While I am writing a blog post, I tend to like to listen to the songs I'm writing about. Sometimes, I get into the writing and I let the song go to the next song. Usually, especially these couple of weeks, the next song is one I know well. As I wrote yesterday's post, the next song came on, and it was one I had not heard before.... nor did the artist sound familiar.
So, that isn't the typical way I get to posts for this blog. But Jessi is not your typical K-Pop artist.
Because she was born in Queens. In New York. The Korean-American rapper was raised in New Jersey until age 15, when she moved to South Korea in search of her music career. After early problems aclimating to the Korean culture, the hard-edged hip-hop artist has gained some momentum.
This song was released in March 2021 and is her latest single, cowritten by PSY. Yes. That PSY. I promise that wasn't planned.
HyunA is one of the grand dames of K-Pop. And, so we are clear, she turns 29 in June. So, she's got a lot of career ahead of her.
You see, she debuted long ago - in 2007, as a member of the Wonder Girls. Do the math, people. She was 14 when she joined them. She did leave that group and go on to 4Minute and a very successful solo career as well.
This song, released in January 2021, was co-written by HyunA, Dawn (from Pentagon and her boyfriend) and Psy. Yes, THAT Psy. It's fun and does poke fun at her long-standing image as something of a bad girl.
Clearly, without knowing anything else, you know this song owes a huge debt to the will.i.am song "I Got It From My Mama". What may surprise you, however, is that it was not only openly authorized, but will.i.am is a co-writer and co-producer of this 2015 single by the king of K-Pop.
Is there anything remarkable about TWICE when comparing them to other Korean girl idol groups?
No, not especially.
I mean, there's nine of them. That's pretty remarkable in and of itself.
This song is also pretty remarkable. On the surface, it seems pretty shallow - but really, it's about the struggles of maintaining a social media image. It is not unlike a future song we are going to post on here, "#Selfie" by The Chainsmokers, in that it is direct social commentary.
The video was filmed on location in Vancouver, BC, Canada.
The group has experienced some worldwide success, including strong support in North America. However, they are more successful in Japan, so they did record a Japanese version of this single.
You had to know, if you actually read this blog, that Marmello was making an appearance here. They are inevitable.
Why did we feature this song, though? There's two things about this that are unique in Korean pop music.
1) Instruments as opposed to a focus on performance and dancing.
2) Minor chords
This is just fun and happy po-rock music, different than anything else that was coming out of Korea in the mid-to-late 2010s. They disbanded in 2019, but I still hope for a comeback.
OK, people, we were going to obviously get to BTS. How could we not? Their harmonies are absolutely infectious.
You will notice over the next couple of weeks that we are talking in a lot of superlatives - biggest, best, first. We are also using words like "influenced by" or "a throwback to". And, a lot of those do apply here. This is the band's first all-English language song, and it is both their first #1 hit in the US and the first #1 hit by any all-South Korean group. It earned the band their first Grammy nomination.
But this song isn't influencED. It is influenTIAL. It is a fresh, modern pop hit. The country of origin doesn't matter. Other artists are now looking to South Korea for influence. This song is a great example of that.
I mentioned the Grammys. BTS performed this song at the 2021 Grammy Awards broadcast... and gave a hell of a performance.
You see, in 2009, this song entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number 76. Modern K-Pop fans take for granted that there will be South Korean artists on the pop charts. Here's the list of all the artists that were on the Billboard Hot 100 from South Korea before Wonder Girls:
1)
Oh. Wait. There weren't any.
NOT ONLY was this the FIRST South Korean song to be a US pop hit, it would go on to become the best selling physical single of 2009 (in an era when the physical single was dying a quick death). The song itself is a bit of a Motown throwback in its harmonies.
The version above is the one that hit the US charts. Of course they did a Korean version, and of course it was a hit in their home country.
Roseanne Park was born 11 February 1997.... in Auckland, New Zealand.
She lived in New Zealand, and then Australia, until she was 15, and she had an audition with YG Entertainment, the famed K-Pop label. Two weeks later, she was in Seoul, and she hasn't really looked back.
The way K-Pop works, when a label signs you, you usually train with them in singing and acting and dancing until you are ready to join a group. With Rosé , that happened four years later, in 2016, when she was paired with Jennie, Jisoo and Lisa - which the world knows better as BLACKPINK, who are likely in your area.
K-Pop groups often have a set beginning, middle, and end. I don't think BLACKPINK is done, and since the debut of Rosé as a solo artist happened AT a BLACKPINK concert, I think the group has a future.
That doesn't mean that Rosé isn't a great artist in her own right. Internationally, this song, released on 12 March, 2021, has been huge. Its debut on YouTube has been the largest ever by a South Korean solo artist - with nearly 42 million views in its first day. This song has so far peaked at #70 on the Billboard Hot 100, far higher than any other Korean female solo artist. Worldwide, it's done even better. Universally, this song is loved and respected.
Two things of note with this song.
1) The song is 100% in English. 100%. Since it's Rosé's first language, it makes sense that she would cross over and do that.
2) Her first single probably could have been light and fun pop music. This isn't.... and in fact, Rosé is listed as a co-writer of this deep and meaningful song.
I add this "live" performance to illustrate a piece of the K-pop machine that I don't really enjoy. There's several videos like this. Rosé CLEARLY wants to sing her song. She's fully capable of singing her song. The helper track is turned up so high she can't. When she can break through that track, you can hear the absolute passion in her voice.
Here she is on the Tonight Show. Pretty much the same performance. She doesn't break through as much.
Those familiar with the Spotify music platform know that they automatically create a number of daily mixes of music for subscribers. Usually, they are broken out by genre - electronic, rock, folk, indie.
Since #MapleLeafMarch, one of my lists has been consistently French-languange pop music. I have no idea why. I haven't been terribly upset about it, though, because it has reintroduced me to one of my favorite French artists and Lily-Rose Depp's mom, Vanessa Paradis.
This song, from her 1990 album Variations sur le même t'aime, never released in the States as far as I can tell, was one of the biggest hits of her career - not "Joe Le Taxi" big, mind you, but pretty big. With its sultry, bluesy pop and Vanessa's voice belting out with passion, it's not hard to understand why it was such a hit. But it was more than that. It was a move to a more mature sound - a sound that would continue throughout her career.
I don't want to give the impression that her career is over. It isn't. Here she is in December 2019, performing the hell out of this song, live.
Ice-T's story is that he was a badass gang member before he cleaned up and turned to music, and then to the Manhattan SVU.
In this song, he's clearly pushing something that isn't drugs - which is why we didn't post this song on Tuesday, frankly. It's a great song that gets lost in some of his harder, flashier stuff, but this is a reminder of how positive an influence on hip-hop Ice-T really was.... and is.
In 1981, there were not many all-woman rock groups playing their instruments and making music like this. Los Angeles had two prominent ones. This was one of them.
So when these five women burst onto the scene with a song one of them (guitarist and backup vocalist Jane Wiedlin) co-wrote with Terry Hall from The Specials, it was something of a big deal. Despite their short tenure (they officially broke up in 1985, after only forming in 1978), they remain one of the most successful female rock bands of all time (the Rock and Roll Hall of Fall calls them "the most successful" but I'm not sure that's true), and they still reform and play together from time to time.
This song is a tour de force, a phenomenon in its own right. It was a top 20 hit in 1981 in the US, and a top 5 hit around the world.
Remember what I said about them reforming? Here they are in 2001. I always loved that Jane Wiedlin sang that bridge, and here, she absolutely BELTS the end of it.
Incidentally, that verse you don't recognize in the middle that Belinda Carlisle shoves in was part of the original composition. This is the full version.
This was the first single from Dr. Dre's 1992 debut solo album, The Chronic. It also introduced the world to Snoop Dogg, famed marijuana customer.
Warren G is pretty openly smoking a blunt in this video.
Soooooooo, that's why we're posting this today. It's also a song that combines the "I'm the best MC" vibe of 80's hip hop with the in-your-face style of N.W.A. brilliantly. The public responded, too - it made it all the way to #2 on the POP charts.
Contrary to popular belief, Billy Squier is not dead. In fact, he's still making music. None of his new music has the same impact as "The Stroke", which is an absolute classic song. And the fact that he's still around is not the only thing that goes against popular belief.
This song is absolutely not about masturbation. Of course, everyone thinks it is, but the reality is, it is about the music industry and how artists need to sell out to make it. Ironically, the song became a top 20 hit, probably because everyone thought it was about masturbation.
Regardless of the subject matter, it's a great song. Breathe it in.
POWERS is a band that has not gotten a ton of attention. I hope to change that today.
Their Wikipedia page is very sparse, but here's what I have been able to find out about the band:
1) Their two principle members, Mike Del Rio and Crista Ru, started off as songwriters for other artists, and they have a number of Wicked Guilty Pleasures to their credit.
2) The duo got their big break when they appeared on a single with The Knocks - we'll have to feature that here sometime, but today, I wanted to give them their due.
3) Their music has been described in many multi-adjective ways. I won't add to that pile. I will say that a male/female vocal duo that shares the duties so evenly and so well is rare, refreshing, and energetic.
We have talked about Don Dixon a little as a producer on his blog. But he's a musician, too, and one worthy of Wicked Guilty Pleasures.
This song, from the 1985 album Most of the Girls Like to Dance but Only Some of the Boys Like To, served as Don Dixon's debut as a musician - he had already produced some of R.E.M.'s early albums - and, let's face it.... it's a little odd.
I grew up in Connecticut, where the praying mantis is the state insect, so we learned a little bit about them..... but for the rest of the country, this song, which got a fair amount of MTV airplay, was an education on the mating habits of the praying mantis. Yes, it's accurate.
Dixon is still performing. Here he is, performing this classic, in 2017, with his wife Marti Jones supporting him on guitar and Grammy award winner (for this) Jon Carroll on keyboard.
This is a song I don't expect to enjoy. And yet, I do.
Five For Fighting is named for the penalty given in hockey (and is a penalty I never got in my years playing hockey, because I avoided fighting on the ice. Not a fan.)
Five For Fighting is also the stage name of John Ondrasik, This Grammy-nominated song from from 2002 was his biggest hit - and has a pretty interesting subject. The titular narrator of the song is, of course, the famous DC Comics superhero, talking about how surprisingly hard his life is. You wouldn't think empathy for the Man of Steel would result in an a moving hit song, but yet, it did.
In 1993, I can tell you that I thought the Flaming Lips were a fun novelty band that wouldn't endure. Especially on the strength of this song, which to this day remains the bands biggest radio hit, if not their most recognizable song anymore.
Boy, was I wrong. Led by Wayne Coyne, the Lips have proven to be an interesting and inventive band who really respects, honors, and relishes its loyal fans. Plus, the band is chock-full of excellent musicians who have all contributed both to the Flaming Lips catalog and other artists who might have once palled around with a blue dog.
Lyrically, this song is goofy. Musically - it's catchy and uplifting and fun and rich.
If you doubted me in how much the band respects their fans, this 2013 performance of the song, which is highly interactive, should illustrate that. There are fans on stage. They are playing with the crowd, who are singing along.
If you've been reading Totally Covered today, you know that we featured three tracks from the Knocks ft. Foster The People EP Melody and Silence.
As you may have guessed, this is track 4, which is the single. It is both melancholic and uplifting. Musically, The Knocks have always had a distinctive electronic sound. Adding Mark Foster to the mix - with whom they've collaborated in the past, and it shows - adds depth to an already rich, deep song.
My plea to you: go encourage your local radio station to play this song. The way music like this gets made is if music like this is supported.
Earl Simmons was born in Westchester County, and died in Westchester County this morning.
You knew him better as DMX. He was a groundbreaking artist, gone too soon.
DMX is still the only artist to have five consecutive albums debut at #1 on the Billboard album charts. A lot of hip hop artists before him chose accessible or angry forms of the music. His success showed that an artist can reach both.
He will be missed. He leaves a large catalog of music behind, perhaps none better known than this song.
We don't normally cover children's music here on Wicked Guilty Pleasures, especially when it wasn't music we grew up with.
The Wiggles made sure we made an exception for them, especially since we've now featured them twice in the last month on Totally Covered. If you didn't read yesterday's Totally Covered post, I strongly encourage you to do so.
This song, one of the signature Wiggles songs, first appeared on their 1994 album Yummy Yummy, so this version, from one of their many videos, features the classic, original Wiggles lineup. The song is earnest and inoffensive, and at the same time, teaches kids how to make a fruit salad.
Of course, the Wiggles are known for their live shows, too, and they do perform this song live, A LOT. You'll be happy to know that I listened to this song A LOT when I was writing this. I know definitively how to make a fruit salad now. This version, complete with a lot of dancing fruit, is from 2011 and their 20th Anniversary concert.
In 2013, the Wiggles changed, with only Anthony Field remaining from the original lineup. At that time, the modern lineup, with Lachlan Gillespie, Simon Pryce, and Emma Watkins debuted, and they've been quite popular with the modern kids. The original educational theory,
But the history of the Wiggles endures, and, rather than just tritely talking about bananas, apples and grapes, the Wiggles did something a little different to celebrate their 30th anniversary. They celebrated the concept that we're all like fruit salad, in the same bowl... while still acknowledging that fruit salad is, indeed, yummy yummy. It is truly a delicious tribute to the times we in which we live.
When the Wiggles (along with a couple of OG Wiggles) appeared on Triple J's "Like A Version" to perform, well, yesterday's Totally Covered post, they also performed their new song, live. Emma did not play drums this time.
Sometimes, a song is so mind-blowing and transcendent that I have to drop everything and reschedule posts just to make sure I fit them into these blogs as soon as possible.
This 2013 song from Australian psychedelic band Tame Impala is not that song. It is, however, a great song, that combines blues and psychedelic elements with a fantastic guitar riff that defies understanding. One of Kevin Parker's oldest songs, it was pulled out and recorded in 2013, and ended up being one of the band's most successful songs.
Lyrically, the song is a bit naughty - the trunk of the elephant is clearly metaphoric- and not just a tribute to Death From Above 1979 - and, for that reason, Kevin Parker found the song "shallow", but it isn't. It's rich and deep and sultry, a musical and lyrical journey.
But in this song, 21 Savage and ESPECIALLY Cardi B steal the show. Between the two of them, there is not a single low moment - no down time, no pause - in this song. And yet, the song does not feel rushed.
To his credit, Khaled is happy to give the spotlight to artists he clearly respects. This is the second time he had collaborated with each of them.
The three featured artists co-wrote the song with producer Tay Keith. "Wish Wish" peaked at #19 on the US pop charts.
I felt like this excellent tune, from the Phantogram album Eyelid Movies, is an appropriate post in a week when Derek Chauvin is currently on trial for his part in the death of George Floyd in police custody.
That's as political as we are going to get with this post.
Clearly, the protagonist in this song - sung by Josh Carter and not Sarah Barthel - is not a fan of the cops. Neither is the guy who made the video, Naje Lataillade, who very much thought through the imagery used. In Naje's words:
"...a sexy police woman comes into frame and gives chase to the crowd. The hipster wearing the PHANTOGRAM shirt is scared for his life. As we watch, we think, "Oh I get it, the song is called 'Running From The Cops'", but there is only one cop, not plural cops. Well, here in Brooklyn, cops equal pigs. So the next character to come out is a freak with a pig nose, dressed in all pink, carrying a bottle of swine flu. He looks angry and like he wants to raise hell. This explains why the people in the beginning were wearing medical masks, as he's spraying the swine flu everywhere. Even the cop is running from because swine flu kills 'pigs'."
The video is mostly in black in white, but there are splashes of blue and red/pink in the black and white. Those two colors are what are required to make a phantogram, the technology you may have seen in your 3D glasses of the 1980s.
It is interesting to watch the performance of this song from 2009. It is a song that is not only performed, but constructed and looped, synthesized to the nth degree to create something noisy and chaotic and beautiful. Second note: they're both multiinstumental.
With a fuller band, like they had in 2014, the song is still chaotic, but less electronic and looped, and more direct. If you happen to have one of those old pairs of 3D glasses, now might be a good time to put them on.
Even though we've featured Annie Clark here before - yes, Scott beat me to St. Vincent just like he beat me to Lights - it's likely none of you know who she is.
Or, at least, until you watched Saturday Night Live this weekend, right? Full disclosure, I'm writing this the day BEFORE she's scheduled to appear, and I didn't know about it until I started doing research for this post. In fact, because I discovered that fact, I moved this post to Monday. You deserve instant gratification.
It's a shame it took SNL to bring her to your attention, but here we are. Her music is poppy yet dark. Her 2017 album MASSEDUCATION is a revelation of sorts. This song, the second single from that album, is a commentary on the culture of Los Angeles, purposefully layered on top of distorted guitar and synth lines.
It's somewhat easy to lose the message in the synth of the song, but in 2018, St. Vincent released an piano version of the album, calling it MassEducation - see what she did there? She also performed the song live in an acoustic guitar version - here's an example of that. Notice how she retains the desperation of the third verse, even with a sparser accompaniment.
If you are here to hear the song St. Vincent performed on SNL this weekend, here it is. Her new album, Daddy's Home, is due to be released May 14th, and, since it's the first since MassEducation, we're pretty excited for it.
I promise you I didn't intend to wean you off of a month of Canadian music with back-to-back 1993 songs by Chicago bands.
It just happened this way.
What also just happened on the whole Saturation album was that Nash Kato, who wasn't the band's normal lead vocalist, sang lead vocals. I wasn't a huge fan of the band before this album, so it was a good thing for me....
As your reward, here's the power ballad 2nd single from the Smashing Pumpkins' epic 1993 album, Siamese Dream. I remember sitting with my girlfriend (at the time) watching them perform this song on SNL. They were becoming a big deal then. I didn't think I'd be talking about this band nearly thirty years later.
But here I am, and it remains one of my favorite song by the band.
Good evening. This is Wicked Guilty Pleasures, an owned and operated blog of the Wicked Guilty Pleasure Broadcasting Corporation, with a picture signal strength of 77,000 watts and a sound signal strength of 7,500 watts. Our principal transmitter is somewhere inside a Google datacenter, which broadcasts to metropolitan Toronto and areas throughout the world. Repeat transmitters extend our broadcast area to include Wawa, White River, Hornepayne, Manitouwadge, Beardmore, and Geraldton. If you have any comments or suggestions about our programs, please address them to info@wickedguilty.com. We hope you've enjoyed this month's programming.
And now, our national anthem.
Bonsoir. Il s'agit de Wicked Guilty Pleasures, un blog détenu et exploité par Wicked Guilty Pleasure Broadcasting Corporation, avec une puissance de signal d'image de 77 000 watts et une puissance de signal sonore de 7 500 watts. Notre émetteur principal se trouve quelque part dans un centre de données Google, qui diffuse vers la métropole de Toronto et des régions du monde entier. Les émetteurs de répétition étendent notre zone de diffusion pour inclure Wawa, White River, Hornepayne, Manitouwadge, Beardmore et Geraldton. Si vous avez des commentaires ou des suggestions sur nos programmes, veuillez les adresser à info@wickedguilty.com. Nous espérons que vous avez apprécié la programmation de ce mois.
Et maintenant, notre hymne national.
(Special thanks to CLBT-TV, whose sign-off from the 1990s we shamelessly lifted)
We are closing this month of nothing but Canadian music the same way we started.
Not just with a band the American audience here had never heard. I mean, yes, that.
Wait. You did figure out the Canadian music thing before now, right? Every artist I posted in March was Canadian - even the covers. I was explicitly clear in every post. EVERY post contained the word "Canada" or "Canadian" - except for the one that contained the word "canadien" and was all in FRENCH. I spelled the word "favourite" several times. I pretty much beat you over the head with the damn maple leaf.
Which also brings us back to ending this month exactly like we started. You see, Armistice was a group - a duo, really, comprised of a man from Toronto band Bedouin Soundclash, named Jay Malinowski, and his girlfriend at the time, a Montreal musician named Béatrice Martin.
This collaboration was very much has a 60's mariachi band feel, which is very different than the reggae/ska sound of Bedouin Soundclash and the sound (although not the lyrical depth) of the chanson française of Cœur de Pirate (are you happy that I had to write the œ AGAIN?!).
Jay and Béatrice, while on tour together in 2011, performed a couple of songs on the streets of Paris. For reasons that will become clear in a minute and you can already guess, I decided to feature their song "City Lights Cry", which also tells a story in mariachi. The couple clearly had a lot of fun doing this.
And they were a couple - meeting at the Olympics in 2010 in Vancouver - but when that relationship ended, Armitice persisted long enough for some promotion of their EP, and then they went their separate ways. Thankfully, the songs didn't die with the relationship, as they have been performed by Cœur de Pirate regularly. Granted, they don't sound quite as mariachi on a piano.... but the songs still work.
I know many of you were underwhelmed by The Weeknd's Super Bowl performance.
It is difficult, however, to be underwhelmed by the impact this Canadian singer has had on music. His combination of soul and electronic music is somewhat groundbreaking - and I can understand that not translating well to a weird national broadcast performance.
So we're clear, this was his current single during that Super Bowl, and it is a top 20 hit worldwide, so I think he's doing something right. The song initially charted in April 2020, a full 8 months before it was released as a single - because it is such an infectious song.
The Weeknd also performed the song during the 2020 iHeartRadio Jingle Ball. In a few years, we're going to look back upon performances like this, without crowds, and remember our little pandemic. For now, just enjoy this live performance.
I'm a little surprised it took me this long to post anything by this Degrassi: The Next Generation alum. That's right. Aubrey Drake Graham was best known for his role on the Canadian drama before he was a musician.
Yes. He was billed as Aubrey Graham.
On this song, which is more soul and less hip-hop than some of Drake's other tunes, he is joined by R&B duo (singer + producer) and fellow Canadians Majid Jordan - and had a worldwide hit, both commercially and critically.
In case it isn't clear, here are Drake and Majid Jordan on Ellen, with Majid Al Maskati clearly singing significant vocals on this song.
I couldn't in good conscience let Klaatu stand as your Wicked Guilty Pleasure today.
For a good percentage of you, this was your first exposure to BNL.
For me, this was the song, playing on CFNY, a radio station from Toronto. It's clearly a tongue-in-cheek love song, referring to the romance of John Lennon and Yoko Ono in somewhat amusing terms. Their debut single, it was a minor Canadian hit and cemented their charm and appeal across the country.
By the way, Yoko Ono has heard the song, and enjoyed it.
The Carpenters did a lot of covers. This was one of them.
But we're not talking about the cover. We're talking about the Klaatu original. You see, Klaatu was a band, formed in 1973, whose style had them dubbed "the Canadian Beatles". It was even rumoured that they WERE The Beatles for a while. Clearly, they weren't, but they had a few hits in their own right.
And they sure did write some offbeat music. However, the title was lifted from an actual 1950's UFO society who used that phrase to start every transmission.
A classic played at many many hockey games, especially in Canada (as it references a Canadian win, and I don't think he means the Canadiens), the single, released in 1973, became a posthumous Canadian Top 30 hit for Connors in 2013.
And me standing in the Saddledome in Calgary at a Flames game in late 2019 singing this song with a lot of Canadians is among my best memories of Canada. It's truly moving to hear thousands of people singing such a joyous song.
On December 29, 2017, Arden was appointed as a Member of the Order of Canada for her 'achievements as a singer-songwriter and broadcaster, and for her extensive charitable work.
I literally copied that from the Jann Arden Wikipedia page. I also learned from her Wikipedia page that she was born in Calgary, but at an early age, moved to Springbank, Alberta. Having spent some significant time in Calgary, I can tell you 1) great city. Go there when you can. 2) That's barely leaving Calgary.
This was Arden's only big US hit, reaching #12 on the pop charts, but she's a superstar in Canada. This song might sound like a sweet ballad, but it's actually kind of angry - which is part of the brilliance of Arden's performance.
The song was released in the mid 1990s, but she still sounded amazing playing the song live in 2018.
After we posted that brilliant k.d. lang cover of this Neil Young song yesterday, we could not help but post the original performing his own song.
From Farm Aid 1993, the Canadian legend belts his classic song, originally performed with his band Crazy Horse but was more famously recorded by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Alone, the power and ache of Young's voice shines through.
You know, we haven't had anything resembling country yet this month, so let's go with it today.
k.d. lang did start off as a country artist in the late 80's, finding success in both the US and her native Canada. However, when she embraced a slightly poppier sound in the early 90's, she achieved her biggest hit outside of Canada - today's feature. By moving away from country, she found a larger audience - and earned a Grammy.
The song itself - which lang co-wrote - is a song about, well, constant craving. It features both her rich voice alone, and multi-part harmonies. In kind of a funny coincidence, the Rolling Stones were (perhaps not consciously) inspired by this song when writing their 1997 single "Anyone Seen My Baby" - so much so that they gave lang a co-writing credit. This was not due to a lawsuit. This was due to Keith Richards being that big a fan of the song.
Also, I hear this song on in-store radio literally every time I go to Wegmans. Not a joke.
For me, personally, the greatest musical discovery I made in 2020 is PEI band The East Pointers. It's not even close. They are a delight, and everything that trio has done is delightful. I love their dedication to folk music and to Atlantic Canada.
For those outside Canada, YYG is the code for Charlottetown Airport, on Prince Edward Island. And yes, WestJet does fly from YYG to and from YYC - that's the code for Calgary, an airport I know very well - on a seasonal basis.
Gordon Lighhtfoot is a Canadian treasure. On this, there can be no debate.
Of course, the song was written on a hot summer's night in Cleveland, Ohio in the mid-1960, as Gordon was missing his wife while on tour. It is a sweet song that is now a winter staple in my house. I hope it is in yours as well.
Captial Q and King Lou were just a couple of friends from Toronto who came together to sample an old Quincy Jones song that was a television theme song. I suspect it is this song that caused "Soul Bossa Nova" to be the theme for the Austin Powers movies, although Mike Myers is Canadian, so he'd probably have seen the Canadian game show Definition.
And now you know where the chorus for this song comes from. And why the song has such a long title.
In case you were wondering about Definition, here's a 1982 episode. YES, that's the guy from Card Sharks.
Every one knows that Len is a one hit wonder. That doesn't mean they didn't release other music, or even that "Steal My Sunshine" was their first single. The Canadian band preceded that huge hit with this single, and a video that features some sweet snowboarding.
"Trillion Daze" is much less hip hop and much more straight-ahead rock with punk sensibilities. I like this incarnation of the band.
We have featured The Weakerthans before. "Tournament of Hearts" is absolutely the greatest song ever written about the uniquely Canadian sport of curling.
The single that followed that great song was this one, a working man's anthem from a working class band. The band, proud of their hometown of Winnipeg, filmed this video there. Together, they make a fitting tribute to life in the middle of Canada.
Who would have thought that an song that sounds like a traditional Irish folk composition would be a top 20 hit?
And yet, that's exactly what happened to Canadian Celtic singer Loreena McKennitt in 1997. A tribute to the mummers' plays of spring, it is an odd but sweet song, bolstered by her sharp soprano vocal. It would be her only hit outside of her native Canada, as she did take a hiatus from music following a deep personal tragedy in 1998 - but she has returned to music and is still releasing new material.
Spirit Of The West aren't a band most Americans have heard, but were wildly successful with their Irish-tinged music in their native Canada. So, this article is going to hit a certain number of you more in the feels than others.
That statement should sound familiar, and yeah, this story doesn't end better.
In 2014, the band's frontman, John Mann, was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's disease. He continued with the band as long as he could, but it clear he was not long for the music industry. He passed away in 2019, at the age of just 57.
This song was an anthem of the band from 1990, but wasn't released as a single until 2014, when it was released in a limited manner on Record Store Day. In the wake of the announcement of Mann's illness, it was quite a bit more poignant than the drinking song it was originally intended to be.
The first time the band played at the famous Massey Hall was on June 6, 2015 - and it was one of their last shows. Mann actually forgets the lyrics for a bit during the song - but the audience had his back. It is one of the greatest moments in Canadian music history.
This song was recorded straight to 2-track in a Toronto church, as was the rest of the Trinity Sessions album - although one of the songs was recorded on a 2nd day, despite the mythology of the song. Famously, they ran out of time during the recording session - which famously featured Margo Timmins singing into a PA - and had to bribe a security guard to let them stay long enough to record this unrehearsed song - which they recorded in ONE TAKE.
This is the DEMO. And it is beautiful.
Of course, the Canadian band is best known for a cover they did, which you can heard today over on Totally Covered.
