Old Enough to Forget

Fine Young Cannibals disappeared at the height of their popularity ... or at least that's how it seemed. It's a blur now as to when this actually came out. My record and CD both say 1988 — I got the CD first, and just recently found a copy of the album and couldn't help myself, although I probably should have. But the songs were on the radio and MuchMusic in 1989. I don't think it matters, but in my mind's eye I think of sunny days and blue skies when I think of "She Drives Me Crazy," so it probably was in the spring of '89. It doesn't matter ... but this is the stuff that rolls around in my brain and kinda bugs me. Now you know. I do remember seeing the video for "Johnny Come Home" back in '85, and it was intriguing enough that I almost bought the album ... didn't, but almost. That album also had a cover of Elvis' "Suspicious Minds" that had a quirky, cool vibe. Still wasn't enough to entice me to part with my c...

Back in 1984, I knew this band from the video for "Tenderness" that seemed to be on whenever I turned on the television to watch MuchMusic. Admittedly, it was a catchy song, but that was as far as it went. I mean, really, that year Van Halen crushed it with 1984 , and Toto dropped Isolation -  an album that was met with silence but was, to me, amazing and in heavy rotation most of the year. There were so many great albums that my taking a foray into English new-wave-laced with ska wasn't really on my radar. Still, I never forgot that one song. So last week I was diving in the bins, and there between a couple of Neil Diamond albums was All the Rage. Well, for a buck I was at least going to get one good song. The album was in iffy shape, but the jacket was okay, and the liner notes were gone. Now, having recently spent time with Haircut One Hundred, I was pretty much in the same neighbourhood as General Public. Curious, I looked the band up and there were a number of littl...