#45: Secret by OMD
City: Hamilton, ON
Radio Station: CKOC
Peak Month: March 1986
Peak Position in Hamilton ~ #6
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #63
YouTube: “Secret”
Lyrics: “Secret”
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) is a band that formed in 1978 in the Liverpool suburb of Wirral, UK. The bands’ co-founder, George Andrew “Andy” McCluskey, was born in 1959 in the town of Heswall on The Wirral peninsula. In primary school McCluskey met Paul Humphreys. The two teamed up in their teens to play in the bands Hitlerz Underpantz, VCL XI and the Id. The latter was a synth-pop band that also included future OMD member Malcolm Holmes. Paul David Humphreys was born in 1960 Merseyside. He was influenced by Kraftwerk and Brian Eno. Malcolm Holmes was born in a suburb of Merseyside in The Wirral in 1960. When the Id was founded in 1977, Holmes became the band’s drummer. He joined OMD in 1980. Martin Cooper was born in 1958 and joined OMD in 1980.
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#51: Peter Gunn by Art of Noise
City: Hamilton, ON
Radio Station: CKOC
Peak Month: July 1986
Peak Position in Hamilton ~ #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #22
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #50
YouTube: “Peter Gunn”
Gary Michael Langan was born in 1956 in Surrey, England. When he turned 18, he began working as an assistant engineer at Sarm East Studios in London. He worked on Queen’s albums A Night At the Opera (1975), A Day At the Races (1976), and News of the World (1977), Yes’s album 90125 (1983), and ABC’s Beauty Stab (1982), and later 1234 for Propaganda. Some of the hit singles he engineered include “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “You’re My Best Friend” and “We Are The Champions” for Queen, “Video Killed The Radio Star” for The Buggles, “Poison Arrow” and “The Look of Love” for ABC, “Owner Of a Lonely Heart” for Yes, and “Double Dutch” for Malcolm McLaren. In 1983 he co-founded The Art of Noise.
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#57: Another Nail In My Heart by Squeeze
City: Hamilton, ON
Radio Station: CKOC
Peak Month: July 1980
Peak Position in Hamilton ~ #7
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #20
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Another Nail In My Heart”
Lyrics: “Another Nail In My Heart”
Squeeze was a new wave-synth pop band from the UK. Christopher Henry Difford was born in South East London in 1954. Glenn Martin Tilbrook was born in London in 1957. Julian Miles “Jools” Holland was born in South East London in 1958. The trio formed Squeeze in 1974 in London. After a year Squeeze settled on Gilson Lavis as the bands drummer. David Leslie Gilson Lavis was born in 1951 and Bedford, England. Before he joined Squeeze in 1975 he toured with Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Skeeter Davis and Dolly Parton. In 1978 Squeeze released their debut self-titled album which included their UK Top 20 hit “Take Me I’m Yours”.
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#36: Burning Bridges by Mike Curb Congregation
City: Calgary, AB
Radio Station: CKXL
Peak Month: December 1970
Peak Position in Calgary ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Burning Bridges”
Lyrics: “Burning Bridges”
Mike Curb was born in Savannah, Georgia, in 1944. In 1963, he formed Sidewalk Records in Los Angeles when he was just 19 years old. In 1966, he scored music for the biker film The Wild Angels. He wrote the music for “Blues Theme”, a hit for Dave Allan and the Arrows. In 1967, he scored music for two more biker films, Devil’s Angels and The Born Losers, and in 1968 another biker film titled The Savage Seven, and The Sidehackers (1969). As well, Mike Curb scored music for auto racing films Thunder Alley (1967), and The Wild Racers (1968). In 1969, he co-wrote a new theme tune for American Bandstand which aired on the TV show from 1969 to 1974. Over the years Mike Curb produced songs for Terry Stafford, the Hondells, Bill Medley, the Osmonds, Petula Clark, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gore, Eddie Arnold, Mike Douglas, Tony Bennett, Pat Boone, Roy Orbison, Bobby Sherman, Solomon Burke, Debbie Boone and Andy Williams, and more.
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#63: I Need A Man by the Eurythmics
City: Hamilton, ON
Radio Station: CKOC
Peak Month: February 1988
Peak Position in Hamilton ~ #7
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #10
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #46
YouTube: “I Need A Man”
Lyrics: “I Need A Man”
The Eurythmics were the duo of Annie Lennox and David Stewart. They were part of the New Wave music with a heavy reliance on a synth-pop sound. They were especially successful in the UK with hits that included “Love is a Stranger”, “Sweet Dreams Are Made of This”, “Who’s That Girl?” and “Here Comes the Rain Again”. They had a successful duet with Aretha Franklin in 1985 titled “Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves”.
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#64: Magical Mystery Tour by the Beatles
City: Hamilton, ON
Radio Station: CKOC
Peak Month: January 1968
Peak Position in Hamilton ~ #6
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Magical Mystery Tour”
Lyrics: “Magical Mystery Tour”
Paul McCartney was born in Liverpool in 1942. He attended the Liverpool Institute High School for Boys and met fellow classmate George Harrison on a school bus. When Paul was 14 his mom died from a blockage in one of her blood vessels. In his early teens McCartney learned to play trumpet, guitar and piano. He was left-handed and restrung the strings to make it work. In 1957, Paul met John Lennon and in October he was invited to join John’s skiffle band, The Quarrymen, which Lennon had founded in 1956. After Paul joined the group his suggested that his friend, George Harrison, join the group. Harrison became one of the Quarrymen in early 1958, though he was still only 14. Other original members of the Quarrymen, Len Garry, Rod Davis, Colin Hanton, Eric Griffiths and Pete Shotton left the band when their set changed from skiffle to rock ‘n roll. John Duff Lowe, a friend of Paul’s from the Liverpool Institute, who had joined the Quarrymen in early 1958 left the band at the end of school. This left Lennon, McCartney and Harrison as remaining trio. On July 15, 1958, John Lennon’s mother died in an automobile accident.
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#66: Part Of The Union by the Strawbs
City: Hamilton, ON
Radio Station: CKOC
Peak Month: May 1973
Peak Position in Hamilton ~ #6
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Part Of The Union”
Lyrics: “Part Of The Union”
In 1964, a band in England was formed a bluegrass band called the Strawberry Hill Boys. Dave Cousins was one of the original founders. Born David Joseph Hindson, in 1945, Cousins grew up in Chiswick, UK. The Strawberry Hill Boys played bluegrass, and expanded to folk music. In June 1967, before appearing in concert they shortened their name to The Strawbs in order to get their band’s name displayed on stage. They began to release singles and albums beginning in 1968 with their self-titled album, Strawbs. In 1972, they released a single from the album Bursting at the Seems, titled “Lay Down”, which was based on Psalm 23. The single climbed to #12 in the UK.
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#67: Bizarre Love Triangle by New Order
City: Hamilton, ON
Radio Station: CKOC
Peak Month: February 1987
Peak Position in Hamilton ~ #7
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #98
YouTube: “Bizarre Love Triangle”
Lyrics: “Bizarre Love Triangle”
Bernard Sumner was born in 1956 in Salford, Lancashire, England. In his youth he learned to play guitar, keyboards, synthesizer and melodica. After graduation from public school, he got work with Stop Frame as a television animator cartoonist. After Sumner and his childhood friend Peter Hook saw the Sex Pistols at a concert in Manchester, they decided to form the post-punk band Joy Division. Born Peter Woodhead in 1956 in Salford, he took his stepfather’s surname, Hook, after his mother remarried. Peter Hook learned to play bass guitar, guitar, melodica, electronic drums and synthesizer. Stephen Paul David Morris was born in 1957 in the market town of Macclesfield, 16 miles south of Manchester. He learned to play the drum from a young age. Over the years he added percussion, keyboards and synthesizer to his resume.
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#6: It’s Good News Week by Hedgehoppers Anonymous
City: Halifax, NS
Radio Station: CHNS
Peak Month: December 1965-January 1966
Peak Position in Halifax ~ #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #17
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #48
YouTube: “It’s Good News Week”
Lyrics: “It’s Good News Week”
Hedgehoppers Anonymous was a beat group who formed in November 1963 as The Trendsetters. They became The Hedgehoppers the following year. Jonathan King took over their record production in 1965, and added “Anonymous” to their name when they said they were popular in Peterborough, and did not want to change their name completely. Mike Tinsley was the lead vocalist for the group. Born in Portsmouth, UK, in 1940, he was the lead vocalist of the Electrons before he joined the Trendsetters. Guitarist John Stewart was born in 1941 Kincardineshire in Scotland. The rhythm guitarist with the group was Tony Cockayne. The bass player, Ray Honeyball, was born in 1941 in County Durham, UK. While the group’s drummer, Leslie Dash, was born in 1943 in Middlesex. All members of the beat group were Royal Air Force ground crew based at RAF Wittering in Cambridgeshire, England, before they formed.
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#43: A Day In The Life by the Beatles
City: Calgary, AB
Radio Station: CKXL
Peak Month: June 1967
Peak Position in Calgary ~ #3
Peak position in Vancouver ~ Hitbound
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “A Day In The Life”
Lyrics: “A Day In The Life”
Paul McCartney was born in Liverpool in 1942. He attended the Liverpool Institute High School for Boys and met fellow classmates George Harrison on a school bus. When Paul was 14 his mom died from a blockage in one of her blood vessels. In his early teens McCartney learned to play trumpet, guitar and piano. He was left-handed and restrung the strings to make it work. In 1957, Paul met John Lennon and in October he was invited to join John’s skiffle band, The Quarrymen, which Lennon had founded in 1956. After Paul joined the group his suggested that his friend, George Harrison, join the group. Harrison became one of the Quarrymen in early 1958, though he was still only 14. Other original members of the Quarrymen, Len Garry, Rod Davis, Colin Hanton, Eric Griffiths and Pete Shotton left the band when their set changed from skiffle to rock ‘n roll. John Duff Lowe, a friend of Paul’s from the Liverpool Institute, who had joined the Quarrymen in early 1958 left the band at the end of school. This left Lennon, McCartney and Harrison as remaining trio. On July 15, 1958, John Lennon’s mother died in an automobile accident.
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