Mike Browne’s Blog

Here in Canada any radio or TV station has to play it’s fair share of Canadian Content (CanCon) to “preserve our culture” from being entirely absorbed by our oh so boisterous neighbour to the South. Some people believe that many Canadian musicians who have made brief (or not-so-brief) appearances on the Canadian charts don’t have any true talent but are examples of the principal of CanCon gone wrong to fill a slot and meet a quota.

To check out some of the CanCon one reviewer loves to hate go and check out Craptastic: CanCon Hall of Shame: Dreck. I disagree with the reviewer on a large number of the choices. Yes, I have a soft spot for bands like Trooper, The Northern Pikes, Platinum Blonde, 54-40 and, of course, The Tragically Hip. Some of these bands have also successfully crossed the border to the South and beyond becoming International stars. Bryan Adams for example (not that I like him mind you). There are others like Rita MacNeil (sadly a Nova Scotian), Tu, Men Without Hats, Rene Simard and Dalbello who I’d love to deport to Zanzibar and strip of their citizenship. The crud they’ve spewed hurts my ears.

Seems to me like the person who reviewed this music may be a failed Canadian musician who resents all those who made it. There’s no accounting for personal taste. Atrocities like K.D. Lang (Sunny Jim is obviously from Alberta and not a beef farmer) and Doug and the Slugs made the “At Least They Tried” list. LOL! One of Doug’s Slugs used to live in my pal Rich’s basement suite in Coquitlam. Too Bad!

All slagging aside (both mine and Sunny Jim’s) it makes for some interesting reading and brings back a flood of musical memories both pleasant and disturbing. Thanks Jim! I may not agree with everything you said, but your site rocks!