"Item of Mystery" Contest Results

 

Visitors were asked to identify this pin, which appeared inexplicably in my mom's kitchen drawer. The entries were judged by how entertaining and/or informative they were, and the prize was five U.S. dollars plus the pin.

Former mystery

Your replies confirmed my suspicions that this was indeed a badge for a Squeeze fan club. In fact, most people who replied already had one! (Which meant that as far as picking a winner I was leaning away from "informative" and towards "entertaining".) Just to make sure, I searched the web and found that Tom Boynes has some of the old newsletters from the Squeeze Club scanned at his site, and the Official Squeeze site was selling a Squeeze Club T-shirt at the merchandise sale (now sold out) with the same font. All the evidence points in the same direction, but how it made it's way to my mom's house is still a mystery!

The winner I chose was "Ohouse", for his incredibly speedy reply (first time I checked my mail after putting up the contest announcement), entertaining story, and for confusing the hell out of me. Ohouse's entry is quoted in full at the bottom of this page.

Vital statistics:

Percentage of people who told me they own at least one identical pin: 56%

Maximum number of pins owned by one fan: 5

Percentage of replies from AOL users: 33% (Surely this is significant in some way?)

Percentage of people who told me the pin is advertising something unrelated to the band, and originating in Toronto: 2%

Number of people who suspect my mom slept with every single band member on an airplane to get the pin: 1 (Note: my mother denies all memory of any such incident)

Number of people who think I just forgot that I was in the club: 1 (possibly 2)

Additional info I learned from your email:

-The badge was given out to members of the Squeeze fan club upon joining

-Squeeze Club members also got Christmas cards from the band (I would have joined just for that!), a Babylon and On bumper sticker (hey!) and "some old pics of Squeeze".

-The membership fee was around $25 per year for four issues of the Squeeze Chronicle.

-The club existed from 1987 to mid-nineties

Selected quotes from entries:

Full explanation of the airplane theory
"Back in the days of their immense popularity, Squeeze did a lot of touring, right? So they had to fly back and forth across the Atlantic. Having heard of the "Mile High Club", Squeeze decided to use their pop idol status to lure women into their aircraft. To make the whole thing a bit more personable and profitable for all, they called their version "The Squeeze Club". To get the pin, you had to have nooded all of the members of the band."
-Anonymous

General angst
"God its not that long ago is it????????? Where did the 90's go????? "
-Dennis

Speculation about newsletter construction
"I have also a full set of Squeeze Fan Club newsletters. It looks as though the newsletters were created using a typewriter, stencil set and sticky tape; as computers were far too expensive to buy at the time."
-Ex-Squeeze Club member number 329 (AKA Gary Overend of the Squeeze Discography site. Incidentally, this entry almost won for excellent attention to detail throughout the letter.)

Shamelessly fraudulent (but entertaining) claim
"That's bizarre - I have an identical pin which my dad found in his sock drawer. The only noticeable difference being it's from a fan club for a different, slightly more famous British band - see attachment..."

Nice try

This ruse might have been more effective if the Queen pin were not pictured still attached to my "sangria" colored leggings.

Alternate Toronto-based theory
"I believe the origin of the pin may have more to do with the world of movies than with the world of music… From Leonard Maltin's TV and Movie Guide:

Squeeze Club - A straight to video movie filmed in 1986 with Judd Nelson and C. Thomas Howell as the two male leads. Set in New York City (but actually shot entirely on location in Toronto), the film begins with a young stockbroker (Howell) who is sick of his white bread/white collar lifestyle. Disgusted with the empty values of his day-to-day environment, his life takes a unexpected turn when he and a friend (Nelson) create a secret and covert club where men come to take out their frustrations by SQUEEZING each other to the point of unconsciousness. The story complicates when both men fall for the same woman (Jami Gertz). Nelson and Howell can't 'squeeze' any life into a tired and trite story. 1/2 Star. Remade in 1999 as Fight Club with a slightly different premise and Edward Norton & Brad Pitt playing the leads."

First rule of Squeeze Club is…you don't talk about Squeeze Club.
-Bailey

And now, the winning entry! Ohouse, if you made this up, I admire your creativity. If not, I admire your moxie, because even after I sent you to look at the photo of the Squeeze club T-shirt, you replied, "Was unaware of the shirt 'til you pointed it out. I'm sticking to my story, though." Well, you win the pin and the dough, and you can wear it proudly in honour of both the nightclub and the band! Here is Ohouse's entry:

Hey, Corina…

You'll probably receive a lot of great speculative stories about the "Squeeze Club", but the truth is a little more mundane…

"Squeeze Club" was a popular Toronto nightclub of the late 80's and early 90's, located on the city's ultra-hip Queen Street West. It was run by Marcus O'Hara, who is the brother of the wonderful singer Mary Margaret O'Hara (whose only album "Miss America" is definitely worth tracking down), and also of the wonderful comedienne Catherine O'Hara (of SCTV, Beetlejuice, Home Alone, etc., etc.).

The club name had little to do with Squeeze (the band), and everything to do with Marcus' jaw droppingly extensive collection of squeeze toys, which were displayed in the window and throughout the club. For this button, looks like Marcus used the circa-87 Squeeze font for his own promotional purposes…

Incidentally, while I know of no direct connection between the O'Hara's and Squeeze (the band), Mary Margaret had Andy Partridge record some early tracks for "Miss America" -- Andy later famously recorded some unreleased XTC tracks in Chris Difford's studio. Catherine, meanwhile, was instrumental in selecting SCTV's musical guests, who included one-time Squeeze producer Dave Edmunds. Hope this solves your mystery!

"Ohouse"

SCTV has been described to me as a Canadian TV comedy show with short sketches (kind of like U.S. Saturday Night Live), where many famous comedians got their start.

Thank you to everyone who entered the "Item of Mystery" contest!