Platinum Blonde: Hey, Hey You/ No Regrets (1982)

In my previous Forgotten Rebels post (see HERE), I mentioned how a lot of Canuck punk bands made the break for the mainstream in the mid-eighties without mentioning the one band who actually made it. While Toronto's Platinum Blonde worked as Police cover band (how's that for punk cred!) they also had put out a punky new wave single on their own label in 1982. A year or so later, they'd be topping the charts and carrying on like overbred poodles while this single fell into legend.  I refused to believe this even existed till I read about it in Frank Manley's book, Smash the State but it wasn't till the glorious internet era where I got to actually hear the fucker.

It's a hard-hitting hunk o' vinyl, with "Hey, Hey You" having a dose of Ramones drive and "No Regrets' having more of New York Dolls glam vibe. Neither betrays much Police influence, though that would come soon enough. The single shows the band to have a knack for propulsive, hook-laden song-writing, which would allow some of their chart hits to age better than I would've ever expected.

(Thanks to our anonymous donor for this cool scan of the single's original cover - not the semi-bootleg, pink re-issue featured elsewhere here.)

So. Do Tell. What do you think of this eighties poof-pop band's short-lived punk incarnation? Let us know in the COMMENTS section (where you'll find Hey, Hey You/ No Regrets link).