Teenage Head (band)
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Teenage Head are a Canadian rock group, who were one of the most popular Canadian new wave/punk rock bands in the early 1980s. They were sometimes referred to as the "Canadian Ramones". Although the band are still recording and touring as a unit, they have never succeeded in recapturing their early audience.
Originally from Hamilton, Ontario, the group consisted of Frankie Venom, Gord Lewis, Steve Marshall and Nick Stipinitz, and took their name from a song by The Flamin' Groovies.
They released their first album, Teenage Head, in 1979. Although their record label folded, and the album consequently never really took off in sales, it garnered significant airplay for the singles "Top Down" and "Picture My Face", and made the band a popular draw on the live music circuit.
1980's Frantic City was the band's breakthrough, making them stars across Canada with the hit singles "Let's Shake" and "Somethin' On My Mind". They toured to support that album, and in 1981 their performance at Toronto's Ontario Place sparked a riot. The incident made headlines across the country, and led Ontario Place to ban rock concerts for several years afterward.
Shortly afterward, Lewis was injured in a car accident, and left the band. He was replaced by David Bendeth on the band's 1982 album Some Kinda Fun, which was the band's last hit album.
Their 1983 record Tornado was marked by controversy, with the band's American distributor demanding that they change their name to Teenage Heads to placate the more conservative American audience.
In 1984, Venom was replaced by Dave Desroches, who led the band for several years before departing to form his own band, The Dave Rave Conspiracy. Most of the band's original lineup (except Stipinitz, who was replaced by Mark Lockerbie) have since reunited, and continue to tour to this day.