Old Enough to Forget

Breakdown in Paradise  was aptly titled. When the band signed to Mushroom records, the little label that signed Heart and put out their first two records (although they'd later write "Barracuda" as a diss track to their former label) their next two records Dreams, Dreams, Dreams and Lights in the Valley would go platinum in Canada. Then in '79 Mushroom Records head Shelly Siegel died and the label started to flounder, and Chilliwack kept plugging away hoping for the best. When the album finally dropped in December of 1979 the label no longer seemed to be capable of marketing or pushing singles to radio. There must have been some word of mouth no doubt as I remember the album and I liked "Communication Breakdown" and always thought it was a hit. There were enough copies printed that it's not a hard album to find. Who knows how many copies, maybe the record keeping sucked and the album actually did better than what was reported on the charts. Regardless, t...

Opus X was a pretty big deal here in Canada when this came out in '82. While Chilliwack had been around for over a decade and was Bill Henderson's band oddly it was as a power trio that the band had it's greatest commercial success. Starting with Wanna Be a Star in 1981 that featured that most irritating and oddly really cool "My Girl (Gone, Gone, Gone)" the band had hoped to capitalize and really break into the lucrative US market. The single would crack the Billboard top 40 peaking at number 22. Opus X a year later was suppose to drive the wedge in even further.  You know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men. I could tell you more about the rabbits, but I really should try and stay on topic. While the lead single "Whatcha Gonna Do" did really well here at home, it didn't perform as well as hoped in the US market, stalling literally just outside the top 40 at 41. The album was a big hit here, selling over 100,000 copies, and Bi...

Back in '82 Headpins sounded a bit (a lot) like an aggressive offshoot of the band Chilliwack. Chilliwack had been around a long time - but really seemed to take things to another level as a trio comprised of Bill Henderson, Brian MacLeod and Ab Bryant. This line-up was at the top of their game. Brian's blistering guitar added a swagger to the band's sound, most notably on Wanna Be a Star and Opus X that was also released in '82. Whereas Chilliwack was very much Bill Henderson's band, Headpins were the manifestation of Brain "Too Loud" MacLeod. It was his band, although on the album the only credit listed is for Darby Mills as vocalist. Who knows how all this came about. Maybe Brian felt the need to stretch out a little more, so he started Headpins as a side gig to unleash his hard rock side. To that end he eventually discovered a young Darby Mills who would handle the vocals, and the band dropped Turn it Loud in 1982. It was an album that got people'...

Funny how you can know a name but not know anything about the artist. Shari Ulrich is one of those artists who just skirted on the fringes of real success here in Canada. That sort of reads as a dismissive shot, but it's not. Many years ago I was a camp counsellor for a couple of summers and one of my fellow "shapers of future minds" was Rick Scott's son who was incredibly funny and we had a hoot over those two summer camps. Anyway I can't remember how it came up that he was Rick's son, most likely because I fancied myself a songwriter who could song about food and animals ... yeah, whatever you're conjuring in your mind's eye it's even worse. Why am I telling you this? I have no idea, but it's one of those things that came to mind when I was sitting here listening to One Step Ahead . Regardless, Shari was a member of the Pied Pumpkin that was apparently a biggish deal in the early '70s, and then she, along with Valdy, was a member of  The ...