“Call It Love”: The Payolas’ Second Act, and the Reinvention That Confounded Everyone

Act one: new wave royalty

The early Payolas were artful and angular: “China Boys,” “Eyes of a Stranger” (1982) — a moody, hook-laden single that became their signature and one of the definitive Canadian new wave records — and the album No Stranger to Danger, which earned them a Juno. They were a critics' band with genuine commercial reach, the kind of group that made Vancouver's early-80s scene feel like it was producing its own answer to London. Bob Rock's production gave the records a punch that outlasted the era.

Act two: the rebranding

By mid-decade, the band — working as Rock and Hyde — pivoted hard toward mainstream radio rock, with Rock's increasingly polished production steering the sound. “Call It Love” arrived from this period: a sleek, anthemic single that split the difference between the old band's melodic instincts and the arena-rock moment. It charted respectably in Canada and on US rock radio, introducing the duo to an audience that had never heard “Eyes of a Stranger.” For longtime fans, the pivot was bewildering; for the band, it was survival — and, on its own terms, the single works: big chorus, clean production, and Hyde's voice still carrying the old wryness under the gloss.

The split and the reconciliation

Rock went on to become one of rock's most successful producers (Metallica's Black Album, The Cult, Mötley Crüe's Dr. Feelgood), while Hyde continued in music on his own terms. The Payolas catalog — both acts of it — has aged into a whole: the new wave records sound better every year, and the second act reads less like a sellout than a band refusing to repeat itself. “Call It Love” stands as the hinge between the two Payolas: the moment a sharp Vancouver art band decided the radio was worth chasing, and nearly caught it.