Papa's Got a Brand New Pigbag
Pigbag's big hit
If you were a kid growing up in Toronto in the early 80s, you know this song. Hearing it told you your favourite hour of television was about to begin. It was time for The New Music. 1 Created by Canadian music television legend John Martin, it shot music journalists Jeannie Becker and JD Roberts2 to stardom as the show featured interviews with the biggest stars and took the pulse of music. There would be no MuchMusic without The New Music. The show moved on to Much when it premiered in 1984 and went on until 2008 with various hosts.
A couple of years ago I tracked down the song and it was just as fun as I remembered. The name is obviously a take on James Brown’s Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag, with a similar outstanding baseline. However, it’s best known for its iconic brass riff.
Enjoy your Song of the Day!
Sadly, the Google machine doesn’t have any footage of the show opening with this song.
He later moved to the US and now is known as journalist John Roberts. I miss JD.
I didn’t know either the song, the band or the show! I did look up Pigbag to see if they were Canadian, as we State-siders are quite blind to most Canadian artists. They are from the UK so I can’t use that excuse! I’m just happy that you expanded my sonic and geographical horizons!