Growing up I didn’t know too much about Canada except that it was cold, their flag was pretty cool looking, Wayne Gretzky was the greatest hockey player to ever lace up a pair of skates, and Bob and Doug McKenzie’s “Strage Brew” was one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen. And for the record, I recently watched that movie without seeing it in over ten years and it is still fucking hilarious.
My first introduction to the Canadian music scene was in 1982 when I heard the song “World of Fantasy” by Triumph from their album Never Surrender. I don’t know where I heard it, maybe MTV, but I knew I liked it. Then I discovered Bryan Adams' Cuts like a Knife record. The title song was one of the first songs I ever learned on guitar. Sadly, I forgot how to play it, but honestly I am sure it’s not that hard to learn again.
Later on in life a few more Candian rock bands came down the pike - April Wine, Loverboy, Saga - but I think it was the early '90s and my undying love for Seattle music that I truly discovered some great Canadian bands. It also helped that on my sattelite TV, I was getting the Canadian music channel Much Music, which was awesome. They played videos all day, actual music videos, can you imagine that? I also had a thing for one of the hosts, named Rachel Perry, so that certainly made me watch a lot more.
Like the Seattle music scene,
or any music scene for that matter, the Canadian music scene seemed all relative. One band led to another and soon I was discovering a lot of bands that a lot of the Lower 48 hadn’t heard of…or at least that was what I thought.
You can’t begin a Canadian music conversation without mentioning Neil Young or Leonard Cohen or perhaps Rush. They paved the way for thousands of musicians, not only in their homeland but the world over. However, as strong of a set list that might be, you can’t forget other ground-laying Canadians like Bachman Turner Overdrive; The Band; The Guess Who; Gordon Lightfoot; Robbie Robertson; Skinny Puppy; Tragically Hip; and Pat Travers, just to name a few.
When polled on Facebook asking who was people’s favorite Canadian band, Sloan won by a landslide, with Cowboy Junkies coming in second. Other current Canadians getting a shout-out were Arcade Fire; Alanis Morissette; Broken Social Scene; Kathleen Edwards; Feist; Weakerthans; Wolf Parade; New Pornographers; Destroyer; Death from Above 1979; Great Lake Swimmers; and Peaches.
When I had the idea for this blog, I was thinking why aren’t great Canadian bands getting more recognition down here in the United States, but I was wrong. They ARE making their way down here in the States. These are some great bands and musicians. I was just blind to the idea that they were from the Great White North.
I guess that is because some of the Canadian muscians I like aren’t gettig a lot of major acclaim in the U.S. People like Chantal Kreviazuk, Holly McNarland, and I think Our Lady Peace is still a little overlooked, same way with the Cowboy Junkies. I also loved this band called Joydrop, who released two records then broke up. I thought they were going to be big like Garbage.
Now that I’ve been schooled about Canadian music, I must say thank you for my friends' opening my eyes - and say I am sorry to those Canadians who I didn’t even realize were Canadian.