The State of Music in Canada

Child Of The 90s

I figured a lot of people here would be interested in this. It really does an excellent job of addressing both the image and reality of music in Canada. As far as I'm concerned, the bands that it mentions represent the worst of Canadian music. As the article says, this has been a private shame for the most part, but the Olympics really drew a lot of attention to it and forced us to pay attention to it. I hope that people from around the world can recognise that this music is by no means an accurate representation of the music we have to offer. For each one of these shitty bands, there are ten great ones.

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/entertainm ... story.html

tinz.

I couldn't agree with you more! I am a big fan of what used to be great Canadian music, if anyone can even remember the 90's. Does anyone remember I Mother Earth, The Tea Party, Moist, The Odds, Big Wreck, I mean I could go on but everyone is entitled to their opinion I suppose!? The problem is Americans are exposed to our generic crap that comes out of our country like Nickleback, Billy Talent, Simple Plan, Sum 41 and the rest of the garbage we have to listen to on the radio. It's really to bad! :x

DPrival78

i've been into land of talk big time lately. very much looking forward to seeing them in nyc in may. they are one example that canada is still producing some real talent.

CAVSTARR313

tinz. wrote:

I couldn't agree with you more! I am a big fan of what used to be great Canadian music, if anyone can even remember the 90's. Does anyone remember I Mother Earth, The Tea Party, Moist, The Odds, Big Wreck, I mean I could go on but everyone is entitled to their opinion I suppose!? The problem is Americans are exposed to our generic crap that comes out of our country like Nickleback, Billy Talent, Simple Plan, Sum 41 and the rest of the garbage we have to listen to on the radio. It's really to bad! :x

I miss the tea party.. Great albums but really great live.. I think i will put them on now

mervin50

Does anyone remember Big Sugar?

toodee

Man, I didn't realise half the bands mentioned in this thread were Canadian

Anyway, big events like the Olympics will always bring out mainstream bands because Olympic organisers want to put on show that appeals to John and Jane Average of Suburbia. And for those of us who live outside of America and Britain, we will always face an onslaught of commercially friendly rock because that is where the money is in our limited local market(s).

I could finish this by saying 'everyone, look outside of the mainstream charts for your music', but it looks like everyone here is doing that already, so I guess I'll just say 'carry on as you were, that stuff will be labeled as crap soon enough'

keeponrockin

DPrival78 wrote:

i've been into land of talk big time lately. very much looking forward to seeing them in nyc in may. they are one example that canada is still producing some real talent.

Saw them open for Broken Social Scene about a year and a half ago. Really good show, you'll enjoy!

pearljim

TPOH - The Pursuit of Happiness!!!

musicismylife78

for awhile there montreal had an insane scene going on. arcade fire, wolf parade, stars, broken social, the dears etc... things seem to have quieted down a ton there, but who knows, all those bands save the dears are releasing records this year. so who knows

keeponrockin

musicismylife78 wrote:

for awhile there montreal had an insane scene going on. arcade fire, wolf parade, stars, broken social, the dears etc... things seem to have quieted down a ton there, but who knows, all those bands save the dears are releasing records this year. so who knows

Montreal has a wicked music scene, I live here, and it's rockin.

Drowned Out

tinz. wrote:

I couldn't agree with you more! I am a big fan of what used to be great Canadian music, if anyone can even remember the 90's. Does anyone remember I Mother Earth, The Tea Party, Moist, The Odds, Big Wreck, I mean I could go on but everyone is entitled to their opinion I suppose!? The problem is Americans are exposed to our generic crap that comes out of our country like Nickleback, Billy Talent, Simple Plan, Sum 41 and the rest of the garbage we have to listen to on the radio. It's really to bad! :x

Ugh....to me, the 90's bands you list were just the first wave of pseudo-grunge (Nickelback included)....derivative and riding the wave. the newer bands you list aren't much different IMO - just came out a few years later....boring, commercial rock. I'm not a big fan of those Montreal bands...but at least they have a bit of originality, and their own scene happening.
I think we'd never have heard of half of these bands if not for the CRTC's Canadian content laws.

Child Of The 90s

Drowned Out wrote:

tinz. wrote:

I couldn't agree with you more! I am a big fan of what used to be great Canadian music, if anyone can even remember the 90's. Does anyone remember I Mother Earth, The Tea Party, Moist, The Odds, Big Wreck, I mean I could go on but everyone is entitled to their opinion I suppose!? The problem is Americans are exposed to our generic crap that comes out of our country like Nickleback, Billy Talent, Simple Plan, Sum 41 and the rest of the garbage we have to listen to on the radio. It's really to bad! :x

Ugh....to me, the 90's bands you list were just the first wave of pseudo-grunge (Nickelback included)....derivative and riding the wave. the newer bands you list aren't much different IMO - just came out a few years later....boring, commercial rock. I'm not a big fan of those Montreal bands...but at least they have a bit of originality, and their own scene happening.
I think we'd never have heard of half of these bands if not for the CRTC's Canadian content laws.

Tend to agree with you here. Athough, I do like Moist - well, at least silver... and some of The Odds.

I think that it's not just a divide between mainstreem and smaller bands. There are a lot of bands that are somewhat mainstream in Canada that are not recognized anywhere else. Sam Roberts & The Hip to name a couple. I'm not going to bother listing all of the bands I like though - there's far too many... Far too many.

Just wanted to draw attention to an article that, I think, really hit the nail on the head.

keeponrockin

I think its funny how The Hip play Arena's in Canada and small theatres in the States.

CTD10

Nickelback have 12 Junos to their name....that will tell ya what the state of music in Canada is.

There are lots of great bands in Canada...sad part is most of them don't get the respect they deserve.

JDB

Voivod were a great Canadian band. From Montreal I think. Not sure if they are going to carry on after the death of their guitarist and main songwriter Denis D'Amor aka Piggy. They did some awesome stuff in the late 80s and early 90s. Dimension Hatross, Killing Technology, Nothingface and Angel Rat are probably their most well known albums and Jason Newsteds been playing with them lately. Cool band anyway.

ArmchairJammer

Thee Silver Mt Zion !!

tinz.

a thread that has us all listing great canadian music and to show our disgust for nickleback... i love it!

i forgot to mention age of electric, which then became static in stereo and limblifter!!! amazing canadian rock! no?