"I'm an Adult Now" is a song by Canadian band The Pursuit of Happiness (TPOH). It was written in 1985, 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 surface, compa ...

. Later that year, the band released a self-produced

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

. As a result of the video viewership, all copies of the 12-inch single the band had pressed sold out. The song was nominated for "Single of the Year" at the 1987 CASBY Awards. 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 independent 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 Ell ...

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

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

managers asked lead singer and songwriter

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

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 musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the bands Nazz and Utopia. He is known for his sophistica ...

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

soundcheck A soundcheck 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 po ...

before a show in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

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

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

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

Canada Day Canada Day, formerly known as Dominion Day, is the national day of Canada. A Public holidays in Canada, federal statutory holiday, it celebrates the anniversary of Canadian Confederation which occurred on July 1, 1867, with the passing of the B ...

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, Ontario, Canada. The two-floor facility in The Annex neighbourhood has a long history prior to being adapted in September 19 ...

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 is a non-profit Industry trade group, trade organization that was founded 9 April 1963 in Toronto to represent the interests of companies that record, manufacture, produce, and distribute music in Canada. It also offers benefits to s ...

, 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 advertis ...

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

Much Music Much is a Canadian English language discretionary specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. through its Bell Media subsidiary that airs programming aimed at teenagers and young adults. It is headquartered at 299 Queen Street West in what was o ...

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 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 A remaster is a change in the sound or image quality of previously created forms of media, whether Mastering (audio), audiophonic, Cinematography, cinematic, or Videography, videographic. The resulting product is said to be remastered. The term ...

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 act (artist or group), where the act makes an audio recording (or series of recordings) for the label to sell and ...

. The US cable television station

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

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