Town Top Ten: Radartown (#7)

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Monday morning to you all. No such thing as a "good morning" on a Monday. It's time to go to town, that is with another song on my list of ten favorites that have the word "town" in the title. For today's song, we're going to Obscuresville. #7: Radartown - Mark Germino & the Sluggers Yep, told you. The guy who introduced me to Mark Germino's music said he was just a "pissed off Army veteran." Well, he has a right. And he's P.O.'d about everything, too: my favorite Mark Germino song (which will show up in a future countdown) is about a DJ who didn't follow a format or the rules. Germino's 1990 album, recorded with Tim Krekel's band the Louisville Sluggers, was thematically all over the place, looking at the wrongs in America. One of the songs on the album is about two brothers, one a socialist and the other a fascist, who meet on the streets when the socialist gets beaten up by the fascist's friends. Yeah, it's a heavy album. This song isn't that heavy, but it has that "big brother is watching you" feel to it ("where the signals pick up when the factory shuts down") and trying to avoid it ("once inside the wire they all disappear"). And it's a great rocking song, too. Germino is making his living more as a songwriter these days, given that people like Kenny Chesney and Emmylou Harris are recording his songs. This album should have been big. Maybe he just sounds too much like Steve Earle. Radartown Written by Mark Germino Recorded by Mark Germino & the Sluggers From Radartown, 1990 You can't fly over 'cause you get shot down: