Do I ever love Radiohead's "Creep". It was their first single, and unlike anything else you've heard from Radiohead, but I fuckin' love it. The melody, the guitars, the lyrics... the band may not love "Creep", but I do! "Creep" is similar enough to "The Air That I Breathe", a
I loved Duran Duran as a kid. Rio was the first vinyl I ever bought on my own, although I doubt it was my own money. I was very excited to buy Seven and the Ragged Tiger on cassette. Here's The Reflex from that album. Not a bad song, but
I was born in the 70s, but was still pretty young when we entered the 1980s. I remember the first day back at school after the 1979 Christmas break when our French teacher said the date. She always started class with the date, and I remember the mind-blow that 1980
Pulp Fiction is my favourite movie of all-time, and it's held that title for almost 30 years. There's a deleted scene in Pulp Fiction where Mia Wallace is interrogating Vincent Vega by asking if he's a Beatles or Elvis man, because she claims there are only two types of people.
Before you read any further, here's a big slab o' caveat for ya. Yes, MTV came before MuchMusic. I'm sure MuchMusic copied a great deal of what was airing on MTV. But I lived in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and I watched MuchMusic. I never saw a minute of MTV. So
In my life, there are several examples when I got into a band with their second album. Of course, I was often there for the first release, and for many bands, I didn't jump in until later in their careers, but here are a few times I missed the first
Last night, my wife started streaming Sisters, a new Canadian-Irish co-production. The first episode features The Pogues's version of Dirty Old Town. That got me thinking about The Pogues, and I started singing Fairytale of New York. I thought to myself, "this is the only Christmas song I can enjoy
Joni Mitchell recorded "This Flight Tonight" for her 1971 album Blue. She wrote the song, she sings it, and she produced it. In 1973, Nazereth covered the song for their album Loud 'n' Proud. They really rocked it up, and Canadian rock radio play it all the time. So we
"Night Moves" was a hit for Bob Seger in 1977, although it was released in December 1976. The song spent 21 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at #4 on March 12, 1977. It's objectively a great song, and it's got quite the Toronto connection. "Night Moves" was
When Peter Gross dropped by the other day to kick out the horse racing jams, one of the songs we played was Stewball. I wasn't familiar with Stewball, but I did some digging and learned this folk song has quite the history. Firstly, Stewball was an actual horse, an 18th-century
What if I told you the same man sang these three hit songs. How Long - AceTempted - SqueezeThe Living Years - Mike + The MechanicsThat's right, Paul Carrack is performing lead vocals on all three hits for three different bands. Here's his biggest solo hit, another banger.
When the alarm went off this morning to get up for my son's 7:30am hockey game, I felt awfully tired. Maybe it's the punishing cold we've had the past few days, maybe it's because I like to bite off more than I can chew (and then chew it!), or
"(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding" is one of my favourite songs of all-time, but it's the cover I dig. That's right, Elvis Costello's "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding" is a cover. "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding" is a Nick Lowe song,
The house league hockey gods are angered, and suddenly there are 7:30am weekend puck drops in my life. I'm not a big fan of waking up earlier on a weekend than I do on a weekday, but that's life. Yesterday my youngest son played a 7:30am game so
Last week's toast was all about Girl Groups, so I spent a lot of time in the 1960s. That got me listening to bonafide one-hit-wonder Barry McGuire and his #1 Billboard Hot 100 smash Eve of Destruction. That jam still sounds great and resonates in 2022 as much as it
Mr. Goohead was a character voiced by Fred Patterson from Humble and Fred, and he'd make calls to unsuspecting people that they'd air on CFNY back in the day. I once shared a series of Mr. Goohead bits and considered whether they could air on terrestrial radio today. The song
In 1987, I was obsessed with Billy Idol's live version of Mony Mony, originally recorded by Tommy James and the Shondells. But it had to be the live version, not the version on Vital Idol. I actually bought the 45 single and played the mess out of it. This is
When Six Feet Under first aired in the early 2000s, it was appointment viewing for me. Sunday night at 10pm I was there. I loved that show. My wife had never seen the show that currently ranks as my second favourite series of all-time, so last month we started watching
On Thursday night, we held #TMLXX at Great Lakes Brewery in south Etobicoke. In addition to tasty craft beer we enjoyed delicious Italian food, courtesy of Palma Pasta, and fantastic music, courtesy of Meredith Lazowski, Rob Preuss, Blair Packham and Daniel Greaves. We were on the GLB lawn, leaving the
I've been slow to update the list of Canadian songs to top the Billboard Hot 100, because Drake is just too damn prolific. Since his his ninth #1, a collaboration with Future and Young Thug called "Way 2 Sexy," he's tallied two more. "Wait for U" is a Future song
Tomorrow night at HISTORY, Drake is offering "A celebration of the music that paved the way for all of us…" He's calling this lineup "All Canadian Northstars" and it includes: ChoclairKeshia ShantéK-OSGlenn LewisMaestro Fresh WesIn EssenceRascalzJully BlackSaukratesKardinal OffishallShawn DesmanThat's a solid all-Canadian line-up. Frank-N-Dank are also on the bill, but
Friday, August 19 – Comedy Night featuring Howie Mandel, Ali Hassan, Nour Hadidi, Neil Seguin, Courtney Gilmour Saturday, August 20 – Bruce Cockburn with Hawksley Workman* Sunday, August 21 – Marianas Trench* with Jocelyn Alice Monday, August 22 – DSL Dire Straits Legacy with Jake Clemons* Tuesday, August 23 – Iskwē and Monowhales* Wednesday, August
As I wrote earlier today, last night I saw Moist and The Tea Party in concert. Moist was the opening band and The Tea Party headlined. I suppose this makes sense, but it sure wasn't a slam dunk in my head. I owned Moist CDs, yet I never owned a
Last night, I biked all the way to the east end for my first concert at History Toronto, located at 1663 Queen Street East. I saw Moist and The Tea Party, a couple of 90s alt-rock Canadian bands. FOTM The Human Kebob, 50% of the now defunct Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker,
Yes, Bill Cosby did awful things, and is an awful person, but I believe in giving credit where credit is due so I'd like to thank The Cosby Show for introducing me to Ray Charles way back in '85. Specifically, The Cosby Show introduced me to "(Night Time Is) The
