Classic Rockers You Should Know, Part 1: Kim Mitchell

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This is the first in a series that I plan to do with the hope of introducing some lesser-known classic rock artists to people who may have never heard of them. These certainly are not unknown artists, but I feel that they never really got the attention I believe they deserved from the music industry here in the U.S.

First up is Canadian rocker Kim Mitchell, who I was first introduced to back in the 1980’s when he was fronting a band called Max Webster. The group managed to get some U.S. radio airplay with their song "Battle Scar," which featured the guys from Rush as guest musicians. Any small measure of popularity Max Webster enjoyed here in the U.S. around that time was likely due to that association with Rush.

Kim Mitchell launched his solo career after Max Webster broke up around 1981 and was awarded with at least three Juno Awards for his work between 1983 and 1990.

In 2004 he switched gears and decided to give radio a try and stepped in as the afternoon drive time DJ on Toronto’s Q107, although he never gave up playing music as evidenced by the release of Ain’t Life Amazing last year, his eighth studio album.

Personally, I’ve got just about all of Kim Mitchell’s music going back to the Max Webster days and I still believe the work he did with Max Webster and that he continues to do today does not attract the attention it deserves — at least hear in the U.S.

Due to the obvious restrictions involved when placing music on the web, I’ve decided the best way is probably to use the vast collection of content on YouTube to give readers a taste of the classic rockers that I believe more people should know about.

The YouTube content I choose for this series will depend heavily on the quality of the sound. I’m a notorious sound quality snob and could not bring myself to use fan-filmed footage of some concert that’s accompanied by sound that suggests to me that the event was actually recorded inside a cave somewhere. Despite how good the video quality might be.

The video below is of the professionally-produced variety like you might find on VH1 or MTV and is from Kim Mitchell’s 1989 album, Rockland.

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