Teenage Bed-Head

Wow, look at those freaks!

It was in my second year of  high school - 1979/80, I believe, that Frankie Venom brought his punk rock act to the stage of our gymnasium. Teenage Head hailed from Hamilton, Ontario, less than a day's drive from my hometown, forming in '75 and carrying on in various incarnations for many years, with varying degrees of success. The songs the band played at this gig were all great fun and happened to be the first punk-ish rock I'd ever heard. Rock radio beamed into my neck of the woods focused on arena rock for the most part, so non-mainstream bands nearly never got airplay. 

The overall show is pretty much gone from my memory, but the odd detail remains. For instance, Head's regular guitarist Gordon Lewis was out sick at the time, and Toronto record producer, songwriter, and musician David Bendeth took over axe duties for that evening. I'd heard of Bendeth before; his name came up on Q107 radio's music news now and then; he must have had a band in the metropolitan area at the time. Apparently he's gone on to become a multi-platinum award-winning record producer with a huge list of credits. Look 'em up. Oh, and he happened to be the dude who did the mixing on Teenage Head's new album. So....

But back to the concert: the fairly reserved-looking Bendeth performed with flair, an interesting contrast to Head's regular line-up of scruffy punks. Venom snarled and sneered, hurling himself about to the gnashing guitars. The band was touring in support of their Frantic City album (which went gold in Canada!), so we were treated to rowdy new hits like Let's Shake, Infected, and Disgusteen. Even though I no longer own any of Head's music, those particular songs are still old favourites that I would happily stage dive to. And I am certain that Picture My Face, off the debut Head album, was part of the set that night. 

Years ago, I had a 2-fer cassette tape with both Frantic City and its follow-up Some Kinda Fun on it. A fun raucous bunch of tunes, but sadly, the tape disintegrated decades later. My only remaining souvenir from that high school gig is the ticket stub pictured below. Who knew it would ever come in handy again?