Artist: Northern Pikes, Album: Big Blue Sky, Song: Things I Do For Money

"The things I do for money, I'll never understand.  The world is just a marble in the palm of my hand."  The Northern Pikes are a rock band from Saskatoon.  They kicked around the prairie circuit in the early eighties and released their first indie EP in 1984.  They eventually cut a deal with Virgin Records and in 1987, dropped this album, Big Blue Sky, on the unsuspecting Canadian masses.  Over the next 4 years they would become one of the biggest acts in Canada.  For myself, their ascendancy in Canadian music ran parallel with my teenage years and I have fond memories of this band.  While this album might obviously be described as their breakthrough release, I don't think it was their most popular.  Their third full length in 1991 called, Snow In June, enabled the band to crack the Top Ten in Canada and they even charted in the U.S. as well.  They've been nominated for a Juno 5 times and have never won.  In 1991, they lost out to Blue Rodeo for Group of the Year.  Back to this album though, Teenland was the lead single and it was quickly followed by the masterpiece, Things I Do For Money.  This is such a powerful song that you just want to crank it every time you hear it.   I remember a friend who was a real audiophile back in the day comment on how he always tested a new system he was going to purchase by playing the first album by Dire Straits.  No disrespect to Mark Knopfler but this tune would be my choice.  The band is actually still together today and continues to release new material.  You can follow them at http://www.thepikes.com/.  Their entire discography is available on Itunes.  This particular track has also been included on a couple of retrospective releases as well.  Someone has actually preserved the original video for the song as well and you can watch it on You Tube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaoQh9Ak3Rc).  Thanks for reading and enjoy!