Speaking of LEFT IN THE DARK

Which song was the "Louie Louie" of 80s/90s college bands, Left in the Dark by the Vertebrats or Can't Hardly Wait by The Replacements? - Xmastime

I humbly submit that Left in the Dark is simply one of those songs that despite never being anywhere near a hit deserves a full-on documentary, and I humbly suggest we get the Last Dance guy to do it.

"But Xmastime", you say in the voice of Craig “Ironhead” Heyward from those soap commercials (RIP), “aren't you practically BFF with Ken Draznik of The Vertebrats, who wrote it?"

Sigh. Yes I did, faithful readers, YES I did:

About 10 years ago THE GNAT, after spotting his name in some Wilco message board, hooked me up with Ken Draznik, the writer of the song, and like a star-struck fan I emailed him. And of course I told him how much I loved his band, what that song meant, about the inordinate number of musical doors those three minutes somehow opened to me, it was the first song I learned how to play blah blah blah. And, incredibly, he wrote me back. First of all, I was shocked to learn that, according to his email address,  he worked for Riddell Sports. I don't know what I thought; I guess I pictured that whoever had written such a (seemingly) famous song spent his time in pubs doing interviews with Kurt Loder and shagging chicks. Or whatever.

Anyway, not only did he email me, but he MAILED me cassette tapes of the Vertebrats catalog, PLUS demos he had been working on. We were email buddies for awhile...then I sent him a Happy Scene ep + a tape of MY demos, and the correspondence "mysteriously" stopped there. Hmm.