The Magic Power by Triumph

Growing up in the late seventies and early eighties the radio station of choice was clearly WBLM. As we stood around in our early teens, smoking a cigarette badly, convincing ourselves we were cool I remember a friend advising that the call letters stood for We Believe in the Legalization of Marijuana. I do not know if that is true, we surely did not smoke marijauna but it seemed like a cool idea.

Then at some point WBLM changed their signal and we could no longer get it. The radio station for those of us who were way too cool for Top 40 Radio was WTOS. Otherwise known as The Mountain of Rock and Roll. They played Dr Demento on Sunday nights and album oriented rock the rest of the week.

They also were big fans of the band Triumph. For a period of time The Magic Power was the most played cut on WTOS. Even after it was not you could still count on hearing it each weekend night and most weeknights as well. The song was powerful with it slow buildup was more popular than any of the many songs that their Canadien predecessors Rush released.

Last week driving flipping through the Satalite radio what should I hear on Classic Rewind but Magic Power. How is it you can go twenty five years without hearing or thinking about a song, and then when you hear it be transported to a very specific place and time. Yesterday was 2012 but hearing that song makes yesterday 1982.

I am riding in my friend Ted's car. It's a early seventies gold colored Plymouth Satalite with a Mopar 318. It will fly at any rate of speed one wishes to. Ted has equipped the vehicle with sidepipes so that as good as it looks it sounds even better. WTOS is on the radio and with the side pipes one has to be thankful for the supersonic speakers, only those could be heard and on this night as on many nights in the early eighties Triumph is singing about The Magic Power. For those on the edge of adulthood in the early eighties, for this person sitting in that car on that night Triumph's message hit home. We were sure we had the power.