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"Life Is a Rock (But the Radio Rolled Me)" is a 1974 song by a group of studio musicians in a group for this purpose called Reunion, with Joey Levine (bubblegum music pioneer with "Chewy Chewy" and "Yummy Yummy Yummy" to his credit), as the lead singer. The song was written by Paul DiFranco (music) and Norman Dolph (lyrics). The lyrics are a fast patter of '50s, '60s, and '70s disc jockeys, musicians, songwriters, record labels and (incongruously) Jack the Ripper, broken only by the chorus.

The Pennsauken Mart, a 35-acre emporium at the intersection of Routes 73, 90 and 130, was the prime destination for shoppers long before area malls began selling their goods.

In early August 1956, what the Courier-Post described as "the modern super-counterpart of the old-time town square farmer's market" opened at routes 130 and 73.The $2.5 million, 200-store Pennsauken Merchandise Mart featured everything from "the largest super grocery department in the world" to "the largest indoor and outdoor Kiddieland in the East" to "the largest package liquor store in South Jersey," general manager Jules Balaban told the Courier-Post a few days before the grand opening 48 years ago.

The Mart was where someone who wants to buy a little girl an iridescent pastel dress accented with a flouncy cloud of ruffles can find what they're looking for. Likewise anyone seeking a giant three-liter jug of Day's Pineapple Soda for a buck, or a laminated painting of the Last Supper ($42), or a framed poster of every imaginable celebrity, from Malcolm X to Marilyn Monroe to Vin Diesel.

Think of an Arabian bazaar jammed into a big concrete-floored Quonset hut, only instead of Persian rugs and concubines the vendors were selling crappy samurai swords, the complete works of ZZ Top on eight-track tape and overpriced, Soviet-vintage electronic gear. It had a moonscaped parking lot, a dance hall, and a titty bar where the girls danced under black lights that made their pasties and G-strings glow radioactive green

The Mart's doom had been sealed, via approval of a $13.2 million purchase agreement - the first step in the Camden County Improvement Authority's plan to replace the old place with a snazzy new civic center complex.

After 52 years of operation, the Mart closed its doors in January 2006, forcing over 100 vendors to find a new home.