Canadian music is boring
Living in the age of enforced mediocrity http://www.ffwdweekly.com/article/mu...s-boring-9466/
Canadian music is forcibly being supported on the airwaves — not for its quality, or artistic merit, but simply for its MAPL-certified Canadian-ness. Has it helped independent Canadian musicians? Yes and no. Pop-punk pissants like Hedley and Simple Plan dominate mainstream radio; Can-indie, the descendents of The New Pornographers, BSS, dominate community radio airwaves. Cancon regulations might support Canadian music in a roundabout way, but it hardly supports new, fresh or fascinating ideas in Canadian music. It is, in a sense, enforcing mediocre musical tastes, not challenging them.
When everything is “good,” everything basically sucks. No one breaks the rules, no one pushes the envelope, no one even tries. The Canadian critics, working hand in hand with other facets of the national music industry, have become the equivalent of over-encouraging parents. Everything Canada produces runs the gamut from good to great.
We don’t actually believe that all Canadian music is boring, but as a country we’re addicted to mediocrity, to nepotism, to a stagnating Can-rock fraternity. In order to embrace the talent that’s abundant on our own soil, we need to shift the Canadian music paradigm away from consensus, away from nepotism, and away from some streamlined idea of “quality” — a term that’s highly subjective. As a nation, we have a grant system — however lacking in funding — a broadcast protection system and yes, coast-to-coast talent at our disposal.
We just need to redefine how we utilize those infrastructures so as to avoid cultural staleness. After all, innovative music doesn’t only exist in a select few backyards; it’s coming out of countless small town garages, dingy practice spaces and cluttered bedrooms across the country.
I have to go read these articles, but it seems to me mediocrity was worse in the 1980s and 1990s. Now that artists are less reliant on commercial radio, I think this is a Golden Age for Canadian music.
I was however, underwhelmed with the Polaris Prize nominees.
Cancon is irrelevant when talking about CBC3 or college radio stations like CJSW. CBC3 plays only Canadian music, and CJSW plays a ton of local and Canadian music.
"Alt-weekly no longer finds it's content is alternative, still needs material"
I have a hard time seeing this as anything more than cranky elitism, yes the Arcade Fire won both the grammy & the Polaris prize... it doesn't change the fact that they had the best album of the year by any measure.
I also don't believe Polaris's criteria is "most underexposed/underground record of the year", if FFWD wants to give out that prize out than go for it. But don't dump on the industry as a whole just because it's too "mainstream" for your taste.
Likewise Troutman I agree, we're currently blessed with more great Canadian music than we've ever had, and it's easier to get. I hold the Can-con laws responsible for Nickelback, but something like CBC3 wouldn't have lasted if our homegrown talent sucked.
Last edited by Regular_John; 07-19-2012 at 03:56 PM.
Go look up the short and long lists of the Polaris prize to see some truly amazing talent. Canadian rock is among the best in terms of amazing bands per capita in the world and that's among a huge array of genres.
I agree that the major Canadian music scene has started growing stale.
I'm happy that they mentioned White Lung in that article, because White Lung (and Vapid) are really great.
There is some really good Canadian music coming out recently, but I think the next wave of great Canadian music will be a little less visible, as the DIY ethic becomes more popular.
Some examples:
The White Wires are just releasing a new record on Dirtnap Records in the next month, but they have 2 other full length records out, as well as a few splits. (You can eve get a free download of one of their newest songs here http://www.spinner.ca/2012/07/07/whi...free-download/
Crusades just released an album this past September
Some of the guys from Crusades were in the Sedatives
To quote Louis C.K. "Everything is amazing right now and nobody's happy."
Hey, I'm a dinosaur. Leave me alone.
More of a general comment than anything. I do agree that the internet's opened the floodgates, but with the amount of bands out there now you have to sift more through the numbers to find quality.
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Last edited by Puppet Guy; 07-20-2012 at 11:05 AM.
I agree that the major Canadian music scene has started growing stale.
I'm happy that they mentioned White Lung in that article, because White Lung (and Vapid) are really great.
There is some really good Canadian music coming out recently, but I think the next wave of great Canadian music will be a little less visible, as the DIY ethic becomes more popular.
Some examples:
The White Wires are just releasing a new record on Dirtnap Records in the next month, but they have 2 other full length records out, as well as a few splits. (You can eve get a free download of one of their newest songs here http://www.spinner.ca/2012/07/07/whi...free-download/
Crusades just released an album this past September
Some of the guys from Crusades were in the Sedatives
I have to go read these articles, but it seems to me mediocrity was worse in the 1980s and 1990s. Now that artists are less reliant on commercial radio, I think this is a Golden Age for Canadian music.
I was however, underwhelmed with the Polaris Prize nominees.
Cancon is irrelevant when talking about CBC3 or college radio stations like CJSW. CBC3 plays only Canadian music, and CJSW plays a ton of local and Canadian music.
Couldn't have said it better myself.
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Originally Posted by Locke
Thats why Flames fans make ideal Star Trek fans. We've really been taught to embrace the self-loathing and extreme criticism.
Calgary alt-weekly calls Canadian music boring
