Glass Tiger: I won’t forget you

Glass Tiger in the '80s, with their breakout single "Don't Forget Me (When I'm Gone)".

Source: https://sacharts.wordpress.com/2022/04/09/glass-tiger-canada/

(May be subject to copyright)

“You’ve got to hear this new band I heard,” said my best friend Chris Vining. “They’re awesome.”

We had this thing, kind of a game, where we tried to discover the next song or band.

“They’re called Glass Tiger,” he said. “The lead singer has the coolest hair.”

I asked if it was parted down the middle and feathered back, which was the height of cool for me at that time.

“No,” Chris said.

Then he told me to just wait and their first song would come on the radio.

In the meantime, I kind of chewed over the name Glass Tiger in my head. I heard of a Paper Tiger, which was a term we learned in social studies for a country that seemed strong, but really wasn’t or couldn’t back up their threats. But Glass Tiger, never heard of it. It was new to me.

Then, that night, I heard “Don’t Forget Me (When I’m Gone)” on the radio and I was hooked.

I have loved Glass Tiger ever since.

They are top of mind, because this weekend they are being inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame.

Glass Tiger's debut album "The Thin Red Line".

Source: https://glasstiger.ca

(May be subject to copyright)

The Thin Red Line
Vining went out and bought Glass Tiger’s album not too much later called “The Thin Red Line”. It was so cool because the tape was red. I later discovered the record was also red.

Once he listened to it, he told me about it the next day. We were at our after school job working at Gergeley’s Greenhouse.

He raved about the title track, “Thin Red Line”, because it told a great story about an ancient battle on the Scottish Highlands. I asked him if it was a ballad, because I love ballads. No, he said, it wasn’t quite a ballad though.

When I did hear it, I was struck by the song. Later, Vining told me about the video that went with the song. There was one scene in particular that was really touching. This woman paused, and a group children who had been hiding under her long skirt, started running out.

It was so cool.

It would peak at number 19 in Canada but not chart in the States.

But that wasn’t the only great song on “The Thin Red Line”.

Don’t forget me
The first single released from “The Thin Red Line” was “Don’t Forget me (When I’m Gone)”. It was what put them on the charts and propelled them to international success.

It is a great song with a notable back up singer. Canadian superstar Bryan Adams makes an appearance on the song, and his assistance helped Glass Tiger get noticed.

For the video, when Bryan Adams voice plays, it is lip synched by this boy in a white t-shirt and jeans. In an interview on “Good Rockin’ Tonite”, Glass Tiger’s leading singer Alan Frew said they used a kid they knew from their home town of Newmarket, Ontario.

Interestingly, in that same interview, Frew was asked about the name Glass Tiger. He said someone suggested Paper Tiger, and he worked it around, and worked it around, and came up with Glass Tiger.

When the single made its way to the United States, the band released a different music video. It looked like a concert video more than anything, and our young friend from Newmarket wasn’t in this one. Too bad.

“Don’t Forget Me (When I’m Gone)” went all the way to number one in Canada and number two on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. It also helped garner the band a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist. They went on to win Junos in 1986 for Album of the Year for “The Thin Red Line”; Most Promising Group of the Year; and Best Selling Single for “Don’t Forget Me (When I’m Gone)”.

Someday
Glass Tiger did write a ballad, that crooning “Someday” that is still one of my favourites. In fact, a whole blog post is dedicated to my memories attached to that song.

Beyond that, the video is also a good one. For whatever reason, when I think of that video, I think of Alan Frew walking alone after dark then, later, after talking to his girlfriend, putting on his hat and walking away soulfully. I always wanted to wear a hat like that and walk away from a woman soulfully.

The single was Glass Tiger’s second top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, peaking at number seven, while in Canada it went to number 14. It would also take the Juno for Single of the Year in 1987.

You’re What I Look For
The fourth single released was called “You’re What I Look For”, and it did not reach the heights of its two immediate predecessors, peaking at number 11 in Canada. It was unique in that it appeared to have some French incorporated in the song, which I thought was different. However, when I mentioned the French words to my dear friend and mentor Michel Ouellette, a Francophone by birth, he said it wasn’t French at all.

The other memory I have comes from a high school dance I went to, the Halloween dance of Grade 12, so the fall of 1986. I went with Vining, and dressed up as Hawkeye Pierce from “M*A*S*H”, going in a bathrobe, cowboy hat, and sun glasses.

I was in the lobby outside the gym when Monica Fast, a friend of ours, asked me to dance. I joined her on the gym dance floor and, as I moved to the music, found myself instinctively twirling the rope belt of my bath robe.

The song playing was “You’re What I Look For”.

I Will be There
The last song on “The Thin Red Line” I recall is “I Will be There”, best known for another guest vocal from Bryan Adams growling “When you call my name” after Frew sings “I will be there”.

The music video is also set in the snow on top of a mountain. It was another great song, peaking at number 29 in Canada and number 34 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the States.

What’s next
“The Thin Red Line” was on the charts for a long time, and left fans wanting more. In April of 1988, the much-awaited follow-up album, “Diamond Sun” came out.

By then, I had come home after my first year of university and, like its predecessor, Chris Vining had bought it and played it in his orange Pinto as we cruised around. It was a major part of the soundtrack of the summer of 1988.

It followed the same pattern as the first album with the title track being the second release from the album.

The first single was “I’m Still Searching”, which was a good song. It peaked at number two in Canada, and number 31 on the Billboard Hot 100.

That would be Glass Tiger’s last entry on the Billboard Hot 100 to date.

“Diamond Sun” followed, and it went to number five in Canada.

After that it was “My Song”, which peaked at number 33 in Canada. By then I was in second year of university, and living on Fifth Kelsey in student residence. One day, I was sitting in the lounge when Wes Siemens came out of his wing, just belting out “My Song” and dancing what kind of looked like a jig.

The strange things a guy remembers.

“Far Away from Me” and “Send Your Love” followed, with neither single hitting the charts.

The final single released from “Diamond Sun” was “(Watching) Worlds Crumble” in 1989, peaking at number 27 in Canada.

By that point, I had stopped paying attention to music because I was so busy with life in university and residence.

Glass Tiger did win one more Juno for Canadian Entertainer of the Year in 1989.

The rest
“The Thin Red Line” really did not have a bad song, and variously all of them were ear worms for me. They included “Closer to You”; “Vanishing Tribe”; “Looking at a Picture”; “Ancient Evenings”; and “Ecstasy.

The same was true for “Diamond Sun”, with the rest including “A Lifetime of Moments”; “It’s Love U Feel”; “Send Your Love”; “Suffer in Silence”; and “This Island Earth”.

In this case, a couple of these songs did resonate.

When we went to our 10th high school reunion, Vining alluded to “Lifetime of Moments” on the drive home. He said life really was that, and we began to recount various moments in our friendship.

In the summer of 1988, I started to think about writing a sequel to a play I had written the previous year. Once again it would be autobiographical, focusing on the main character and his continued inability to ask girls out. I thought “Suffer in Silence” would have been perfect for the soundtrack because it was what the main character was doing – suffering in silence – because he just could not summon up the courage to say how he felt.

Dubbing
The other reason these two albums were ear worms and I knew them so well is that I dubbed them from Vining. He bought them new, and I just recorded them onto a blank tape. That gave me unlimited access, so I played them both non-stop.

Interestingly, after I recorded “The Thin Red Line”, Vining had another tape I recorded on the back side. It was “The Big Prize” by Honeymoon Suite.”

Fast forward a couple years. The album I recorded on the back side of “Diamond Mine”, also courtesy of the Chris Vining music collection, was Honeymoon Suite’s follow-up album, “Racing After Midnight”.

There is symmetry in everything, even the most trivial things.

In concert
Glass Tiger actually came to Lethbridge in the summer of 1986, where they opened for Honeymoon Suite. They played in the Lethbridge Exhibition Grandstand during Whoop-Up days and Vining went to that concert. He raved about it, and actually brought back a concert towel with Glass Tiger emblazoned on it..

I myself, would have loved to go, but I was spending my annual two weeks in Brooks with my cousins.

Glass Tiger is still touring and playing, so I may still get my shot to see them in concert.

Parting thoughts
It is obvious, Glass Tiger was a big part of the soundtrack of the last half of high school and the first half of my first degree.

Not only were they on the radio a lot, courtesy of Canadian content, but a band I went out and found so I could listen to at will.

I just really like their music. Alan Frew’s vocals, the band, the lyrics, everything just resonates with me.

I am so glad they were inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame because, in the lead up to it, I heard a lot of people, including a couple news reporters, feel the same way about them that I did.

We won’t forget them when they’re gone.