1980s like "Ah! Leah!" and "Love Is Like a Rock."





As the decade continued, Iris continued to try to compete with low charting singles like "Tough World," "The High and the Mighty," and "Do You Compute?" He even released a pseudo-rock Christmas album called Ah! Leluiah! but he would never again see the success he had with the rock new wave crossover hit "Love Is Like a Rock." Now, he is suing Sony for royalties owed when "The Rapper" was sampled by The Game for their 2008 song, "Letter to the King." Iris still tours the Pittsburgh and Ohio region with The Cruisers.

Lost Hits of the New Wave #6

"Clones (We're All)" by Alice Cooper.

This is notoriously the New Wave song from Alice Cooper, trashed at the time as cashing in and selling out to popular music, the album "Flush the Fashion" is now considered something of a lost treasure. It was one of my faves of the time even though it disappeared quickly. I remember it being in the nightly 'top five at ten' on WPST for a week or so.

Selling out or not, the tune is vintage Alice, and fits it perfectly with his repertoire. Alice was the monster guy when I was in elementary school, and was now the scifi guy with this comeback while I was in junior high. Do you hear the Gary Numan "Cars" vibe in there? I like it.

Lost Hits of the New Wave #1

"Hey, St. Peter" by Flash and the Pan.

This one-hit wonder tune hit hard in the summer of 1977, and was provided unprecedented airplay on both top 40 and rock radio stations in the Philadelphia area. I recall hearing it exhaustedly on WYSP, WPST, and WIFI, all radio stations now deceased. The band was spun out of The Easybeats and had some success in its native Australia and in the UK.

A self-titled album from Flash and the Pan hit in 1978. Although they never pulled a second hit from it, the record also included "Walking in the Rain," which Grace Jones would later have her own hit with as a cover. "Hey, St. Peter" was their only US hit.