Today is Canada Day, the anniversary of Canuck independence (1869), and I'm honoring it by tweeting my favorite Canadi-factoids all day. But twice in the BQT's history—2003 and 2008—I commemorated the holiday with a special audio round: "Keep on Rockin’ in the Land of Socialized Health Insurance" (well, the first time I didn't call it that, since I wasn't as imaginative back then). Songs by Canadian artists, of which there are many, many, because Canadians are awesome (and there ain't much else to do in Winnipeg but form a band). Digging through the archives, here's what I deemed quizworthy back in the day…
2003
1. "These Eyes" -- The Guess Who
2. "Fat Lip" -- Sum 41
3. "Never Surrender" -- Corey Hart
4. "Puppy Love" -- Paul Anka
5. "All For Swinging You Around" -- The New Pornographers
6. "Suzanne" -- Leonard Cohen
7. "Sk8er Boi" -- Avril Lavigne
8. "Southern Man" -- Neil Young
9. "Informer" -- Snow
10. "Carey" -- Joni Mitchell
A nice mix there: legends and flashes in the pan, great tunes ("These Eyes" is immortal) and conscious garbage ("Puppy Love"). I remember that hardly any teams could ID the New Pornographers song, but hey, I wanted to seem current (Avril Lavigne wasn't enough for me; BTW, in those days before easy song downloading, I acquired that song by purchasing a bootleg CD on Canal Street in Chinatown). I also seriously considered upping the list to 11 tracks, since I felt the desperate need to squeeze in Toronto's pride of the '90s, Barenaked Ladies. Laugh, if you want, but I was way into that band in high school, when they had yet to break through in the States, and they were a terrifically dorky live act. Granted, everything they've done in the past 15 years sucks, but hey, how good is your band?
Circa 1992, I could really relate
Then, five years later…
2008
1. "Man! I Feel Like A Woman" -- Shania Twain
2. "Heat Of The Night" -- Bryan Adams
3. "Signs" -- Five Man Electrical Band
4. "Turn Me Loose" -- Loverboy
5. "Building a Mystery" -- Sarah McLachlan
6. "Closer To The Heart" -- Rush
7. "Money City Maniacs" -- Sloan
8. "1234" -- Feist
9. "Welcome To My Life" -- A Simple Plan
10. "If You Could Read My Mind" -- Gordon Lightfoot
Only time ever A Simple Plan opened for Gordon Lightfoot. It's strange, but I have a much less vivid memory of this round than the one from five years earlier, though clearly I was over Barenaked Ladies by then. And it looks like I was conscious of not reusing anyone from the first edition. BTW, when you're a geeky teen boy in Canada in the early '90s, it is a legal requirement that you become a Rush fan. And when you're a geeky Canadian indie-rock snob in the mid-'90s, it is mandatory you become a Sloan fan (best band ever from Halifax, Nova Scotia). Listen:
So seriously, who should've been in there? And what if I did a new edition now? (Well, a year from now.) Is Bieber too obvious? Time to finally give Bachman-Turner Overdrive some love?