#9: Give Peace A Chance by Plastic Ono Band
City: St. Thomas, ON
Radio Station: CHLO
Peak Month: August 1969
Peak Position in St. Thomas ~ #1
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ #4
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #14
YouTube: “Give Peace A Chance”
Lyrics: “Give Peace A Chance”
The Plastic Ono Band was formed in 1968 by John Lennon and Yoko Ono. They met in 1966 while Lennon was a member of the Beatles, and Ono was an avant-garde artist and performer. By 1968, the two established a romantic relationship and they began collaborating on a number of musical projects. The Plastic Ono Band name, and the idea of an open-ended plastic band, was conceived of by Yoko Ono in 1967 as an idea for an art exhibition in Berlin. The Plastic Ono Band was realized in 1968 as a multi-media machine maquette by John Lennon, also called The Plastic Ono Band. Ono and Lennon collaborated on several art exhibitions, concerts, happenings and experimental noise music recording projects, before recording and releasing somewhat more standard rock-based albums that were still connected to the Plastic Ono Band concept.
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#65: Nothing’s Gonna Stop Me Now by Samantha Fox
City: Montreal, PQ
Radio Station: CKOI
Peak Month: December 1987
Peak Position in Montreal ~ #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #80
YouTube: “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Me Now”
Lyrics: “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Me Now”
Samantha Fox was born in London, UK, in 1966. She formed her first pop band when she was 14 and signed her first record deal with Lamborghini Records at age 15. Fox began her glamour modelling career at age 16 in 1982. After she placed second in a Sunday People amateur modeling contest, The Sun recruited her to pose topless for Page 3, where she made her first appearance in February 1983. In the UK you had to be 16 years of age in order to legally be in a photo for public consumption. Named The Sun‘s “Page 3 Girl of the Year” for 1984, 1985 and 1986, she became one of the most photographed British women of the 1980s and a notable sex symbol of the era. in 1983, her recording debut was a non-album non-charting single titled “Rockin’ with My Radio”, credited as S.F.X.
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#69: Whose Side Are You On by Matt Bianco
City: Montreal, PQ
Radio Station: CKOI
Peak Month: May 1985
Peak Position in Montreal ~ #7
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Whose Side Are You On”
Lyrics: “Whose Side Are You On”
You may think Matt Bianco is the name of a guy. But in fact this is a British sophist-pop, jazz-funk, and Latin-flavored music group. The group’s name suggests that Matt Bianco is a person, often assumed to be an alias for the main member and front man Mark Reilly. According to Reilly, “when we were forming the band, we loved the spy movie theme tunes from the fifties and sixties with lots of bongos, quite jazzy and slightly kitsch. So Matt Bianco was a character invented that would fit into that genre, a made up spy, a secret agent. We thought it was hilarious. We loved spy TV themes and film scores. We were really into that 60s spy movie image.” Reilly adds, “ever since then people who don’t know the band ask ‘So, who’s Matt?'” Mark Reilly was born in 1960 in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. In 1981, Reilly joined Blue Rondo à la Turk which was a floating collective of jazz and salsa oriented musicians. In this band Reilly met keyboard player Danny White, and bass guitarist Kito Poncioni. White was born in 1959 in Letchwork, England. Poncioni was born in 1958 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
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#76: What Is Life by George Harrison
City: Montreal, PQ
Radio Station: CKVL
Peak Month: April 1971
Peak Position in Montreal ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #3
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #10
YouTube: “What Is Life”
Lyrics: “What Is Life”
George Harrison was born in Liverpool in 1943. Harrison remembers cycling past a home in his neighborhood that was playing “Heartbreak Hotel” by Elvis Presley. The encounter with the song got him hooked on rock ‘n roll. He subsequently was influenced by Little Richard and Buddy Holly. Harrison’s father bought him his first guitar in 1956 when Harrison was 13 years old. After Paul McCartney joined John Lennon’s group, the Quarymen, McCartney suggested that his friend, George Harrison, join the group. Harrison became one of the Quarrymen in early 1958, though he was still only 14. They changed their name to the Silver Beatles and then the Beatles in the spring of 1960. They group headed to Hamburg, Germany, on August 17, 1960, for a three-and-a-half month stint. In early 1961 the Beatles returned for more engagements in Germany. On June 22, 1961, Bert Kaempfertproduced “My Bonnie”, “Ain’t She Sweet” and eight other songs. Later in 1961, “My Bonnie” climbed to #4 on the Hamburg pop charts and #32 on the German pop charts.
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#81: No Mercy by Stranglers
City: Montreal, PQ
Radio Station: CKOI
Peak Month: August 1985
Peak Position in Montreal ~ #3
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “No Mercy”
Lyrics: “No Mercy”
The Stranglers formed in Guilford, Surrey, England, in 1974. They originally built a following within the mid-1970s pub rock scene. While their aggressive, no-compromise attitude had them identified by the media with the emerging UK punk rock scene that followed, their idiosyncratic approach rarely followed any single musical genre, and the group went on to explore a variety of musical styles, from new wave, art rock and gothic rock to the sophist-pop of some of their 1980s output. The classic Stranglers lineup was comprised of Jean-Jacques Burnel, Jet Black, Hugh Cornwell, and Dave Greenfield. Jean-Jacques Burnel was born in Notting Hill, London, in 1952. He trained as a classical guitarist, but switched to bass guitar with the Stranglers. As a holder of French citizenship, Burnel received his call-up papers for national service in France. He succeeded in avoiding it with a novel defence, arguing that his absence would damage the Stranglers as a band, and therefore the careers of the other members.
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#123: The Politics Of Dancing by the Re-Flex
City: Montreal, PQ
Radio Station: CKOI
Peak Month: March 1984
Peak Position in Montreal ~ #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #17
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #24
YouTube: “The Politics Of Dancing”
Lyrics: “The Politics Of Dancing”
Re-Flex were formed in 1981 by musicians John Baxter on vocals and lead guitar and Paul Fishman on keyboards and backing vocals. Paul Fishman’s father, Jack Fishman, was a songwriter who had a number of hits to his credit. These included “Arrevederci Darling” by Anne Shelton (Top 20 in 1955); “Why Don’t They Understand” for George Hamilton IV (#10 in the USA in 1957); “My Friend The Sea” for Petula Clark (#7 in the UK in 1961); “If I Only Had Time” for John Rowles (#3 in 1968 in UK); “Help Yourself” for Tom Jones (#5 in the UK in 1968); “Something’s Happening” for Herman’s Hermits (#6 in 1968 in the UK); And “If Paradise Is Half As Nice” for the Amen Corner (a number-one hit in the UK in 1969). Given his father’s success, Paul Fishman saw a future in the music business, and at age 16 decided to pursue music as a career.
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#22: Run Runaway by Slade
City: Winnipeg, MB
Radio Station: CKY
Peak Month: July 1984
Peak Position in Winnipeg ~ #1
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ #6
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #20
YouTube: “Run Runaway”
Lyrics: “Run Runaway”
Slade is a band formed in 1963 in Wolverhampton, UK. There were a few lineup changes between 1963 and 1966. However, the classic lineup consisted of Dave Hill, Don Powell, Jim Lea, and Noddy Holder. David Hill was born in 1946 near Plymouth, Devon, England. Hill bought his first guitar from a mail-order catalogue and received some guitar lessons from a science teacher at his school. He then formed a band called The Young Ones with some school friends. Subsequently, Dave Hill played with Don Powell in a band called The Vendors, whose name was then changed to The N’ Betweens. Don Powell was born in a suburb of Wolverhampton in 1946. He started to play drums while he was in the Boy Scouts in 1958. Hill and Powell met Jim Lea and Noddy Holder, and the N’Betweens morphed into Slade.
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#11: Inside Looking Out by the Animals
City: St. John’s, NL
Radio Station: VOCM
Peak Month: April 1966
Peak Position in St. John’s ~ #3
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #34
YouTube: “Inside Looking Out”
Lyrics: “Inside Looking Out”
Eric Victor Burdon was born in 1941 in Newcastle Upon Tyne, England. He was born into a working class family. Due to the river pollution and humidity in Newcastle he suffered asthma attacks daily. During primary school, Burdon writes in his memoir, Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood, he was “stuck at the rear of the classroom of around 40 to 50 kids and received constant harassment from kids and teachers alike”. He goes on to say his primary school was “jammed between a slaughterhouse and a shipyard on the banks of the Tyne. Some teachers were sadistic…and sexual molestation and regular corporal punishment with a leather strap was the order of the day.” In his song “When I Was Young”, he states he met his first love at 13, who was very experienced while he was not. He also says he smoked his first cigarette at 10 years old and would skip school with his friends to drink.
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#142: Young Guns by Wham!
City: Montreal, PQ
Radio Station: CKGM
Peak Month: May 1983
Peak Position in Montreal ~ #3
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Young Guns”
Lyrics: “Young Guns”
Wham! is the name of a British pop duo formed in 1981. George Michael (born Georgiōs Kyriakos Panagiōtou) was born in East Finchley, England, in 1963. In his teens, he began his involvement in the music business by working as a DJ, playing at the Bel Air Restaurant in London. In 1975, he met Andrew Ridgeley in school in Bushey, Hertfordshire. Andrew Ridgeley was also born in 1963, in Surrey, England. Prior to forming Wham! with George Michael, Ridgeley was in a band called The Executive. Ridgeley explained that the name originated from a need for “something that captured the essence of what set us apart—our energy and our friendship—and then it came to us: Wham! Wham! was snappy, immediate, fun and boisterous too.” In 1982, the debut record to be released by the band was “Wham Rap!” in June 1982. The song charted at only No. 105 on the UK pop chart. However, it was re-released in 1983 when the band was catching on and reached the Top Ten in Australia, the Netherlands and the UK.
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#46: Not Responsible by Helen Shapiro
City: Saskatoon, SK
Radio Station: CKOM
Peak Month: November 1963
Peak Position in Saskatoon ~ #6
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Not Responsible”
Lyrics: “Not Responsible”
In 1946 Helen Kate Shapiro was born in East End, London. She is the granddaughter of Russian Jewish immigrants and her parents, who were piece-workers in the garment industry, attended Lea Bridge Road Synagogue. Although too poor to own a record player, Shapiro’s parents encouraged music in their home. Helen had to borrow a neighbor’s record player to hear her first hit single. Shapiro played banjolele as a child and sang occasionally with her brother, Ron, in his youth club skiffle group. Helen had a deep timbre to her voice, atypical in a girl who was still a child. Her elementary school friends gave her the nickname “Foghorn.” When she turned ten years old, Helen Shapiro became a member of Susie and the Hula Hoops, with her cousin, 60’s pop singer, Susan Singer. Shapiro also participated in a school band which included Marc Bolan (then using his real name of Mark Feld, and later founder of glam rock group T. Rex) as guitarist.
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