Today’s band Red Rider was a well-kept secret in their time and they had multiple hits in their homeland of Canada. In the early 80s inspired by several transformational moments, they wrote a masterpiece: Lunatic Fringe. It’s been called one of the coolest one-hit wonders ever. The only problem is… It was never a hit. At least not in America where it’s always in the top one-hit wonders of the time. Well, today we give Lunatic Fringe its due and the Cinderella band that created it, Red Rider. They crafted many hits in Canada but always came up short here in the States. But when lead singer Tom Cochrane went solo, he had a top 5 hit his first time out of the gate. The story is next on Professor of Rock The song had to be re-recorded because the master tape fell apart. This was devastating for the band, but they ended up with a better version, complete with the Peter Wolf keyboard intro - he wasn't part of the first recording.

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Honorary Producers
Junal Garnett, Samuel Cohen, Jeff Kolek, Steve, Anthony Fedora

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Hey music junkies, Professor of Rock, always here to celebrate the greatest artists and the greatest songs of all time. If you Remember all of the MTV also rans like Night Tracks and Friday Night Videos you’ll dig this channel. Music Nostalgia all of the time…Make sure to subscribe below right now.and make sure to click the bell so you get our latest interviews and videos.. We also have a patreon you'll want to check out. below.

So, it’s time for another edition of #1 in Our Hearts. This show honors songs that were so unbelievably great, they absolutely should've been #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. But for whatever reason, whether it was lack radio play, poor marketing, lousy label support or just sheer stupidity, the song came up short. But on this show, we put it back where it belongs. On previous episodes we have covered More Than a Feeling by Boston, Spirit of Radio by Rush, and Land of Confusion by Genesis.

But today we are giving some love to the Toronto band Red Rider and their haunting rocker Lunatic Fringe that didn’t even chart in america. the band RED RIDER was actually a no hit wonder but the singer and writer would have his redemption.

So like I said, Canada’s Red Rider never really cracked the American market, not in a big way. Which is really a shame, because that means a lot of US listeners have missed out on some incredible music. But with their trademark blend of AOR and New Wave, there’s no doubt Red Rider and bandleader Tom Cochrane were hugely popular north of the border. Cochrane who took up singing and songwriting duties for the band, actually had something of a rock n roll Cinderella story.

Before he joined Red Rider, Tom was already pursuing a career as a folk singer... playing in pubs, roughneck bars, and coffeehouses across the highways of Ontario... And dodging beer bottles in the process. I guess there were some tough crowds up there. In 1974 Cochrane released his first solo album, ‘Hang On to Your Resistance’... although it wasn’t exactly a commercial smash.

In 1975 he composed the music for the soundtrack of ‘My Pleasure is My Business’. After that Tom released two more stand-alone singles... ‘Softly Walk Away’ in 1975 and ‘Sail On’ in 1976. As Cochrane chased his big break, he took on a number of jobs to make ends meet... including working as a dishwasher, a cab driver, and a phone book delivery guy. He also worked on the loading dock at Sears and Canada Packers, and even crewed!