Added: Dec 3, 2008
From: mojofilter02
Duration: 2:47
Issued in Canada May 1982 on Attic 249.Teenage Head was formed in Hamilton, Ontario in the early 1970s by four guys attending Westdale High School - Frank Kerr, who went by the name Frankie Venom (vocals), Gord Lewis (guitar), Steve Mahon [stage name Steve Marshall] (bass) and Nick Stipanitz (drums). They took their name from the title track of the album "Teenage Head" by The Flamin' Groovies.Their first singles were made in 1978, and their first album in 1979, distributed by CBS/Epic, for the InterGlobal Music label. IGM went bankrupt in 1979. The following year, Teenage Head was picked up by Attic, and broke through with their album "Frantic City," which spawned two hit singles and went gold. Their performance at Ontario Place in June 1980 resulted in a riot, not helped by the fact that 15,000 fans turned up for a venue with 3000 general admission seats. Ontario Place subsequently banned all rock acts from appearing there for a number of years afterward.Their next album for Attic, 1982's "Some Kinda Fun" was also their last album for Attic, and their last hit record. The title track was issued as a single and entered the RPM 50 on May 8, 1982 at #47, and reached #23 on June 19th. The song is a cover of the old Chris Montez record, which went to #42 in January 1963.Following this, the group was picked up by MCA, who set about changing their image and sound, and made them change their name to "Teenage Heads" to placate Tipper Gore's PMRC. With only one EP for MCA and two singles, they left the major leagues, and recorded thereafter for ever-smaller labels; it is said in one article that for awhile there, "they couldn't get arrested."During this period, Frankie Venom was described as "living the subject matter of all his records," and he was replaced in the group in 1985 by Dave Desroches, aka Dave Rave. Several years and personnel changes later, the original members of Teenage Head reunited, minus Nick Stipanitz, who was replaced by drummer Jack Pedler. They are still playing, and have issued a CD with Marky Ramone in June 2008.We are sad to report that Frank Kerr (Venom) passed away on October 15, 2008. Rest in peace, Frankie.It looks like there will never be a picture icon for this post; the three choices of frames YouTube gives you all occur on scene transitions.To hear this record in stereo, type the following code - &fmt=18 - on the end of the URL and hit Enter to reload the page.
Channel: Music
Tags: 1982 canadian fun head kinda rock some teenage
Rating: 5.00 (2 ratings) Views: 832' favoriteCount='1 Comments: 7
swanjungeek Says:
Dec 3, 2008 - Is he saying "I do the wobble and the watusi too?" The wobble's a new one for me!
mojofilter02 Says:
Dec 3, 2008 - I'd never heard of The Wobble, either, but there was a new dance every week back in 1962 when Chris Montez wrote this song. A number of his songs are about dancing.
bobzmyuncle Says:
Dec 3, 2008 - Not sure what you mean by the nail in the coffin. Teenage Head is still playing today and have put out three albums since Tornado when they changed their name to Teenage Heads due to pressure from MCA. They changed the name back shortly after. Their latest CD "Teenage Head with Marky Ramone is in stores now and I highly recommend you get a copy. They are STILL some kinda fun to watch.
guitarded71 Says:
Dec 3, 2008 - RIP Frankie Venom
ndelong Says:
Dec 3, 2008 - Nice tribute, Thanks.R.I.P. Frankie, Your memory will stay with us until were all gone.
nfranco50 Says:
Dec 3, 2008 - bobzmyuncle frankie was cousin and i agree with you totally with you on the remark fromsecordman frankie rocked
secordman Says:
Dec 3, 2008 - Not sure if anyone had ever heard of Tipper in 1982, but that's right, the pressure came down for them to change their name. That put the nail in the coffin, although I think they were already on their way down. Fun to watch, saw them once in a small venue.