The CanCon Catalogue

Help me decide the 110 Best Things About Canadian Music Over the Last 10 Years

If you want to know the rules, click here.

Like many music lovers, I'm one of those people who enjoys lists. I'm not High-Fidelity compulsive about it, but at the very least I use the month of December to review the year in music and compile a list of what I think was the best to come out of the last 365 days, usually in the form of an iPod playlist.

Lately, though, the spark has been gone. There's only so many times you can see the "Greatest Artists" or "Greatest Albums" be topped by the usual suspects-- the Beatles, the Stones, Dylan, Presley, et al, before becoming bored with the whole thing. What catches my interest these days are the ones that enforce different limitations on who qualifies. You can do this by making time limits, as in Blender's 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born (ie 1980) or sorting by nationality, such as Bob Merseau's Top 100 Canadian Albums. Both of these are great because they (mostly) get rid of the names that everyone knows and allow the spotlight to be turned on to some other artists who are (arguably) just as or more worthy than the usual suspects (who are for the most part British and American artists from the 60s and 70s).

Which brings me to today's post. I've decided that with 2010 fast approaching, we should start looking back on the last decade of Canadian music. I genuinely believe that we are living in what will one day be considered Canada's classical period, when the musical scene of our country was full of great artists with as much depth to it as any other place at any other point in time.

So I'm going to compile, with your help, the 110 Best Things About Canadian Music Over the Last 10 Years. This is going to be divided into two parts. First, I'm going to count down ten reasons Canadian music did so well over the last decade. Then, I'm going to list the 100 Greatest Canadian Artists, 2000-2010.


I already have a lot of ideas, but this process would be completely invalid if it didn't receive as much input as possible. That's why I'm asking you to give me your suggestions: who and what should be on these lists, what criteria should be used to define "great", who is "Canadian", does Neil Young qualify even though he's old and in California, will anyone openly vote for Nickelback, and so on. So please, make your voice heard. You can comment on this blog, you can email canconcontact@gmail.com, you can find me on Facebook and Twitter, whatever.

I also hope that if you think this is a good idea you try to get other people involved by directing them here. And other bloggers, I encourage to start the discussion on your own sites as well, I only ask that you alert me that you have done so and direct your readers towards me as well, so that their thoughts can inform my decisions.

Let the discussion begin!


High Fidelity: Top Five

To read about the 110 Best Things About Canadian Music, click here.

Although I will be the final arbiter of who is on these lists and how they're ranked, I promise to be completely open to any and all suggestions. If I deviate drastically from popular opinion, I will let it be known, and I will present my reasons why. Heck, I'll even post the results of the popular vote alongside my own "official" list. The reason I'm acting as a gatekeeper, as such, is that I don't want this to be a matter of whoever has the most fans gets the top spot-- that's how the Junos work, and we all know what a fiasco that is. So while the popular vote will definitely be a factor, it won't be the only one. A well-presented, well-reasoned argument by one person could well have just as much impact as fifteen votes with just a name-- plus, if I really like something you write and you're willing to let me publish it, I will.

Like I say, I'm completely open in this process. I'm interested in starting a discussion and a debate, and am willing to let the criteria work itself out. I think 110 is a good number, but maybe we'll wind up with fifteen reasons and only fifty artists, or maybe we'll get so many nominations it should be expanded to 200-- who knows? It really depends on what happens over the next few months.