Day After Day #316: I Like to Rock

Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).

I Like to Rock (1979)

Growing up as a youngster in Pickering, Ontario, I was obviously exposed to a lot of Canadian music thanks to the Canadian Content rules, which required that radio stations play at least 25% of their music by Canadian artists (that was the rule in the '70s, it has since gone up to 35%). Even before I was listening to rock, I have a distinct memory of being in bed and hearing a neighboring house having a party with April Wine's "You Could Have Been a Lady" rattling my windows. It was pretty cool, wondering what was going over there. With the benefit of hindsight, I'm guessing there was plenty of beer and weed and that all the attendees are in their 60s now.

Back to the CanCon: In the late '70s, I would hear plenty of April Wine on the radio, along with Rush, Triumph, the Guess Who, Bachman Turner Overdrive, Max Webster, Saga, etc. In early 1981, I watched a CBC concert featuring April Wine playing in London and it totally rocked. I had liked them before, but this cinched it. They had just released their album The Nature of the Beast, which was their biggest album in the U.S. thanks to hits like "Just Between You and Me" and "Sign of the Gypsy Queen." 

But it was a song from the band's previous album, 1979's Harder...Faster, that grabbed my attention thanks to that concert special I saw. The lead track, "I Like to Rock," was an epic rocker that paid tribute to some of the band's main influences while also reflecting the current hard rock scene. 

April Wine was formed in 1969 in Halifax by singer-guitarist Myles Goodwyn and brothers David and Richie Henman (guitar and drums, respectively) and their cousin Jim Henman (bass). They relocated to Montreal after mistakenly thinking a rejection letter from Aquarius Records was an invitation and talked the label into signing them. They scored a top 40 hit in Canada with "Fast Train" off their 1971 debut album and opened for Ike & Tina Turner, Jethro Tull, Badfinger and Stevie Wonder.

The band's had a hit with their 1972 cover of Hot Chocolate's "You Could Have Been a Lady," which hit #2 in Canada and #32 on the Billboard Hot 100. Jim Henman had already left the band and was replaced by Jim Clench, and then the Henman brothers quit and were replaced by Jerry Mercer on drums and Gary Moffet on guitar. The band released albums that did well in Canada and continued to tour regularly; Clench left to join Bachman-Turner Overdrive and was replaced by Steve Lang. 

April Wine was successful in Canada, adding Brian Greenway as a third guitarist. The band was booked to play a gig at the El Mocambo club in Toronto in March 1977; the co-headliner was a band called the Cockroaches, which turned out to be the Rolling Stones. The performance was released as a live album and the band toured in the U.S. opening for the Stones, Styx and Rush.

In 1979, the band released Harder...Faster, which included the hits "Say Hello" and "I Like to Rock." The latter song was a tribute to Goodwyn's love of the genre.

"Well, alright, something's got you going tonight/Doin' all she can, it's alright/Come on, can't you see?/That when we all let go/We get high on rock and roll/Journey to the stars/Rock n' roll guitars/I like to rock/Some like hot, baby/I like it, you like it/I like to rock/I like to rock."

Harder...Faster ended up staying on the Billboard 200 chart for 40 weeks, with April Wine opening for Rush, Toto, Styx, Boston, Squeeze and Blue Oyster Cult. 

"I can sing, that's the kind of life for me/Want it loose and fancy free/Come on, then let's go/And it'll be alright/We can rock and roll all night/Journey to the stars/Rock and roll guitars/I like to rock/Some like it hot baby/I like it, you like it/I like to rock/I like to rock."

The song also includes tributes to the band's influences with the riffs from the Beatles' "Day Tripper" and the Rolling Stones' "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" in the final verse.

The song went to #86 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #75 on the Canadian RPM top singles chart, while reaching #41 on the U.K. Singles Chart.

April Wine hit platinum with The Nature of the Beast, and then had success with 1982's Power Play thanks to the videos of "Enough is Enough," "If You See Kay" and "Anything You Want, You Got It." But in-band tensions led to Goodwyn moving to the Bahamas before the recording of 1984's Animal Grace. The album was less successful than its predecessors. Another album followed in 1986, with less success.

The band released four more albums over the next 20 years, with various lineup configurations. Goodwyn finally retired from the band in 2022 and died the following year at the age of 75.