80s Rock Song Is CITED as One of the BEST 1-Hit Wonders...But It Was NEVER a HIT | Professor Of Rock
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- čas přidán 13. 10. 2022
- For a lot of US listeners, today’s band is a well-kept Canadian secret. And that’s not a good thing, because these classic rockers have turned out a killer catalog that includes multiple Top 40 hits... just not on this side of the border. It’s Tom Cochrane’ and his band Red Rider. Their classic rock battle cry: Lunatic Fringe is continually cited as one of the best one hit wonder of the 80s only it was never a hit on the charts. It missed the top 40 completely thought it did go top 20 on the rock charts IN fact Red Rider never had a top 40 hit in America. Even so Lunatic Fringe has become a classic of rock radio.... It’s a haunting battle cry, burning with righteous indignation. A call to defend the downtrodden and stand against hate. Tom’s management actually tried to talk him out of even recording it and he nearly listened to them but a devastating tragedy motivated him to see it through.. This is the story of a singer who never gave up and found redemption in the chart later on because of it… his band barely missed the U.S. top 40 for almost 20 years but his first solo single Life Is A Highway hit the top 5 everywhere.
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So, it’s time for another edition of #1 in Our Hearts. This show honors songs that were so unbelievably great, they absolutely should've been #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. But for whatever reason, whether it was lack radio play, poor marketing, lousy label support or just sheer stupidity, the song came up short. But on this show, we put it back where it belongs. On previous episodes we have covered More Than a Feeling by Boston, Spirit of Radio by Rush, and Land of Confusion by Genesis.
But today we are giving some love to the Toronto band Red Rider and their haunting rocker Lunatic Fringe that didn’t even chart in america. the band RED RIDER was actually a no hit wonder but the singer and writer would have his redemption
So like I said, Canada’s Red Rider never really cracked the American market, not in a big way. Which is really a shame, because that means a lot of US listeners have missed out on some incredible music. But with their trademark blend of AOR and New Wave, there’s no doubt Red Rider and bandleader Tom Cochrane were hugely popular north of the border. Cochrane who took up singing and songwriting duties for the band, actually had something of a rock n roll Cinderella story.
Before he joined Red Rider, Tom was already pursuing a career as a folk singer... playing in pubs, rough neck bars and coffeehouses across the highways of Ontario... And dodging beer bottles in the process. I guess there were some tough crowds up there. In 1974 Cochrane released his first solo album, ‘Hang On to Your Resistance’... although it wasn’t exactly a commercial smash.
In 1975 he composed the music for the soundtrack of ‘My Pleasure is My
Poll: What is your pick for the greatest radio song that wasn't actually a hit?
Lunatic Fringe is better than 99% of songs on any chart at any time. Absolute classic!!
Fantastic band, never understood why they didn't get more attention. Glad Cochran finally had a big hit later in his career with Life is a Highway, but Lunatic Fringe is his high-water mark for me.
Tom Cochrane is a Canadian legend. So many iconic tracks up here. “Boy Inside the Man”, “Young Thing Wild Dreams”, “Life is a Highway” (made famous in the Cars movie) and my personal favourite “Big League”.
I saw Tom Cochrane just last week performing in Kitchener, Ontario. He's now 71 but is still rocking like a man half his age. The band around him sounded amazing too.
I use to hear Lunatic Fringe on the radio all the time! So I am confused why it didn't chart higher. I just loved this song.
This Red Rider tune likely didn't chart due to lack of label support, as the Canadian labels were simply satellite operations of US labels working with shoestring budgets. Tom's a local legend up here and lives just a few miles away. "Mad, Mad World" is a masterpiece that still sounds great and a "go to" album for any collection. Thanks for covering Tom today, Adam! You should come up to Canada someday and interview a few of these artists!
Thank you for making this video. In metro Detroit “Lunatic Fringe” was a big hit. I remember it when I was starting high school 1985-ish because the movie Vision Quest was huge. WLLZ and WRIF played it a lot. Great song and great memories!
Would love to see the Professor do an episode on Chilliwack, another underrated Canadian band.
Another Canadian band that doesn't get enough love is Prism. Their Armageddon album is terrific!
Had a chance to talk to Tom on the phone. He heard I was a huge fan, through a mutual friend. He called me up out of the blue and we chatted for a half hour. When I hung up, I was blown away at how down to earth he was, and at the end of it all, we were just two guys talking about how much we both loved music. Tom, you are a class act and I wish you well…
Love Lunatic Fringe. It was amazing in '81 and is still going strong on the radio today. I would say that Tom Cochrane and Red Rider are played on the radio daily where I live. A lot of great music.
Lunatic Fringe is a song that hits home today more than ever!
It’s hard to imagine this song didn’t chart. It was in heavy rotation on the radio when I was a teenager. Then again, a lot of the best songs were never chart toppers.
'Life is a Highway' is still played every single day on Australian radio.
I was introduced to this song with the Vision Quest soundtrack. I've been a fan ever since. That soundtrack was really good; Dio's Hungry For Heaven, Journey's Only the Young, Don Henley's She's On the Zoom. Great stuff!
One of the coolest things about growing up in Canada in the 80's was that radio played a lot of Canadian content. So we got to hear all these amazing bands that other countries missed out on while also still getting to hear a lot of music that came up from the states and from the UK. I think we had more variety here than a lot of places, though I could be wrong. Thanks for reminding us of the songs of our childhood Professor. Love this channel.
The song "Big League" was mentioned in passing in this video. It was based on a true story, of the son of a man working at a venue Cochrane was going to play at. The worker requested Cochrane play his son's favourite song "Boy Inside the Man". A brief conversation revealed that the man's son was an amateur hockey player who was killed in a road accident.
Thanks so much for putting a spotlight on this band. Growing up in Canada I’ve heard these songs all my life. When flipping through radio stations I’ll immediately stop and turn it up when I hear his voice.
I met Tom when he was a cab driver in Toronto ! He drove me and my dad to my first music gig competition in a hall and that's when I realised I couldn't do it .Was a good lesson ,playing music wasn't for me but it was fun learning about and listening !