the end of 1988, and shortly thereafter the Rheostatics broke up. During the hiatus, Bidini and Clark played a number of shows as supporting musicians for the recently reunited Three O'Clock Train. However, by 1990 the band reunited with exactly the same line-up they had in mid-1988: Bidini, Clark, Tielli and Vesely. Classic era In 1991, the band signed to the independent label Intrepid Records, and released Melville that year. The single "Record Body Count" garnered them significant airplay on radio and MuchMusic. The album also featured an enigmatic cover of Gordon Lightfoot's "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald". The following year, the band signed to Sire Records and released Whale Music, which was inspired by Paul Quarrington's award-winning novel Whale Music. Quarrington himself was so impressed by Whale Music's quirky pop—which was perfectly suited to a novel about a quirky, reclusive pop genius liberally based on Brian Wilson—that he chose the band to compose the soundtrack to the film version of his novel. Music from the Motion Picture Whale Music was released in 1994, putting the band in the odd position of having two almost identically-titled albums in its catalogue. The centrepiece of the soundtrack was "Claire", a love song from the main character in the movie to a woman who'd moved into his house, which became Rheostatics' first and only Top 40 hit and earned the band a Genie Award for Best Original Song in 1994. "Claire" was also featured on the band's album Introducing Happiness, released the same year. That album proved to be the end of the Rheostatics' association with Sire, however, as the label found the band difficult to market. It was also Clark's last album with the band, as he left to concentrate on his own band, The Dinner Is Ruined. The resignation came very shortly before a cross-Canada tour. Clark has stated in interviews that he left because he was uncomfortable with the chart success of "Claire" and feared that the rest of the band would be persuaded to evolve in a mainstream direction. Tielli's perspective on "Claire", however, was very different: Clark was replaced by Don Kerr, whose first performance with the Rheostatics was an unannounced show at the Horseshoe Tavern in the winter of 1995. Also in 1995, the band first toured with The Tragically Hip as part of the Another Roadside Attraction festival. Later in 1995, the band attracted the