Back when I was growing up in Brockville (a dickless, backwater, podunk town on the edge of the St Lawrence River half way between Toronto and Montreal) I use to tune my crappy radio into CHEZ106 to record songs on my tape cassettes (yes, it was in the late 70s) from great artists like Rough Trade, The Cars and The Buggles. One particular song I wanted really bad was “Don’t You Want Me Baby?” from Human League. So desperate was I that I would fall asleep in my bed with my finger still on the record button, waiting for the song. I’d wake up in the morning with “RADIO SHACK” indented into my cheek, backwards.<\/p>\n

I gave up at one point and went to the local Sams The Record Man on the main drag. The guy behind the counter wasn’t all that helpful because the Human League wasn’t heavy metal and was fairly popular. He went to his large index book (pre-computers, kids!) and found only one Human League album: Mirror Man<\/em>, a extended play record a couple releases back from the hit I was looking for. What the hell, I ordered it.<\/p>\n

It came in a few weeks later . When I entered the store, the guy behind the counter made damn sure I knew that he was disgusted in my musical choice, based solely on the fact that one of the male band members was wearing high heeled boots on the cover. While the song has warm connotations today of my budding love for Nu-Romance new wave, I’ll never forget the clerk commenting on my liking “those British fags”. <\/p>\n