Artist: Teenage Head, Album: Tornado, Song: Tornado

"Let's Dance, My dance, Come on Do it, Tornado."  Teenage Head were a punk rock band from Hamilton that started recording in the late seventies.  The main 4 piece included Gord Lewis, Frankie Venom, Steve Marshall and Nick Stipinitz.  I don't think there was a telephone pole in the town I grew up in where I didn't see a Teenage Head poster stapled to it.  These guys played constantly and through that developed quite a groundswell which would eventually attract record label attention.  They released their self-titled debut in 1979 and then joined Attic Records for their next two releases.  The EP, Tornado, was from a brief stint with MCA records in 1983.  The band was already well known in Canada with their previous two releases and this was their international debut so to speak.  Not an album that is generally reflected upon as their best and the band even cites being rushed in to the studio by the label to record it.  The title track, Tornado, just embodies what this band was all about.  Much like their American counterparts, the Ramones, their music was rooted in 50's and 60's rock n' roll but with punk attitude.  Coincidentally, the band would record a later album in 2008 with Marky Ramone on drums.  You'll also notice from the album artwork that the band's name was Teenage Heads on this particular release.  Apparently, MCA was afraid of the attention their name might get from the censor queen, Tipper Gore and forced the band to pluralize their name as to avoid any sexual suggestiveness.  Regardless of the name, this band is one of our country's most underrated treasures.  Guitarist, Gord Lewis is keeping the spirit alive at http://www.teenagehead.ca/.  This particular release is not easy to find.  Likely because it has been buried by MCA.  At the time of this blog, there were copies on Ebay trading between $4 and $20.  You can listen to the song, Tornado, on You Tube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9UhvlwMUWE).  As always, you can hear this song as well as others that I blog about each day on Live 365 (www.live365.com/stations/raisedoncndnradio).  Thanks for reading and enjoy!