Glass Tiger — Don't Forget Me When I'm Gone (Canadian Version)

JUL 01 1986 · 12:00

Glass Tiger — Don't Forget Me When I'm Gone (Canadian Version) (1986) Director: Rob Quartly Era: Mid-Eighties Canadian New Wave Breakthrough (1986) - Peak MTV era; Canadian synth-pop acts crossing over to US mainstream via MuchMusic and MTV, riding the post-British Invasion new wave aesthetic with domestically produced videos. High curatorial value as a confirmed alternate 'Canadian Version' of a landmark mid-80s single — a historically distinct artifact separable from the international cut. The video represents a convergence of key 1986 Canadian music industry figures (Quartly, Vallance, Glass Tiger) and is a primary document of MuchMusic-era domestic promotional culture. Its quantitative metrics (fast-cut 94-scene montage, warm analog palette, moderate brightness) are textbook exemplars of the mid-decade Canadian new wave video aesthetic. Context: Released in January 1986, 'Don't Forget Me (When I'm Gone)' was the debut single from Glass Tiger's debut album The Thin Red Line on EMI/Capitol Canada. The band — formed in Newmarket, Ontario — had been signed after opening for Culture Club at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens in 1984, exemplifying the British new wave influence on emerging Canadian acts of the period. The single reached #1 in Canada and #2 in the US Billboard Hot 100, making Glass Tiger one of the most successful Canadian crossover acts of the decade. The album became the fastest-selling debut in Canadian recording history. The existence of a distinct 'Canadian Version' of the video reflects the bifurcated promotional strategy common to the era, with MuchMusic requiring or preferring domestically produced or regionally tailored cuts. Director Rob Quartly was himself a central architect of the Canadian music video industry and MuchMusic's visual identity during this period. Director notes: Quartly directed the video under his full credit 'Robert F. Quartly,' with Jim Vallance serving as producer and Allan Weinrib as film producer, per Dailymotion credits metadata. The video exists in at least two distinct versions: the standard international cut and the 'Canadian Version' (runtime 4:06), which aligns with the file under annotation. The Canadian Version was contemporaneously released as an alternate cut for domestic MuchMusic broadcast. Quartly's signature warm-lit, performance-integrated visual approach — established through his Corey Hart and Rush work of 1983–1985 — is consistent with the production fingerprint of this video.