Rock music of Canada
Rock music of Canada is a wide and diverse part of the general music of Canada, beginning with American and British style rock and roll in the mid-20th century. Since then Canada has had a considerable impact on the development of the modern popular music called rock. Canada has produced many of the genre's most significant groups and performers, while contributing substantively to the development of the most popular subgenres, which include pop rock, progressive rock, country rock, folk rock, hard rock, punk rock, heavy metal and indie rock.
Background
Since before Canada's emergence as a nation in 1867, the country has produced its own composers, musicians and ensembles. From the 17th century onward, Canada has developed a music infrastructure that includes concert halls, conservatories, academies, performing arts centres, record companies, radio stations and national music video television channels. The success of the gramophone at the beginning of the 20th century allowed Canadian songwriters to broaden their potential audiences. Following quickly on the gramophone's spread came World War I. The war was the catalyst for the writing and recording of large numbers of Canadian-written popular songs, some of which achieved lasting international commercial success. The 1920s saw Canada's first radio stations, this allowed Canadian songwriters to contribute some of the most famous popular music of the early 20th century.Canada has produced a number of notable international recording artists who appeared on the Billboard record sales chart called Hit Parade first published in 1936. Among them was the World War II era bandleader, Guy Lombardo, who with his brother has sold an estimated 250 million phonograph records during their lifetimes. Over the course of his career, which began in 1944, Montreal's jazz virtuoso Oscar Peterson released over 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards, and received many other awards and honors. Oscar Peterson is considered to have been one of the greatest pianists of all time. Nova Scotia-born and raised Hank Snow who signed with RCA Victor in 1936 and went on to become one of America's most innovative country music superstars.
History
1950s
arose in the United States in the late 1940s after World War II, from a combination of the rhythms of African American blues, country and gospel music. Though elements of rock and roll can be heard in Canadian country records of the 1930s–1940s, and in American blues records from the 1920s, rock and roll did not acquire its name until the 1950s. "Rock" or its forerunners electric blues and rhythm and blues was first heard in the late 1940s by Canadians who were living close enough to the American border to tune into American radio station broadcasts.In 1951, Cleveland, Ohio disc jockey Alan Freed began playing rhythm and blues music for a multi-racial audience, and is credited with first using the phrase "rock and roll" to describe the musical sound of the Doo-wop vocal groups and the rockabilly singers who emerged in the 1950s. The Four Lads, from Toronto, were one of the first groups to capitalize on this sound and become a prominent act in the Canadian rhythm and blues scene, producing their first hit in 1952 called "Mocking Bird". Their most famous hit was "Moments to Remember", which first reached the Billboard magazine charts on September 3, 1955. Emerging in the mid-1950s, on near equal-footing to American popular music, Canadian popular music enjoyed considerable success at home and abroad.
By 1954 the name "rock and roll" had become the common name of the popular music of the day. Rhythm and blues was too broad a term, because R&B was a category that included most forms of race music, which generally had adult-based lyrics. The Crew-Cuts, The Diamonds and The Four Lads would emerge from this new marketing of rhythm and blues to appeal to a white audience leaving an indelible mark on the Doo-wop days. Often Canadian records of this period were simply covers of pop hits, and rhythm and blues oldies. 1958 saw Canada produced its first rock and roll teen idol Paul Anka, who went to New York City where he auditioned for ABC with the song, "Diana". This song brought Anka instant stardom and he became the first Canadian to have a number one on the US Billboard charts in the rock and roll era. "Diana" is one of the best selling 45s in music history. He followed up with four songs that made it into the Top 20 in 1958, making him one of the biggest teen idols of the time.
Most Canadians with successful recording careers in the 1950s had moved to the US, where the population level and media exposure would eclipse that of Canada. Ronnie Hawkins, an Arkansas born rockabilly singer, moved to Canada in 1958, becoming a prominent figure in Canadian blues and rock devoting his life to popularizing Canadian musicians. He formed a backing band called The Hawks, which produced some of the earliest Canadian rock stars. Among them were the members of The Band, who began touring with Bob Dylan in 1966, and then struck out on their own in 1968.
1960s
As the late fifties gave way to the sixties, stars of the previous decade were still producing hits, but they were quickly losing ground as they struggled to find material that clicked with this new and energetic generation. However, "The Stroll" continued to be a popular dance craze well into the '60s alongside dances like "The Twist" and "The Mashed Potato". The first Canadian-made and produced rock recording to achieve international popularity was "Clap Your Hands" in 1960 by a Montreal quartet, The Beaumarks. Shortly thereafter, they appeared on American Bandstand and a charity concert at Carnegie Hall. Bobby Curtola from Port Arthur, Ontario had several songs on the Canadian music charts beginning with "Hand In Hand With You" in 1960. His biggest chart-topper came in 1962 with the song "Fortune Teller", which was also successful internationally. In 1966, he won an RPM Gold Leaf Award for being the first Canadian to have a gold album. The CHUM Chart debuted on May 27, 1957, under the name CHUM's Weekly Hit Parade, to 1986, and was the longest-running Top 40 chart in Canada.During the 1960s, Canadian music was regarded with indifference and Canadian recording artists were forced to turn toward the United States to establish their careers. In 1960 Walt Grealis of Toronto started in the music business with Apex Records, the Ontario distributor for Compo Company, Canada's first independent record company that today is part of Universal. He later joined London Records, where he worked until February 1964, when he then established RPM weekly trade magazine. From the first issue of RPM Weekly on February 24, 1964, to its final issue on November 13, 2000, RPM was the defining charts in Canada. The popularity of US rock on the two Canadian charts led to many existing groups, especially those devoted to country music, to change styles or to incorporate some rock style hits in their repertoires.
Country rock and folk rock singers such as Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Denny Doherty, David Clayton-Thomas, Andy Kim, Zal Yanovsky, John Kay, and Ian & Sylvia found international audiences. One important example was a Winnipeg band called Chad Allan & the Expressions, which had a 1965 hit with a version of Johnny Kidd and the Pirates' "Shakin' All Over". They would eventually evolve into The Guess Who, the first Canadian rock group to have a No.1 hit that reached the top on the Canadian Singles Chart and the Billboard Hot 100 at the same time, with "American Woman" in 1970. Their success paved the way for a new wave of Canadian singer-songwriters, including Stan Rogers, Murray McLauchlan, Bruce Cockburn and Willie P. Bennett.
Unlike the generation before, the late sixties American and British counterculture and hippie movements had diverted rock towards psychedelic rock, heavy metal, progressive rock and many other styles, most dominated by socially and politically incisive lyrics. The music was an attempt to reflect upon the events of the time—civil rights, the growing unrest in America over the war in Vietnam, and the rise of feminism. In many instances, the "message" within the song was simplistic or banal. Although only two of the five original members of Steppenwolf were born in Canada, the band was among the biggest in Canadian music in the 1960s and 1970s. German born frontman, John Kay, would later become a Canadian citizen and was the only member of Steppenwolf to be inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and Canada's Walk of Fame. Steppenwolf is most famous for the songs "Born to Be Wild", "Magic Carpet Ride" and "The Pusher". "Born to be Wild" is the group's biggest hit, making it to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1968, becoming one of the 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and becoming one of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. In 1969, drummer Corky Laing, from Montreal, joined pioneering American hard rock band Mountain. Another one of the most prominent players of the late 1960s and early 1970s rock scene was Neil Young, who was a member of the folk rock band Buffalo Springfield, before joining Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Young also recorded music with Crazy Horse throughout his solo career. The song "Ohio", written by Neil Young and recorded with CSNY, was in response to political events of the time and has since become an America social icon of the period. "Ohio" was written about the death of four students at Kent State University. The students were shot by Ohio National Guardsmen during an anti-war protest on the campus in May 1970.
1970s
With the introduction of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission's broadcast regulations in 1970, the Canadian recording industry made rock a major focus of its activity. In 1971, the Canadian content law was passed ensuring Canadian artists weren't overrun by American media outlets. The Juno Awards began as a reader poll conducted by Canadian music industry trade magazine RPM Weekly in December 1964. A similar balloting process continued until 1970 when the RPM Gold Leaf Awards, as they were then known, were changed to the Juno Awards. The first Juno Award ceremony was held in 1975 and played a role in addressing the concern about Canadian content. This led to increased production and with the international popularity of The Guess Who and Neil Young at the end of the 1960s, opened markets outside Canada to the country's musicians. Success abroad usually ensured success in Canada. The early 1970s were a golden age for Canadian music. Many performers from the late 1960s came to the forefront in the following years, among them The Bells and Andy Kim from Montreal, Chilliwack from Vancouver, Five Man Electrical Band from Ottawa, Lighthouse from Toronto, Wednesday from Oshawa, and The Stampeders from Calgary.File:Rush-in-concert.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Rush in concert in Milan, Italy, 2004|alt=Color photo of 3 musicians on a stage, in the foreground, one man is holding a guitar, while the other is holding a bass guitar, and in the background a man playing drums.
With the introduction in the mid-1970s period of rock music on FM radio stations, where it was common practice to program extended performances, musicians were no longer limited to songs of three minutes' duration as dictated by AM stations. The still nascent Canadian music industry had little independent music media and a limited distribution infrastructure. Two internationally renowned bands to arise from this industry were Bachman–Turner Overdrive and Rush, both featuring acclaimed managers. Bachman–Turner Overdrive's manager, Bruce Allen, went on to produce Loverboy and eventually manage such major pop stars as Bryan Adams and Anne Murray. Randy Bachman released his new band's first album under the name Bachman–Turner Overdrive in spring 1973, which won two Juno Awards despite being largely ignored in the US. Their second album Bachman–Turner Overdrive II hit No. 4 in the U.S. BTO II was certified gold in eight countries. It also yielded their best-remembered and most enduring single, "Takin' Care of Business", written by Randy Bachman. 1974's album Not Fragile went straight to the top of the charts, and the single "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" hit No. 1 in the U.S. and No. 2 in the UK. One of the largest exports to date is Rush, that boasts 25 gold records and 14 platinum records, making them one of the best-selling rock bands in history by 2005. Rush currently place third behind The Beatles and The Rolling Stones for the most consecutive gold and platinum albums by a rock band.
File:Gordon Lightfoot.jpg|left|thumb|Gordon Lightfoot at Massey Hall 2008
Following the hard rock scene a small wave of acts emerged from all across Canada, including Moxy, A Foot in Coldwater and Triumph from Toronto, Trooper from Vancouver, and April Wine from Halifax. April Wine experienced massive success in Canada from the early-1970s to the mid-1980s, but also had some success in United States and Britain, though many music critics have felt their music has been overshadowed by more successful bands. Canadian cultural critics have noted that the late 1970s were a lesser era for Canadian music. Many of the acts who had defined the earlier half of the decade were no longer recording, and the new artists emerging in this era simply didn't seem to be able to capture the Canadian pop zeitgeist in the same way. Nevertheless, a number of established Canadian acts, including Rush, Bachman–Turner Overdrive, Frank Marino & Mahogany Rush, Bruce Cockburn, April Wine, Pat Travers, FM, and Neil Young, remained influential and recorded some of their most popular material of all during this period, and former "The Guess Who" lead singer Burton Cummings emerged as a popular solo artist in soft rock. Also notable is folk rocker Gordon Lightfoot's "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald", a song written in commemoration of the sinking of the bulk carrier SS Edmund Fitzgerald on Lake Superior on 10 November 1975. The incident is the most famous disaster in the history of Great Lakes shipping. The single reached #2 on the Billboard pop charts in November 1976, making it Lightfoot's second most successful single, with "Sundown" having reached number one in 1974. Another of this period's most influential and popular rock bands, Heart, resulted from the collaboration of two sisters from Seattle with a supporting band from Vancouver. Some popular francophone bands of the time included the rock group Beau Dommage from Montreal led by Michel Rivard and the progressive rock group Harmonium also of Montreal. Artists like The Kings, Prism, Crowbar, Nick Gilder, Ian Thomas, Goddo, Harlequin, Mahogany Rush, Moxy, Streetheart, Max Webster and Ironhorse saw their greatest success during the late '70s period.
Many acts have had equally vital, if less remunerative careers outside the mainstream in punk rock and its derivations, generally distinguished by a tendency to extremes of one sort or another. Whether in instrumental intensity, lyric content, or performance style Canadian pop music evolved with the times, reflecting worldwide trends. In the late 1970s, as punk rock, disco, and the emerging new wave ruled the landscape, Canadian groups such as D.O.A., The Viletones, The Forgotten Rebels, Rough Trade, Diodes, Teenage Head, The Demics, The Young Canadians and Subhumans emerged and continued in the 1980s with popular bands like SNFU, Dayglo Abortions and Nomeansno. Rough Trade were particularly notable for their 1980 hit "High School Confidential", one of the first explicitly lesbian-themed pop songs to crack the Top 40 anywhere in the world.