Song:Lunatic Fringe
Album:Over 60 Minutes With...Red Rider
Red Rider had success in the 80s in their native Canada but ultimately were unable to break through in the US market. Lunatic Fringe is probably their best known song. Lead singer and songwriter Tom Cochrane recorded the album Hang On To Your Resistance in 1974 to modest results. Guitarist Ken Greer formed Red Rider with Peter Boynton on keyboards, Jeff Jones on bass and Rob Baker on drums. Jones was an original member of Rush. Geddy Lee replaced him. He was also a member of Ocean (Put Your Hand In The Hand). Cochrane saw Red Rider perform at the El Mocambo in Toronto in 1978 and joined as lead vocalist. Red Rider signed with Capitol Records and their 1980 debut album Don't Fight It went Gold in Canada. White Hot was a hit in Canada but they didn't really break through in the US. Lunatic Fringe is from their 1981 album As Far As Siam. Peter Boynton left Red Rider to join Zappacosta and was replaced by Steve Sexton. When the 1984 album Neruda sold poorly, Capitol dropped Red Rider and they split up. Then Lunatic Fringe was used in the 1985 high school wrestling film Vision Quest. The soundtrack was a big seller because of Madonna's number one hit Crazy for You. The band got positive feedback for Lunatic Fringe and decided to stay together. Though many believe Cochrane wrote the song about the murder of John Lennon, Cochrane says he was concerned about the rise of anti semitism and wrote the song after reading a book about WWII hero Raoul Wallenberg who rescued Jews from The Holocaust. You can get all of Red Rider's Capitol hits on this comp. They renamed themselves as Tom Cochrane & Red Rider and signed with RCA. The 1988 song Big League became a hit in Canada when it was used on Hockey Night in Canada. But it wasn't enough and Red Rider split up in 1989. Cochrane had a successful solo run with the 1991 hit Life Is A Highway. Cochrane, Greer and Jones reformed Red Rider in 2002 and the band still tours today. Here's the video for Lunatic Fringe by Red Rider.
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