Are These the Biggest and Best Canadian Songs, Albums, Bands and Singers of All Time?
There have been all kinds of Canada 150 lists in recent days, including this one from Nielsen and the CBC which purports to offer the biggest and best Canadian songs of all time. Musicians, artists, actors and writers from around the world were asked to name the Canadian albums that meant the most to them. When the votes were tallied, this was the result.
- Harvest – Neil Young
- The Goldberg Variations – Glenn Gould
- Blue – Joni Mitchell
- Funeral – Arcade Fire
- Night Train – Oscar Peterson
- The Band – The Band
- Twice Removed – Sloan
- Quatre saisons dans le desordre – Daniel Belanger
- Songs of Leonard Cohen – Leonard Cohen
- Ingenue – k.d. lang
- Sundown – Gordon Lightfoot
- Jagged Little Pill – Alanis Morissette
- Fully Completely – The Tragically Hip
- Holst: The Planets – Orchestra Symphonique de Montreal and Charles Dutoit
- Five Days in July – Blue Rodeo
- Let It Die – Feist
- 2112 – Rush
- After the Gold Rush – Neil Young
- You Forgot It in People – Social Scene
- Fumbling Towards Ecstacy – Sarah McLachlan
The full Top 100 list can be found here.
Moving on to individual songs, we have this:
- Both Sides Now – Joni Mitchell
- Helpless – Neil Young
- Wheat Kings – Tragically Hip
- The Weight – The Band
- Wake Up – Arcade Fire
- American Woman – Guess Who
- Tom Sawyer – Rush
- Suzanne – Leonard Cohen
- Mushaboom – Feist
- Let the Backbone Slide – Maestro Fresh Wes
- Hallelujah – Leonard Cohen
- Summer of ’69 – Bryan Adams
- Four Strong Winds – Ian & Sylvia
- Universal Soldier – Buffy Sainte-Marie
- Lovers in a Dangerous Time – Bruce Cockburn
- Lost Together – Blue Rodeo
- Sundown – Gordon Lightfoot
- Coax Me – Sloan
- Needle and the Damage Done – Neil Young
- Constant Craving – k.d. lang
For everything else, go here.
What about best bands and individual artists? Glad you asked.
- Arcade Fire
- The Band
- Rush
- Sloan
- The Tragically Hip
- Tegan and Sara
- Rascalz
- Harmonium
- A Tribe Called Red
- New Pornographers
- k.d. lang
- Maureen Forrester
- Burton Cummings
- Joni Mitchell
- Feist
- Celine Dion
- The Weeknd
- Sarah McLachlan
- Rufus Wainwright
- Anne Murray
Still need more lists from this survey? Go to VVN for a nice summary.