For us Canadian's music is a huge part of who are we. It represent's our country in a way that we can be proud of and have something that we can share with the rest of the world. However, even with all of the amazing band's that Canada has going for it, every year we manage to overlook some of the best music that's been released. Today was the one day out of the year where we should have been proud of some of the great albums that were released this year. Yet, every year that this day comes, we are subjected to the same cock and bull story..."And the Juno goes to.....Nickelback!".
That's right, tonight at General Motor's Place in Vancouver, we had to go through another year of "And the Juno goes to....Nickelback". First off, the juno should never go to Nickelback...ever. They have no talent. Don't get me wrong, at one point and time, I was a fan of them, I even own their album "The Long Road", which was suprisingly decent. All joking matters aside though, if I were to go pull out an album review of their latest effort, "Dark Horse", i'm pretty sure I would see nothing but negativity. It sounds exactly the same as their last two albums, and it's pretty much the same story with their singles. The first one is usually a sappy song filled with remorse or wanting to be more than one could ever aspire to be. Not that there's ever anything wrong with that, but for after 5 or 6 albums, it's gotten pretty lame. Then there's the second single, that focuses on Chad Kroeger getting laid. I'm not going into details with that, because the thought of Chad Kroeger being able to right about "Something In Your Mouth" or going at it like "Animals", just creeps me out.
I know i'm probably going to get penalized for this, but in times of dire need, Matthew Good always seems to hit the nail on the head. I'm not mentioning him because he's my favourite artist, but I do have a good reason. Good's been nominated numerous times over the years, be for it stuff he did with the Matthew Good Band, or his solo work, but not once has he ever gone to the juno's. Not once. If memory serves me right, Dave Genn, the ex-rhythm guitar player for MGB went one year because he heard there was an open bar. A little off topic, but i'll get back to my point. This quote is taken from his site and I think it says what I wanted to, but with a little more meaning behind it
"There are a lot of don’ts in the music business. One of them is having the audacity to pronounce the belief that art is not a competition and that trophies needn’t be handed out to validate what any artist would intrinsically do even if they spent the majority of their time working at a gas station and the rest of it recording poor quality demos in some basement suite on an antiquated cassette four-track. Ya, some of us have the gall to make a living at it, but God forbid any of us dare openly express ourselves beyond the contents of a compact disc. We are, after all, lucky to be able to write, record, and perform music for a living – God knows the majority of us weren’t endowed with talent and just happened to grease our way through music’s formidable front door"
Well that explain's how Nickelback did it, along with Simple Plan, Good Charlotte, and numerous other's who some how are still making album after album of the same thing. Do we really need the Juno's, muchmusic, MTV, VH1 or any of these things anymore that are apparently the way we convey what is good and what is bad in the music industry? Muchmusic used to be one of my favourite stations to watch. The intererviews were pretty good, the music video's were always on when I came home from school, and late at night, you'd get those genre specific programs that they didn't air during the day. Now we get SYTYCD, and ABDC, along with Paris Hilton's British Best Friend, and other craptactular programming. I don't think The Punk is even on saturday night's anymore. I found some really good bands on that show, and now I when I flip to much at Midnight it's either, Meet The Barker's or T.I's Road to redemption. I don't care that your going to jail, but do you really have to get those last 15 minute's of fame before you go off to prison for a year? Wait, I shouldn't say that, I will Admit that T.I is a pretty decent artist, but his show is just so set by the standards of MTV that there really isn't anything I haven't seen before. Much had their own show like this a few years back, except it wasn't headed by anyone famous, and all they did was exploit kids who have had a loss in their life or are losing someone close to them in the next 5 months.
Sorry, I kind of had a spur of the moment anger fit with Muchmusic. It happens a little to often. Anyways, I'll say it again, do we really need an awards show that only praises those are repeat the same process every album? Do we need a show that has no idea what the meaning of the word "New" is? Because last time I checked, The Stills had two other albums under their belts, and to me when they finally get noticed by the mainstream and are being classified as new, it doesn't give me a lot of hope for the music's future.
Here's the link to Matt Good's post about that state of music. If canadian music is something you take pride in, I'd suggest reading it. http://www.matthewgood.org/2009/03/say-hello-to-the-bad-guy/
J-moose
Monday, March 30, 2009
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