"And if I wash my feet in your..."

Dirty Water was released in 1987 by Canadian duo Bob Rock and Paul Hyde, under the inspiring moniker of Rock & Hyde (not to be confused with Jeckyll & Hyde). Both had previously been core members of the punp-pop outfit Payola$. Interestingly Payola$'s biggest hurdle to commercial success outside of their native Canada wasn't their music, but rather their name. The term Payola$ was still deemed to be overly politically sensitive to the U.S. music industry in particular, given its connotation of corruption within the music world. Political correctness, give me a break.

Anyway, Rock & Hyde decided to give it one last go under their own names and released the single 'Dirty Water' late in 1987, lifted from the album 'Under The Volcano'. The song reached #21 in their native Canada but again the lads couldn't crack it across the border in the U.S.

I discovered the song via a late night session of Rage watching on the ABC. I was so impressed by the song that I tracked it down initially on vinyl 45 (price tag $2 as you can see on the front cover). Thankfully those fine people who at EMI Music Canada decided to include the track on Volume 6 of the series 'Pure Canadian: Retro 80s'. I can highly recommend these if you can still find them. I picked up my copy in 2002.

Wet your feet in some 'Dirty Water':

And don't forget to wash your hands after you've watched the promo vid: