While my main interest in music is “indie music”, I also like some mainstream music (even I had a copy of “Zeppelin II”), and have attended various concerts which apparently qualify me to say that. I do not pretend to be in the “Sharon Vernon triple figure concert attendance superfan category”, although the most recent “Trews” show she went to eerily included “Fortunate Losers” on the bill, a band which has been mentioned in my column before.
As hard as it might be to imagine holiday songs battling it out, the plain fact is … Christmas songs mean big bucks. Over and over and over again. A Number One Christmas song can mean early retirement for the writer, with a nice pension income supplemented every year in December.
One thing I have learned from the Internet (aside from realizing that we have access to every bit of information, both true and false, that exists in the known universe) is that not many of us seem to be very happy. We don’t like the way our lives are going, the way things are run, or the seemingly endless parade of ridiculous events and idiotic statements attributed to people, that may or may not be true. Common sense is dead or dying, and the voice of reason is tiny and can barely be heard through the cacophony of those who shout it down
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Of late I’ve been finding myself going through my album collection to find something, anything worthwhile to listen to during my 13 ½ hour shifts patrolling cemeteries in Toronto. I’m lucky enough to be driving a current model Dodge Avenger – which is a Dodge Charger on steroids – with a sound system that rocks. It’s fun to toss in a disc while I’m issuing fines to people for letting their dogs piss on tombstones or skiers running rip shod over graves.
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George Orwell references aside, 1984 marked a substantial turning point for pop music in Canada. The most significant of those was the launch of our answer to MTV – which we lovingly, un-ironically, called Much Music.
For those barely following along at home on a weekly basis I thought it most imperative that you should know I was a founding member of the band Moving Targetz (1983 – 1991) which released several albums on our own vanity label Bullseye Records. The earlysuccess of the label was directly proportional to the amount of promo we did as a band. From August 1989 to June 1991 we issued a monthly newsletter to fans called M.T. Head (Ex)Press [20 years before Social Media]. This thrice-
folded, double-sided photocopied promo tool – printed surreptitiously in the administrative offices of my government day job – was eventually absorbed into a subsection of my full-length fanzine ‘Great White Noise’ in August 1990. Here is what I consider to be the editorial highlights of that modest little experiment in marketing during that first year.
WARNING: This blog contains political ranting…and sexual panting. I expect many will be offended by the sex part…but not by the politics.
By the time you read this the Stukas should be flying over Disneyland dropping bombs on Damascus’ strategic military targets in response to the 1300+ chemically assassinated civilians two weeks ago. Obama wants to spank Syrian president Assad for the killings despite having unanimous universal 
rejection of the plan from every nation on the planet except our own asshole Prime Minister -Harpo, The Marxist Brother.
When I was growing up in Stockton California, music was the connecting tissue between friends, and one of the most important touchstones of our daily lives. Everybody listened to the radio. Everybody went to the dances and the house parties and brought their favourite 45s to share in basement rec rooms and around the pool. Everybody had transistor radios. Everybody went to the record stores and spent their babysitting or paperboy money on the latest records. We discussed our favourite artists and songs, we debated the worth of Elvis VS Boone, Beatles VS Stones, and everything in-between. We were ravenous…and constantly on the lookout for music that touched us, made us think, made us dance, made us alive…and kept us appeased until the next release from our current heroes.
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For those that missed my blog last week entitled “ The Top125 Most Influential Top100 albums – Part 1” containing the most influential artists/albums for me in my 35 years as a musician you can find it here. This week I wrap up the list with the remainder of the alphabet. Enjoy…or get annoyed. Your mileage may vary.
Bullseye Records of Canada
Segarini: Don't Believe a Word I Say 