Artist: Nick Gilder, Album: Best Of Nick Gilder:Hot Child In The City, Song: Backstreet Noise

"They're breaking out in old blue jeans, juvenile delinquent teens.  Look out for the backstreet noise.  Rock and roll's electric boys."  Nick Gilder was born in England but raised in Vancouver, B.C..  He rose to prominence in the mid to late seventies as the leader of the glam rock band, Sweeney Todd.  Then things got a bit strange and involved one of Canada's other favourite sons, Bryan Adams.  Chrysalis Records in the U.S. became interested in Gilder and his guitarist/songwriting partner from Sweeney, Jim McCulloch.  This rubbed the other band members the wrong way so while Gilder and McCulloch left the band, the remaining members recruited a couple of new singers before settling on a very young, Bryan Adams.  All the while, the song, Roxy Roller, from the band's debut, was rocketing up the charts.  It would go on to win the Juno for best selling single in 1977.  The band would re-release the song with Adam's singing as well as some other compositions of Gilder-McCulloch before legal battles ensued.  What all of this did though was usher in Nick's first solo record entitled, You Know Who You Are, in 1977.  It contained a number of Sweeney Todd songs along with this cool original, Backstreet Noise.  The song would re-appear a year later as the B-side to the Hot Child In The City single from his sophomore release in 1978.  Never a hit or a single, but perhaps one of the coolest glam rock tracks to emerge from Canada.  If you like Sweet, this tune should appeal to you.  Nick, of course, became an international sensation with the song, Hot Child In The City, and would go on to release 9 albums of material.  He still tours today and you can follow him at http://www.nickgilder.com/. What many people don't know is that he also composed music for other notable musicians like Pat Benatar and Joe Cocker.  If you remember the one hit wonder, Warrior, from a band named Scandal in the eighties.  Well, he wrote that tune as well.  In 2001, a retrospective was released chronicling his history with Sweeney Todd and as a solo artist.  It is entitled, The Best Of Nick Gilder: Hot Child In The City.  It includes the track Backstreet Noise and is available on Itunes.  You can hear the song, Backstreet Noise, on You Tube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmOlG_oJK78).  Thanks for reading and enjoy!