Music

9 retro Canadian albums making a comeback

by Aaron Brophy

Honeymoon Suite

Long before Arcade Fire’s dominion over the known musical universe, Canadian bands roamed across the land like early paleolithic humans, leaving behind heat-warped vinyl records, wobbly sounding cassettes, and some battered 8-tracks. The latest find sheds light on a dark period of Canadian music—the major-label ’80s and ’90s.

Existing just before the evolutionary leaps made by acts like Moist, Econoline Crush, The Tea Party, and Headstones, and mostly removed from any of the avant spirit of the then-emerging alternative revolution (save the Rheostatics), many of these acts were thought long extinct. It turns out their music survived and some of it will get digitally re-released this fall.

We graphed the genetic markers of the reissued artists by comparing them to the apex species from the era to track their DNA similarities.

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And below are our findings.

1. Frozen Ghost — Should I See
from Frozen Ghost (1987)

Born out of the ashes of Sheriff, Frozen Ghost prominently featured one Arnold Lanni, who’s the svengali responsible for bringing Our Lady Peace into the world. He’s the one in the video with the rippin’ mullet.

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2. Brighton Rock — One More Try
from Take A Deep Breath (1988)

These never-quite-made-it glam-hair metallers from Niagara Falls’ undeniable high water mark was tricking supermodel Monika Schnarre to be in their “One More Try” video.

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3. Honeymoon Suite — Looking Out For Number One
from Racing After Midnight (1988)

For a very short time in the mid-’80s Honeymoon Suite looked like they were going to be Canada’s answer to Foreigner. For Racing After Midnight they went big and enlisted Van Halen producer Ted Templeman. The record hit the top 10 in Canada but flopped in the U.S. and band disharmony quickly followed.

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4. Moxy Fruvous — Michigan Militia
from You Will Go To The Moon (1997)

In the three-makes-a-trend rule of Canadian independent music revolutionaries, Moxy Fruvous were always the “three” behind Barenaked Ladies and Lowest Of The Low. After the Fruvous’ decline, floppy-haired drummer and gif generator Jian Ghomeshi experienced a phoenix-like rebirth as a CBC radio host and manager for perma-smiling elf Lights.

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5. Harem Scarem — Blue
from Voice Of Reason (1995)

You know who you should never pattern your sound after? Sammy Hagar-era Van Halen. Perhaps that’s why Harem Scarem eventually changed their name to Rubber in an attempt to adapt to the alt revolution.

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6. Messenjah — Sessions
from Sessions (1984)

Canada actually had a popular reggae band back in the day. They were even in the pre-nutter Tom Cruise film Cocktail.

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7. Streetheart — Under My Thumb
from Under Heaven Over Hell (1979)

Streetheart’s (arguably) biggest hit was a disco-fied version of The Rolling Stones’ “Under My Thumb,” released right at that point when the Stones themselves were making disco-rock records like Some Girls. Whether this is sad mimicry or timely synergy is for the listener to decide.

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8. Rheostatics — Claire
from Introducing Happiness (1984)

Art rockers Rheostatics’ high-water mark was probably the union between singer-bassist Tim Vesely and author Paul Quarrington for the song “Claire.” It was probably the band’s most popular song that wasn’t about hockey players.

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9. Eddie Schwartz — Special Girl
from Public Life (1983)

Eddie Schwartz wrote Pat Benatar’s “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” and a number of other hits, but his transition from writing room to front-of-stage wasn’t quite as successful. His biggest solo song, “Special Girl,” actually did better for America, who covered it for their 1984 album Perspective.

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