# Underappreciated Canadian bands?



## zao_89 (Feb 17, 2006)

54 - 40
and Rush.

Canada's most popular band and they're still not in the R&R HoF?

The Bee Gees? A bit weird.
Prince? Understandable.
But Madonna? A pop artist who's done nothing at all for Rock and Roll? And STILL no Rush? Wtf?

Anyways, what Canadian bands do you think need to be recognized?


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## devil6 (Feb 24, 2006)

Well off the top of my had i'll say just about every Canadian band before Arcade Fire came along  . Regardless of your opinion of their music they(and by 'they' I actually mean the media) helped put Canadian music back on the global stage.


D.O.A. seem to get overlooked a fair bit in regards to hardcore punk


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## Stratin2traynor (Sep 27, 2006)

I'm a HUGE Tragically Hip fan - it's unfortunate that they haven't made it big south of the boarder. Rush definitely comes to mind. Here I was all psyched to post and now I'm drawing a blank. I'll be back....


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## starjag (Jan 30, 2008)

I am a big fan of Big Wreck and Thornley, which I think qualify as Canadian since Ian Thornley is Canadian. Great musicianship, great tunes, great voice, and great guitar tone when playing live. Very under appreciated.


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## hoser (Feb 2, 2006)

54-40 were the most boring live band I've ever seen, including locals.

I agree on DOA, hell they coined the term "hardcore". Those two Big Wreck albums are two of the best ever released by Canadians.

others:
Thrush Hermit
Iron Giant
sHeavy
Black Halos


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## Robert1950 (Jan 21, 2006)

I think the direct translation for 'Canadian Band' is 'Under Appreciated Band'.


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

hoser said:


> Those two Big Wreck albums are two of the best ever released by Canadians.


I agree that they're great albums, but I thought the band was based out of Boston and that Thornley was the only Canuck in it. Is that true? If so, does that count?

Beyond that, here's my list:

The Hip - in their heyday, they were an absolutely amazing studio and live band.

Luke Doucet/Veal - awesome musical sensibilities and great lyrics.

Lowest of the Low/Ron Hawkins - the archetypal Canadian indie band; great arrangements and fantastic lyrics.

Sloan - criminal under-appreciated, especially for their first few albums and Twice Removed in particular, which was a Beatles-pop album better than any Beatles album I've ever heard.

The Trews - bringing 3 chord riff rock back to a club near you. 3, 4 and sometimes 5-part harmonies in their live shows really gives them a unique sound, and John Angus is one of the most entertaining lead guitarists to watch live.


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## Guest (Jun 25, 2008)

jroberts said:


> When I think of underappreciated Canadian bands, I'm more likely to think of someone like Lowest of the Low than Rush.


+1. Under Appreciated == eeking out a living in my mind. Rush may not be in the HoF but they ain't hurting for fans on a global level or income.

To the list I'll add:

Bootsauce
Fun For Malakai
The Barstool Prophets
I Mother Earth
Big Sugar
Stephen Stanley
The Box

Some of those bands no longer exist. There's more. It's a long list...which might not be a good thing.


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## Tightbutloose (Apr 20, 2008)

hollowbody said:


> ... Sloan - criminal under-appreciated, especially for their first few albums and Twice Removed in particular, which was a Beatles-pop album better than any Beatles album I've ever heard....


+1 for Sloan, (esp Twice Removed)

I just can't understand why this band isn't mega. Sure, they're popular enough around Canada, but they couldn't get arrested outside our boarders.
I often pass out copies of TW to (mostly international) friends who want a lead on a great band they've never heard of. In fact, their entire catalogue is superb Bealtes-meet-indie pop rock.


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## Spikezone (Feb 2, 2006)

MAX WEBSTER! (were they appreciated?). 
This just brings to mind something that I have been thinking about lately-I listen to Rock 101 in Vancouver, and yes, I know there are Canadian content rules that dictate the mix of homegrown/foreign music they get to play, but really, when I hear all the great Canadian music they feature in their playlist, I get to thinking that we have WAY MORE good bands in Canada per capita than they have in the USA. 
I have an expatriate friend who lives in Idaho who sees that all three of my children have been exposed to music in a big way and all play at least for their own enjoyment (one wants to be a performer). He is saddened by the fact that down there it's all about sports in the school system and only one of his 6 kids has any interest in music despite the fact that he still plays in a band regularly. I think we all should be PROUD of our Canadian music as a whole-WE ROCK!
-Mikey


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## allthumbs56 (Jul 24, 2006)

I agree that Max Webster never got the critical and international attention that they deserved.


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## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

For me it was Prism. Young & Restless was such a great album.


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## bscott (Mar 3, 2008)

McKenna Mendelson Mainline, Crowbar, Blue Meanies (from Winnipeg I think).


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

Harem Scarem, Saga, Aldo Nova.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Did anyone mention the original CROWBAR? Not the American metal one currently doing a bad cover of The Ocean (Led Zeppelin), but the "Oh What A Feeling" one. From Hamilton maybe?

Oh yeah, and THUNDERMUG, maybe the best worst (or is that worst best?) party band. From London maybe?

Peace, Mooh.


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## keto (May 23, 2006)

Well, they WERE big international stars but I don't hear nearly enough of them these days, even on the local 'classic' station. I suppose underappreciated may not fit given they had a long stretch ('69-'84 or so) of hits on radio.

APRIL WINE

If you are not familiar with them, go do eet! Spectacular songwriting (Myles wrote numerous big hits for other artists!), great vocals and musicianship. Many wickedawesomechunky guitar tones over the years. Occasionally, some fairly 'outside' solos - which always makes them interesting to me. (side note, Kim Mitchell was definitely a master of going wayyy outside and slinging back in just in the nick o time).

April Wine still tour today, and if they're playing as well as 10 years ago they KILL live.

Honorable mention (from my perspective) to Red Rider. We know Tom had later success in the States (Life Is A Highway, etc) but those first 3-4 Red Rider albums are chock full of great material. Lead heavily amplified and distorted and effected pedal steel anyone? Way too cool! Neruda's my personal fave.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

The Stampeders

Chilliwack

April Wine


The Stampeders are still out there doing gigs last I heard. These guys always surprised me live. Their radio hits concealed a much harder hitting and dynamic band than I would have expected. 

Chilliwack were a great band all around. They wrote beautiful rock tunes and had some smoking guitar playing.

April Wine go WAY back for me and have written some of my favourites.


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## 1PUTTS (Sep 8, 2007)

I just got in from the car and heard The Pursuit of Happiness on the radio ("Hard to Laugh" was the song). I remembered how much I liked those guys. The lyrics to "I'm an Adult Now" are pretty funny as well...

"Well sometimes my head hurts and sometimes my stomach hurts..."


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## Lemmy Hangslong (May 11, 2006)

> April Wine still tour today, and if they're playing as well as 10 years ago they KILL live.


Lots of great songs, singing, guitar tones... just love April Wine.
I'm going to see April Wine on Aug 1.

Another one for me is Trooper. Saw them friday before last.

I'm just a big fan of canadian classic rock and canadian music in general.

craig


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## skydigger (Oct 20, 2007)

uh, The Skydiggers.

Great live band with a great new album.

Fan's of Blue Rodeo's 5 Days in July should like the new album...

Cowboy Junkies are highly underrated as well...


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## infinitemonkey (Jan 20, 2008)

13 Engines


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## evenon (Nov 13, 2006)

Headstones.

Some brilliantly funny and serious writing, never given the artistic merit it deserved, musically it was all pretty simple, but lots and lots of cool hooks.


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## Red Foreman (Apr 3, 2008)

Wide mouth Mason


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## Pepper_Roni (May 29, 2008)

KHINGPYNN said:


> Lots of great songs, singing, guitar tones... just love April Wine.
> I'm going to see April Wine on Aug 1.
> 
> Another one for me is Trooper. Saw them friday before last.
> ...


Trooper is canadian?? Didn't know. +1 for them then. love that band


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## Ripper (Jul 1, 2006)

Anvil - great band and still going strong
Helix
Queen City Kids
Teenage Head


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## ezcomes (Jul 28, 2008)

thornley and big wreck definately

idle sons were awesome too!

what about grady or big sugar??


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

I don't get out much so my scope is fairly narrow these days, but I had the opportunity to see Karkwa on Canada Day, and they were simply amazing. Every bit as good as Radiohead if not better. As a guitar player, you'd think that I'd be pining for solos, but no, there were no real solos and I didn't miss them one little bit. Great tunes, great musicianship, and great presence.

Back in the day, there were a number of great bands in Montreal that never seemed to break out to a national market.

Trevor Payne and the Triangle were simply one of the funkiest outfits in Montreal. Not as big as george Oliver and the Mighty Mandala in Toronto, but every bit as funky. The Triangle eventually became Mashmakhan, and Trevor Payne went into conducting at McGill and eventually became the leader of the Montreal Jubilation Gospel Choir.

L'Infonie were a Montreal-based outfit between around 1967 and 1974 or so. They ranged from 9 to as many as 12-15 musicians at a time (usually with *at least* 4-6 people in the brass section), and were somewhere between Sun Ra, the Bonzo Do Doo Dah Band, Gong, a chamber orchestra and the Mothers of Invention (ironically, or maybe not, former L'infonie leader Walter Boudreau (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Boudreau) toured with a big ensemble tribute to Zappa long before there was Zappa Plays Zappa). I must have seen them 8 or 9 times and they never failed to be brilliant and light years ahead of everything else going on in Canada. Poet Raoul Duguay was a regular member (http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raoul_Duguay). They had 3 or 4 albums, one of which was their version of composer Terry Riley's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Riley) revolutionary composition "In C" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_C). They would move seamlessly from a piece by Telemann arranged for 4 saxophones to a huge swinging uptempo Don Ellis-like number to a James Brown groove and then off into Harry Partch territory, all the while with a staggering light show going on at the same time, and Dugauy spouting "poetry" like it was coming from a pulpit at a Baptist church. More Phish than Phish, always mystical and transcendant, every show would leave you cheering and speechless at the same time. One particularly memorable show at U of M around 1973 had their drummer roller skate out in a gorilla mask and a tutu, with a parasol and sing the old Jacques Brel nugget "Ne me quittes pas" (If you go away). At one show at Terre des Hommes that made me a convert, they played "In C" with all the brass players wandering randomly through the audience distributing sparklers (it was an outdoor show, so no fire hazard folks). Between the hypnotic quality of the music, the way it swirled around you as the musicians moved, the light show, and the sparklers everywhere, that was 100 times more psychedelic than the Jefferson Airplane / Grateful Dead show I saw. And keep in mind, this was a single 45-minute nonstop piece of music. 

As you might expect, taking a band of that size on the road and coming home with money in your pocket was pretty much a non-starter. Most of the band-members had other gigs as sidemen for more popular Quebec stars like Robert Charlebois, or else taught music at Université de Montréal or did music at Radio-Canada. 

I had the pleasure of hosting Walter Boudreau in my English class at CEGEP at the time. Very cool guy. He invited myself and some classmates to come by the stage door when they played Place des Arts. We schmoozed backstage, and he suggested we poke our heads through the curtain juast before showtime to see if there were any seats in the first few rows we could snag at the last minute. Happily, there were some and we were treated to a first rate show.

You can read more here: http://psychevanhetfolk.homestead.com/infonie.html
and see/here them here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbhgUQ8em-M&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYHSqPiVXgM&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Smd2Cl8noBI&feature=related
That's Raoul Dugauy in the beard and glasses doing the, er, "singing".

In my mind, these guys were the stuff of legend, yet west of the Ottawa River, nobody seemed to know they existed.


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## torndownunit (May 14, 2006)

Nomeansno 
The Sadies
Royal Crowns
Teenage Head
Skydiggers
Thrush Hermit
Shikasta


All bands that get/got crtical praise but not the attention they really deserve IMO.


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## moonlington (Jul 3, 2008)

3 inches of blood. 

oh yeah.


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

The Arrogant Worms


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