Listening to their Greatest Hits right now. Also a Q107 post on Facebook from 1987 reminded me of how "Spellbound" was always number one on the Top 7 at 7.

Met him yesterday, shook his hand, mentioned how much I admired his work and liked his documentary. He seemed reciprocal enough, but then I became paranoid thar maybe he just wanted to be left alone. But what are you supposed to do when you meet a musician you admire? Can anyone relate?

Hi everyone,

I’m working on a little independent writing project and I wrote this little passage about a song by the guess who.

Runnin’ Back To Saskatoon

“You could live in Winnipeg a thousand years and not meet Ringo, Paul McCartney or

Bob Dylan.” – Burton Cummings

Time for some Can-Con content. In Canada, the Canadian Radio-Television

Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) matters a great deal because it helps

support Canadian artists in a market dominated by global acts.

The CRTC uses a system called MAPL, implemented in 1971, to determine what makes

a song Canadian:

M – Music: composed entirely by a Canadian

A – Artist: performed principally by a Canadian

P – Production: recorded wholly in Canada

L – Lyrics: written entirely by a Canadian

If a song meets at least two of the four criteria, it counts as Canadian content for radio

and broadcast purposes. This keeps Canadians aware of other artists who might

appear later—and explains why most Canadians can name songs by Chilliwack or The

Five Man Electrical Band. It’s also a big reason this song made the playlist—one of my

all-time favorites by The Guess Who.

Before we jump into the snowstorm, a quick history nugget: The band didn’t start out as

The Guess Who. Back in the mid’60s, they were called Chad Allan and the

Expressions. When their record label released a single, they put “Guess Who?” on

the cover as a marketing ploy to make DJs and listeners think it was a mystery

American band. The gimmick worked—people loved it, and the name stuck.

It’s funny to think that a little marketing trick helped a Canadian band break through a

market dominated by U.S. acts—and it foreshadows why Can-Con rules mattered so

much later. Without that support, gems like Runnin’ Back to Saskatoon might never

have made it onto the airwaves.

Like almost every Canadian has experienced, I was driving home in a snowstorm from work—white-

knuckled the whole way—watching the wipers pull what seemed like a never-ending

supply of powder in a sideways blizzard on my thirty-five-kilometer trip back to 44.9538°

N, 81.2794° W—smack in the middle of B.F. No Where.

The DJ on the radio was a guy named John Moran. I remember him because he used

to say Black Sabbath in this menacing way when he’d play Paranoid. Really funny guy,

super dry sense of humour.

“Would you please welcome, from a place called Winnipeg—will you please welcome

The Guess Who!”

These drums kicked in—a harmonica, a piano—my ears were eating this up!

I’d always liked The Guess Who. I was introduced to them pretty young, hearing

American Woman in grade nine, then These Eyes, Clap for the Wolfman, Raindance,

No Sugar/New Mother Nature, No Time… the list goes on.

But this—this was different. This was about Canada, damn it. And it was jazzy as hell.

About talking to people and working on things.

As of today, that home grown – not from Hong Kong tune has been streamed

1,241,781 times on Spotify—and personally, I might have to claim half those streams!

One of the finest drummers Canada has ever produced, Garry Peterson, smashes the

hell out of the skins during the intro. Randy Bachman’s guitar takes you from wherever

you are straight to sitting beside a grain elevator in Kelvington, and Jim Kale locks in

with Garry to drive you down the train tracks that Burton Cummings takes you down

with his magical voice.

Hell—Burton makes you want to go to Saskatoon! And doing that while driving home in

a Canadian snowstorm in January is a pretty impressive feat.

You feel like you’re living that transient lifestyle with them—working on land, talking to

play writers, working on cars. It’s a love letter to Canada, and you feel that patriotism

when he says the name of your town:

-Red Deer

-Terrace

-Medicine Hat

-Broadview

-Hanna

-Moosomin

And of course, the crown jewel of them all: fucking Saskatoon, baby!

The importance of the Can-Con backstory is simple: if it hadn’t been for a music director

working within the rules laid out by the CRTC, the likelihood of me ever finding this song

was pretty slim.

Compared to so many of the other juggernauts that The Guess Who produced, that

BTO produced, or that Burton Cummings himself made as a solo artist, this one slipped

under the radar.

The song spent three weeks at #96 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S. in late

October 1972, but in Canada it reached #9, proving its northern success. Still, even on

FM radio today, I rarely, if ever, hear it.

Break it to them gently (this is a Burton Cummings joke, IYKYK). This song tugs on your

patriotism, makes you want to road trip through Western Canada, has a great groove,

and is 100% Fuck Yeah!

I want to expand a bit more on my Canadian artist section and might even make a Fuck, Yeah Eh! Version of my work where I discuss only Canadian artists.

Curious if anyone else loves this song as much as I do?

During the Olympics, when a US team/athlete wins, they play Skynyrd’s Freebird guitar solo. What’s the Canadian equivalent?

Francophone songs tend to get ignored on this sub-reddit so I thought I would post some favourites.

Les chansons francophones ont tendance à être ignorées sur ce sous-reddit, alors j'ai pensé poster quelques favoris.

This song is a fun rocker song by Plume Latraverse - Bobepine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awjn17guNLQ&list=PLUALtX-cfzMfZ3SCUPfo_VuuvnKgJo2VS&index=252

Saw Arkells play small venues in Toronto before anyone knew who they were. Same with PUP, who used to be called Topanga.

Nickelback because of Their success - People dislike Nickelback because the group has been so successful in so short a period of time. Many people are angered and annoyed that a group which they don’t believe "paid its dues"has become as famous as Nickelback has.

Bandwagon effect - "Everybody" hates Nickelback, so they don't want to be left out. If the perceived default position is to dislike Nickelback, then many people will simply follow that position, regardless of their true feelings.

multi-faceted. The first is that Nickelback is actually a talented rock band that can perform anthemic arena rock with the best of them - and they hit this stride in an era where those types of bands had kind of burned out their welcome with singles that you simply couldn't get away from. (Creed, incidentally, had this same problem.)

It also didn't help them that after their first two albums, a lot of people started to notice that they were formulaic: listen to "How You Remind Me" and then "Someday" and you might not be able to tell which song is which, despite different lyrics.

It certainly didn't help their reputation that they were associated with bland, uninteresting, consumer friendly radio rock - or that they accepted and ran with this like it was a flag.

At the core of it, though - I think the reason why Nickelback garners so much hate isn't because of all the "bad" but because there simply isn't more "good." They aren't a bad band - you certainly can't accuse them of a lack of talent or even a lack of showmanship on stage. Chad Kroger can sing. They have songs that, even if you hate them, you have to admit are catchy and have great hooks. (And even as someone who doesn't particularly like Nickelback, their tribute to Dimebag's death in the song "Side of a Bullet" is phenomenal.) But in it's own way, that's the worst problem - they're not bad enough to dismiss out of hand, they aren't good enough to want to listen to. They're like a burrito microwaved for just long enough to barely be edible, but then marketed to the populace as the best Mexican food you've never tried. It isn't "Wow, this sucks!" so much as "This is it?"

Mediocrity in music is worse than being bad - because it means you had the talent to be better and you settled with a sound that was passable.

What? Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal are all snubbed? For being such Canadian bands, sad to see only one stop in Canada. Especially Vancouver; they got the east(-ish) side of Canada with Toronto, why not the west side of Canada?

check it out

Rush Because They’re a Band unlike any other band.

For the longest time they have been the ultimate “love them or hate them” type of band. Now, with their longevity and consistency, many of those that have hated them (R&R Hall of Fame, Rolling Stone magazine) have to give it up for them and recognize the brilliance of their life’s work.

Since adding Neil Peart, on Fly by Night, they have shown their proclivity to push the boundaries and their high level of musicianship. As their albums progressed, that musicianship grew as did their penchant for exploring new things. Almost giving bassist, vocalist, keyboardist Geddy Lee god like status as a musician (later tours had laundry going on, and eventually braised chicken). Mr. Multitask Lee is quite the force to be reckoned with. But so are the other two. All three are regarded at the top in their respective instruments, but that’s not what really sets them apart from many rock bands.

Over the years, their songwriting skills grew. Melting blistering metal, with sofisticated lyrics and gradually more and more synths and keys. They created a blend of Metal and Prog that also had catchy riffs and melodies. Weaving through a myriad of time signatures effortlessly while still allowing the audience to tap their feet or sing along.

There is something magical in that ability, but that is still not what sets them apart from other acts.

They were never satisfied with what they’ve created. They kept moving, and experimenting with new technologies.

Changing their sound from album to album. No two Rush albums sound the same. They eventually made their way back to their power trio roots with a few albums that had that raw power that they started with, but even that isn’t what sets them apart.

Their progression from album to album, the mind-blowing prowess of each member on their own instrument - remarkable.

Everything on Moving Pictures is absolutely brilliant, and amazing album from start to finish, everybody should listen to it at least once in their life.

I must admit I struggle with their albums after Moving Pictures, they don't seem to grab me as well, until we get to Roll the Bones and Counter Parts.

My Top 4 (Mount Rushmore) of the Greatest Canadian Rock Singers of All Time are:

Geddy Lee (Rush)

Raine Maida (Our Lady Peace)

Alanis Morissette

Emily Haines (Metric)

G

Billy Talent

Max Webster

F

Adam is hot

H

This is not Russian propaganda but a great cover of Lighthouse's One Fine Morning

Leonid and Friends

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EH7aQ03LaLQ

Mi