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Rough Trade was a Canadian new wave rock band in the 1970s and 1980s. The band are most famous for their 1981 hit "High School Confidential", one of the first explicitly lesbian-themed Top 40 hits in the world.
The band began in 1968, when Carole Pope and Kevan Staples began performing as "O". The following year. In 1970, they changed their name to "The Bullwhip Brothers".
In 1975, the band became Rough Trade, adding Joanne Brooks, Rick Gratton, Happy Roderman, John Lang and Marv Kanarek to the lineup. The band, through their combination of hard-edged new wave rock and raw sexuality (Pope often performed in bondage attire), became a popular draw on Toronto's live music circuit through their regular shows at Grossman's.
In 1980, the band's lineup changed, with most of the backing musicians leaving and being replaced by Sharon Smith, Jon Cessine, Bucky Berger and Terry Watkins.
Also that year, the band landed a record contract with True North Records. Their first album, Avoid Freud, was released later that year, and the controversy around the raunchy lesbian-themed single "High School Confidential" made them stars. They released one album each year until 1985, scoring at least one significant hit from each album.
In 1983, they were offered a Pepsi commercial to air in the Canadian market, but the ad was soon pulled from the airwaves as Pepsi had failed to obtain permission from another Canadian rocker, Nash the Slash, to include his image in the commercial.
The 1985 greatest hits compilation Birds of a Feather was the band's final release. The band broke up in 1986, although they performed several reunion shows in the 1990s.
Discography
- Rough Trade Live! Direct to Disc (1976)
- Avoid Freud (1980)
- For Those Who Think Young (1981)
- Shaking the Foundations (1982)
- Weapons (1983)
- O Tempora! O Mores! (1984)
- Birds of a Feather: The Best of Rough Trade (1985)
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