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| Yes, seriously. Regular musicians. |
The hardest ones to write about are the work-a-day musicians....
The Hit
When some source reminded me that MTV had Red Rider’s “Lunatic Fringe” on heavy rotation, my first thought was “yep.” A very young me mainlined their famous single and took in its half-paranoid lyrics and sound-scape as a glimpse into the world of adults and adult concerns. The eerie beginning sets the mood nicely, though I think it’s the way the strum-bursts of guitar play with the picked guitar foundation that most people recognize in game-show time. The main thing I remember is the contrast between the raw scrape and soaring notes in the slide guitar bridge/solo – which makes sense, seeing that I came to the song through the music video. I’m not sure I knew a guitar could do that at the time (10, I was 10).
Like a growing number of hit singles in this series, I describe the genre as “rock of a certain time and place” – Canadian, for one thing, and I’ll get to that – but, listening to it now...shit, 40 years later, and with the added context, I can’t get away from “sounds like Brian Adams.” And yet it doesn’t really.
MTV could only push it so far, but “Lunatic Fringe” did all right in the States, but mostly – and for that particular single – on what Billboard’s its “Rock Albums & Top Tracks” chart, where it hit No. 11. Red Rider hit Billboard’s regular-ol’ Hot 100 with three completely different songs, but if you meet someone who can name different single by Red Rider that isn’t “Lunatic Fringe,” congrats, you found yourself a rare animal. Or, just as likely, a Canadian. Tom Cochrane, the man who wrote the song, acknowledged its longevity and steady popularity in a 2017 conversation with The Wire Megazine (best source for color commentary, fwiw):
“It’s in the top 300 rocks songs of all time for airplay, so I’m very proud of ‘Lunatic Fringe.’ And, the subject matter is very contemporary when you look at what’s happening in the world today. So I’m very proud of that tune.”
He’s not kidding about its ongoing relevance, especially lyrically...even if I think he overrates half the equation:
“'Cause you've got to blame someone/
For your own confusion/
We're on guard this time (on guard this time)/
Against your final solution/
Oh no.”
Oh, and it’s big among the pro-wrestling and/or UFC scenes. Kurt Angle used it back when...
The Rest of the Story
Red Rider formed in mid-1970s Toronto – and without Cochrane in the mix. The original line-up included Peter Boynton on keys/synths and most of the vocals, Ken Greer on guitar, more keys and back vocals, Rob Baker on drums, Arvo Lepp on another guitar, and Jon Checowski on bass. They gigged around the Toronto area playing a mix of originals and covers, but drew enough attention for someone at Capitol Records in Los Angeles to reach out to their manager to ask about adding a guitarist/songwriter named Tom Cochrane to the line-up. The balance of the band liked the idea, but Lepp and Checkowski checked out when Cochrane checked in. For the record, there wasn’t much shyness about any of that, as demonstrated in a Dick Clark’s surprisingly sharp interview during their 1983 appearance on American Bandstand. Now, to introduce Cochrane:
“I once asked my dad if he thought I was doing the right thing. This is way back on the first record, just before it was released and I was still driving a cab part-time to make ends meet. He said ‘No, I think you’re crazy, but it doesn’t matter what I think.’”
Having Cochrane’s dad, a self-employed Manitoba bush-pilot who arguably created his own job, call Cochrane’s choice of careers “crazy” probably weighed on his dreams, but not enough to stop him from chasing them. He found a little success in Canada, doing well enough to release a record and have a single do all right (“You Drive Me Crazy”; No. 16, and very different), before deciding to head to LA to see what he could do in the majors. Cochrane remembers “wearing out his knuckles banging on doors” and landing the kind of job that sounds made-up – e.g., writing the music for a movie called My Pleasure Is My Business, a vehicle for Xaviera “The Happy Hooker” Hollander, that somehow also featured some people from the (a?) Second City comedy troupe – but that’s also when fate came knocking.
Once they replaced Checokowski with Jeff Jones (a transplanted American, as it happens), Red Rider hit the studio and came out with a debut album titled Don’t Fight It in the fall of 1979. I have pause here to say, any time I say any Red Rider album “doing well,” I usually mean in Canada or on Billboard’s Rock Albums & Top Tracks charts. Don’t Fight It, on the other hand, and on the back of the title track and “White Hot” actually charted in the States (those two, along with a later, rather desperate single, “Young Thing, Wild Dreams (Rock Me)” made the “real” Hot 100) and, with even greater success in Canada, established Red Rider as a viable “album-oriented rock” (AOR) act/draw. And they just kind of kept going until things got in the way.
The Hit
When some source reminded me that MTV had Red Rider’s “Lunatic Fringe” on heavy rotation, my first thought was “yep.” A very young me mainlined their famous single and took in its half-paranoid lyrics and sound-scape as a glimpse into the world of adults and adult concerns. The eerie beginning sets the mood nicely, though I think it’s the way the strum-bursts of guitar play with the picked guitar foundation that most people recognize in game-show time. The main thing I remember is the contrast between the raw scrape and soaring notes in the slide guitar bridge/solo – which makes sense, seeing that I came to the song through the music video. I’m not sure I knew a guitar could do that at the time (10, I was 10).
Like a growing number of hit singles in this series, I describe the genre as “rock of a certain time and place” – Canadian, for one thing, and I’ll get to that – but, listening to it now...shit, 40 years later, and with the added context, I can’t get away from “sounds like Brian Adams.” And yet it doesn’t really.
MTV could only push it so far, but “Lunatic Fringe” did all right in the States, but mostly – and for that particular single – on what Billboard’s its “Rock Albums & Top Tracks” chart, where it hit No. 11. Red Rider hit Billboard’s regular-ol’ Hot 100 with three completely different songs, but if you meet someone who can name different single by Red Rider that isn’t “Lunatic Fringe,” congrats, you found yourself a rare animal. Or, just as likely, a Canadian. Tom Cochrane, the man who wrote the song, acknowledged its longevity and steady popularity in a 2017 conversation with The Wire Megazine (best source for color commentary, fwiw):
“It’s in the top 300 rocks songs of all time for airplay, so I’m very proud of ‘Lunatic Fringe.’ And, the subject matter is very contemporary when you look at what’s happening in the world today. So I’m very proud of that tune.”
He’s not kidding about its ongoing relevance, especially lyrically...even if I think he overrates half the equation:
“'Cause you've got to blame someone/
For your own confusion/
We're on guard this time (on guard this time)/
Against your final solution/
Oh no.”
Oh, and it’s big among the pro-wrestling and/or UFC scenes. Kurt Angle used it back when...
The Rest of the Story
Red Rider formed in mid-1970s Toronto – and without Cochrane in the mix. The original line-up included Peter Boynton on keys/synths and most of the vocals, Ken Greer on guitar, more keys and back vocals, Rob Baker on drums, Arvo Lepp on another guitar, and Jon Checowski on bass. They gigged around the Toronto area playing a mix of originals and covers, but drew enough attention for someone at Capitol Records in Los Angeles to reach out to their manager to ask about adding a guitarist/songwriter named Tom Cochrane to the line-up. The balance of the band liked the idea, but Lepp and Checkowski checked out when Cochrane checked in. For the record, there wasn’t much shyness about any of that, as demonstrated in a Dick Clark’s surprisingly sharp interview during their 1983 appearance on American Bandstand. Now, to introduce Cochrane:
“I once asked my dad if he thought I was doing the right thing. This is way back on the first record, just before it was released and I was still driving a cab part-time to make ends meet. He said ‘No, I think you’re crazy, but it doesn’t matter what I think.’”
Having Cochrane’s dad, a self-employed Manitoba bush-pilot who arguably created his own job, call Cochrane’s choice of careers “crazy” probably weighed on his dreams, but not enough to stop him from chasing them. He found a little success in Canada, doing well enough to release a record and have a single do all right (“You Drive Me Crazy”; No. 16, and very different), before deciding to head to LA to see what he could do in the majors. Cochrane remembers “wearing out his knuckles banging on doors” and landing the kind of job that sounds made-up – e.g., writing the music for a movie called My Pleasure Is My Business, a vehicle for Xaviera “The Happy Hooker” Hollander, that somehow also featured some people from the (a?) Second City comedy troupe – but that’s also when fate came knocking.
Once they replaced Checokowski with Jeff Jones (a transplanted American, as it happens), Red Rider hit the studio and came out with a debut album titled Don’t Fight It in the fall of 1979. I have pause here to say, any time I say any Red Rider album “doing well,” I usually mean in Canada or on Billboard’s Rock Albums & Top Tracks charts. Don’t Fight It, on the other hand, and on the back of the title track and “White Hot” actually charted in the States (those two, along with a later, rather desperate single, “Young Thing, Wild Dreams (Rock Me)” made the “real” Hot 100) and, with even greater success in Canada, established Red Rider as a viable “album-oriented rock” (AOR) act/draw. And they just kind of kept going until things got in the way.
 |
| The "how it's going" portion. |
The story of Red Rider turns into one of forward motion and attrition in the ranks from there. Boynton either left or got squeezed out before they recorded Neruda (1983) – which did pretty well (see above) – and a guy named Steve Sexton stepped in. Sexton would be gone before their next album, 1984’s Breaking Curfew, but so would Jones and Baker at the end of arguments over the band’s direction with their manager, Bruce Allen. The band came out of all that as Tom Cochrane & Red Rider...which seems loaded, and that line-up added a couple guys, released an eponymous debut in 1986, which also did well, honestly, I stopped paying attention at that point. All I know is the entire story ends with “Life Is a Highway” – which, point of interest, he originally backed with a ska beat - and Cochrane on his own.
On the one hand, sure, I could have dug harder to see what happened to the rest of the band; on the other, this project moves fast and literally all of the low-hanging stuff is all Cochrane. The band as a whole was/(is/) a big deal in Canada, good enough for 11 Juno Award nominations before bagging Group of the Year in 1987; as you can see on his Wikipedia page, Cochrane’s an even bigger deal – and with honours (when it Rome) extending well beyond the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. That said, strictly-professional bands are a let-down and a relief at the same time – i.e., they don’t have the kinds of stories rock stars do (or at least not ones they talk about), but they also don’t have the exhausting grandiosity.
About the Sampler
“When you write songs, I always look at Red Rider that way, it’s like writing for a movie. You have an impression in your mind of what you want people to perceive about the band as and you write towards it.”
“And look at our first hit White Hot. It’s about Arthur Rimbaud, a gun runner in Africa. I’ve always tackled some pretty heavy subjects. I’ve tried to explore some different terrain in my work. The point being, we were just more than a rock and roll band. We weren’t just a hair band, we were a band with substance. And I’ve always been proud to be Canadian.”
You can only hear so much in a week’s time, but Cochrane definitely comes from a storyteller tradition when it comes to songwriting. I picked up his lyrics more than I digested them, but the man knows how to write. Even “Life Is a Highway” has a back-story you wouldn't expect:
“It was a long protracted trip to Africa and we were in war zones and in really tough areas, even shot at, at one point. First time in my life I ever saw someone die in front of me, from starvation no less, and it was a very powerful experience. I came home and everything was weighing heavy on my heart and soul, some heavy scars on my psyche and the way I dealt with it, which is the way I deal with a lot of things , is song writing.”
Musically, on the other hand, it becomes a question of what one likes. They definitely had a couple phases – even just across the four main albums – with Don’t Fight It sounding the most “Brian Adams” as the bunch, As Far as Siam and Neruda sounding as more confident and varied middle albums, and Breaking Curfew sounding like something that passed through a committee (and died as a result) – but that didn't mean that a bland rocker like "Whipping Boy" couldn't have very smart, natural lyrics. Here are the songs I pulled from each album that I haven’t already linked to above:
Don’t Fight It: “Look Out Again”...and I’m not entirely sure that’s Cochrane on vocals (Boynton? Whoever it sounds like they're reaching for Daryll Hall)
As Far as Siam: “Cowboys in Hong Kong (As Far as Siam),” “What Have You Got to Do (To Get Off Tonight),” “Through the Curtain” (kind of a fun one, with a “roots-rock” spin; some really nice guitar picking too) and the obligatory slow-jam, “Ships.”
Neruda: “Power (Strength in Numbers),” "Walking the Fine Line,” and “Napoleon Sheds His Skin,” all three of which I included as examples of the “subtle/varied” thing noted above, but also a stale single, “Can’t Turn Back,” which pointed to the future, and/or Breaking Curfew, but I already linked to both on the sampler songs above.
In closing, I hope any and all mentions of Canada and/or Canadians above isn’t taken as snark, because I don’t intend it that way. Canadians are great. And Red Rider seemed like good people – and not just because the original motivation for their (partial) 2002 reunion was a benefit to raise money for one of their guitar techs from the ‘80s, John Garrish, after he was mugged and killed in Toronto.
Till the next one, which takes a turn and in more ways than one...
On the one hand, sure, I could have dug harder to see what happened to the rest of the band; on the other, this project moves fast and literally all of the low-hanging stuff is all Cochrane. The band as a whole was/(is/) a big deal in Canada, good enough for 11 Juno Award nominations before bagging Group of the Year in 1987; as you can see on his Wikipedia page, Cochrane’s an even bigger deal – and with honours (when it Rome) extending well beyond the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. That said, strictly-professional bands are a let-down and a relief at the same time – i.e., they don’t have the kinds of stories rock stars do (or at least not ones they talk about), but they also don’t have the exhausting grandiosity.
About the Sampler
“When you write songs, I always look at Red Rider that way, it’s like writing for a movie. You have an impression in your mind of what you want people to perceive about the band as and you write towards it.”
“And look at our first hit White Hot. It’s about Arthur Rimbaud, a gun runner in Africa. I’ve always tackled some pretty heavy subjects. I’ve tried to explore some different terrain in my work. The point being, we were just more than a rock and roll band. We weren’t just a hair band, we were a band with substance. And I’ve always been proud to be Canadian.”
You can only hear so much in a week’s time, but Cochrane definitely comes from a storyteller tradition when it comes to songwriting. I picked up his lyrics more than I digested them, but the man knows how to write. Even “Life Is a Highway” has a back-story you wouldn't expect:
“It was a long protracted trip to Africa and we were in war zones and in really tough areas, even shot at, at one point. First time in my life I ever saw someone die in front of me, from starvation no less, and it was a very powerful experience. I came home and everything was weighing heavy on my heart and soul, some heavy scars on my psyche and the way I dealt with it, which is the way I deal with a lot of things , is song writing.”
Musically, on the other hand, it becomes a question of what one likes. They definitely had a couple phases – even just across the four main albums – with Don’t Fight It sounding the most “Brian Adams” as the bunch, As Far as Siam and Neruda sounding as more confident and varied middle albums, and Breaking Curfew sounding like something that passed through a committee (and died as a result) – but that didn't mean that a bland rocker like "Whipping Boy" couldn't have very smart, natural lyrics. Here are the songs I pulled from each album that I haven’t already linked to above:
Don’t Fight It: “Look Out Again”...and I’m not entirely sure that’s Cochrane on vocals (Boynton? Whoever it sounds like they're reaching for Daryll Hall)
As Far as Siam: “Cowboys in Hong Kong (As Far as Siam),” “What Have You Got to Do (To Get Off Tonight),” “Through the Curtain” (kind of a fun one, with a “roots-rock” spin; some really nice guitar picking too) and the obligatory slow-jam, “Ships.”
Neruda: “Power (Strength in Numbers),” "Walking the Fine Line,” and “Napoleon Sheds His Skin,” all three of which I included as examples of the “subtle/varied” thing noted above, but also a stale single, “Can’t Turn Back,” which pointed to the future, and/or Breaking Curfew, but I already linked to both on the sampler songs above.
In closing, I hope any and all mentions of Canada and/or Canadians above isn’t taken as snark, because I don’t intend it that way. Canadians are great. And Red Rider seemed like good people – and not just because the original motivation for their (partial) 2002 reunion was a benefit to raise money for one of their guitar techs from the ‘80s, John Garrish, after he was mugged and killed in Toronto.
Till the next one, which takes a turn and in more ways than one...
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