As recently as December I was all jazzed up about the awesome new music coming out of this country. I wrote this entry about the amazing home grown talent I enjoyed in 2005 in which I gave props to The New Pornographers, Broken Social Scene, Metric, Feist, Hot Hot Heat and Stars. Since then, I've sang the praises of Death From Above 1979 and Wolf Parade as well. The maple music revolution is the real deal and it's well underway, but you wouldn't know it from the 2006 Juno award nominees.
Who decides the Juno nominees and why are they so unaware and un-hip? It's painful to read the same old names popping up and the nominations for Canadian group of the year are the most telling. In a year of The New Pornographers, Broken Social Scene, Metric, Hot Hot Heat, Death From Above 1979 and Wolf Parade, I bring you the 2006 nominees for Group of the Year:
- Barenaked Ladies
- Blue Rodeo
- Nickelback
- Our Lady Peace
- Theory Of A Deadman
Whoa. How out of touch are these guys? BNL, OLP and Blue Rodeo were good picks at one point in time, but in 2006? Nickelback's 2005 claim to fame is that damn song and Theory of a Deadman is theory of a Deadman. WTF?
Sure, there are a few decent picks sprinkled here and there, but with the exception of the Alternative Album of the Year nominees, it's a gigantic pile of NicketBubleKrall. In typical Canadian fashion, we won't recognize our own excellence until other nations bury these cutting edge superstars in accolades.
