Out Of My Head – Junkhouse

The year was 1993 and this Canadian band was newly signed to Sony Music and were expected to come up with the sort of album that their Canadian compatriots The Tragically Hip had been making. The two bands sounded somewhat similar all the way down to the voices of their lead singers – Gordon Downie (of the Hip) and Tom Wilson (of Junkhouse).

Retrospectively the band became known as a “grime rock” band – suggesting that they were unpolished, working class and blue collar and while that description kinda suits them it doesn’t do their album Strays and the lead single Out Of My Head any justice.

Out Of My Head should have been a monster. It’s a relentless, driving rock song with a chorus that captures the obsession of the title perfectly.  It only pauses long enough to catch its breath around and hooky guitar signature before driving upstoppably onward.

It’s a song of behaviour on the edge, the kind of bad behaviour that you’d find on a True Blood episode – in fact this Malcolm Burn produced song wouldn’t be out of place on that shows soundtrack.

Junkhouse broke up, of course, but Tom Wilson continues to play in a number of different incarnations and as a solo artist. Out Of My Head though remains a landmark.