| "Don't Forget Me (When I'm Gone)" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Glass Tiger | ||||
| from the album The Thin Red Line | ||||
| B-side | "Ancient Evenings" | |||
| Released | 1986 | |||
| Format | 7" single | |||
| Genre | pop, pop rock | |||
| Length | 4:05 | |||
| Label | Capitol | |||
| Writer(s) | Glass Tiger, Jim Vallance | |||
| Producer | Roger Hedrick | |||
| Glass Tiger singles chronology | ||||
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"Don't Forget Me (When I'm Gone)" is a 1986 song by Canadian pop-rock band Glass Tiger, from their debut album, The Thin Red Line. Released as the band's first single, it reached #1 in Canada and #2 in the United States. The song features backing vocals by rock singer Bryan Adams.
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In 1985, Glass Tiger chose Roger Hedrick to produce the band's debut album.[1] The band's lead vocalist, Alan Frew, recalled: "It worked out great because we were all at the same stage of development. He didn't change the sound of the band at all. He let us experiment but wasn't afraid to get heavy-handed when he had to."[1] Hedrick composed "Don't Forget Me (When I'm Gone)" with the band, while Adams provided backing vocals.[1]
"Don't Forget Me (When I'm Gone)" topped the Canadian Singles Chart in March 1986, and spent two weeks at #1.[2][3] The single was certified platinum by the Canadian Recording Industry Association in July.[4] The song entered the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in July, peaked at #2 in October - kept from #1 by Janet Jackson's "When I Think of You" - and spent 24 weeks on the chart.[5] It reached #1 on the Singles Sales chart and #6 on the Hot 100 Airplay chart.[6] The song also peaked at #17 on the Mainstream Rock chart, #30 on the Adult Contemporary chart,[7] and #34 on the Billboard Year-End singles chart of 1986.[8] The single reached the top 15 in Australia,[9] #27 in New Zealand,[10] #29 in the United Kingdom,[11] and #40 in the Netherlands.[10]
Frew credited the song's chart performance to "solid record company involvement" and the band's international appeal.[12] "We aren't rewriting musical history by any means," he added. "But our melody lines are strong and mature enough to appeal to the English-speaking world."[12] The song won the 1986 Juno Award for Single of the Year,[13] and was named top Canadian single in the Rock Express magazine readers' poll awards in 1987.[14] In 1996, the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada honored the song for airing more than 100,000 times on Canadian radio.[15] Glass Tiger performed the song during an episode of the 2005 NBC reality television program Hit Me, Baby, One More Time.[16]
The song's original music video, made for the Canadian market, mixed performance footage with a storybook concept.[17] Directed by Rob Quartly, the video was nominated for Best Video at the Juno Awards of 1986.[18] This version was the first video to air on the MuchMoreRetro digital cable music video channel when it launched on September 4, 2003.[19] A second video was created for other markets, according to Manhattan Records Vice President of A&R Bruce Garfield.[12] He noted that "Steven Reed, our senior vice president of marketing, took a very strong stand because the Canadian video was too cutesy and directed solely toward the youth market."[12] Garfield added, "It didn't focus enough on the artistic integrity and entertainment aspect of the band."[12] The newer version received heavy rotation on MTV.[20]
| Chart (1986) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canadian Singles Chart[2] | 1 |
| Australian ARIA Singles Chart[9] | 15 |
| Dutch Top 40[10] | 40 |
| New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart[10] | 27 |
| UK Singles Chart[11] | 29 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100[5] | 2 |
| U.S. Mainstream Rock[7] | 17 |
| U.S. Adult Contemporary[7] | 30 |
| Preceded by "Sara" by Starship |
Canadian RPM number-one single March 29, 1986- April 5, 1986 |
Succeeded by "Secret Lovers" by Atlantic Starr |
The song was remade recently by NKOTB's Jordan Knight and Deborah Cox, two of the 3 judges of the Canadian TV Program "Cover Me Canada", a talent show where they search for Canadian singers who does covers of songs by Canadian artists and make them their own. They sang their rendition of this song in the season finale.
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