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:
Dave Clark hated it, but we were totally successful at what the assignment was.
Nobody’s picked up on how funny that is: the assignment was to write Desmond Howell’s hit song, and we did it – and it’s our only charting hit, except maybe for "Bad Time to be Poor".
It’s funny as hell that we can do it if we want to.
I don’t want to, particularly.

Clark was replaced by Don Kerr, whose first performance with the Rheostatics was an unannounced show at the Horseshoe Tavern in the spring 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 attention of the National Gallery of Canada, who commissioned the band to write music to accompany a retrospective celebrating the 75th anniversary of another group of artists whose distinctive-yet-accessible artistic outlook had redefined Canadian art, the Group of Seven.
That year, working with pianist Kevin Hearn (later of the Barenaked Ladies) and the experimental hip hop group Farm Fresh, they released Music Inspired by the Group of Seven on the independent label DROG Records.
Bob Wiseman would sit in for Hearn at the Art Gallery of Ontario show due to Hearn's illness.

The band also opened for the Tragically Hip on that band's tour to support the album Trouble at the Henhouse; this tour culminated in the release of the Tragically Hip’s live album Live Between Us in May 1997, wherein front man Gordon Downie opens the album – and show – by saying, over the beginning of the first track “Grace Too”, “This is for the Rheostatics – we are all richer for having seen them tonight”.

Rheostatics then returned to the studio, and released The Blue Hysteria in 1996.
This album garnered airplay for the single "Bad Time to Be Poor," a scathing indictment of life in Ontario during the government of Mike Harris.

In 1997, the band released Double Live, a live album documenting the band in a variety of settings, from small in-store sessions to the large arenas of their tour with The Tragically Hip.
The album was very successful on the campus radio charts and is amongst fans' favorites discs.
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:
Dave Clark hated it, but we were totally successful at what the assignment was. Nobody’s picked up on how funny that is: the assignment was to write Desmond Howell’s hit song, and we did it – and it’s our only charting hit, except maybe for "Bad Time to be Poor". It’s funny as hell that we can do it if we want to. I don’t want to, particularly.
Clark was replaced by Don Kerr, whose first performance with the Rheostatics was an unannounced show at the Horseshoe Tavern in the spring 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 attention of the National Gallery of Canada, who commissioned the band to write music to accompany a retrospective celebrating the 75th anniversary of another group of artists whose distinctive-yet-accessible artistic outlook had redefined Canadian art, the Group of Seven. That year, working with pianist Kevin Hearn (later of the Barenaked Ladies) and the experimental hip hop group Farm Fresh, they released Music Inspired by the Group of Seven on the independent label DROG Records. Bob Wiseman would sit in for Hearn at the Art Gallery of Ontario show due to Hearn's illness.
The band also opened for the Tragically Hip on that band's tour to support the album Trouble at the Henhouse; this tour culminated in the release of the Tragically Hip’s live album Live Between Us in May 1997, wherein front man Gordon Downie opens the album – and show – by saying, over the beginning of the first track “Grace Too”, “This is for the Rheostatics – we are all richer for having seen them tonight”.
Rheostatics then returned to the studio, and released The Blue Hysteria in 1996. This album garnered airplay for the single "Bad Time to Be Poor," a scathing indictment of life in Ontario during the government of Mike Harris.
In 1997, the band released Double Live, a live album documenting the band in a variety of settings, from small in-store sessions to the large arenas of their tour with The Tragically Hip. The album was very successful on the campus radio charts and is amongst fans' favorites discs.
Rheostatics