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Canadian music in the U.S.


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Remember Rusty? damn I loved their album back in the day. Used to play the first 3 or so songs over and over and over

I have the ..... cassette.

I also really liked Rymes With Orange...still listen to them. Love the Headstones. Barstool Prophets.

"Good" is in the ear of the beholder and very much subjective.

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Matt Good is great and one of the reasons he is considered to be a dick and possibly conceited is that he has had severe insomnia his entire adult life and if you happen to catch him when hes on prescription sleeping meds hes not really himself. Irritability + headaches + lack of sleep = guys a dick.

The Hip tried really hard to break into the US market. Yes, a lot of their stuff is Canadian centric so it didnt translate well but its also just that a lot of bands dont make it now no matter how good they are. They want hip hop, rappers, Rihanna and Eminem. Not rock bands.

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Matt Good is great and one of the reasons he is considered to be a dick and possibly conceited is that he has had severe insomnia his entire adult life and if you happen to catch him when hes on prescription sleeping meds hes not really himself. Irritability + headaches + lack of sleep = guys a dick.

The Hip tried really hard to break into the US market. Yes, a lot of their stuff is Canadian centric so it didnt translate well but its also just that a lot of bands dont make it now no matter how good they are. They want hip hop, rappers, Rihanna and Eminem. Not rock bands.

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Nomeansno is a pretty underground scene though, he is talking commercial success

Kim Mitchell is the most mind boggling to me. If he wasn't so ugly and born north of the boarder he would be in the rock and roll hall of fame.

Extremely talented and highly underrated, even in Canada.

Have to agree about Kim Mitchell...have been a fan since the Max Webster days. Goddo too, but that was 100 years ago.

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I think the case is different nowadays than in the 90's, though in both cases it has been hard for Canadian rock bands to break through. Currently, the US media (radio, magazines, video channels) promote the latest pop tart, and that's all they try to do, because, sadly, it sells. In the 90's - grunge/alternative/rock, whatever you want to call it, was BIG - so why didn't the Canadian acts of the time crack the US market? They were certainly good enough and as good as the alternative stuff that was american. I think its because the US media had no interest in promoting foreign acts. If they did, these bands would be huge. It has nothing to do with Canadian acts wanting to remain small and arty (not suggesting they werent true to their art though - many US bands that were true to their art did make it big at that time), its simply because american media never gave them a chance.

The only reason the Tragically Hip got on Saturday Night Live in 1994 is because Lorne Michaels the producer of the show is Canadian, but they were never reviewed in Rolling Stone or played on the radio down there.

Sadly, the US continues to pretend that these great canadian 90's bands never existed. Just listen Sirius XM's Lithium (90's grunge/alternative) station. The only Canadian song i can ever recall hearing on there is OLP's Superman's Dead.

Anyway, it always frustrated me because some of these bands deserved more attention, and people would have really connected with them, no matter where they lived (i dont buy that the Tragically Hip is 'too canadian', its great music and great music will catch on anywhere, if heard)

Anyway, some of these bands include The Tragically Hip, Blue Rodeo, 54.40, Matthew Good, Econoline Crush, Pure, 13 Engines, Watchmen, Sloan, Sandbox, Bif Naked, Treble Charger, Age of Electric, I Mother Earth, Limblifter, Big Wreck (their first album is amazing and well above average rock), Mystery Machine, Moist, Slowburn, cub, Pull, Tea Party, Our Lady Peace, Junkhouse (underrated!), Rusty, and on and on...

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I think the case is different nowadays than in the 90's, though in both cases it has been hard for Canadian rock bands to break through. Currently, the US media (radio, magazines, video channels) promote the latest pop tart, and that's all they try to do, because, sadly, it sells. In the 90's - grunge/alternative/rock, whatever you want to call it, was BIG - so why didn't the Canadian acts of the time crack the US market? They were certainly good enough and as good as the alternative stuff that was american. I think its because the US media had no interest in promoting foreign acts. If they did, these bands would be huge. It has nothing to do with Canadian acts wanting to remain small and arty (not suggesting they werent true to their art though - many US bands that were true to their art did make it big at that time), its simply because american media never gave them a chance.

The only reason the Tragically Hip got on Saturday Night Live in 1994 is because Lorne Michaels the producer of the show is Canadian, but they were never reviewed in Rolling Stone or played on the radio down there.

Sadly, the US continues to pretend that these great canadian 90's bands never existed. Just listen Sirius XM's Lithium (90's grunge/alternative) station. The only Canadian song i can ever recall hearing on there is OLP's Superman's Dead.

Anyway, it always frustrated me because some of these bands deserved more attention, and people would have really connected with them, no matter where they lived (i dont buy that the Tragically Hip is 'too canadian', its great music and great music will catch on anywhere, if heard)

Anyway, some of these bands include The Tragically Hip, Blue Rodeo, 54.40, Matthew Good, Econoline Crush, Pure, 13 Engines, Watchmen, Sloan, Sandbox, Bif Naked, Treble Charger, Age of Electric, I Mother Earth, Limblifter, Big Wreck (their first album is amazing and well above average rock), Mystery Machine, Moist, Slowburn, cub, Pull, Tea Party, Our Lady Peace, Junkhouse (underrated!), Rusty, and on and on...

Well said. And thanks for reminding me of 54-40...a huge fan of theirs. Watchmen too, so great. Junkhouse. These are all my favourite bands - not just favourite Canadian bands. Still listen to them all the time....

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oddly just last week I found out that my neighbour, who I've been hanging out at the dog park with over the past year, is the singer from 54-40. I had no idea until another neighbour mentioned it, and it was like a light bulb going off in my head since he always seemed vaguely familiar.

anyways, did a band called hHead ever get any exposure out West? They might have been just an Ontario thing, I remember seeing them on a quadruple bill with Rusty back in the day. Their bass player went on to start Broken Social Scene. I've been periodically checking torrent sites for their two albums over the past 5 years and I just now finally found one, thanks to this thread. Looking forward to cranking it up while making breakfast in the morning!

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Well said. And thanks for reminding me of 54-40...a huge fan of theirs. Watchmen too, so great. Junkhouse. These are all my favourite bands - not just favourite Canadian bands. Still listen to them all the time....

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