[Tiger Line] -- Canadian rockers, Glass Tiger, released their debut studio album, The Thin Red Line, forty years ago this week. Other sourced cite the release date as being anywhere between February 1986 and July 1986, but most seem to point to a mid-June 1986 date, so that's what I'm using for this post.
The Thin Red Line was Glass Tiger's only release that grabbed much attention stateside. It peaked at #3 in Canada and reached into the top 30 (#27) on the Billboard 200. It even achieved Gold record status in the states. That success was probably due to two very popular singles: "Don't Forget Me (When I'm Gone)", which peaked at #2 in the US, and "Someday", which was a mere top 20 hit in Canada but peaked at #7 here in the States.
"Don't Forget Me (When I'm Gone)" was their lead off single featuring backup vocals from fellow Canadian artist, Bryan Adams. There are two versions of the music video. The original Canadian video mixed performance with a storybook concept and was nominated for Best Video at the Juno Awards of 1986. The other video (which is linked above and included in the embedded playlist below) was made to target other markets because the Canadian version was deemed "too cutesy and directed solely toward the youth market" [Billboard (Nielsen Business Media, Inc.) 98 (49): 22. 1986-12-06].
The music video for "Someday" juxtaposes an upbeat performance, a rehearsal perhaps, with scenes of their somber-looking lead vocalist dealing with the fallout of his relationship. Many of the 80s video tropes are present: nighttime scenes, nappily perched hats, arguments, camera-rushing-through-foliage, forlorn expressions while making a phone call, and more.
A third single, "You're What I Look For", with a music video consisting of standard concert performance footage plus slow panning of the fans, is one of my favorite tracks on the album though it failed to chart in the US.
Flashback: "The Thin Red Line (June 11, 1986)
And that's all till next week. Dedicated 80s-philes can find more flashbacks in the Prophet or Madman archives or via Bookended's 80s Flashback tag. As always, your comments are welcome on today's, or any other, flashback post. And if you like what I'm doing here, please share the link with your friends. If, however, you don't like the flashback, feel free to share it with your enemies.
See you in seven!
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