Avoid Freud

Avoid Freud
Studio album by
ReleasedOctober 13, 1980
RecordedAugust – September 1980
Genre
Length34:56
LabelTrue North (Canada)
Stiff America (U.S.)
CBS (Netherlands)
ProducerGene Martynec
Rough Trade
Rough Trade chronology
Rough Trade Live! Direct to Disc
(1976)
Avoid Freud
(1980)
For Those Who Think Young
(1981)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
Rolling Stone(Not Rated) [2]

Avoid Freud is the second album by Canadian new wave band Rough Trade, released in 1980 (True North TN-43 in Canada, Stiff America USE 14 in the U.S., CBS 84952 in The Netherlands).[3] It placed at least as high as #19 on the Canadian RPM Top Albums Chart on March 14, 1981. (Inferred from archive listing for following week.)[4] The album was certified gold in Canada (50,000 units) by the CRIA on March 1, 1981, then advanced to platinum certification (100,000 units) by June of the same year.[5]

The first single released from the album was the controversial "What's The Furor About The Führer?" b/w "Fashion Victim" (True North TN4-157),[3] the latter track becoming the larger hit, reaching #25 in Canada on the National Top 50 Singles Chart on February 7, 1981[6] and #3 on the RPM CANCON Chart the following week.[7] The album's most famous single, however, is "High School Confidential" (b/w "Grade B Movie", True North TN4-159),[3] which was intensely controversial for its explicitly sexual lyrics, which include references to lesbianism. The influential Toronto radio station CHUM-FM paid for the band to record a cleaned-up version that avoided the line, "She makes me cream my jeans when she comes my way."[8] It reached #1 on the RPM CANCON Chart and #12 on the National Top 50 Chart on June 20 of the same year.[9]

  1. ^ Allan, Mark. Rough Trade: Avoid Freud > Review at AllMusic. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  2. ^ Rolling Stone review, January, 1981[dead link]
  3. ^ a b c Rough Trade Discography. Laventure.net (1981-11-06). Retrieved on 2010-11-11.
  4. ^ "RPM 50 Albums". Volume 34, No. 15. RPM. March 21, 1981. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  5. ^ "Music Canada, Gold Platinum Database".
  6. ^ "RPM 50 Singles". Volume 34, No. 9. RPM. February 7, 1981. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  7. ^ "RPM Top 30 CANCON Singles". Volume 34, No. 10. RPM. February 14, 1981. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  8. ^ Pope, Carole. Anti Diva. Vintage Canada, 2001, p.143. par. 1 ISBN 978-0-679-31137-9
  9. ^ "RPM 50 Singles". Volume 35, No. 2. RPM. June 20, 1981. Retrieved 10 July 2011.