A long time ago, way before the internet had us in its grip, back when mobile phones were the size of house bricks, my local ITV franchise didn't really know what to do with its overnight strand of programming. It toyed with viewer's votes for dodgy b-movies, re-ran strange one-shot series from the sixties about ghostly detectives or indestructible super police-type people, then wrapped up before breakfast with Casey Kasem telling us what was on at the cinema across the pond.
In-between this random selection of shows some bright spark had decided to crowbar in a 60 minute music show. Of course, being late night tv and having a near non-existent budget they couldn't afford anything expensive. But they could afford something Canadian.
An off the shelf package of promos and interviews from MuchMusic (sort of like MTV, but Canadian) was snapped up. From an editing suite in Toronto came a weekly snapshot of the Canadian music scene ideal for the international market. Just what your average music geek insomniac could ask for. The show was full of bands and artists I'd never heard of and I was frankly surprised to discover that there was more to Canadian music than Bryan Adams or, well, one of his mates.
As much fun as it was staying up until silly AM though I soon decided to tape the programme, spending hungover Sunday mornings watching an odd and often inconsistent mix of artists. More often than not the content was nothing to write home about (there was a reason the show was on at three in the morning) but, once in awhile, an artist would pop up that I'd take notice of.
One such act was a bunch of wacky dudes called Barenaked Ladies (you may have heard of them, they had a hit or two awhile back), another was Meryn Cadell (who no-one seems to have heard of). She produced a bizarre yet catchy tribute to boy's sweaters, spoken word over a rolling beat, which had a fittingly bizarre and memorable video.
And the point of this nostalgic interlude? The album featuring the song is being re-released (after being out of print for ages). I know this because, it being a Friday, I spent the afternoon pootling around the interweb like I usually do and stumbled across the video for The Sweater on YouTube:
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