i've never heard of Gowan, i just listened to the one that was supposed to be his most famous, "Criminal Mind". i was only 6 when it came out, and in the 80's my exposure to music lacked quite a bit. the only two songs that i acutally recall from that era was "toot toot" and "just a swingin".
but getting back to canadian artists, i can't say i cared too much for the 1 minute of which i listened to Gowan, not my cup of tea. but i didnt' really care for much from the 80's. however, i discovered a singer "Sara Dufour" about ten years ago while listening to a french country music channel on sirrius xm. and even tho' i don't understand a lick of french (i know some french words obvs, but hearing the language sounds like they're talking with a mouthful of mashed potatoes) her songs are great, i went through most of her singles and i bought probably 10. i always plan to go back to canada, and at some point go up the eastern half, and i hope i can catch her playing somewhere.
i'd also like to visit the "el mocambo" if it's something you can do, because stevie ray vaughn played there, and i'd love to just walk in and grab a beer.
WILLIAMS5232 wrote: Sun Feb 22, 2026 7:07 pm
i've never heard of Gowan, i just listened to the one that was supposed to be his most famous, "Criminal Mind". i was only 6 when it came out, and in the 80's my exposure to music lacked quite a bit. the only two songs that i acutally recall from that era was "toot toot" and "just a swingin".
but getting back to canadian artists, i can't say i cared too much for the 1 minute of which i listened to Gowan, not my cup of tea. but i didnt' really care for much from the 80's. however, i discovered a singer "Sara Dufour" about ten years ago while listening to a french country music channel on sirrius xm. and even tho' i don't understand a lick of french (i know some french words obvs, but hearing the language sounds like they're talking with a mouthful of mashed potatoes) her songs are great, i went through most of her singles and i bought probably 10. i always plan to go back to canada, and at some point go up the eastern half, and i hope i can catch her playing somewhere.
i'd also like to visit the "el mocambo" if it's something you can do, because stevie ray vaughn played there, and i'd love to just walk in and grab a beer.
Canadian music kinda sucks & always has, imo. Thera are a few notable exceptions, ofc - hank snow, Leonard Cohen, gordon lightfoot, Bryan Adams, blah blah blah....but I've always found it rather boring & inoffensive with better similar artists usually located south of the border or Europe who just do it better. the tragically hip, for example, were vastly overrated back in the day, but still omehow managed to basically become Canadian icons on the world stage for having a handful of decent songs and got even more undeserved recognition when the singer died from (brain?) cancer a while back. I'm sorry, Canada, but it's true...*shrugs*. here's a couple of my favourite Canadian artists, just because I feel like posting some music I like :
the smalls - a weird, alt country/proto metal outfit from small town Alberta - seen them at least a dozen times. bassist Corb Lund when on to have a pretty decent career in C&W, until he got popular & sold out.
kittens - noise rock w/some C&W tendencies - def. an acquired taste, lol. absolutely crushing live...
stan rogers - amazing folk singer who passed waayyy before his time. one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard. amazing singer.
gorguts - technical death metal from Montreal. kind of ahead of their time in terms of musical ability back in the early days of DM, still holds up fairly well.
Andrew neville & the poor choices - REAL C&W music, not that pop country shit they try & pass off as C&W these days. honest & raw...fucking LOVE this tune.
Dukasaur wrote: Sun Feb 22, 2026 5:20 pm
Other 2 what?
Gowan "hits", lol - I can only think of strange animal & criminal mind...*shrugs*
Yeah, those were the two biggest.
"Cosmetics" was also a minor hit, and in heavy rotation on MuchMusic, back when MuchMusic actually played Music. It was nominated under "Best Video" for the '86 Junos.
I was thinking "All the Lovers in the World" was his fourth hit, but actually it was "Moonlight Desires" in 1990. Therefore, we can up him from a 4-hit wonder to a 5-hit wonder...
“Life is a shipwreck, but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats.”
― Voltaire
riskllama wrote: Mon Feb 23, 2026 1:04 am
Canadian music kinda sucks & always has, imo.
I completely disagree. Just compare the best of Canadian rock to the best of American rock.
Trying to compare apples to apples here, it's hard to get exact matches but I'll try...
The Guess Who were every bit as good as the Doors. Just never got as famous because they were Canadian.
BTO were better than Bob Seger.
Neil Young was every bit as good as America.
The Forgotten Rebels were every bit as good as the Ramones.
The Box were every bit as good as the Cars.
As for Rush, it's hard to say who to compare to the greatest band of all time, but I'll go out on a limb and say closest comparison would be Rainbow or Dio-era Sabbath, and Rush is definitely better than either of those.
In all the pairings above, if I could only choose one from each pair, I would choose the Canadian one. Just none of them ever got as big or as famous because they were Canadian and working from a smaller market.
“Life is a shipwreck, but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats.”
― Voltaire
ooh shit, yeah - completely forgot about Neil Young!!! I mean, he's VERY hit & miss, but when he hits, it's right the f*ck on. massive respect for him & his stuff, well, except for transformer, LOL. Rush, too - although I was never a fan of their stuff, personally...
also completely forgot cowboy junkies! love them junkies...
riskllama wrote: Mon Feb 23, 2026 1:04 ampreviously
WILLIAMS5232 wrote: Sun Feb 22, 2026 7:07 pm
i've never heard of Gowan, i just listened to the one that was supposed to be his most famous, "Criminal Mind". i was only 6 when it came out, and in the 80's my exposure to music lacked quite a bit. the only two songs that i acutally recall from that era was "toot toot" and "just a swingin".
but getting back to canadian artists, i can't say i cared too much for the 1 minute of which i listened to Gowan, not my cup of tea. but i didnt' really care for much from the 80's. however, i discovered a singer "Sara Dufour" about ten years ago while listening to a french country music channel on sirrius xm. and even tho' i don't understand a lick of french (i know some french words obvs, but hearing the language sounds like they're talking with a mouthful of mashed potatoes) her songs are great, i went through most of her singles and i bought probably 10. i always plan to go back to canada, and at some point go up the eastern half, and i hope i can catch her playing somewhere.
i'd also like to visit the "el mocambo" if it's something you can do, because stevie ray vaughn played there, and i'd love to just walk in and grab a beer.
Canadian music kinda sucks & always has, imo. Thera are a few notable exceptions, ofc - hank snow, Leonard Cohen, gordon lightfoot, Bryan Adams, blah blah blah....but I've always found it rather boring & inoffensive with better similar artists usually located south of the border or Europe who just do it better. the tragically hip, for example, were vastly overrated back in the day, but still omehow managed to basically become Canadian icons on the world stage for having a handful of decent songs and got even more undeserved recognition when the singer died from (brain?) cancer a while back. I'm sorry, Canada, but it's true...*shrugs*. here's a couple of my favourite Canadian artists, just because I feel like posting some music I like :
the smalls - a weird, alt country/proto metal outfit from small town Alberta - seen them at least a dozen times. bassist Corb Lund when on to have a pretty decent career in C&W, until he got popular & sold out.
kittens - noise rock w/some C&W tendencies - def. an acquired taste, lol. absolutely crushing live...
stan rogers - amazing folk singer who passed waayyy before his time. one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard. amazing singer.
gorguts - technical death metal from Montreal. kind of ahead of their time in terms of musical ability back in the early days of DM, still holds up fairly well.
Andrew neville & the poor choices - REAL C&W music, not that pop country shit they try & pass off as C&W these days. honest & raw...fucking LOVE this tune.
pity the man (6.4) this felt like it was going somewhere, but it turned out to be a loop kittens (5.5) i like some metal, but mostly the mainstream stuff. this would be fine if you were in a bar getting drunk (which i no longer do) stan rodgers (1.7) while, i'm sure there was some music with his other songs, this one wasn't it. so i didn't like it at all. while i'm not totally against acapella i don't like this style. considered dead (0.5) this was the hardest for me to listen to. while the short guitar work in the middle was ok, i'm just not into that grunty screaming. for instance, i love spiritbox (canadian even), but she puts in some clean lyrics as well while her screams also flow with the music and tone. andrew neville (8.9) this one is good. i will add to my playlist.
but really, music is funny. i have bought a cd for one song, played through the other songs, and didn't like them, but would burn the one song out that i bought the cd for, and find one or two things about the other songs which would draw me into them, and before i knew it i would find 5 more songs that i preferred over the one i bought the disc for. after not liking the same song the first time around.
here's this, in case you didn't investigate.
about the past 5-10 years, i've been stuck listening to what started out as sirriusxm bpm, that turned into sirriusxm chill. nowadays that's pretty much all i do is hear that. while i do go back to 90's alternative here and there. i have and do like a little of most everything. the problem i find, is as good as the old music is, you can only hear it so many times. and todays music for the most part is trash. unless you're finding obsure stuff. but like you mentioned above, as soon as they get a little fame, they usually always sell out.
@WILLIAMS : ever listened to the drive-by truckers? they're a US country/rock outfit from the southern US (not entirely sure where, exactly...*shrugs*). great songwriters and more importantly, to me anyways, excellent storytellers. they've been around for a good while and have stayed fairly consistent in terms of quality material. below are a couple of my favourites, showcasing each of their main vocalists, enjoy...
kind of sounds like a mix of "The Band" (also canadian) and Gin Blossoms (not canadian) but both a couple of my favorites. i will explore more into them, and possibly if they play locally since i am in the south US. i have an apartment in Gretna louisiana for work, and walking distance is a pretty large local music festival "Gretna Fest" they would probably book there as there is usually about 40 bands that play over the weekend. Gretnafest 2025 lineup
that's just the headliners, there were probably another dozen or more acts.
since you like heavy stuff, maybe you've never heard this... im not a fan of them so much, as i just like this one song.
this guy has some good stuff. even tho he's not canadian. i'm sure he likes poutine.
Bonus; just some more folksy stuff i discovered one day you probably wont hear on the radio.
to get back to the subject of canada, here is a nice pic i took of up there. this was a few degrees south of the arctic circle
Dempster Highway
