The universe loves bass. And yes, I do mean out there in the infinite vastness of space. Even though sound can’t travel through a vacuum, pressure waves can travel through the thin wisps of gas in interstellar and intergalactic space.

The biggest bass machine is a black hole somewhere in the centre of the Perseus Cluster of galaxies, 250 million light-years away. It’s pounding out a continuous B-flat thump 57 octaves below middle C.  (I swear that’s only slightly lower than the kid with the Honda Civic down the block who still has things cranked when he’s coming home at four on a Sunday morning. But I digress…)

If you want to get really nerdy about it, it takes 10 million years for one note to oscillate just once. We can’t hear that, of course, but we can pitch-shift it up using a process called “sonification,” which translates astronomical data into sound. By shifting the pitch up about 288 quadrillion times, we get this.

Back here on Earth, we know that for any song to rock, there’s gotta be bass: those notes that start at about 250 Hz and go down until the sound waves are so long that the human ear can’t detect them.

Sometimes, we don’t hear the bass in a song as much as we feel it, as large volumes of air hit our bodies. It hits the chest first, making our lungs vibrate inside our rib cages… then our heads, as our eardrums try to process it. We might even get a little bit dizzy. Tthen our stomachs start to move in sympathy with the low notes. Bass is what gives rock depth, heaviness, and power. Without it, songs would sound tinny and be perceived with far less of a physical sensation. And this is why rock needs bass players.

But bassists don’t always get the recognition they deserve. The attention goes to the singer, the flashy guitarist, or the flamboyant drummer. But without a bass player, you just can’t rock or groove.

Let’s go through some of the most important and creative bass players in the history of alt-rock.

Songs heard on this show;

• Joy Division, Transmission
• The Cure, Lullaby
• Red Hot Chili Peppers, Higher Ground
• Power Station, Get It On
• Stone Roses, She Bangs the drums
• REM, Orange Crush
• Faith No More, We Care a Lot
• Sonic Youth, Kool Thing
• Pixies, Gigantic

Here’s Eric Wilhite’s playlist for the show.
The Ongoing History of New Music can be heard on these stations:

• 102.1 The Edge/Toronto – Sunday night at 7pm
• Q107/Toronto – Sunday night at 9pm
• Live 88-5/Ottawa – Saturdays at 9am and Sundays at 6pm
• 107.5 Dave-FM/Kitchener – Sunday nights at 11pm
• FM96/London – Sunday nights at 8pm
• Power 97/Winnipeg – Sunday nights at 10am and 10pm
• 107-3 The Edge/Calgary – Sundays at 10am and 10pm
• Sonic 102.9/Edmonton – Sunday at 8am and 8pm
• The Zone/Victoria – Sunday at 9am and 9pm
• The Fox/Vancouver – Sundays at 10am and 10pm
• The Goat Network/Interior BC
• WAPS/WKTL The Summit/Arkon, Canton, Cleveland, Youngstown – Mon-Fri at 9pm

© 2026 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

If you’re any kind of musical artist, you need a logo. It’s part of your visual identity. But who was the first band to design their own logo?

This is something with a fuzzy history because musical artists have always used stylized fonts and looks for their names, going all the way back to at least the 1920s. But we do have to look at The Beatles. The logo with the “dropped-T” was designed by Ivor Arbiter in April 1963. He ran a drum shop called Drum City in Liverpool and sketched out the logo when Ringo came in to buy a new kit. A local sign painter named Eddie Stokes hand-drew the first logo on Ringo’s bass drum.

The first time anyone saw this new design was in May 1963. And because of what The Beatles became, they established the need for every band to have a logo.

© 2026 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Let’s say that you’re in a band and some promoter on your tour objects to your opening act, a group that you hand-picked to start all your shows.

“Dump your support act or else!” What would you do?

If you’re Green Day, you stand up for your principles. For a 1994 tour supporting the Dookie album, they went on the road with an opening gay punk band called Pansy Division. But then they were informed that a particular promoter in Fairfax, Virginia, was refusing to allow Pansy Division to perform at a stop on the tour because he considered them to be “inappropriate.”

Green Day could have told Pansy Division to sit out that one show, but they didn’t. They stood up to the promoter, saying, “Either Pansy Division plays or we don’t.” The promoter then backed down.

That’s what you call solidarity and sticking up for your friends.

© 2026 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

With two-thirds of the seats in the next legislature, the B.C. Conservatives may have a resounding mandate to follow through on their election promises to cut taxes, reduce the deficit and grow the economy at 3.2 per cent — but some economists say the challenge will be doing it all at once.

Cutting tax and simultaneously fixing the budget “are contradictory,” said Werner Antweiler, a professor at the University of British Columbia.

And the surge in government spending behind the record $14-billion projected deficit is conversely a contributor to economic growth, said Marc Lee, senior economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

Premier-designate Lorne Doerkson has promised the appointment of a panel to review the books before presenting his government’s first budget.

But instead of easy solutions, tough choices await about what to cut, said Jairo Yunis, policy director with the Business Council of B.C.

Yunis said public sector employment had grown by over 45 per cent since 2019 under the NDP, while private sector employment in the same time was up only about three per cent.

He said public sector cuts need to be a “big part of the conversation” in an extensive review of government spending, which should take lessons from former federal Liberal prime minister Jean Chrétien and his governments.

The review should question whether the province still needs certain programs, whether there is duplication and if they can be delivered differently.

“My point is to make choices based on priorities and outcomes,” he said.

He said the deficit could be halved as a result of the review, more discipline around the use of contingencies, economic growth and lower regulatory burdens. But it won’t be easy, he said.

“That is going to entail a lot of hard choices,” Yunis said.

The Conservatives promised to raise B.C.’s basic personal income tax exemption to $32,000, amounting to a $1,000 tax cut for most individual workers. As for the deficit, their platform pledged to bring it down with the help of growth it forecast to reach 3.2 per cent, well in excess of most predictions.

The party’s platform notably omitted detail on what might be cut to help make ends meet.

Antweiler agreed the Conservatives would need to shrink the public workforce.

But the government would also need to raise more revenue and it cannot cut taxes and fix the budget at the same time, he said.

Antweiler said voters have given Doerkson a mandate, but plans may need revising after the financial assessment, and nothing should be ruled out.

“There are things we cannot do right away, that may have to wait later until economic conditions improve actually enable us to do that,” he said. “There needs to be a small dose of austerity to fix what is quite obviously broken.”

He said the public service accounts for a “huge chunk of the expenditures,” but shrinking it can be tricky because it is heavily unionized, and Doerkson’s government can’t cut back on health care, education or public safety without compromising quality.

“Provincial governments have a limit how far they can go, because many of these expenditures are written in stone,” he said.

Shrinking the public service would have to be balanced in ways that make a difference in the budget, without triggering labour unrest, he said. “But shrink we must, because I don’t think there is any other avenue,” he said.

The Conservative platform foresees economic growth increasing to 3.2 per cent in 2029, raising an additional $2.62 billion without raising taxes.

Antweiler said the growth forecast was “lofty” and not realistic.

Lee at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives said that while history showed the provincial economy could sometimes improve quickly, there was plenty of uncertainty.

“We don’t even know what is going to happen next week after the U.S. election,” he said. “If there is a major stock market crash, which seems incredibly likely in the next six months, that’s going to change the situation.”

Lee said the provincial economy ran on trade, housing and immigration, and government spending. But the trade engine was sputtering because of the trade war and the housing engine was completely dead, because of changes in immigration, he said.

“The B.C. budget has been contributing to B.C.’s economic growth,” Lee said. “If we didn’t have that budget deficit, we would probably be in a recession.”

He said that to reduce the deficit “you are going to need to increase tax or cut spending.”

Antweiler said he favoured an all-of-the-above approach, combining cuts with higher revenues from economic growth and more indirect forms of taxation.

He said the NDP government of outgoing Premier David Eby made a mistake by getting rid of the carbon tax, which blew a $2-billion hole in the budget.

He said the next finance minister should look at all options, including raising resource royalties, shifting taxation from income to consumption, and encouraging investment.

The Conservatives may need to “jump over their shadow” and break their tax promises, he said.

Yunis said B.C. has more of a spending problem than a revenue problem.

And British Columbia, he said, needed to improve its tax-competitiveness.

All three economists agreed that the new finance minister faced a difficult file.

“A new chapter needs to be turned now,” Antweiler said. “It’s not too late to turn the wheel around.”

© 2026 The Canadian Press

The Bank of Canada is expected to make an interest rate announcement Wednesday, with many economists predicting a hike for the first time in three years.

The central bank is facing pressure to raise interest rates as the Iran war and other geopolitical conflicts result in higher prices for oil and gas, which is expected to lead to higher prices for goods and services beyond the gas pump.

Financial markets and a Reuters poll of economists are betting that the central bank will deliver a quarter-point hike to its policy rate, the first increase in the key lending rate since July 2023.

The floor for borrowing rates set by the Bank of Canada has been 2.25 per cent since October 2025, when rates were cut from 2.5 per cent.

Alongside the rate decision, the Bank of Canada will also release updated forecasts for inflation and economic growth.

– with a file from The Canadian Press

More to come.

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

A high-speed train slammed into the rear of another train that had stopped, derailing two cars and killing at least 30 people on Wednesday in central Spain, authorities said.

The regional president of Castilla La Mancha, Emiliano García-Page, said at least 30 people died in the crash and warned that the death toll could rise. He added that at least 80 people were injured.

It was the second major train accident in Spain this year.

Spain’s rail system operator ADIF said the crash occurred Wednesday morning in the province of Toledo. Rail service was suspended between Madrid, Ciudad Real and Andalusia.

Esther Padilla, spokeswoman for the Castilla La Mancha region, told state broadcaster TVE that the accident was between two high-speed trains carrying hundreds of passengers and heading in the same direction from the capital Madrid to Seville in southwestern Spain.

One ran into the tail of the other, which had stopped, knocking two of its cars off the track. She said the cause of the crash was not known.

The crash, which occurred in a flat stretch surrounded by fields in between the towns of Urda and Los Yébenes, left one car shredded into bits of metal and other material, scattering debris down a gravel slope.

Spanish Health Minister Mónica García told TVE that emergency workers were focusing on rescuing survivors and bodies from the two most damaged train cars. She said that the injured are being sent to different hospitals in the area.

“It was a high-speed impact, so we are expecting this to be a tragedy,” García said.

The accident involved a train from Spain’s state-owned RENFE company and the private rail company IRYO. It appeared the RENFE train rammed the IRYO train, Spanish media reported. García-Page said 24 died in the RENFE train, and six in the IRYO one.

Trains from those two companies were also involved in a deadly crash in January.

Padilla said that 397 passengers were in the RENFE train and 147 passengers in the IRYO train.

IRYO, an Italian-owned company, said in a statement that it has “activated its security protocols and is closely working with authorities.”

The mayor of the nearby town of Urda, Manuel Galán, told Spanish state broadcaster TVE that civil protection authorities had asked his town hall to prepare a sports pavilion to attend to injured passengers.

A military emergency brigade was deployed to help emergency services, firefighters and police.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez cancelled his agenda to focus on the crash. He wrote on X that he was “dismayed by the serious train accident in Toledo.”

“Emergency services are working on site to attend to the affected passengers,” wrote Sánchez, who faces a national election next month. “All my thoughts are with the victims and their families.”

Spain’s King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia said in a short statement on X that they were following news of the accident.

“We are deeply saddened and concerned by the train accident in Urda (Toledo),” the royal couple said. “We share in the grief of the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives, and we send our heartfelt support to the injured and all those affected.”

In January, 45 people died in southern Spain when a train jumped the track and hit an oncoming train. The crash was the deadliest in Spain since a 2013 crash that killed 80 people. The January incident shook confidence in the European country’s extensive high-speed rail service.

Spain is a leader in high-speed rail

Over recent decades, Spain has invested heavily in high-speed rail — which the country’s railway union defines as rails for trains going 250 kph (155 mph) and over — turning it into a world leader.

Spain has laid some 3,900 kilometres (2,400 miles) of such tracks over more than three decades for its 49 million residents. Only China, with 45,000 kilometres (28,000 miles) for its 1.4 billion people, has more high-speed track, according to the International Union of Railways.

Only recently did Spain open its rail network to private companies to compete against RENFE. Iryo started operating in Spain in 2022.

© 2026 The Canadian Press

The ghosts, ghouls and goblins on some of Edmonton’s front lawns were made even spookier by the chilling sight of Old Man Winter.

The city, days before Halloween, woke up on Wednesday to its first significant snowfall.

Environment Canada forecasters said upwards of 15 centimetres of snow could fall through parts of central Alberta by Thursday morning.

The weather office has issued a number of special weather statements for the city and surrounding communities.

The snow was expected to have a significant effect on rush-hour traffic.

Officials have urged drivers to allow for extra travel time and prepare for fast-changing road conditions.

© 2026 The Canadian Press

In addition to freezing Ontario Student Assistance Program payments to all private post-secondary institutions, the province has paused at least some funding through Better Jobs Ontario, which helps unemployed people get skills training.

But the government won’t explicitly say so.

There has been no public communication from the government about the status of the program that aims to get people off social assistance and into the workforce, but people who were depending on the program and the institutions that were set to train them are taking note.

Reece Daniel was hoping to begin an HVAC program in London, Ont., on Oct. 19. The government had initially scheduled a meeting for Oct. 13 to give him information about the funding agreement, but a few days before that they cancelled and said applications were under review.

The next intake for the HVAC program is in May 2027.

“This course was something that was going to get me jumped back on my feet,” Daniel said.

“I’m still probably going to be presented with the opportunity to go to school next year, but the significant delays … waiting for so long, putting off work for so long, it’s a little bit disappointing and frustrating.”

Pathways Employment Help Centre had been assisting Daniel in his application, and is seeing other clients experiencing the same delays and uncertainty with their Better Jobs Ontario funding decisions, the CEO said.

“Despite our agency’s repeated efforts to obtain clarification, the absence of a definitive decision prevented Reece and other clients from proceeding with their planned training as scheduled,” Ben Cecil said.

Career Colleges Ontario said the association has heard from member schools that Better Jobs Ontario funding for students at career colleges has been paused, but it has not received any formal communication from the government.

“We are concerned about any disruption to funding for students attending compliant institutions,” it wrote in a statement.

“As with OSAP, we are urging the government to restore access to funding for students attending institutions where there are no identified compliance concerns. We continue to advocate for a targeted approach that allows students to access the support they need while maintaining strong accountability across the sector.”

Colleges and Universities Minister Nolan Quinn announced earlier this month that OSAP payments are paused for students at all private post-secondary institutions, after preliminary audit findings raised serious concerns about financial aid usage at some career colleges.

Trillium College has suspended classes due to the OSAP pause, and wrote in a letter to students that it is a temporary measure due to the uncertainty caused by that freeze and “the separate funding interruption affecting Better Jobs Ontario-funded students at Trillium College.”

When asked recently if Better Jobs Ontario funding was also paused, Quinn’s spokesperson said little.

“Preliminary audit findings point to serious, systemic concerns about OSAP usage at private postsecondary institutions,” Bianca Giacoboni wrote.

“OSAP payments to students at these institutions are paused, and other streams of provincial funding to private institutions past and present are under review.”

Giacoboni refused to list those other streams of funding.

Interim Liberal leader John Fraser said if the government is taking action against another source of funding they should come out and say it.

“It’s happening,” he said. “They know it’s happening and I don’t know why they’re afraid to say it.”

© 2026 The Canadian Press

When Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails emerged with The Downward Spiral in 1994, the record was seen as an exercise in studio and computer wizardry. Much of the technical virtuosity demonstrated on that record can be chalked up to video games.

As Trent was working on the album, he’d decompress at the end of the day by playing lots and lots of video games. He was particularly infatuated by a game called Doom, which is probably the most influential first-person shooter game of all time. Everyone got so deep into the game, its images, and its characters that some of it seeped into the songs on the album.

Later, when Trent’s obsession with Doom became known, he was asked to write the soundtrack for the game Quake.

© 2026 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Without Nick Suzuki and Ivan Demidov, two forwards from the top-six, the Montreal Canadiens have done well so far. They’d prefer to have their stars, but learning how to win without them has its value as well.

The Canadiens looked to continue success in St. Louis against the Blues, and they did thanks to Jacob Fowler. He stopped 46 shots in a 2-0 shutout.

Wilde Horses 

It was a third straight start for Jacob Fowler, and you could hardly blame Head Coach Martin St. Louis for making the same choice again. Fowler started the night fourth in the league in Goals Saved Above Expected while Jakub Dobes is 68th of 70 goals in the league.

Dobes will get a chance to figure out what ails him eventually, but, at the moment, the Canadiens need wins, and they know with key injuries on offence, they need to be at their very best on defence.

Fowler is the choice to give them the best chance. He stopped 34 of 35 shots in a masterful performance in Winnipeg. He was awarded the third star for the week in the league on Monday, then on Tuesday, he was even better.

Fowler was showing off his technical skills again. They are the cornerstone of his success. On one occasion, a rebound came so quickly, and from such a vastly different angle than the first shot that it seemed like a sure goal, but Fowler was perfectly in position and standing tall to make the difficult rebound look easy.

In the third period, there was a scramble situation that produced four shots. The puck went left. It went right. It kept landing on Blues’ sticks, and despite all of that pressure Fowler was in perfect position to stop the next shot every shot.

Fowler with another outstanding GSAE to show he is among the elite in the NHL right now. Fowler with a 3.8 GSAE in St. Louis. He now has a 9.9 for the season. He passes Jake Oettinger at 9.4 to lead the entire league.

Fowler stopped the first 20 shots he faced by the halfway mark of the game as the Blues dominated the game, but couldn’t find any solution for the rookie goalie. Fowler stopped 46 shots for the shutout as the Blues took over the game looking for a goal. His save percentage on the season is .942.

The Canadiens opened the scoring on a Zachary Bolduc shot to the top corner. Bolduc came from the St. Louis organization, so he was pleased to show his former mates his fifth goal of the season.

However, it was the second goal that excited the Canadiens players. Florian Xhekaj was doing exactly what the game requires of him to find success in the league. He was immovable in front of the net. He fronted his defender for the deflection, and that’s exactly what he did. He tipped it on the Mike Matheson shot for his first NHL goal.

Wilde Goats 

With the injuries to Suzuki and Demidov, the first power play unit is woeful. Noah Dobson and Oliver Kapanen are on the first unit. They are not the good choices as players who can handle pressure coming at them, then hold on to the puck successfully.

The Canadiens have the 28th ranked power play in the league. It won’t be getting any better until they put some more ‘hands’ players on the ice. Alexandre Texier is a perfect example of an underused player on the power play.

Texier has a strong shot, and he doesn’t panic when pressured to hold on to the puck. Other than Texier, there are no other real viable options for the power play, until the top players come back.

Mike Matheson has earned a look back on the first power play unit. It’s either that, or go only with one defender on the power play in Hutson, and have Alex Newhook on the first unit. The first unit doesn’t have a puck carrier to bring it into the zone successfully.

The Canadiens will have to win games five-on-five. This isn’t going to get better on offence until two of their top-six return.

Wilde Cards

The minor-league system of the Canadiens is thinner than it has been since the rebuild started four years ago, yet they continue to have great success in Laval early this season.

The Rocket are in first place in the North Division with an impressive seven wins in nine games. They are benefiting from tight hockey, a good system, and some surprising individual performances that perhaps they weren’t expecting.

At the head of the class is Luke Middlestadt. This rookie is not only leading the Rocket in scoring as a defender, he’s leading the entire American Hockey League in scoring with 15 points in nine games. Middlestadt is an absolute revelation at the pro level.

Career minor leaguer Reilly Walsh is second on the team in scoring, and another surprise Sasha Pastujov leads the team in goals with six.

It’s bizarre because big names last year like Alex Belzile and Jared Davidson aren’t even off to strong starts this season. Davidson is still looking for his first goal. A lot was expected from Tyler Thorpe as well, and he, too, has not scored.

Owen Beck is up with the big team because of injuries. David Reinbacher has been back and forth between Laval and Montreal. Bryce Pickford hasn’t even played yet because of injury, but could return inside of two weeks. Jacob Fowler is also gone.

The Rocket are the class of the north, yet they potentially can be quite a lot better than this.

Brian Wilde, a Montreal-based sportswriter, brings you Call of the Wilde on globalnews.ca after each Canadiens game.

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.