You might be surprised, but almost every major US performer has a Canadian sound-a-like after not too long because of our Canadian Content laws. I only know how it hurt alt-rock stations, but totally hoses any urban music - we just don't have that many rappers, and Swollen Members and Maestro Fresh-Wes only went so far.

For instance Sum41 is our Blink 182. Eventually the band gets big enough, usually after the third or so album, that they 'are called up to the bigs' by getting a US album that takes the best 2 songs of the first three albums and a handful of 'fresh' tracks are added and hey presto you have the first US album...it rarely does well. The band either explodes or goes to war with their label (what do *you mean* we owe you 2 million! Wait, 2 million US$?!")

That being said, you have Canadian Radio to blame for JackFM. The first station was in Vancouver, if you do not count the internet streamer that successfully won a lawsuit against Corus. Sorry about that. Yeah, Celine Dion too.

Hey Lax I will not have you slight the majestic performing abilities of one "Snow" yeah that's right he's a canuck and still puts out records(last time I checked).

Sum 41 may not be the greatest band out there, but the video for "Still Waiting" is quite hilarious. "The number band thing is out okay? Blink 182, Green Day 75? These names are not cool."

I did a little work for Corus on the Strombo show, when he was in Los Angeles.

JackFM here is pretty well done. What bothers me is Bob, Dave, Ben, Jill, and all the other knockoffs. And the fact that stations are competing against each other by sounding more and more alike.

I still have my copy of 12 inches of Snow.

Hey Lax - not to prolong the "Hot Canadian Music Talk" but do you have any perspective on whether the Canadian Content laws actually help "emerging" Canadian artists get airtime? I imagine that's what they're intended for, but seems from what you're saying that stations just play the same "Canadian hits" over and over, which seems to defeat the purpose...

Hey dude with the second letter to the show, I love Tod's singing otherwise not a bad contribution, nice work.

I think it probably helps in one way, and kills it in another. They NEED content to play that fits a demo, so the music companies can fill a void by bringing in artists. The problem is that there is way more demand than their is supply, so the same songs get played to fucking death. I have been driven away from 3 stations when I absolutely could not take another second of Celine Dion (top40 CKZZ), Nickleback (Rock, CFOX), and way back a classic rock CFMI - can't remember the artist.

Unless you are a top 40 station, you will have to play certain songs to death because it is all you have. The constant repetition drove me from radio, even when it was an artist I liked, they would sour you on them. It also leads to major format bluring. Just because the Matthew Good Band had some rock songs, did not mean that the whiny electric folk tracks should have been played on the top40 rock station. Just like Sarah McLaughlin should never have been on the rock station for that one song I can't remember.

It strike me that once an artist hits in the states, there is a blind panic to find a Canadian sound-a-like to quickly bang out an album and get some play.

Can Con has also killed oldies, since there never was Canadian Content oldies in the first place, it was a recent invention. It also has lead to laughably bad urban/dance pop music.

John, I hate Chorus with a passion, they killed my favourite station of all times CFOX when they corporatized it, they also managed to run the top rated AM station into the ground. They are honestly radio retards. They went 'all new' talent, fired off all the popular (expensive) jocks - who all went to the just formed JackFM and promptly made it the #1 music station, and in the process they killed their formerly #1 CFMI and #2 CFOX music stations putting them into a ratings tailspin.

Then I just stopped lsitening to radio completely, for a while I had a good distant station from Victoria, but I could only get it at home or in my car, not on my walkman. Then i got an iPod and went all podcast/classic Loveline or listened to KNDD The End from Seattle on my rig that I listened to Carolla on (via cable FM).

LAXDUDE, ever heard of Pilot Speed (formerly Pilate) ?? They're from Toronto. One of my favorite bands. BTW..... where are you from in Canada? I own a home on Lake Erie in Ontario (its about 20 mins from downtown Buffalo)

TOD......did i hear you agreeing that lady gaga was 'good' music and that poor Laxdude should actually waste his time and listen to that shit?? DON'T DO IT LAXDUDE, that is NOT MUSIC, it's overproduced, shallow bullshit!. Stick with rock, it's beter on your soul and not MEGA LAME. What's happened to you, Tod!? I used to respect your taste in music (Cake, Pavement, Queen, Pixies, Smiths) But now you've become (and this is diffficult for me to say) but you've become.......................MARC!

Cake, Pavement, Queen, The Pixies, The Smiths = pop for a different niche.

In Seattle we had much music canada for a couple years and I became a convert to their vastly superior music channel, this was back around the beginning of the decade, I was much younger.
I remember the "new" Snow videos and underground Canuck hip hop that was featured which I was not interested in but greatly enjoyed laughing at the videos for, I think snow played a janitor in one video, awww good times!

I still to this day enjoy GOB, Barenaked ladies, Econoline Crush(a couple tracks hold up) and for the record sum41 did churn out one damn fine record with Chuck, it's actually decent, perhaps it's a fluke.

Polly, I am outside of Vancouver.

Gio, it isn't that we don't have some good bands, but they take the popular tracks and PUNISH you with them by overplaying them.

Sloan, Matthew Good band, New Pornographers - all good Canadian bands, hell, Nickelback's first two albums were pretty damn good, but they were on the station I listened to before they were signed. CFOX used to always do a "Vancouver Seeds" album of unsigned bands, and the top 3 got airplay. They put out some great songs.

Vancouver had a pretty good music scene, low key, low pressure, not a lot of industry bother, that is why so many Easterners found their voice out here. Then a lot of the venues closed, like the Town Pump, The Roxy, Richard's on Richards - and things really went to hell when the Commodore closed for a couple of years. It took a while for things to pick back up.

Uh oh, bad news. The wife just watched the bonus content video tour of the barn. She finds John and Marc rather handsome, John in more of a 50s greaser or Rockabilly way. I might just have to kill you guys. So Tod, while it might be a slap in the face, at least I won't have to kill you.

to compare cake, pavement the pixies queen and (GOD FORBID!) Morrissey and his Smiths to POP music is highly offensive. But I'll let you slide this time, Chambers, cuz you make me laugh every day, i love your show and, well, i'm really WAAAAY too lazy to say anything else.

Didn't know that the New Pornographers are a Canadian band, and they're one of my favorite all time bands.

Cioffi, yeah, Neko Case is/was the only American, but she some of her music out of Vancouver while going to art school. NP are pretty much a Canadian Super group, with some studio musicians.