China Asked for a Playlist of Canadian Music. Here’s What I Gave Them.
A weird thing is happening in China. After decades of refusing to pay for things like CDs (not to mention aiding and abetting rampant copyright infringement by supporting the biggest counterfeit and bootleg market in the world), the country’s music fans seem to be willing to pay for streaming. The ability to conveniently access millions of songs on demand is stomping out piracy in a country known for ripoffs.
Eric de Fontenay runs a project called Canadian Sounds in China which maintains some playlists on a couple of streaming sites. (Here’s an example of the kind of stuff they post.) He asked me to put together a collection of Canadian music for sites like Netease Music and QQMusic.
Easy, I thought. But once I started, I realized how difficult this task was. How do you sum of the musical personality of an entire country in just 40 songs? And how deep should I go? I mean, we gotta consider the audience and their knowledge of us, right? Even after spending a couple of hours on this thing, I still wasn’t sure whether I got it correct.
Turns out it was pretty popular. On Netease, it ended up with 1,800 followers and 250,000 plays. Nice to see Canadian music traveling well, innit?
Here’s my full list:
Here’s my list:
Legends:
- Neil Young, Old Man
- Rush, Tom Sawyer
- Guess Who, American Woman
- Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Takin’ Care of Business
- Bryan Adams, Summer of 69
- Shania Twain, Man! I Feel Like a Woman
- Tom Cochrane, Life is a Highway
- Nickeback, Photograph
- Robbie Robertson, Somewhere Down the Crazy River
- Gordon Lightfoot, If You Could Read My Mind
- Joni Mitchell, Free Man in Paris
- Teenage Head, Let’s Shake
- Leonard Cohen, Hallelujah
- Kd lang, Constant Craving
- Ian and Sylvia, Four Song Winds
Indie Artists:
- Broken Social Scene, 7/4 (Shoreline)
- Cowboy Junkies, Misguided Angel
- City and Colour, The Girl
- Feist, 1234
- Metric, Breathing Underwater
- A Tribe Called Red, Electric Pow Wow Drum
- Dan Mangan
- Arcade Fire, Reflektor
- Karkwa, Marie tu pleures
- Japandroids, House That Heaven Built
And the rest…
- Tragically Hip, 50 Mission Cap
- Sam Roberts, We’re All in This Together
- Spirit of the West, Home for a Rest
- The Weeknd, Can’t Feel My Face
- Justin Bieber, Sorry
- Drake,
- Carly Rae Jepson, Call Me Maybe
- Drake, Hotline Bling
- Celine Dion, My Heart Will Go On
- Sarah McLachlan, Into the Fire
If making a Canadian playlist, there’s some additional required entries:
1.) New Orleans Is Sinking (Killer Whale Tank Live Mix) – The Tragically Hip
2.) The Hockey Song – Stompin Tom Connors
3.) If I Had A Million Dollars – Bare Naked Ladies
4.) Possession – Sarah McLachlan
5.) Shades Of Gray – Amanda Marshall
6.) Love Is – Alana Miles
7.) Temptation – The Tea Party
8.) Wash Your Face In My Sink – Dream Warriors
9.) Naveed – Our Lady Peace
10.) Try – Blue Rodeo
11.) Underwhelmed – Sloan
12.) Fat Lip – Sum 41
13.) Smile And Wave – Headstones
…
Underwhelmed is a terrible English lesson!
I’m going to leave this and going quietly…
https://youtu.be/dXpcB5qh-Wo
https://youtu.be/L67VzcmBeUQ
Which Dan Mangan track… and really? 2 Drake songs? C’mon Alan, you can do better than that. 😉
Again, I only had 40 songs to describe the history of Canadian musical to a non-English speaking nation of 1.4 billion. You have to take the audience into consideration. One way is to focus on the artists who have given Canada global recognition. Take credit for our best and brightest, you know?
Out On A Limb – Eye Eye
The Perfectionist – Saga
We Can Walk – Plasterscene Replicas
Hangin High & Dry – Brighton Rock
Stand Tall – Killer Dwarfs
One O Clock Tomorrow – FM
Masterstroke – Bootsauce
House Of Love – Barney Bentall
Spaceship Superstar – Prism
Country Road – Maynard Ferguson
A Funny Place – Mitsou
Flesh Under Skin – National Velvet
Happy Now I Know – Breeding Ground
Innocence – Harlequin
Moments Like This – Aerial
I’d love to see a Patrick Watson tune on that list. Take a pick, any pick!
Cheers!