The Blame Canada for Avril Lavigne Topic

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A quick survey of Canadian pop "artists" should be enough to convince all of us of the "menace up north":

Sh*te Canadian pop artists: Avril Lavigne, Bare Naked Ladies, Alanis Morrisette, Cory Hart, Celine Dion, Brian Adams, the Tragically Hip, Shania Twain, the list goes on and on.

Good Canadian pop artists: um... well, Leonard Cohen, Neil Young..., uh..... did I mention Leonard Cohen?...

And no, I'm afraid Rush does not qualify as a good rock band.

This is not to say that the US and UK don't produce their fair share of Green Days and Spice Girls. It's just that both the US and the UK continue to produce brilliant and original pop music, while Canada seems to specialize almost exclusively on bland third-rate hangers-on to the latest trend. Canada has never produced an Iggy Pop, a Velvet Underground, a Public Enemy, a Beatles, a David Bowie, or a Sex Pistols, let alone a Pixies, a Nirvana, a Radiohead, a Massive Attack, a (god forbid) even an Eminem. Canada has never produced an original music scene or genre (such as hip hop, turntable-ism, grunge, house, punk, post-punk, etc.), but is right quick in producing pale imitations of innovations produced elsewhere. And even the French can rap better than the Canadians.

So my questions are two: 1) Just how much of the Canadian GNP is based on exporting sh*te pop music?; and 2) What should we do about this menace up north?

 

Not all the following are current. I think they all have some degree of international recognition (but I could be wrong). I have left out a number of excellent artists which I am pretty sure are known only in Canada. And I'm sure I'm forgetting quite a few. So, just off the top of my head:

Rush
The Guess Who
Jeff Healey
Triumph
Trooper
Sarah McLachlan
Our Lady Peace
B.T.O.
The Band
Tom Cochrane
Matthew Good Band
I Mother Earth
Diana Krall
Steppenwolf
The Tea Party

But we're very sorry for Celine Dion.

 

I quite like Celine Dion ...

But I'd disagree with you. Canada have some kick ass bands, even if Matthew Good Band have split ... they still kick ass

Byran Adams and Shania Twain are cool too. I was brought up on Byran Adams.

Still they don't beat Queen though

 

Let's see some justification for why Bare Naked Ladies are, as you so eloquently put, 'sh*te'. I for one would certainly not call them bad, and definitely wouldn't describe them as pop.

And while we're at it, what's so bad about Green Day?

I'm looking for answers as to what's so bad about their music, not subjective views or sweeping generalisations concerning whatever genres you believe they are part of. Why does their music suck?

 

Rush kick ass! Also I really like the Bare naked ladies, and Shania Twain. I might agree with a fair few others, like Celine Dion, but I just cant see the justification behind your argument Bion.

 

Hmm, there are certainly some sweeping generalisations in this topic. It is interesting that the tone of the original topic has brought people out in strong defence of Canada.

I, too, am going to come to Canada's defence by pointing out that Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill is one of the biggest selling albums of all time (and I still think it is brilliant, despite the variable quality of her subsequent efforts). Bryan Adams was one of the iconic pop rockers of the 1980s (just forgive him for 'Everything I Do').

By contrast, I'm sure there are plenty of people who would raise an eyebrow at your mention of Iggy Pop as an example of the sort if quality that Canada should be ashamed of not producing. Iggy Pop!? Surely you could have come up with some better examples than him.

 

I have to defend the Canadians, also.

I agree with Harbourboy that "Jagged Little Pill" was actually a groundbreaking albumn at the time...everyone was saying that Alanis was the next Janis...unfortunately, she has done little since then.

Isn't Nickleback a Canadian band, too?

I think that if you take Canada's population and spread out the successful acts per capita...it wouldn't be so far off the pace from the rest of the world.

I also think that different regions enjoy popularity at different times...the 60's were ruled by the UK, the 70's by American Arena rock...there was even a time during the 80's when it seemed that all the hit songs were by Australian bands! (INXS, Midnight Oil,...there's a couple others I can't think of right now)...

So no, there is no curse of Candadian music...except for Celine...please take her back and return Bob and Doug MacKenzie!

Splunge...make that check payable to "Hacken Slash" not "Hack n' Slash" as some continue to do.

 

Told ya I probably forgot some!

One more that I just thought of - Gordon Lightfoot. A Canadian folk icon.

And re 80's Australian bands - two that come to mind are Split Enz (I think they were Aussie) and Men At Work.

And Hacken (no apostophe ) Slash - I'm afaid I can't afford to pay you just yet; I decided I have to save up for my BMW

 

The punk scene in Canada is also really good. I don't know how it is in the East, but out west we have bands like Belvedere, Downway, and Deville filling clubs.


I find that listing what bands come from is possibly the worst arguement ever. Mostly because 90% of the crap that is released is American, the boy bands, the Pop Princess, THE AMERICAN IDOL.

 

Splunge: Split Enz! You legend. I didn't think many people from outside of New Zealand had even heard of them. They rock(ed). So not quite Australian, but I'll forgive you.

Sorry, getting a bit off-topic......

 

While I was never a big fan,I think saying Rush does not qualify as a good rock band to be a bit of a joke.These guys could outplay anyone on the radio right on there respective instruments.

Music is far to subjective to trash bands you don't have a taste for.

 

Let me add these names to the defense of Canadian music:

Crash Test Dummies
k.d. lang

 

I think Steppenwolfe makes up for all those really bad "artists". And as a Canadien I would personally like to apologise for Celine Dion and Avril Lavigne.

 

Dont sweat it Erebus. If we all had to apologise for the crap our countries produce no-one would get anything done. The Americans have a lot to be ashamed of as do us Brits.

 

Come on Neil Young??? He sucks!

The only good thing he did was writing Soliary man so Him and Johny Cash could cover it
and Girl you'l be a woman soon so Urge Overkill could make a better version of it.

One cool band from canada: Kittie they rock! Until you hear them live :S!

 

Umm...that was Niel Diamond. Or were you trying to sound like you don't know what you're talking about for comedic effect? Because it's impossible to confuse Neil Diamond with Neil Young. It's like confusing Elvis Pressley and Elvis Costello. Nuh-uh. Only a complete tool would do that. Oh wait...

Regardless, I denounce this entire thread as sheer foolishness because it started off with the following sentence:

*sigh* Ahh, kids. They say the darndest things.

 

"Solitary Man" was Neil Diamond, too. I think sleepless is a little punchy from lack of sleep

Neil Young has had solo hits like "Rockin in the Free World" and "Southern Man", not to mention a whole library of hits with Crosby, Stills and Nash.

 

Arrr, I must have been in the mood for flames when I posted this.

Disclaimer: I posted this thread after going through the indignity of having to listen to a full half-hour of the Bare Naked Ladies at a coffeeshop I frequent. What caused this coffeeshop, which generally plays ok music, to commit such an atrocity, I don't know. But needless to say, I wasn't so happy, and I'm afraid I blamed Canada for my distress.

Don't get me wrong; I *like* Canada. I lived in Toronto for about a year, I have a bunch of Canadian friends, and hey, you gotta admit, the Canadian healthcare system is pretty sensible compared to the disasterous on in the US. I have to admit, tho, that I find the Canadian national identity to be a bit intriguing, especially in the lengths people go to distance themselves from the US...

But back to the topic at hand. I would in no way excuse the US (or the UK) for all of the terrible music it has produced, continues to produce, and probably will produce for the foreseeable future. In fact, I just checked the Blender "50 worst songs" list, and the majority of them were American (though 4 of the 50 were Canadian, see below).

The criticism, tho, was less about Canadians producing really bad music, and more about them not producing really good, original music. Even if, for example, I could accept that the Barenaked Ladies are perfectly pleasant to listen to (a bald and infernal lie! but this is for the sake of argument), I don't think anyone could argue that there is anything at all original about this band. Nor is there any risk to their music. I'm not a grunge fan, but I can accept that there is something to the music of Nirvana or the Pixies. The Barenaked Ladies are at the way, way back of the grunge train.

So, I maintain, while there might be a number of Canadian bands that are pleasant to listen too, it's hard to think of any (besides Neil Young or Leonard Cohen) that were original.

You might not like Iggy Pop, but punk wouldn't have been the same without him...

And Rush always makes me wonder, like in that Pavement (great band) song: "How about the voice of Geddy Lee, how did it get so high?"

Appendix: 4 (out of 50) of the worst songs as presented by Blender magazine:

50
CÉLINE DION
“My Heart Will Go On” 1998
And on and on and on…
Lop off all but the first 20 seconds of this monster ballad, and it still merits a slot on this list for the unconscionable crime of adding pan-flute solos to the pop lexicon. But it doesn’t stop there: With a voice full of ornamental quivers and trembles, Canadian dynamo Céline Dion pushes arena-size schmaltz into the red, first cutting her syllables preciously short, then strangling each one out. Never has a song about all-consuming love sounded so trivial and been so inescapable — it powered the Titanic soundtrack to a year-topping 10 million copies sold, and made millions more pray that an iceberg would somehow hit Dion.

47
BRYAN ADAMS
“The Only Thing That Looks Good on Me Is You” 1996
It’s Great-Uncle Disgusting — from Canada!
When Adams chose to do sexy after 15 years of chaste, aw-shucks rockin’, even his fans were stunned — as if they’d just seen a stag film starring Richie Cunningham. “I don’t look good in no Armani suits,” he leered in the song’s only believable moment, before suggesting he’d rather “wear” the song’s female protagonist over a blues riff like someone explaining ZZ Top to an accountant. This wasn’t the creepiest track off his album 18 Til I Die; that accolade goes to a song called “(I Wanna Be) Your Underwear.”
Worst Moment “…There’s only one thing that fits me like it should.” Ick.

31
CRASH TEST DUMMIES
“Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm” 1994
The worst hum in music ever
You know that jerk at your office who can burp the alphabet? That’s the way Brad Roberts sings. On this 1994 single, his voice is a ludicrously bassy croak as he narrates supposed “slice-of-life” stories that land with a dull thud: A car hits one kid and turns his hair white; another’s covered in birthmarks; the last has genuflecting, churchgoing parents. Sure, white hair’s weird and evangelicals are weirder, but why are you telling us this? Moreover, why do you insist on humming the chorus? You sound like E.T. crossed with Barry White, dude!
Worst Moment: Any time Roberts sings a vowel.

23
COREY HART
“Sunglasses At Night” 1984
If you look up one-hit wonder in the dictionary, this is what you’ll find
Over a keyboard riff that sounds more than a little like that of “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This),” the brooding Quebecois Hart mugged worse than Derek Zoolander as he extolled the virtues of going incognito. With its lack of anything resembling a human being playing an instrument, this is disposable synth-pop at its most bubblegum.
Worst Moment The chorus, in which Hart warns, “Don’t switch a blade on the guy in shades, oh, no,” was an attempt at tough-guy posing, but it made him sound like the musical equivalent of Judd Nelson in The Breakfast Club. That is, not very tough at all.

 

I last heard "Sunglasses at Night" whilst playing GTA:VC. What can I say, it fit in perfectly to the theme of the game. Didn't know Corey Hart was a Canuckistani though...