The Jitters: Red hot fools get closer every day

Today I was writing a story for my newspaper and I typed the word jitters, as in first day of school jitters.

Then I asked myself, do you remember the Jitters? I sure did.

They were a Canadian band in the 1980s and, as I thought about it, memories of red hot fools and Edmonton Oiler goal celebrations came to mind.

Getting foolish
It was in Grade 12, the spring of 1987, when I first heard this really cool song. It had kind of an a cappella sound, but with some accompaniment. It also had this great title – “Last of the Red Hot Fools”.

Every time I heard it on the radio, I tried to wait it out and hear who actually sang it. This is in the days before the Internet and Google and simply typing the name of a song and having the artist pop right up. Back then, the best you could do was find something in the newspaper, or a magazine. Or you could do what my friend Mat did, and call the radio station and plain out ask, “Who sings this song?”

Because “Last of the Red Hot Fools” was their first song, I wasn’t sure I was hearing the name of the band right.

Back then, usually when I was writing or doing home work and I had music on in the background, I would write down the names of the songs and who sang them. After recently hearing a presentation on brain health and memory maintenance, where I heard that writing things down solidifies memories, I am sure that is why I remember so much from the 1980s.

I bring that up, because when I finally heard who sang “Last of the Red Hot Fools”, I wrote down “The Gitters”. I am not sure why, but I did. Not until I researched them for this post did I discover they are actually “The Jitters”.

Not even when another one of their songs gained some prominence.

He scores
During the 1987-1988 NHL playoffs, the Edmonton Oilers were the defending Stanley Cup champions. Since every game of theirs was televised, I saw them a lot.

When they scored a goal at home, this song played that I had heard before but it had been a while, like a year. It turned out to be “Closer Every Day”, and it was by the Jitters.

They rode that song all the way to their fourth Stanley Cup in five seasons.

The Jitters and “Closer Every Day” will always be synonymous with 1987-1988 Stanley Cup champion Edmonton Oilers.

Parting thoughts
Even with the explosion of information available on the Internet, someone still has to post it online. When someone described the Internet as a mile wide and an inch deep, they were exactly right.

I have discovered over he past few years in doing research for this blog, how big gaps remain on sites such as Wikipedia. It is particularly prevalent in Canadian music, where I have Googled several Canadian bands who had success in the 1980s, and Wikipedia had nothing. I had to dig deeper, which is fine because it can lead to other discoveries too.

That happened in the case of The Jitters. There was some information on Wikipedia, but nothing about how they did on the charts. As I dug deeper, I discovered one of The Jitters had his own website, with a complete history of the band.

That is where I learned “Last of the Red Hot Fools” went all the way to number 10 in Canada, and topped some local charts. I also discovered the producer was affiliated with a particular radio station. Consequently, its rival, which had several affiliates, refused to play the song. The Jitters said that may be why it never went number one nationally.

Wikipedia did reveal they were also nominated for a Juno in 1988 for most promising group, losing out to Barney Bentall and the Legendary Hearts.

Even though, The Jitters may not have achieved international success and stardom, and may be receding into the mists of history, “Last of the Red Hot Fools” and “Closer Every Day” are part of my teenage years.

And I look back fondly on that time, and those songs.