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Into the 80s: Great TORONTO Bands
by Jaime Vernon
As the 1970s music scene in Canada progressed from its CanCon legislated infancy to the unleashing of pre-manufactured major label acts created by management companies and A & R fashionistas, the actual music scenes in Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto (among many others) were developing both a strong DIY identity and potential farm teams for the '80s.
Toronto had become the de facto centre of the music universe. Labels needed a home base for their American satellite offices, and the city was within driving distance of most American major centres on the east coast.
Initially, Yonge Street had been the hotbed of music throughout the '60s and '70s, with clubs on every block from King Street at the bottom, up to Davenport where the Masonic Temple's 'Rockpile' and the legendary Yorkville scene exploded to the west. Entrepreneurs like Sam Sniderman were smart enough to build retail outlets like Sam The Record Man on the Yonge Street strip to supply music enthusiasts the records they heard from bands in the clubs nearby -- either traditional HogTown R & B or straight up Rock music.
Meanwhile, Queen Street's music scene rose up from the rundown old storefronts and shops that had been forgotten in the shadow of legendary country bar The Horseshoe Tavern as college students and quick thinking hustlers convinced restaurant owners to allow a new breed of live entertainment to grace their doors. Hot on the heels of the punk wave in England, the mid-70s Toronto music scene was foregoing its R & B and Rock roots and was now alight with three chord noise merchants colliding with and often co-opting jazz, garage rock and the growing popularity of home spun reggae.
Though it was true to its name, Ralph Alfonso's late lamented Crash & Burn proved that there was interest in all forms of 'underground music' -- material getting played outside the confines of the commercial entertainment world. The cadre of bars on Queen Street West -- which also included venues along Spadina like The El Mocambo, Silver Dollar, and Cabana Room -- grew exponentially. With the exception of Larry's Hideaway on Carlton Street farther uptown, it was a musical microcosm far removed from the scene that co-existed on Yonge Street only a few city blocks away.
The music population base was also a strong hook for entertainment media outlets in the form of TV, radio, newspapers and magazines, and would become major players in the discovery of talent from Toronto's POP/ROCK music scene as it moved...Into The '80s.
The evolution of Canadian music in this era it is usually defined by its biggest successes, but when you truly dig into the forgotten basement store-rooms, book shelves and home studios of the musicians themselves, a gold mine of hidden gems can be unearthed wherever musicians had the will and the tiny budgets to document their muse.
To celebrate this musical era Sugar Moon Music brings you a the POP/ROCK edition of the "Into The 80's" compilation from a culmination of almost all previously unreleased material taken from 1/2", 1/4" and cassette tapes and lovingly restored & mastered true to their original recording standards by Peter J. Moore at the E-Room. We're sure this collectable collection will amuse and entertain you!
We hope you've enjoyed what's been uncovered on Volume 1 "Into The 80s: GREAT Toronto Bands" so that we might bring you more of this great music from our not-so-distant past. Stay tuned for Volume 2, "More Into the 80s: Toronto Punk/New Wave" and Volume 3, "Absolutely Into the 80s: Unique Toronto Voices".
Jaime Vernon,
Author of The Canadian Music Encyclopediahttp://www.bullseyesongs.com/encyclopedia.html
June 2010