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By Geoffrey Clinton |
Okay, okay, already. We get the picture. You not only like Glass Tiger, you adore them. Passionately. Unequivocally. To the exclusion of practically everyone else.
Bruce Springsteen? Get outta here. Prince? You must be kidding. Whitney Houston? Barely a vote. Duran Duran? Yesterday's news. Michael Jackson? Maybe next year. Cindy Lauper, Boston, Janet Jackson, Don Johnson? Ha, ha, ha!
No, the results of the 1986/87 TG Music Poll tell no lies: with an unprecedented sweep of all seven categories, this is very much the Year of the Tiger.
Last May, TG predicted in a review of The Thin Red Line that Glass Tiger might do well in this year's TG Music Poll.
That was no risky hunch. The LP was good, if not brilliant, filled with ear-grabbing tunes delivered by the five-member band with plenty of pop-rock zip and touch of class.
The guys looked good and dressed sharp--important considerations in the video era. The first single "Don't Forget Me (When I'm Gone)," was made memorable by a cameo vocal from Bryan Adams.
Plus, and this is the key consideration, the manager calling the shots was LA's Derek Sutton, the American cum Briton whose strategies took Styx to super-sales status in the Seventies. The combination, it seemed a year ago, was sure to click.
Still nobody, repeat nobody, expected the Tiger to roar so loudly.
First, "Don't Forget Me" goose-stepped up the Canadian charts straight to number one. When it slipped in June, up marched "The Thin Red Line." With Canada under its thumb by the summer, Glass Tiger turned its sights on the U.S.; by September, "Don't Forget Me" had, miracle or miracles for a brand new band, crept into the top-10, peaking at number two on Oct. 11 (held out of the winner's circle by Janet Jackson).
Basically unknown outside its New Market, Ont. hometown six months previously, Glass Tiger was crowned as Canada's top export of '86 at December's Juno Awards. They strode to the podium once, twice, three times to accept Junos for Best New Group, Album of the Year and Single of the Year.
Enough's enough, you'd think, but the yellow brick road wound on into 1987 with a Grammy Award nomination and the top-U.S. success of "Someday."
Following a European tour opening for Tina Turner, Glass Tiger heads straight into the studio to write and record its second album, again with Canada's Composer of the Year, Jim Valence, at the helm.
And then there's this heart-felt tribute from TG readers. It's not their most important honor to date, but Glass Tiger is sure to be proud to have earned such a show of affection.
TG's in-house prognosticators may have expected big things (if not this big) from Glass Tiger. But what happened to Peter Gabriel? So was one of the most popular albums of '86 yet only the brilliant "Sledgehammer" video gave the Englishman a place in final tallies. Likewise, Paul Simon's groundbreaking Graceland was conspicuous by its absence. And what of Bruce Springsteen? His life, 1975-1985, was the music biz phenomenon of the end of last year, but didn't make a dent in the voting.
Instead, TG readers went primarily with Canadians-a repeat performance of the 1985/86 poll. It confirms that Canada has produced a crop of '80s acts who rank among the world's best.
Corey Hart, who finished behind Bryan Adams in most categories last year, was again a consistent runner-up. Adams himself, who spent much of '86 on his new album, was remembered only as a concert performer. Joining previous finalists Honeymoon Suite and Platinum Blonde was Canadian rock veteran Kim Mitchell and new bands Haywire, Eye Eye and Eight Seconds.
Among the international brigade, Bon Jovi emerged as the logical heirs to Van Halen/David Lee Roth (neither of whom received many votes) as hard rock champs. Madonna won points for True Blue, though she got no recognition for the medium in which she excels-video. Cinderella, a U.S. metal act in the Bon Jovi mould, served notice as a band to watch by finishing among the top new groups.
Other than Glass Tiger, the biggest surprise of the poll was AC/DC. The Australian band last enjoyed major success in 1980 with its Back in Black LP. TG voters, however, applauded last year's comeback album, Who Made Who (the soundtrack to Stephen King's Maximum Overdrive movie).