On The Loose

This was the biggest hit for Saga, a Canadian band that incorporated elements of progressive rock into their pop sound. Lead singer Michael Sadler wrote the song with his bandmates Ian Crichton (guitar), Jim Crichton (bass), Jim Gilmour (keyboards) and Steve Negus (drums). Sadler told us: "'On the Loose' is blowing off steam. Everybody's got to just let it out every once in a while, you can't keep things inside. You know: tonight I'm on the loose, we're on the loose, you're on the loose. It's as simple as that. At the time, and it's just gotten more so, stress, stress, stress for everybody, every single human on this planet. Every once in a while we've got to let go and just blow it out and deal with the consequences later. You've got to open that valve every once in a while."

The music video was one of the first concept clips by a North American band. It earned airplay in the early days of MTV, which was launched in 1981 a few months before the album came out. MTV had very little to choose from, and this one checked a lot of boxes in terms of their criteria: Slick rock sound. Good production value. Could pass for American. It was Saga's management that encouraged them to make the video, which combined performance footage with a vague storyline about a man escaping from some kind of facility.