I Just Discovered How Canadian I Am

It's funny how many things we Canadians are accustomed to that people from outside the country have never heard of.  I never realized how non-Americanized I was until I started writing for the world wide web.

I recently wrote a top ten list of sorts about some of my favourite songs, and low and behold, the majority of the list was made up of Canadian artists.  The Band, Alannah Myles, Haywire and Helix were rounding out the list.   It occurred to me, that I should probably not overdo the Canadian content, since I honestly have no idea how much exposure these songs may have gotten outside our border.

So there I was, trying to remember some of my favourite songs that were not from Canadians, and what comes to mind are names like, Bryan Adams, Kim Mitchell, The Guess Who, Steppenwolf, Sass Jordan, Luba and so on.  It was like trying not to think of pink elephants.  A great song would flutter into my brain only to be followed by, "no wait, their Canadian".  It took me four days to complete the article because for the life of me, all thoughts led back home.   I ended up having to google "80's songs" to kickstart my brain again.

However, it did leave me thinking that I have an awful lot of Canadian classic favs that deserve a list of their own.  So here it is, some of the greatest Canadian musical talent (in no particular order).

1. Bryan Adams 
2. Kim Mitchell 
3. Loverboy 
4. Steppenwolf 
5. Trooper 
6. The Guess Who 
7. Rush 
8. Blue Rodeo 
9. Jeff Healey Band 
10. Paul Anka 
11. Gordon Lightfoot 
12. BTO 
13. Triumph
14. Neil Young
15. Max Webster
16. Corey Hart
17. Lee Aaron
18. Tom Cochrane
19. Bruce Cockburn
20. Honeymoon Suite
21. Colin James
22. The Tragically Hip
23. Sarah McLachlin
24. Sass Jordon
25. David Wilcox
26. Bare Naked Ladies
27. Celine Dion
28. Alanis Morissette
29. Nickelback
30. Leonard Cohen

Since Canada is a country made up of small towns and independent radio stations, it's a marvel that we have some much exposure for local talent on our own airwaves, or is it.  Turns out, in true Canadian fashion, the government passed a law to promote our own talent within our borders.  The CRTC passed regulations in 1971 requiring our radio stations to have at least 25% Canadian content on the air.  In the eighties this went to 30% and in the nineties became 35%.   

Since I was born in 1972, I guess I can honestly say I was raised on Canadian music.