No, you’re not invited.
We know you’re exhausted from a wild weekend celebrating National Squirrel Appreciation Day, but that doesn’t excuse you from taking your weekly earworm suppository! It’s Monday, and that means it’s time to open up the child proof cap and extract another expired pill from the medicine cabinet we like to call the Dusty Vinyl Archive! DJ Scratchy was trolling the bottom half of the charts this week to find another gold record that shoulda been a contender, and it’s got the Sponkies dancing in the aisles…
An incredible amount of musical talent emerged from Australia in the 70’s and 80’s, and two of the more forgotten members of the Down Under movement were a couple of lads named Alan Tarney and Trevor Spencer. They decided to make beautiful music together under the incredibly clever name Tarney/Spencer Band. Yes, that slash was necessary and intentional… as if each member were interchangeable rather than someone thinking only Tarney should get top billing.
It still makes more sense than changing your name to a symbol.
The duo moved to the UK in the late 70’s and released a trio of albums without much fanfare. They did manage to make a small dent in the US on FM rock stations, which got their 1979 single “No Time To Lose” up to the rather modest spot of #84 on the Hot 100.
No time Toulouse.
A video their record company put together to promote the song got some exposure when a channel called MTV came around in 1981, and a re-release of the single that year proved to be even more successful than the first go. Well, if you consider gaining an additional 10 spots to #74 being successful. Either way, here’s the video as well as the song for this week’s featured lost track…
Edit 6/4/21: Since the uploader now requires you to view the video ON YouTube, here’s the audio for those who don’t want to leave The Nest to hear their earworm…
The video is practically a time capsule of the late 70’s, with a lot of footage of questionably dressed young adults in short shorts and tube socks rolling on eight wheels down the sun scorched streets of California (I’d assume), flaunting the looks and fashion that turned people on back in the days when leisure suits were worn for more than just Halloween. Unfortunately, the cameraman either wound up getting heatstroke or had his eyes burned out by a stray nutsack peeking out from underneath some too-tight clothing… because he didn’t shoot near enough skating footage to fill in the gaps between the band jamming in this four and a half minute video. So after a while, the outdoor scenes start repeating over and over. Gotta love all the thought that was put in to those classic music videos…
Just focus on the music, and you should make it through this nightmare unscathed.
I’ll return next Monday with another song that will make you want to take your shirt off…
Evil Squirrel's Nest 
oh I have furgotten this great song… thanks for sharing a gem. we tried to become artistic roller dancers as we were kids… it ended with a scar on my eyebrow the other non-artist has one on her chin furever&ever… but at least we tried to become famous :o)
I guess some facepads would have been in order as well!
Reminds me of an episode of Three’s Company…
I didn’t see Suzanne Summers in that video…
I have a lot of old scars on my poor knees to prove that I tried to skate when I was young a billion years ago but it just wasn’t in my destiny. My poor Mom had the world’s biggest collection of bandaids during those years……
Pam
I could roller skate forward pretty good….. but when it came to going backwards.. or stopping…. well, hopefully there was something to grab onto before I rolled out into the street.
Ditto what Merbear74 said. Never heard this song, but suddenly I feel like there’s no time to lose. Gotta go.
Get on your skates and ride…
We don’t know the song but skating. OMP – Skating brings back awful memories for the mommy here. She is not talented in that field at all. She says that she spent more times on her butt than standing up. Hilarious. The mommy can do numbers like you wouldn’t believe but has the balance of a snail. XOXO – Bacon
Now see, if they would have invented a butt skate, falling down wouldn’t have been an issue… you could just keep gliding right along on three skates!
I remember this song but not the video. You know me and roller skating… I spend a lot of time at the roller skating rink. In fact, I write many of my best posts there. Lately everyone just wants to talk and I can’t write anything. Anyway, I always hear the old timers (now in their 60’s and 70’s) talking about the good old days of boogie skating like this.
That’s the first time I’ve heard that term. If roller derby was too hard for you, there was always boogie skating!
There is derby, artistic/figure, speed, freestyle, hockey, quad, inline, jam skating, and boogie skating among others. Derby, artistic, speed, freestyle, and the hockey (both inline and quad) and officially recognized under the Olympic sports but no such luck for skaters on wheels – they’ll be forever on the wait list. My USA National Champion kid will have to switch to ice if she ever has Olympic skating dreams. Yeah, I can brag because I’m a mom. And by the way, Roller Boogie with Linda Blair IS the WORST movie ever made. Seriously – take my word on that. You don’t want to go through the torture of watching it. OK I’ll get off of my soap box and leave you and the critters alone.
ody & biskit……hole lee mackerull…..thiz song N band iz total lee rememburred bye de food gurl ~~~~~ thanx for de trip down memoree lane….ody…dood, hope ewe iz feelin good ~~~~ best two ewe still ☺☺☺♥♥♥
Awesome! Thanks, and everyone is doing well!
In the 70s, I was spending a lot of time totally stoned on drugs and listening to music that was already considered “old.” I’m sure that proves there’s something wrong with me. On a more entertaining note, a fundraiser from the NRA called this morning. I don’t think he liked my answers. Garry was just sitting next to me and guffawing. And coughing. We have colds.
Did you tell him he’ll only take your money when he pries it from your cold, dead, germ-ridden hands?
Shake it if you got it…
I’ve got a lot to shake, but it won’t be pretty…
Right there with you, brother…
Loved that song. Then and now! Very Kansas-esque. Thanks for sharing a cool tune.
Absolutely! I’m a little surprised at how many people remembered it since it seemed to not chart well and is considered something of a regional hit here….
This is what I call “bleugh” music (it’s not easy to try to spell the sound that comes out of my mouth when I hear such music) because nothing much seems to happen 🙂
At least there were rollerskating ladies, though…