Teenage Head

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Teenage Head

Postby Marsbar » Sun Apr 20, 2014 1:27 pm

Teenage Head singer’s proposed memorial statue causes controversy in Hamilton

By Marc Weisblott - Canada.com

The legacy of the Hamilton, Ont. punk band Teenage Head has arguably never received proper due — which is something that a local musician and a mayoral candidate hoped to change with a monument to its late singer.

But the backlash toward a statue of the man who called himself Frankie Venom led his family to pull support for the project after questions about its $200,000 cost led to scrutiny of the personal life of the frontman who died of throat cancer in 2008.

Hamilton musician Tom Wilson of the bands Junkhouse and Blackie and the Rodeo Kings enlisted city councillor and mayoral candidate Brian McHattie to formally pursue the project for Victoria Park at the corner of King and Locke in the Strathcona neighbourhood of the city.

The funds were slated to come from the $1.6-million area-rating fund for McHattie’s ward — which included a $300,000 allocation for public art.

After the statue plan was reported on in the Hamilton Spectator, though, questions arose about whether Venom — whose real name was Frank Kerr — was worth the honour given that he struggled with substance abuse for many years before he died at age 52. Criticism extended to the fact that the singer had also once been convicted for domestic assault.

The backlash led Venom’s family to withdraw its support for the endeavour at a community meeting on Thursday night, citing the fact that they were not emotionally prepared to deal with renewed attention to his struggles, which took hold after Teenage Head’s run of success in Canada between 1978 and 1983 ended with the singer leaving the group.

Still, even if the statue is not erected with public funds, those behind the effort are determined to recognize the legacy of the band in Hamilton — which has gained momentum as a creative centre in recent years.

Madeline Wilson, who was working with her father Tom to get the statue erected, noted at the meeting that she is working on a project called Band Together designed to provide health care coverage to local musicians who can benefit from assistance later in life. McHattie has also retained his determination to get some kind of tribute installed at a lower cost or with support through a crowdfunding project.

The legacy of Teenage Head will also be recognized this spring with the publication of Gods of the Hammer, a history written by culture critic Geoff Pevere, who starts his story by recalling how the overflow crowd for the band’s free concert at Ontario Place in Toronto on June 2, 1980 led to the kind of riot of which legends were made.

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