Lately, there has been quite a humdrum about Cat Power's cover of The Nerves classic Hanging On The Telephone for some cell phone provider. The link above is an mp3 of the original recording, later re-recorded and made into a hit by Blondie. I still think the original trumps all other versions any day. This was also one of the very early staples of my Les Infants sets at the Peacock.

The Nerves, while only small set of singles, were extremely influential in the power pop sound of the late seventies and early eighties; spawning such groups as The Beat and Plimsouls and influencing a whole generation of other power pop groups and - daresay - many of the pop-punk groups of the late eighties and alterna-nineties.