« Thank God | Main | You Get The Advice You Pay For » Canada: Still Awesome09 May 2007 01:51 am Msmackle writes in re: Avril Lavigne's latest: "Well, it at least follows your trend of Canadian-friendly music fetish. As a proud Canuck, I gotta say that I hope this anti-Avril move isn't part of a new trend away from the Great White North." It certainly isn't! Hence this semi-recent video of "Empty" by my favorite Canadian band, Metric: For political purposes, however, one should really check out "Monster Hospital" or especially "Succexy". Comments (20)
Really? Metric? Metric's not even the second best Canadian band featuring Emily Haines. 
Since I can never get flash to properly install on my computer I can't see the clip. But even if it's great I doubt this can make up for the general suckiness of Canadian music- the insipid boringness of Bare Naked Ladies, the silly Randianism of Rush, the crappiness of Alannis Morrisette, everything about Celeine Dion, and so on.
the insipid boringness of Bare Naked Ladies, the silly Randianism of Rush, the crappiness of Alannis Morrisette, everything about Celeine Dion So you stopped listening to music in 1996?
I never liked Avril, but that just "cured" me too. Wow. I think she's going for that Gwen Stefani/Fergie cheerleader thing, but it doesn't work at all. (Not that it worked for Gwen or Fergie either.) On a side note, "finger" and "better" do not rhyme.
If you want true Canadian awesomeness you need to get on the Spencer Krug bandwagon (Wolf Parade/Swan Lake/Sunset Rubdown/Frog Eyes). I'd personally place Arcade Fire ahead of Metric as well -- Neon Bible may have been a step back, but Live It Out was a huge disappointment after Old World Underground, IMO. Julie Doiron is pretty cool too.
the general suckiness of Canadian music- the insipid boringness of Bare Naked Ladies, the silly Randianism of Rush, the crappiness of Alannis Morrisette, everything about Celeine Dion Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Robbie Robertson and Rick Danko, Dennie Doherty, John Kay, Gordon Lightfoot, Bruce Cockburn . . .
"So you stopped listening to music in 1996?" Well, Rush was a bit before that, and let's just say that Avril Lavigne doesn't exactly fill me with excitement. (What explains the famous Matt's liking? Maybe he likes junk or maybe it fits w/ his 'barely legal' interests. Who knows? It's surely a sign of bad taste, though.) But more importantly, after a certain amount of evidence it becomes irrational to expect much different, doesn't it?
For some reason, Canadians seem to love The Tragically Hip beyond all proportion to their actual quality. Wolf Parade, however, is fantastic.
The general suckiness of Canadian music? You must not listen to Arcade Fire, Stars, The New Pornographers, or those already mentioned - Broken Social Scene and Feist.
Re: "the general suckiness of Canadian music" Lots of Americans, inexplicably, love hating on their vast northern friend. I get in trouble when I point out that in the long-run Canadians are better neighbors than, say, the Germans. "My ancestors are German!" my interlocutor will exclaim indignantly. "Oh, so that cancels out that whole World War I and II thing, right?" Usually this ends the conversation.
the general suckiness of Canadian music- the insipid boringness of Bare Naked Ladies, the silly Randianism of Rush, the crappiness of Alannis Morrisette, everything about Celeine Dion As rea and Neil pointed out, this is a bit selective. I could comment on how sucky British music is by citing the Spice Girls (apologies to Matt Y. if he is a fan), but there has obviously been a ton of great British music, Spice Girls notwithstanding. However, it's hard to argue with unfamous Matt's views on the artists he did list.
Neil, I've heard a bit of those bands but they just don't sound very interesting to me- like a lot of stuff that's on the radio, really, and nothing special. I know they are popular but really, they are just not that great.
Unfamous Matt: In what world do Stars and Broken Social Scene get a lot of American radio airplay, or sound like anything that gets a lot of American radio airplay?
Well, broken social scene is that great, and isn't like alot of stuff that's on the radio. Some of their songs are poppy but e.g. listen to "Canada Vs. America", or "Hotel", or "Ibi Dreams of Pavement", or "Anthems for a Seventeen Year Old Girl", or "Passport Radio". None of that sounds like anything on the radio and it's all great. And... now I wish I had my Ipod with me.
See, this is what I mean. Matt just hates pop music, as a personal stance, being a starbucks-swilling-liberal-east-coast elitist. I CHALLENGE Matt - if a gun were put to your head and you had 20 seconds to name 10 GREAT pop songs, that you LOVE, completely upbeat - Can you do it Matt? Can you?
the general suckiness of Canadian music- the insipid boringness of Bare Naked Ladies, the silly Randianism of Rush, the crappiness of Alannis Morrisette, everything about Celeine Dion... ...it's hard to argue with unfamous Matt's views on the artists he did list. No, it's very easy to argue with it. At some point, it occurs to someone who actually loves music that trashing famous acts for suckiness -- not being overrated compared to favorite brand X but for actual "suckiness" -- just makes you sound stupid. The "crappiness" of Alanis? Dude, she changed music by doing something very original. Dated? Surpassed by others? Sure, why not. That doesn't mean it's crap. BNL developed a unique, lively sound and lyrical structure that was (gasp) fun. Rush are freakishly talented musicians (though I despise their songwriting), and Celine has one of the most powerful, pure voices ever (often overpowering the song with her old Quebecois aesthetic). There is generally a reason that people who get and stay famous manage to do that. They're very good at something, no matter how flawed as a package. Trashing them as generally sucky and crappy is intellectually vacuous, and one of the most common things that makes discussions about music sound pretentious and self-absorbed.
Anyone interested in listening to Arcade Fire should start with: Rebellion (Lies) Now that I think about it, Arcade Fire isn't really Canadian. It is made up of Quebeckers and Texans.
I mean, Arcade Fire isn't all Canadian. The Quebeckers are Canadians.
Comments closed May 23, 2007. |
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Heads in the Sand
i wanted to like metric, i really did. i mean i liked that one broken social scene song that emily haines sings, and also emily haines' album from last year, but metric just leaves me cold.
empty is a great video tho.
Posted by snuh | May 9, 2007 3:21 AM