Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).
I'm an Adult Now (1988)
I grew up in Canada until I was 14, when we moved to the U.S., where I've lived ever since. I eventually became a U.S. citizen, but I never lost my affinity for the Great White North. I kept rooting for Toronto teams and still paid attention to Canadian music.
So there I was in the fall of '88, a senior at the University of New Hampshire, and as I often did, I was watching MTV's 120 Minutes when a new video came on by a band called The Pursuit of Happiness. The singer was a nerdy-looking guy with long hair singing about being an adult now. It had the perfect combination of sarcastic lyrics, hard rock crunch and girl group backing vocals. I was hooked and I soon picked up the album, which is where I learned they were Canadian.
As it turns out, this was TPOH's second version of "I'm an Adult Now," which singer Moe Berg wrote in 1985 and released as a single the following year. Berg and drummer Dave Gilby had just moved to Toronto from their hometown of Edmonton and formed the band. They didn't wait to land a record deal, opting to go the DIY route and self-release singles. They made a low budget video for "I'm an Adult Now" on the streets of Toronto and it soon got airplay on MuchMusic (Canada's version of MTV) and Toronto rock stations.
Eventually, the band signed with Chrysalis Records and recorded their debut album Love Junk with producer/legend Todd Rundgren, re-recording "I'm an Adult Now" in the process. The album was a punchy power pop masterpiece, melding big riffs with super catchy choruses and melodies. Berg avoided cliche as he penned social critiques like "Consciousness Raising as a Social Tool" and "Walking in the Woods" and self-deprecating odes like "Hard to Laugh," "Ten Fingers" and the big single.
"I'm an Adult Now" is a cynical look at adulthood that I related to as a 21-year-old (even though Berg was pushing 30 by the time the re-recording came out). Of course, I didn't know jack about being an adult because I was still in school and hadn't really been out in the real world yet, but that was right around the corner.
"Well, I don't hate my parents/I don't get drunk just to spite them/I've got my own reasons to drink now/I think I'll call my dad up and invite him/I can sleep in till noon any time I want/Though there's not many days that I do/Gotta get up and take on that world/When you're an adult, it's no cliche, it's the truth."
The remake went to #6 on the Billboard Alternative songs chart and #22 on the Mainstream Rock chart; the album never charted in the U.S. but went to #28 in Canada. (Check the video below of them playing a few songs on some MTV show called Mouth to Mouth. I don't remember that show at all, or its obnoxious host Steve Skrovan.)
I actually got to see TPOH on that tour, opening for Duran Duran in Worcester in January '89. My friend Arthur, the arts editor of the UNH newspaper I also worked for, was going to interview Berg after the show and he had an extra pass so I tagged along. TPOH ripped through a kickass opening set with not much reaction from the half-full crowd of Durannies; I mean, we were enjoying it. The headliner's set was less interesting; they were in a bit of a career lull after being huge for much of the '80s and seemed to be going through the motions. That's not a dig at Duran Duran; I like the band and they certainly rebounded numerous times and are still going strong, but they weren't at that point.
We could see Berg and his bandmates watching the show from the sidelines, so we were looking forward to the backstage interview. I had never been backstage at a rock show before so I was particularly excited, plus it was going to be cool to meet this great new band. So it was a supreme bummer after the show when we went to go backstage and were told TPOH had already left; apparently, there was a mixup and their manager never told them we were supposed to interview them. On top of that, security wouldn't let us go backstage even though we had passes. Annoyed, we just left and headed back to Durham.
Despite this disappointment, I continued to follow TPOH, although I never did see them live again. Their second album, One Sided Story, was excellent but didn't make much of a dent in the U.S. TPOH moved over to Mercury Records in '92 and released The Downward Road in '93. The song "Cigarette Dangles" got the Beavis & Butt-head treatment, but the album again didn't sell well and the band was dropped. TPOH released two more strong albums on a Canadian indie before splitting up in 1997. They've reunited several times over the years to play shows in Canada, including a tour to support the 30th anniversary reissue of Love Junk in 2018. Berg has become a producer and has also toured with the Trans-Canada Highwaymen, a CanRock supergroup with Chris Murphy of Sloan, Steven Page of the Barenaked Ladies and Craig Northey of Odds.
"I'm an Adult Now" still resonates, although I suppose as more of a wry look back than anything else. I mean, I'm 56, fer Pete's sake. Although my adult status was questionable in 1988 from a maturity standpoint, I've got full adult cred now.
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