Rough Trade

Rough Trade is a Toronto-based new wave act built around vocalist Carole Pope and guitarist Kevan Staples, who first started playing together in 1968 and settled on the Rough Trade name around 1974. Their music sits across new wave, art rock, and experimental pop, and they drew attention in Canada and beyond for lyrics that dealt with sex and desire in unusually direct terms. The duo earned multiple Juno Awards and gold and platinum records during their peak years in the late 1970s and early 1980s.