"It was very straight-laced..."

August 17, 2011 10:00 AM

Yonge Street: Toronto Rock & Roll Stories. This documentary series by Bravo tells the story of Toronto's early rock scene, when "the Devil's music" stormed Toronto and Yonge Street became an essential destination for musicians, singers and music fans not only in Toronto but across Canada and beyond.

Featuring stories and anecdotes from Robbie Robertson (The Band), Ronnie Hawkins, Cathy Young, Gordon Lightfoot, Sylvia Fricker (Ian & Sylvia), John Kay (Steppenwolf), David Clayton-Thomas (Blood, Sweat and Tears), Daniel Lanois, Skip Prokup (Lighthouse) and many others.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

(note: each part is split into six clips, each of which is preceded by a 30-second commercial)

posted by The Card Cheat (14 comments total)

Hey ... you leave my yonge out of this.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 10:38 AM on August 17, 2011

Yonge Street

The Ontario Censor Board warns that the following movie contains scenes depicting excessive violence, nudity and explicit footage of Yonge Street in Toronto. We recommend that parental discretion be exercised regarding children under the age of twelve. Thanks for watching this film in Ontario.

Part 1

Part 2
posted by charlie don't surf at 11:01 AM on August 17, 2011 [1 favorite]

In the early-mid '90s I owned and wore a 3/4 sleeve Gordon Lightfoot baseball shirt. I got it at a garage sale or thrift shop, back before eBay and the rest of the internet forever killed the chance of finding fun/cool stuff for next to nothing.

Anyway, the thought of that shirt perfectly sums up a bygone era in my moldy, swiss-cheese memory. Sonic Youth, dirt weed, pointless drives to nowhere, rejected crushes, Rat distortion pedals, suburban freedom.

I just listened to Lightfoot for the first time, ever - the shirt was worn ironically, after all - and man was he awful. MOR with a touch of light adult contemporary.

My whole coming of age was a joke.
posted by item at 11:19 AM on August 17, 2011

That's exactly the Gordon Lightfood assessment I would expect from somebody who would wear a band t-shirt ironically without ever having listened to the artist.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 11:21 AM on August 17, 2011 [4 favorites]

I heart Gordon Lightfoot.
posted by parki at 11:33 AM on August 17, 2011

Sonic Youth, dirt weed, pointless drives to nowhere, rejected crushes, Rat distortion pedals, suburban freedom.

I was there too ... but as for Mr. Lightfoot (of whom Bob Dylan intoned back in the day, "He never put out a record that didn't matter to me"), he remains untarnished, albeit occasionally a little sticky around the edges ...

but not here
posted by philip-random at 12:21 PM on August 17, 2011

I just listened to Lightfoot for the first time, ever - the shirt was worn ironically, after all - and man was he awful. MOR with a touch of light adult contemporary.

"Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald" is MOR with a touch of light adult contemporary? Face, meet palm.
posted by tantrumthecat at 2:07 PM on August 17, 2011

That's what you get for loving Gord.
posted by Flashman at 2:08 PM on August 17, 2011

See also Canadian classic Going Down The Road for more vintage Yonge St. highjinks!
posted by stinkycheese at 3:01 PM on August 17, 2011 [1 favorite]

"Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald"

Wasn't the Wreck of the Gordon Lightfoot, by Edmund Fitzgerald?
posted by philip-random at 3:14 PM on August 17, 2011

This doc is great!

My favourite bit is where Ronnie Hawkins and his bearded biker buddy, the founder of the Vagabonds M.C. (which the internet says has since been absorbed into H.A.), are reminiscing about carrying blackjacks and guns and whatnot, and the cops who used to bust them, and then, out of nowhere, a tiny chihuahua in a sweater playfully clambers across the couch.

Awwwww!
posted by Sys Rq at 5:02 PM on August 17, 2011

Bob Dylan always cites Gordon Lightfoot as one of his all time favorite songwriters.
posted by fairmettle at 5:41 PM on August 17, 2011

It's slightly less rock & roll, but here's another Yonge Street story (NSFW/NSFL/HT reddit).
posted by tapesonthefloor at 7:09 PM on August 17, 2011 [1 favorite]

OMG tapesonthefloor - that did NOT go where I thought it was going to go. And where it went... Oh, the horror.
posted by antifuse at 5:58 AM on August 19, 2011 [1 favorite]