In the long period between records, several things had
changed for 54•40. The new sound of the band was
described as a "reinvention" of themselves.
Phil had gradually reduced his trumpet playing and
became a true lead guitarist for the group, Neil's role
became more of a rhythm guitar player. While his life
took a big turn with his marriage to a politically
active social worker, and all the while. The independent
network they had been a part of for so many years grew
less and less accessible to them since they had joined
the roster of a major record label. That being said,
their music was going to be available to a vastly
increased number of people across North America, and
they had the confidence to take the live show out and
bring it into towns and cities they had previously only
seen on a map.
The first single from the new album was Baby Ran, a
college radio favorite that also gained considerable
exposure at the fledgling Modern Rock radio format
across the USA.
For the first time, 54•40 was able to tour across
Canada, making their Toronto debut at the Diamond Club
in June of 1986. The Canadian music press fell over
themselves trying to figure out how this unique and
exciting band had gone unnoticed by the Eastern-based
music industry, and they had an equally hard time coming
up with enough superlatives to describe both the album
and the live concerts.
54•40's career was taking off at the same time as the
rise of MTV and the important role of music video
in exposing new music to the masses. While the band
didn't have enormous Hollywood budgets to work with,
they set a standard with their early video work on the
songs Baby Ran and I Go Blind, that they continue to
uphold to this day.
They introduced a political element to the music
through visuals that was only hinted at in Neil's
oblique, stream-of-consciousness lyrics. Soon the
band (especially Nell), became well-known for their
willingness to tackle thorny issues concerning human
rights, social injustice and the environment in
interviews, on stage and in the newest songs, After
a heavy touring schedule on the
Green Album,
54•40 headed straight for a Los Angeles studio in
early 1987 to record the follow up,
Show Me, with
producer Dave Jerden. Yielding 2 hit singles
(One Day In Your Life, One Gun), but
fell on deaf ears south of the border. Despite
high-profile tours with Bob Mould and The BoDeans.
Fight For Love
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Neil and band
resolved to return home to Vancouver to
record the next album, in order to
restore that sense of place and purpose
defined in their music on earlier
efforts. Working again with Dave
Ogilvie, the band created
Fight For Love,
a more homespun, acoustic album, exactly
the opposite of what people might have
expected next from the group. Some
thought that either the polished pop or
greasy hard rock side of Show Me
would be more in evidence, but instead
they got a very personal, simple album,
with long, meandering guitar passages
and comparatively little lyrical
bravado.
Some critics found, the work naive in
the face of the bombastic musical
statements of the day's up and coming
rockers, but 54•40 stood as firmly
behind the work as they had for all of
their previous albums, and quickly began
touring to support it.
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A 1989 visit behind the Iron Curtain to perform at a
Moscow music festival broadened perspective for the
band, and when it came time to do their Canadian
tour, they brought an Estonian group over they had
met in Moscow as their support act, the first-ever
rock group from Eastern Europe to tour across
Canada.
By this time, 54•40 was firmly entrenched in
Canadian youth culture. The Lads good-natured
idealism and refusal to compromise their stand on
issues (like corporate sponsorship of music)
endeared them to a generation of fans who were able
to appreciate the power of the songs, and feel good
about the people who were writing, recording and
performing them. When the recording contract with
Warner Brothers in L.A. dissolved in 1990, it was a
natural step for the band to find a new home at a
Canadian label.
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In fact, their
popularity had earned them a greatest hits
album (of sorts). Warner Music Canada
acknowledged the growing success of 54•40
and released
Sweeter Things,
a compilation of standout tracks from the
first three albums along with rare and
unreleased material in the fall of 1991.
Fans waiting for a new 54•40 album would
have to wait, though. In January 1991
54•40 had inked a long-term agreement
with Sony Music Canada. Under the
new leadership of American president
Paul Burger, the company had been
revitalized, and 54•40 was feeling the
same surge of power through their
creative process. There was to be no
mistake with the first album on their
new label, and the band was going to
take their time.
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With the release of
Dear Dear
in May 1992, the band re-invented themselves again,
this time as a classic rock combo; no frills, no
gimmicks, just edgy, dynamic 3-chord rock. Producer
Don Smith had previously worked his mojo on fellow
Canadians Tragically Hip, and his desire to
prioritize the feel and mood of the music ahead of
any technical considerations gave
Dear Dear
a raw, bluesy feel without losing the anthemic
quality that has always been a 54•40 trademark. The
fans got an album well worth waiting for, and
several hit songs resulted. She La, Nice To Luv
You, Music Man, and You Don't Get Away (That
Easy) were all Canadian radio staples throughout
1992 and 93. Finally, it seemed that 54•40 were able
to cement their spot at the head table of Canadian
rock groups.
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When international superstar Bryan Adams
grabbed headlines in 1993 with his
criticism of Canadian content
regulations and other Canadian cultural
industry safeguards, Neil Osborne
couldn't sit idly by. As a Canadian
artist, Neil had seen his share of great
Canadian groups who were denied access
to the American market, but had
tremendous success at home, because
there was something uniquely Canadian
about them (besides their place of
birth!). Neil wrote an open letter to
the Canadian media rebutting Adams'
contentions, and became a weather vane
for opinions from both sides. Adams'
volatile manager Bruce Allen was
unrelenting in his attacks on 54•40's
singer, while the group was named
"Canadian Cultural Champions" on the
cover of a national magazine.
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All the while, 54•40 were touring Canada
ceaselessly, composing new material from soundcheck
jams, and recording it in quick, low-tech sessions
in grungy downtown Vancouver rehearsal spaces.
During a grueling 6-week, 11-country tour of Europe
in Fall 1993 with Midnight Oil, they wrote the last
of what was to become their 6th full-length album.
Earlier that year, after an unlikely series of
events, the band had purchased the huge, ornate neon
sign from the club where they got their start, the
Smilin' Buddha Cabaret. The club had been closed for
several years, but 54•40 were still going strong,
continuing to draw inspiration from the same musical
sources that had spawned the very idea of starting
the band.
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