Okay, okay, okay! I hear you! Lemme make some amends here.
In spring 2026, I set out to explore alt-rock one-hit wonders. It was a five-episode series in six parts (very Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, that) on the biggest songs of that sort since 1976, which is year zero for the whole alternative thing… more or less. Let’s not get bogged down here.
The first five episodes covered ten songs each, all ranked using a complicated logarithmic formula designed by my friend, Walter the mathematician. A lot of effort went into that top 50 list—but it wasn’t enough.
That’s where the sixth episode came in. It was an addendum, an erratum, really, of songs that maybe should have made it into the original top 50 list. Fine. I’m big enough to admit when I’ve made an error or left something out.
I did the sixth episode, and I thought, “Well, that’s over. We’re done here.” But apparently not. In the weeks and months that followed, I got hundreds of emails and DMs from people pointing out even more alt-rock one-hit wonders that should have made the cut.
This left me uneasy. The job wasn’t done, and I hate loose ends. So let’s do the one-hit-wonder thing one more time, incorporating some of those missed tracks. And I’ll explain why several acts who are thought to be one-hit wonders really aren’t.
So, clean-up on aisle three, I guess. Here we go…
Songs heard on this show:
Voice of America, The Story of Love
When in Rome, The Promise
4 Non-Blondes, What’s Up?
Tripping Daisy, I Got a Girl
Jars of Clay, Flood
Primitive Radio Gods, Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money in My Hand
An album can be both tremendously influential and a commercial failure—at least at first. Here are a tw0 examples.
The Clash’s London Calling came out in December 1979. It didn’t officially sell 500,000 copies until 1991, a gap of 12 years, despite hit singles like the title track and “Should I Stay or Should I Go.” It would finally go platinum five years later.
And The Ramones released their self-titled debut album on April 23, 1976. It launched a million punk bands, yet it didn’t sell its 500,000th copy until May 2014, thirty-eight years after its release. By that time, three of the original Ramones had died, and within three months, the final one would pass away. The thing that sustained The Ramones for most of that time was relentless touring and t-shirt sales.
Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker had his psyche completely wrecked on September 19, 2008, when he was in a fiery crash of a private plane in South Carolina. He barely survived with severe burns to over 65% of his body.
He’d wanted to cancel this trip to stay home with the family, but he’d committed to a solo gig and couldn’t back out. As he left home, his three-year-old daughter was inconsolable, pleading that he not go. She said to him, “The roof’s gonna come off!”
When it came time to fly home, Travis called his father and said, “Pa, I have an awful feeling … like, I just don’t know. This plane’s small. I feel weird. Please make sure my kids are taken care of.” Less than an hour later, the plane crashed on takeoff, ripping away a large part of the fuselage.
No wonder Travis still has a fear of flying. Wouldn’t you?
The Curator independently decides what topics and products we feature. When you purchase an item through our links, we may earn a commission. Promotions and products are subject to availability and retailer terms.
Let’s start with the most important thing: no one makes their desk messy on purpose. It happens one item at a time, and it’s very easy to overlook. But a messy desk can hurt your productivity and, at the very least, break the golden rule of organizing: everything must have a home. It’s easy to overlook the importance of keeping your workspace organized, and that’s exactly why I’ll walk you through 5 super-quick fixes for the biggest organizing woes your desk is causing.
The good news is, a desk is small. This won’t take hours; it just takes a few moments throughout your day to tackle each project.
1. Start With the Cable Nest
We all have it: a power bar with six things plugged into it, a knot of cords, and a thick layer of dust. This makes even a completely clear desk feel like total chaos.
This is a super simple fix and really adds a touch of class to your desk. Drop the whole mess into a cable management box. The lid clicks off, the power bar goes in, the cords route out through slots in the back, and voila…no more nest! Measure your power bar first so that the box can fit your existing power strip. This whole project takes less than 10 minutes. [/product_listing]
2. Give Collectibles a Proper Home
Most of us have things on our desks we’ve collected throughout our careers that we actually like and are proud of: books, photos, collectibles. They clutter up the desk even though they are well-intentioned. Rather than leaving them as is and working around them, there’s a simpler way. A desktop shelf lifts up and reveres these collected treasures, and gives you back the working surface. Measure your desk depth and the clearance above it, then pick your shape.
If you have height to use, this is the ideal desk organizer for you. It’s easy to assemble and comes with open shelving unit for ample storage.[/product_listing]
If you want a low profile and flexible placement, opt for this desktop bookshelf made of high-quality waterproof and wear-resistant wood.[/product_listing]
This bookshelf organizer spans between 1-2 feet–what more space do you need?[/product_listing]
There is a difference between paper you need this week and paper you need to file, and most people only have a system for the latter, leaving the former in an annoying stack beside the keyboard, or worse, scattered all over the desktop.
A small upright sorter is the super simple solution here. Three slots covers most people: today, this week, waiting on somebody else. Or, configure it differently and have a spot for papers to be filed, papers needed this week, papers waiting on someone else, etc. [/product_listing]
4. Home for Headphones
Lots of us use headphones at our desks. Taking calls, editing, recording, heck, even gaming off-hours! Headphones are a major space hog on your desk. They’re big, clunky, and take up as much space as a birthday cake.
The solution is simple and pretty cool: get a clamp-on under-desk hook and hang them from the underside of the desk. As the name implies, it clamps to the desk edge, so there’s no adhesive, nothing drilled, and it’s movable whenever you want. This one comes as a two-pack, so the second goes on the other side for a bag or a controller. It buys back a surprising amount of desk. Super cool! [/product_listing]
5. Fix the Deep Desk Drawer Drama
Many standard office desks in a cubicle have (at least) one deep drawer built for hanging file folders. Almost nobody uses it for that anymore. So it becomes a pit where supplies, work bags, snacks, cables, and corporate swag hang out in a completely disorganized fashion, of course.
This one’s almost too easy to fif. Fabric drawer organizers meant for bedroom dressers fit these drawers well, offer good depth, and come in mixed sizes, so you can build a grid around what you actually store. This set of six gives you two each of small, medium and large. Remember to measure the inside of the drawer first and work out how many packs fill it edge to edge. [/product_listing]
RELATED: Party leaders prepare for final French-language debate in Quebec election
Parti Québecois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon urged Quebecers not to be afraid of a referendum, as the five main party leaders clashed Wednesday on sovereignty, finances and the cost of living in the third and final leaders’ debate of the provincial election campaign.
The moderator, Radio-Canada journalist Patrice Roy, asked the Parti Québécois leader whether he would rethink a promise to hold a sovereignty vote in the next four years if public sentiment remains against it.
Debate moderator Patrice Roy, right, puts a question to party leaders during a leaders debate in Montreal on Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. Quebec votes in a provincial election on Oct. 5, 2026.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov
St-Pierre Plamondon reiterated his promise to hold the vote in a first PQ term, after U.S. President Donald Trump leaves office.
“It’s (former Quebec premier) Jacques Parizeau who said this, but don’t be afraid of your democracy, don’t be afraid of going to the polls, don’t be afraid to think about our future,” St-Paul Plamondon said. “I think these are fundamental messages, the liberty of a people and democracy.”
Conservative Leader Éric Duhaime, who has promised to try to block a sovereignty vote if he’s elected, said St-Pierre Plamondon should listen to the 70 per cent of Quebecers who don’t want a referendum.
“Why do you want to send Quebec into a wall?” he asked.
Quebec Solidaire co-spokesperson Ruba Ghazal, left, and Parti Quebecois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon participate in a leaders debate in Montreal on Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. Quebec votes in a provincial election on Oct. 5, 2026.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov
Liberal Leader Charles Milliard painted himself as the lone federalist on the stage, noting that Duhaime and Coalition Avenir Leader Christine Fréchette voted yes to leaving Canada in the 1995 referendum, and that Québec solidaire is also a sovereigntist party.
“I see you as four shades of yes,” he said.
Québec solidaire co-spokesperson Ruba Ghazal said she is in favour of Quebec independence, but promised to build a consensus that includes Indigenous people, immigrants and anglophones.
“For me, it’s a fundamentally democratic project, Quebec independence,” she said.
Fréchette fended off criticism about her party’s management of health care services in the opening minutes, as she was challenged by Milliard and St-Pierre Plamondon for what they described as her party’s broken promises over its last eight years in government.
Milliard said Quebecers had been betrayed by the Coalition Avenir Québec’s promises to reduce emergency room wait times and ensure every Quebecer had a doctor. St-Pierre Plamondon agreed, saying the latter promise was “disrespectful of people’s intelligence.”
Fréchette acknowledged there was a lot of work to do but said her party had made improvements, including increasing the number of surgeries performed and signing up hundreds of thousands of Quebecers for groups of family doctors.
In a segment on the province’s finances, St-Pierre Plamondon was challenged on his promise to cut spending on public sector salaries by 2.5 per cent over three years, or by $1.6 billion per year.
“Who are these people … who will lose their jobs on Oct. 6?” Milliard asked him.
St-Pierre Plamondon, in response, said his party would not cut any jobs that provide services, but would attack what he called the “explosion” of the size of bureaucracy under the Coalition Avenir Québec.
Ghazal said her party was the only one not promising austerity.
“When we look at the financial frameworks of all the other parties, what they want is to cut a little, a lot or very passionately,” she said.
The two-hour debate, hosted in French by Radio-Canada, opened with Roy asking the five leaders what distinguished them from their rivals.
Fréchette stumbled slightly as the first to answer, listing a few promises to make life more affordable for families, before Roy cut her off for going over her allotted time.
Ghazal said she knew voters who were concerned about the crisis provoked by escalating tariffs between the U.S. and Canada, pledging a long-term plan that would address problems beyond the next four years of a mandate.
Duhaime pledged to overhaul bureaucratic waste in government, turning savings into tax cuts.
He also said Quebec needed to make more room for the private sector in the province’s health care system.
As the leaders arrived for the debate at the CBC/Radio-Canada building, east of downtown Montreal, they were greeted by a raucous crowd of supporters and protesters.
The crowd included striking paramedics, pro-Palestinian activists and environmental groups.
The leaders have faced questions in recent days about potential alliances if no party succeeds in forming a majority.
Poll aggregator Qc125 suggests the Parti Québécois remains the front-runner but that a minority outcome remains the most likely scenario.
In the debate’s final question, the leaders said they would collaborate with the other parties after the vote, although Duhaime, Fréchette and Milliard all used their final seconds to speak out against a referendum.
St-Pierre Plamondon said he didn’t want to presume what voters’ choices would be and suggested Quebecers could still gather around a “stable” government.
Quebec voters go to the polls Oct. 5.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 23, 2026.
The emergency department entrance is shown a the Lachine Hospital in Montreal, Sunday, Nov. 14, 2021.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes
If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide, support is available 24-7 by calling or texting 988, Canada’s national suicide prevention helpline.
Over 1,500 Quebec doctors are calling for a coroner’s inquest after five doctors in the province reportedly died by suicide over a five-month period this year.
The doctors sent a letter to Quebec’s chief coroner Sept. 18 asking for an inquest into suicides in their profession.
The signatories write that doctors face death and suffering every day and take on a lot of responsibility, sometimes without adequate support.
They also say some doctors avoid getting help for mental health issues because they fear professional repercussions.
Every suicide in Quebec is investigated by a coroner, regardless of the deceased person’s profession, to establish the causes and circumstances of the death.
Quebec’s coroner’s office told The Canadian Press it has begun an in-depth analysis of the doctors’ request.
“For now, it is too early to comment on whether such a public inquiry will be held,” it says.
Jean-Paul Brutus, a plastic surgeon who signed the letter, says growing workloads and the public denigration of doctors — sometimes referred to in Quebec as “doctor-bashing” — contribute to psychological distress.
He says successive governments have pointed fingers at doctors for years and blamed them “for all the failings of the public system.”
“There is more and more medical-administrative pressure, more and more patients, fewer and fewer resources to help us do the work we have to do,” Brutus says.
Brutus says the well-being of health-care workers can also affect the quality of care patients receive.
“This isn’t a doctors’ problem. This isn’t a health-care workers’ problem. It’s a public health problem,” he says.
The signatories argue the available information is not detailed enough to determine whether doctor suicides are increasing.
— With files from Katrine Desautels
If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide, support is available 24-7 by calling or texting 988, Canada’s national suicide prevention helpline.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 23, 2026.
RELATED: Prime Minister Mark Carney has hit the ground running to try to forge stronger alliances beyond the U.S. since assuming office. Eric Sorensen looks at how Carney is repositioning Canada on the world stage.
Prime Minister Mark Carney says he studied the possibility of U.S.-led military action in Canada.
In a lengthy New York Times interview published Wednesday, Carney declined to discuss in detail what that examination involved, but he suggested it would be irresponsible not to prepare for what he called “extreme tail risk.”
“I think you have a responsibility in these roles to look at extreme tail risk,” Carney told the Times. “That’s just risk management. That’s not a base case, but it would be irresponsible not to (prepare).”
U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly mused about turning Canada into the 51st state and while he ruled out using military force to annex Canada in January 2025, he has said he would consider using “economic force” to get Canada to become part of the United States.
Carney also spoke in the interview about Canada’s plans to reduce its reliance on Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet service.
He also discussed Canada considering alternatives to buying American F-35 fighter jets.
Canada’s plan to procure a full fleet of F-35 stealth fighters remains under a political review by Carney’s government. The review was launched more than a year ago in response to the trade war started by Trump.
The trade war between Canada and the United States has been escalating after efforts to reach a trade deal failed in mid-August.
The day after talks broke down, Trump imposed 50 per cent duties on $28 billion in Canadian goods, while Canada implemented retaliatory tariffs in early September.
The president also signed an order to identify and remove products of Canadian origin from U.S. government procurement systems.
The New York Times report said Carney disclosed that he and Trump speak “frequently” even after trade talks collapsed, something the prime minister has said multiple times in recent weeks.
At a news conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy earlier this month, Carney said he speaks to Trump regularly and that they can “compartmentalize.” He added that part of their responsibility is to work together to resolve global issues like the war in Ukraine.
Earlier Wednesday, the president claimed on social media that Canada is “destroying itself” by allowing millions of people into the country “essentially unchecked and unvetted.”
Trump provided no evidence for these claims but called it a “Liberal takeover that will end very badly.”
Carney and Trump did not meet when they both attended the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly this week. It was Carney’s first trip to the United States since trade negotiations fell apart last month.
A sign for the territory of Kahnawake is shown in Kahnawake, Que., on Thursday, Sept. 3, 2026.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes
The Mohawk Council of Kahnawake has released preliminary test results it says show high levels of lead in the air close to the community’s high school.
Lead levels when the wind was blowing west towards the community were on average 1.5 times higher than the provincial standard of 100 nanograms per cubic metre, the council said. However, lead levels were “well below” the threshold when the wind was blowing east, which was the case 80 per cent of the time, it added.
Kahnawake is a Mohawk community on the South Shore of Montreal. The samples were taken in the eastern part of the community, close to the boundary with the town of Ste-Catherine and an industrial area that includes waste management plants.
The community’s high school, the Kahnawake Survival School, is less than a kilometre away from that industrial area.
The council is now working with Environment Canada for further tests and analysis.
Mylène Ratelle, professor at the Université de Montréal’s public health school, said these early results should raise concern, but not panic.
“It’s a yellow flag. It piques our interest, it draws our attention and tells us it would be worth looking into further,” said Ratelle, who was not involved in the analysis.
The lead levels presented by the council in the tests when the wind was blowing west are around 100 times higher than the average in areas that are away from industrial areas, said Ratelle.
She added that even if that high concentration was constant, it still would not be alarmingly high and its effects would mostly be felt in the long term.
“We consider that lead has no safe threshold … which means we should actively avoid being exposed to lead,” she said.
The proximity to the school was a particular point of concern, she said, as younger people are more vulnerable to the neurotoxic effects of lead.
“Especially for children, there is a risk of consequences on their health. Things like neurological system development, as well as cognitive (effects): memory issues, learning disorders, our ability to process and analyze information,” she said, adding that some studies have tied lead exposure to mood disorders.
Jason Calvert, operations manager for Kahnawake’s board of education, said the high school is planning on running more tests to see if its air filtration system is working as intended. For now, he said, the data is not cause for concern when it comes to students’ safety.
The data published by the council comes from seven tests conducted earlier this year for which samples were taken over three hours. This early data provides a snapshot rather than a full picture, said Ratelle. Lead concentration thresholds are calculated on average over a year.
Ultimately, more tests need to be run to evaluate whether lead concentrations present a danger to the community, she said.
“It would be important to look deeper if the concentration over a longer period stays similar, is lower or could even be a lot higher,” she said.
The council also said analysis of soil samples shows high levels of contamination on the eastern boundary of the community, though the soil on school ground is safe.
Kahnawake Grand Chief Cody Diabo said there have always been concerns about contamination in that area.
“The current boundaries of Kahnawake on almost all fronts are surrounded by industrial activities,” he said.
He said those concerns came back to the surface after media reported in January that the Terrapure waste management facility east of Kahnawake was facing accusations of dumping toxic water into the St. Lawrence Seaway.
Denis Beaulieu, Terrapure’s general manager, said the company will monitor the results of the additional testing.
“Terrapure takes environmental protection and community well-being seriously,” he said in an email. “Our facility employs air-quality control systems … to collect and treat emissions before discharge to the environment.”
Quebec’s environment ministry said reports on Terrapure’s atmospheric emissions for 2023 and 2024 showed the company was respecting provincial emissions limits.
Ratelle pointed out that it is still too early to determine the source of the lead in the air and soil. However, she said waste management facilities are known to emit heavy metals, including lead.
She added that the nearby road and gas station could contribute to lead emissions and that there also might be historical contamination in the area.
Diabo urged the government to change its environmental evaluations and emissions limit to better reflect the cumulative impact of areas with multiple industrial projects. He said that while every project individually might respect emissions thresholds, evaluations failed to consider pre-existing emissions in the area.
He encouraged the government to ensure development is done sustainably, both for people’s health and for the environment.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 23, 2026.
A Kelowna business is sounding the alarm, saying crime in the city has gotten worse since its last public safety forum.
Mary-Claris Hair Extensions & Beauty Products has has just suffered its third break-in, losing almost a thousand dollars worth of merchandise.
Klaudia Van Emmerik reports.
A downtown Kelowna business owner says she wants to see more action after her shop was broken into for the third time.
Wendy Munyanyi, owner of Mary-Claris Hair Extensions, says three wigs worth a combined $900 were stolen during the latest break-in Tuesday morning.
“I just feel so devastated,” Munyanyi said.
The latest incident left a window shattered.
Munyanyi says the rock used to break the window was thrown deep inside the store.
“It flew all the way inside the store,” she said.
Jonathan Williams was working nearby when he heard the store’s alarm go off.
“I realized the window was broken and she was trying to get in there,” Williams told Global News. “I went over and said, ‘Hey, what are you doing?’ With a few extra words and then she said, ‘Oh, I need a wig.’”
Williams says the female suspect took off. He called 911, but the damage had already been done.
Following a business forum earlier this year, the City of Kelowna implemented several measures, including a CCTV registry to facilitate RCMP investigations and a security grant program.
However, some business operators say those measures have not gone far enough.
“Nothing is changing for me. Like literally, nothing is changing,” Munyanyi said.
Kelowna Mayor Tom Dyas, who is seeking re-election, says the city has increased efforts downtown and will continue to push higher levels of government for additional services.
“We’ve done a series of things with regards to, you know, downtown core teams, with regards to increasing RCMP, increasing bylaw patrols, and we will continue to do that and continue to listen to make the changes that we need to until we’re able to get that assistance from those higher levels of government,” Dyas said.
Incumbent councillor and mayoral candidate Ron Cannan says local partnerships could also be part of the response.
“What the city can do is provide that second-stage sober housing,” Cannan said. “We’re not doing that. We provide housing for homeless. So why can’t we provide partnerships? We have nonprofit organizations or philanthropic individuals that come forward and say, ‘We want to help.’”
For Munyanyi, the message is simple.
“I just want to see the city take more responsibility,” she said.
A Salmon Arm yak farm is trying something a little different. The Black Yak Cattle Company usually raise yak for meat but they're raising one specific calf for another purpose. Cohan Sassaman has more.
For Jamie Kamps, yaks have traditionally been raised for one main purpose: meat.
Kamps, who operates Black Yak Cattle Co., has about 30 Tibetan yaks on her farm close to Salmon Arm. The herd is primarily raised for grass-finished meat, while cows and calves can also be raised for their wool and fibre.
Kamps estimates there are only about 1,000 yaks in Canada, making them a relatively uncommon livestock animal.
But one of her younger yaks, Toro, could have a different future. To one day carry a rider.
A baby Yak with her mother,
Cohan Sassaman
Yaks have traditionally been used in parts of Central Asia to carry people and heavy loads. Their thick coats also help them withstand cold conditions, with their winter coats growing longer and providing insulation in low temperatures.
Kamps describes the roughly one-and-a-half-year-old Toro as a “chill dude” who is calm, tolerant and easy to handle. She says that temperament has her looking beyond the traditional meat market and toward training some of her animals to become riding or pack yaks.
“So our hope is that as we raise them from calves to be well handled, that you can continue training them and then they would have a purpose aside from just being butchered,” Kamps said.
Jamie Kamps, the owner of Black Yak Cattle Co., has decided to train Toro to become a riding Yak instead of a Yak raised for his meat
Cohan Sassaman
Toro is already being trained, and Kamps says he could potentially carry a rider at around two years old. She says yaks can also be trained to pull a sleigh or carry loads.
The animals’ build makes them suited to riding, according to Kamps. She says their hump works well with a western saddle and that they can be less “flighty” than horses.
For Kamps, the idea is about giving some of her animals another purpose.
“Well, we found that the stock we’re producing have such a nice temperament and such great trainability that if they can be utilised for something outside the meat market, people enjoy them, they’ll have a good life as a pleasure animal, not just a meat animal.”
Kamps says the long-term goal is to build up a group of mature, well-trained animals that could be sold for packing and other recreational uses.
She also hopes to eventually use some of the mature animals for petting zoos and similar experiences, but only once they are old enough, trained and ready to safely interact with the public.
For now, that means waiting for the animals to grow and continuing their training. Toro is just one of the first yaks Kamps hopes can help demonstrate what these animals can do beyond the meat market.
Ad Choices
