Old Enough to Forget

The other day Jim Foster popped into my head. I hadn't thought of him in well over thirty years. Who knows what brought that up. At least it wasn't "Pop Muzik" by M - then I'd have never gotten it out of my head. "X-ray Eyes" was a catchy song, and because of that one song I bought Power Lines when it came out in 1986. It got played a few times, and I put the hit on my mix tapes, and honestly, other than that one song, I didn't remember much about Jim Foster. I do remember that "X-ray Eyes" got airplay on the radio station just across the border, which I thought was cool. That meant it was a real hit, not just a CANCON obligation. I don't remember the video, but I did watch it on YouTube and I still really liked the song. I was browsing through my other favourite record store when I found a sealed copy of Power Lines for under six bucks. It was a remaindered cutout, but my goodness, how could I pass this up? I didn't, and I was pre...

Loverboy dropped their sophomore album in the fall of 1981 and cemented their place among Canadian rock royalty. (It's a small club, but a club nonetheless.) The first two songs on their debut are classics, but for years I didn't really connect with the rest of that album. It felt like mostly filler back then - and honestly, it still does, but I'm more forgiving now. However, the follow-up, Get Lucky , was something altogether different. They delivered a masterclass in pop/rock that would polarize kids all over the country into two camps: "This rocks!" / "This sucks!" This was decades before Nickelback would take over the mantle of most divisive band in the land. I will publicly apologize to my old dear friend Steve Little, who loved "Gangs in the Streets." Just after the album came out, a bunch of us were hanging out, and Steve had his little cassette player and seemed to be playing this song and Gary Numan's "Cars" over and over...