Maple Deep Cuts 1984
The top of the 1984 RPM Singles chart was all about Cyndi Lauper, Prince, Duran Duran, Phil Collins, and Wham! What a great era.
A few CanCon hitmakers did circle around the top 30 - Pukka Orchestra, Kim Mitchell, Honeymoon Suite, Corey Hart, and Helix.
But this series is about the back half of the countdown. The tunes that are buried a little deeper in your mind, or maybe they missed you entirely.
Let’s go!
Gary O’ - Get It While You Can - peaked #92
Gary O’Connor started his music career in the 60s to varying degrees of success, including a stint in a Beatles tribute band.
He eventually started working on solo projects in the 80s, and his second project ‘Strange Behavior’ was mostly self-performed.
The result was two singles that didn’t go higher than this one, and what followed was a new opportunity as a songwriter for acts like Eddie Money and .38 Special.
Gerry Cott - Alphabet Town, peaked #90
You know Cott from The Boomtown Rats, of course. His EP ‘I Left My Hat In Haiti’ was recorded here, and thus was counted as CanCon as he also included a number of Canadian players from The Parachute Club.
Dalbello - Gonna Get Close To You, peaked #77
Umm, this song kinda scares the pants off of me. And it was covered by Queensrÿche, which might explain a few things.
Anyway, Lisa Dal Bello has always had a high profile here at home - but not a ton of chart success.
This track comes from her Mick Ronson-produced LP ‘Whōmănfoursāys’ [aka Human Forces'] which was indeed meant to be darker and more experimental than her previous stuff. It was well received as a great example of art rock production and songwriting.
Corey Hart - It Ain’t Enough - peaked #71, also #80
The Hall of Famer was riding high in ‘84 with a string of hits from his debut album - ‘First Offense’. You know the big hit, and my fave was ‘She Got The Radio’ - but ‘It Ain’t Enough’ charted… twice?
There were two videos as well. So, in one of the weirdest chart phenomenons I’ve ever seen - Hart charted in August, released ‘Radio’ in September, and then the ‘Video Mix’ of this single charted in November.
Jane Siberry - Mimi On The Beach - peaked #68
The video version of this tune is heavily edited down to fit a pop sensibility, but I encourage you to seek out the full-length on YT.
Siberry hails from the Toronto area and is as much an artist as a musician. But she wields a powerful songwriter’s pen and was always given carte blanche by her labels to simply create.
She had only the two charted singles, but that was never her intent. Her catalogue is dense and packed with ingenuity.
Saga - Scratching The Surface - peaked #45
Saga have such an interesting story. Forming the late 70s, the boys were actually more popular in Germany at the outset - word of them selling well there led to their initial deal with Polydor.
Their album ‘Heads Or Tales’ was produced by Rupert Hine and produced this single. He had previously worked on their ‘Worlds Apart’ record which saw the group catch on in the States with ‘Wind Him Up’.
Prog-heads will know about The Chapters - a series of eight tunes on the bands first four LPs that was later expanded to sixteen!
Red Rider - Young Thing, Wild Dreams (Rock Me) - peaked #44
On the last album before the name change to Tom Cochrane and Red Rider, the band released ‘Breaking Curfew’ with help from producer David Tickle.
The record did well enough, but mainly you can hear the slow move towards a more polished, mainstream sound as opposed to more cerebral records like ‘Neruda’.
Hope you got a blast from the past or found a new fave! Let me know what this dragged up for you.
Some neat stuff in here, thanks!
Another great batch Ken! I only knew the Corey Hart song but was surprised it peaked so low. Tina knew all of them except the Gerry Cott and Dalbello. They were all great songs!!