The Rheostatics might be the best and most influential Canadian band you’ve never heard of. The band was born in 1978, when teenagers Dave Bidini and Tim Vesely met after a Yes concert. They spent the next decade experimenting with different styles, including R&B and funk, and country. Their first album Greatest Hits was released in 1987 and the song “The Ballad of Wendel Clark, Parts I and II” got attention on the CBC and Canadian college radio. In 1991 the band released their second album, Melville, and immediately cemented their place in Canadian music history. The band only ever had one top ten hit in Canada, “Claire“, but were adored by critics and listeners alike. In a 2000 reader poll in Canadian magazine Chart, Melville was ranked the fifth best Canadian album of all time, with its follow-up Whale Music ranked fourth. The band broke up in 2007, and after a decade of sporadic one-off performances reunited in 2016.

The Barenaked Ladies were an early champion of the Rheostatics; BNL appeared in the video for “Aliens (Christmas 1988)“, performed backing vocals on Whale Music as “Scarborough Naked Youth Choir”, and covered “Legal Age Life At Variety Store” (my favorite song from the band!) for a tribute album. The Tragically Hip were also fans; Gord Downie’s “This is for the Rheostatics. We’re all richer for having seen them tonight” is the first thing you hear on the Hip’s 1997 live album. Even Rush loved them – Dave Bidini inducted Rush into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, Neil Peart performed drums on three tracks on Whale Music, and Alex Lifeson performs on their upcoming album The Great Lakes Suite.

I think the songs “Horses” (about union-busting) and “Queer” might resonate with some of you.

Why did I pick tonight for this thread? Monday will be the 50th anniversary of the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. The Rheostatics did a cover of the Gordon Lightfoot song by that name for Whale Music, and for my money it’s the best version of the song.

Have fun posting!