This week on Teenage Kicks we'll feature Marc Bolan - T Rex, born Sept. 30, 1947. He started as a folkie writing songs about hippies and elves, and he famously claimed to have spent time with a wizard in Paris who gave him secret knowledge and could levitate. Ok. Eventually as the '60s turned into the '70s he found success turning up the Chuck Berry guitar grooves and creating glam rock - rivaling his frenemy David Bowie to rule the English scene, and some success in America too (bang and gong, get it on, get it on) After the hits ended and punk started, Marc Bolan was staging a comeback - hosting his own TV show in England -- when tragedy struck, losing his life in a car crash on September 16, 1977.

This week back in 1981, Adam and the Ants were the biggest act in the U.K. - with their second No. 1 hit in a row - it was the New Romantic era, full of puffy shirts and swagger. They called it "Antmusic for Sex People" - and you can see a bit of the frilly pirate look on a certain purple yoda at that time. It didn't last. Adam's career would crest in 1983 on the success of "Goody Two Shoes" - but by 1985 Ant was focusing on acting, and Antmania was over. But it was glorious fun while it lasted, and we'll revisit the Kings of the Wild Frontier - Adam and the Ants.

This year on Teenage Kicks, we've been celebrating a lot of the music released in 1978 -- 40 years ago, and a year of 'what's next?' following the upheaval brought on by punk rock. With their fourth album in three years, that September the Ramones put out "Road To Ruin" - which yielded one of their enduring classics - ("Twenty-, twenty-, twenty-four hours to go / I wanna be sedated" hook) - "Road to Ruin" was my first Ramones album, and was also the album where Tommy Ramone handed the drumsticks to Marky, they added some ballads and even - gasp - guitar solos to the mix! But despite critical acclaim, it only reached No. 103 on the U.S. album chart - nothing they tried would make them the superstars they deserved to be, as Boston's "Don't Look Back" and the soundtrack to "Grease" battled for No. 1 in the fall of '78. We'll make up for that slight as we feature The Ramones, "Road to Ruin," this week on Teenage Kicks.

This time on Teenage Kicks, we look at one of the great rock bands of the '80s - the Pretenders, led by Chrissie Hynde, who celebrates a birthday this week. Born in Akron, Ohio, Hynde went to college with Devo at Kent State University before her rock and roll obsessions took her to London, where she was a writer working in Malcolm McLaren's punk boutique, hanging with the Pistols, the Damned and the Clash, trying to find a musical fit when she formed the Pretenders, whose debut was one of the best releases of 1980. Tragedy struck the band, who lost two members to drug overdoses in 1982, but through it all, Chrissie Hynde has been a survivor, as well as an iconic rock and roller.

Jim McGuinn hosts this Block-Rockin' Weekend edition of Teenage Kicks with three-song sets by such artists as Grace Jones, New Order, Ramones, Siouxsie And The Banshees and more.

This week on Teenage Kicks, we celebrate the birthday of Declan Patrick McManus -- whom we all know as Elvis Costello. The singer-songwriter, guitarist, wearer of excellent glasses is turning 64; hugely prolific in the '70s, this time we're going to delve into a few highlights of his work in the '80s. Elvis Costello has a new album on the way, and he's returning to the Twin Cities with a show at the Northrop on November 15. It's a birthday celebration for Elvis Costello this week on Teenage Kicks.

This week marks the anniversary of the birth of the late Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy. Before Bono, before Bob Geldof, he was one of the first rock stars to come from Ireland, and with Thin Lizzy, Lynott helped define hard rock in the late 1970s. But there were other sides to his personality: he was a dreamer, a poet, a rocker and ... a cowboy? Before succumbing to alcohol and drug abuse and dying at the age of 36 in 1986, Phil Lynott wrote one of the best songs in rock history, "The Boys Are Back in Town."

Our featured band of the week is Wire, who some say created post-punk before punk was even over in the U.K. in the late 1970s. Their first three albums have just been reissued with tons of extras, and we'll get tracks from all three. We'll also celebrate the birthday of Andy Bell of Ride and Oasis, Joe Jackson, Mark Knopfler, and Ron from the band Sparks. And we'll sprinkle in a couple of Welsh artists in honor of Geraint Thomas's Tour de France win.

On August 5, 1975, drummer Sandy West and guitarist Joan Jett met over at West's house and formed the nucleus of the first ever all female heavy rock band - The Runaways. With four albums released between 1976 and 1978, and a sound that rocked between metal and punk, The Runaways have been an inspiration for generations, subject to a 2010 biopic and launchpad for the solo careers of Joan Jett and Lita Ford. We'll dig into the Runaways and their story, this week on Teenage Kicks

This week on Teenage Kicks, Jim McGuinn welcomes special guest Mike Peters of The Alarm!