Canuck Rock : A History of Canadian Popular Music

The Guess Who. Gordon Lightfoot. Joni Mitchell. Neil Young. Stompin' Tom Connors. Robert Charlebois. Anne Murray. Crowbar. Chilliwack. Carole Pope. Loverboy. Bryan Adams. The Barenaked Ladies. The Tragically Hip. Céline Dion. Arcade Fire. K-oS. Feist. These musicians are national heroes to generations of Canadians. But what does it mean to be a Canadian musician? And why does nationality even matter? Canuck Rock addresses these questions by delving into the myriad relationships between the people who make music, the industries that produce and sell it, the radio stations and government legislation that determine availability, and the fans who consume it and make it their own. An invaluable resource and an absorbing read, Canuck Rock spans from the emergence of rock and roll in the 1950s through to today's international recording industry. Combining archival material, published accounts, and new interviews, Ryan Edwardson explores how music in Canada became Canadian music. Contents 5 Acknowledgments 7 Introduction: From Rock and Roll in Canada to ‘Canadian’ Rock and Roll 9 1. Lonely Boys and Wild Girls: Rock and Roll in Canada in the 1950s 34 2. Guess Who?: Beatlemania and the Race to Be British 64 3. From ‘Tom Dooley’ to ‘Mon Pays’: Folk Music and the Nation 83 4. ‘California Dreamin’: Why Canadian Musicians Were Not ‘Helpless’ in the United States, 1965–70 109 5. ‘Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out’: Psychedelia, Regionalism, and How a Band from the Prairies Had Wheatfield Soul 129 6. ‘Legislated Radio’: Industry, Identity, and the Canadian Content Regulations 147 7. ‘Oh What a Feeling’: Canadian Content and Identity Politics in the 1970s 167 8. ‘The Nation’s Music Station’: Television and the Idea of Canadian Music 187 9. ‘Takin’ Care of Business’: How Multinationals Underwrote the Canadian Music Industry 207 10. ‘(Everything I Do) I Do It for You’: Bryan Adams and the Waking Up the Neighbours Controversy 228 Conclusion 245 Notes 253 Bibliography 305 Illustration Credits 327 Index 329