"I'm an Adult Now" is a song by Canadian band The Pursuit of Happiness (TPOH). It was written in 1985, and produced independently and first released in 1986 as a

12-inch single The twelve-inch single (often written as 12-inch or 12″) is a type of vinyl ( polyvinyl chloride or PVC) gramophone record that has wider groove spacing and shorter playing time with a 'single' or a few related sound tracks on each surfac ...

. Later that year, the band released a self-produced music video. As a result of the video viewership, all copies of the 12-inch single the band had pressed sold out. The band became an "independent success story" because of the song and video, and owing to this popularity was signed by

Chrysalis Records Chrysalis Records () is a British record label that was founded in 1968. The name is both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders' names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis. It started as the Ellis-Wright Ag ...

in 1988. In 1988 a rerecorded version of the song was released. The

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

managers asked lead singer and songwriter

Moe Berg Morris Berg (March 2, 1902 – May 29, 1972) was an American catcher and coach in Major League Baseball, who later served as a spy for the Office of Strategic Services during World War II. Although he played 15 seasons in the major leagues, ...

for a list of "dream producers" for the band's forthcoming album, and he asked for

Todd Rundgren Todd Harry Rundgren (born June 22, 1948) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, multimedia artist, sound engineer and record producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the band Ut ...

. Berg was "shell-shocked" when Rundgren called him while the band was performing a

soundcheck A sound check is the preparation that takes place before a concert, speech, or similar performance to adjust the sound on the venue's sound reinforcement or public address system. The performer and the audio engineers run through a small port ...

before a show in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

, telling Berg that he would be producing the band's album. Rundgren flew to

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

to see the band perform in concert at the Diamond Club. After a

Canada Day Canada Day (french: Fête du Canada), formerly known as Dominion Day (french: Fête du Dominion), is the national day of Canada. A federal statutory holiday, it celebrates the anniversary of Canadian Confederation which occurred on July 1, 18 ...

concert, the band drove from Toronto to the Utopia Sound Studios in Lake Hill, New York, where they set up for recording the next day. A preview concert was held at

Lee's Palace Lee's Palace is a rock concert hall located on the south side of Bloor Street West east of Lippincott Street in Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The two-floor facility in The Annex neighbourhood has a long history prior to being adapted in Sept ...

on September 23 1988, and the album '' Love Junk'' was released on October 26 1988. By March 1990 it had been certified a platinum album by

Music Canada Music Canada (formerly Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA)) is a non-profit trade organization that was founded 9 April 1963 to represent the interests of companies that record, manufacture, produce, and distribute music in Canada. It a ...

, exceeding 100,000 units shipped throughout the country. (Rundgren also produced the band's second album, '' One Sided Story''.) In January 1989, the Rundgren-produced remake of the song peaked at number 6 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' Alternative songs chart. It also peaked at number 22 on the Mainstream Rock chart, on which it was featured for 11 weeks.

Music video

Berg was a friend of director Nelu Ghiran, whom he hired in 1986 to produce a low budget music video for the song. Berg said that "the video cost

he band He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

almost nothing, just the cost of film processing". It received immediate airplay on the Canadian music television station

Much Music Much (an abbreviation for its full name MuchMusic) is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. through its Bell Media subsidiary that airs programming aimed at teenagers and young adults. MuchMusic launched on August 31, ...

and the music video television show ''

Toronto Rocks ''Toronto Rocks'' was an hour-long television program presenting music videos on CITY-TV in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in the 1980s, starting in 1984. It aired live at 4PM weekdays and was initially hosted by John Majhor. Majhor was a longtime DJ ...

''. The band released a 12-inch single on its own TPOH label, selling out 1,500 copies because of the greater exposure from airing of the video. The song received airplay on Toronto alternative radio station

CFNY CFNY-FM (''102.1 the Edge'') is a Canadian radio station, broadcasting at 102.1 Hertz, MHz in the Greater Toronto Area, licensed to the suburb of Brampton, Ontario, Brampton. CFNY plays an alternative rock format. Owned by Corus Entertainment, it ...

and rock station Q107. This drew the attention of executives at record label WEA Music Canada, which obtained rights to re-press the single for national distribution in 1987. The

remastered Remaster refers to changing the quality of the sound or of the image, or both, of previously created recordings, either audiophonic, cinematic, or videographic. The terms digital remastering and digitally remastered are also used. Mastering A ...

single sold "about 10,000 copies". A new video was also recorded. The label did not exercise its rights to sign the band to a

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist (or group), where the artist makes a record (or series of records) for the label to sell and promote. Artists ...

. The US cable television station

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

at first refused to broadcast the music video because of its references to drug and alcohol use and sex, but that decision was later reconsidered and the video was aired. The band later performed live at MTV studios. The Ghiran video was nominated for the Best Video award for the

Juno Awards of 1987 The Juno Awards of 1987, representing Canadian music industry achievements of the previous year, were awarded on 2 November 1987 in Toronto at a ceremony in the O'Keefe Centre. Howie Mandel was the host for the ceremonies, which were broadcast o ...

. It was included as one of "The Most Important 16 Videos in Canadian Pop" by John Martin in ''Shakin' All Over: The Rock'N'Roll Years in Canada'' published in 1989.

Charts

Notes

References

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Music video

Charts

Notes

References

Further reading