A general rule? Canadians: Comedians, good. Music, bad. Discuss.

It is a general rule that my SO swears by.

I don't know a lot of Canadian music, but most of what I've heard I like, and there's some really awesome stuff (IMHO, anyway) like Neil Young and the Guess Who. The only mostly bad Canadian artist I know of is Celine Dion.

Paul Schaeffer...

then you lost me with the last one

He played studio stuff with some of the greats back in the 60-70's.

I'll shut up now

I assume he's talented. I just wish he would shut his mouth and save us from his so-called humor. He hasn't been funn7y since SNL and his Don Kirschner days.

I think most of the comedy industry in the US is Canadians. Music, well Gordon Lightfoot is awesome, Neil Young is one of us, so was the band and a host of other music you probably haven't heard of that is awesome

Arcade Fire
Tricky Woo
54-40
Pure
Celtic Music from Canada is awesome
Hot hot heat

and more

Or of you want to go back a ways, Ian and Sylvia.

I'll grant that there are a few too many light-weight Canadian pop singers at the moment, but that's not a permanent condition.

Neil Young rocks. Yes Celine Dion sucks but that is the only truly bad Canadian artist I know.

Or good American comedians.

:evilgrin:

And I love Canada and Canadians.

It wasn't meant to be diss of Canadian, just a discussion of silly rule that my SO has.

A general rule, mind you. There are obviously exceptions.

And you know, there are a LOT of Canadian comedians I don't mind you dissing.

Dan Aykroyd, Howie Mandel, Jim Carrey, Wayne and Schuster, and most of the ones who still live in Canada, for example.

Of course they also gave us Celine Dion and Avril Lavigne, but we'll forgive that.

I did not know that.

We don't like to brag about that

and he's known around these parts to be a total asshole.

He apparently had a hit record or two recently.

Once, someone snarkily yelled out a request for "Summer of 65" and Adams got so mad, he leapt into the crowd to find out who said it.

Let's make the imperial assumption, that Canada is really just an unannexed colony of the United States. You'd expect Canada to produce 1/10 the talent and 1/10 the crap of the North American musical scene.

Certainly, for folk and rock, they've probably exceeded their allotment, if you give them a ten-year pass on rock due to cultural diffusion (i.e., due to the lack of large numbers of poor black people, you wouldn't expect Elvis to come from Canada).

In classical music, they've put out enough to keep up on the performance end. They didn't match the prolific output of the Americans during the last century, but the American neo-classicalesque guys faded a long time ago.

As to bad music, they haven't met their quota of boy-bands, and Celine Dion is no Britney Spears. They have no real pop Nashville contributions. While on the one hand, they've not contributed to rap (it's hard to make rap without society crapping on its citizens), they also hold little blame for talentless, mainstreamed "rap".

Shania Twain ....Holly Cole?

Canada has the best female artists... ALanis and Shania excluded Ugh earworms!

SNFU
Delerium
Skinny Puppy
Big Rude Jake
Jane Siberry
Sarah McLachlan

...and MITSOU!

I do agree that Anne Murray, Loverboy and Celine Dion have created a kind of stigma...

Alexisonfire, Billy Talent, Protest The Hero, The Stills, The Weakerthans, Wintersleep, Closet Monster, Belvedere, Sweatshop Union, Choke, Death From Above 1979, Hot Hot Heat, Sam Roberts, Holly McNarland, Tegan and Sara, The Tea Party, Matthew Good Band/Matthew Good (solo), Moneen, K-os, etc.

My brother has one of their albums.

It's really good though.

Gawd I'm going to miss Can Con when I leave Vancouver... :cry:

-SM

Bad music? Them's fighting words!
I grew up listening to Chom FM. Went right from nursery rhymes to Triumph, Rush and April Wine.
Thanks to the internet, I no longer need to travel to Montreal to get my fix of Canadian tunes.

Anybody who thinks their music is bad is so lacking in taste that they should have their tubes tied.

Canada had some great artists. The 60's and early 70's were great. The garage psych in this country during that era rivals the biggest and best bands of the time (not that anyone would know because most of those recordings are long gone or only available on hard to find LP's).
Then Celine Dion was born and it all went to hell.
Canada has some of the worst stuff going right now - Avril, Shania, Celine... not to mention the we-should-pack-it-up crew of Rush and The Guess Who. Neil is still great.
As for Joni Mitchell - small doses, my friends. And as for Sarah McLaughlin - :boring:

The good music in this country (and indeed in most) is underground and local, definitely not what's on MushMusic (that's not a typo).

Neil Peart should be the next pope.

he is not funny. Rule is now disproved.

Hip Chicks Guide to Macrobiotics. Crazy Canadian, fersure.

When you consider the population difference, Canada has done very well. They love their music up there. Anytime I've gone to a major concert in Ottawa or Montreal, the houses have been packed.

Here's a website that lists many of their bands and entertainers
http://www.haltoncrimestoppers.com/ip_canv6.html

The Guess Who and Neil Young are two of my faves.

Even when you get away from the mega performers there's a huge interest in the music scene, especially in the larger cities. You can always find some of the bigger reggae scenes in cities like Montreal and Toronto. In the summer my kids have gone several times to punk rock festivals in Montreal like the Warped Tour and others.

Music is HUGE in Canada.