You Could Get Lost Out Here: the ILM Canadian Pop Music Results Thread

I suspect there'll be another of his songs higher up.

My only vote that placed today was for the Grapes of Wrath, but I voted for other songs by some of the artists who placed (I limited myself to one vote per artist). In fact I thought I had voted for "Limelight" but I chose another Rush song.
I just listened now to all the songs I wasn't familiar with - mostly bright, hopeful synth pop. I was vaguely expecting that there would be some things that I have overheard at the supermarket, which is basically the only place I hear music I don't choose myself... but that probably won't be, unless we get a surprise turnout for the No Frills rap "Bag It Up".

I have definitely overheard Closer and Bright Lights at the supermarket, though I'm not sure those are the synth pop songs you are referring to.

Wow. For sure we have at least one more Lightfoot song coming up. RIP
Wonder how different this poll would have been if we did it two weeks later.

Aw shit, I’m glad we got Gordon Lightfoot in there, just under the wire.

Great to see The Grapes of Wrath in there, and one of their best tunes too, imho.

RIP

Coincidence, or something more?

As Gord would put it, "I'm Not Sayin'..."

23. "7/4 (Shoreline)" (2005)
Broken Social Scene
53 points/5 votes
video

― clemenza, Monday, May 1, 2023 4:55 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

One of my favorite songs of the 00s full stop, and so thrilled to see it rank this high.

Will finish up Wednesday...indexed wanted to clarify that he cast a #1 vote for "The Weight." It was a numbered list with the points distributed evenly, so I wasn't sure.

― clemenza, Monday, May 1, 2023 5:07 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Don't worry about it at all -- no need to adjust at this point -- but my list had points that were not evenly distributed...presumably this means "7/4 Shoreline" should be even higher!

re: the Honest Ed's image, I spent a few months working in Toronto a decade ago and would take the subway from downtown to Bathurst for a vegan restaurant I liked. Nice to see a familiar landmark in this rollout, as I'd completely forgotten it until the image popped up here.

now it's a condo :(

Ah, dammit--sorry, indexed. I'll take a look at that and recalculate. I won't start over, obviously, but if there are any changes, I'll at least make note of them before starting the Top 20.

I’m second guessing some of my votes for sure. I tried to balance personal affection with choices that were ‘fair’, but I think I skewed personal.

I did it in maybe half an hour, sticking with songs I already knew well and generally going by gut feeling/personal affection, while limiting it to one per artist. There was a mild skew towards Mulroney's second term and Chrétien's first. I second-guess nothing, obviously.

I was aiming for a cross-section of "impressions of Canada", not really a scientific weighting of the best songs. I mean, I know that there are about seven songs each on Hejira and On the Beach that are better than Aldo Nova's "Fantasy", but I wanted to capture a certain "being driven to hockey practice at 7 AM and listening to the car radio" feel, despite never playing hockey.
On a related note, I found myself indulgent towards potentially silly songs I associate with being a kid, and much less so towards music that came out after I started paying "serious attention" (roughly Xmas 1983). So early Loverboy made the cut but the later era was shut-out.

In essence, I had to do it my way, or no way at all.

my ballot was half "this feels very Canadian and reminds me of listening to the radio as a kid" and half "some of my favorite songs which happen to be Canadian"

anyway, enjoying this rollout, so far have from my ballot there's "7/4 (shoreline)", "after the gold rush" and "sprawl II"

Indexed: I definitely messed up. I think it was a day where a few came in, and I looked at the top and saw 20, 19, 18, and figured the songs were in reverse order but 10 points for everything. Stupid. Anyway, I see a few in there that I've already counted down, so a couple of ties will probably be broken. I'll recalculate tonight and post a list of the proper 21-40 (or more), and then tomorrow's Top 20 will be correct.

Never mind! (Or: nevermind!) The points were entered correctly. All I messed up on was in not identifying "The Weight" as a #1 vote, and in my post about distributing the points evenly (not sure why I thought that). I didn't, happily.

Ah glad to have not caused any issues! Thanks again.

Yesterday:

21. "Blinding Lights," The Weeknd - 54 ( 6 votes)
22. "These Eyes," Guess Who - 54 (4 votes, one #1 vote)
23. "7/4 (Shoreline)," Broken Social Scene - 53 (5 votes)
24. "The Safety Dance," Men Without Hats - 52 (6 votes)
25. "All the Things I Wasn't," Grapes of Wrath - 52 (5 votes)
26. "Barrett’s Privateers," Stan Rogers - 51 (3 votes)
27. "Let Your Backbone Slide," Maestro Fresh-Wes - 50 (6 votes)
28. (tie) "Sundown," Gordon Lightfoot - 50 (4 votes)
"So Long, Marianne," Leonard Cohen - 50 (4 votes)
"After the Gold Rush," Neil Young - 50 (4 votes)
"Subdivisions," Rush - 50 (4 votes)
32. (tie) "Étienne d’Août," Malajube - 50 (1 vote, one #1 vote)
"Like a Hurricane," Neil Young - 50 (1 vote, one #1 vote)
34. "For What It's Worth," Buffalo Springfield - 48 (6 votes)
35. (tie) "The House That Heaven Built," Japandroids - 47 (4 votes)
"Closer," Tegan & Sara - 47 (4 votes)
37. "Run Away with Me," Carly Rae Jepsen - 47 (3 votes)
38. "Limelight," Rush - 46 (4 votes)
39. (tie) "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)," Arcade Fire - 45 (5 votes)
"Both of Us," Jayda G - 45 (5 votes)
"Home for a Rest," Spirit of the West - 45 (5 votes)
42. "The Weight," the Band - 45 (4 votes, one #1 vote)
43. (tie) "Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl," Broken Social Scene - 45 (3 votes)
"Early Morning Rain," Gordon Lightfoot - 45 (3 votes)

I'll start around noon tomorrow and finish up. I didn't count Stan Rogers as a #1, Matthew, because you gave it the same number of points as everything else...I'm a drag, a well-known drag.

I'll add literal spacing when I post the final list.

4 of my votes are on so far!

I think the only thing I voted for from this first lot was "Subdivisions." Always happy to see Men Without Hats love, even if they have better songs. Can't argue with "These Eyes," "After the Gold Rush," Lightfoot & Cohen. I realize Buffalo Springfield was 3/5 Canadian, but "FWIW" still feels wrong. Never cared for the Band, but can understand why others do. Roxy Music did a better "Like A Hurricane" IMHO. Picked a different Grapes of Wrath but am fond of this track. I dig Japandroids. Not feeling some of the others.

Only thing for me so far is Safety Dance. I kept it to one song per artist, and several have appeared with songs I didn't vote for, but when it came down to it I couldn't choose a Rush song so I left them off altogether.

three of my votes have landed so far (one was a surprise). there's about 10 left from my ballot that i would have expected to see in the top results, but there's no way 50% of what's left will have been things i voted for.
been listening to the nominations playlist and am surprised how many ubiquitous song from my youth were actually Canadian (Oh What Feeling, Sunny Days, Black cars). had no idea!

I didn't count Stan Rogers as a #1, Matthew, because you gave it the same number of points as everything else...

I also had Stan Rogers in a top space, though tied for points with two other songs.

i don't really get the balloting and i don't care lol. roll on

also xp Cheers!

I have to finish before 4:00, and everything's basically ready, so I'm going to start a little early so I don't have to rush. I make mistakes when I rush. (I make mistakes when I don't rush, too.)

https://phildellio.tripod.com/20-expecting.jpg

20. "Expecting to Fly" (1967)
Buffalo Springfield
56 points/5 votes
video

good image/song combo lol

I don't know if I do these the same way as everyone else. Most of the polls use a standard scoring system; I open that up, modelled after Pazz & Jop.

For me, a #1 song would, by definition, have the most points on your ballot. Saying your list is ranked, but giving the same number of points to all songs, or even the top two, that doesn't feel like a #1. Indexed did give "The Weight" the most points on his ballot--I messed up there. But your ballot just listed 40 songs, maffhew. Stan Rogers was at the top, but they weren't numbered or given different points.

(xpost) Thanks...such an unforgettable photo.

The "Expecting to Fly" video highly recommended to anyone who loves Gus Van Sant's Gerry.

https://phildellio.tripod.com/19-nova.jpg

19. "Nova Heart" (1982)
Spoons
57 points/5 votes
video

That was a bit of a surprise. I kind of liked "Old Emotions" at the time.

https://phildellio.tripod.com/18-pardon.jpg

18. "I Beg Your Pardon" (1988)
Kon Kan
58 points/4 votes
video

https://phildellio.tripod.com/17-destroyer.jpg

17. "Kaputt" (2011)
Destroyer
61 points/4 votes
video

Oh I would've pushed Kon Kan higher if I'd been thinking straight while voting.

Maybe I should gone for the euphonious pairing of "Kaputt" and Kawhi...I don't know anything about Destroyer. I think I thought they were heavy metal till listening to this. The Kon Kan song is fantastic. That and "Steal My Sunshine" and "Drinking in L.A." go together in my mind because of their famous samples.

The best thing about this poll for me was reminding me that "I Beg Your Pardon" exists, an almost perfect slice of peak new wave, a song I somehow always seem to have in my head even when I'm not consciously thinking about it

When I was at CIUT in the late '80s (the University of Toronto station), I think Barry Harris--Kon Kan, basically--had a show there, although he may have given it up during that window to focus on making music.

https://phildellio.tripod.com/16-craving.jpg

16. "Constant Craving" (1992)
k.d. lang
63 points/6 votes
video

Too low!

*checks ballot*

oops

same

Which one of the Seven is the guy looking down at his cell phone?

really glad to see that track make it.

https://phildellio.tripod.com/15-cortez.jpg

15. "Cortez the Killer" (1975)
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
70 points/5 votes/one #1 vote
video

If you're thinking "nothing but Neil Young and Joni Mitchell the rest of the way," no, not at all. They're there, but I think only three more between the two of them.