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charlene · 07-05-2023, 09:25 AM

5
Drake
LONDON, ENGLAND - JUNE 28: Drake performs at the New Look Wireless birthday party at Finsbury Park on June 28, 2015 in London, England. (Photo by Joseph Okpako/WireImage)
Joseph Okpako/WireImage

Drake’s sadboi flow, frosty beats, and oversharing intensity completely transformed the emotional and sonic language of hip-hop, and his Canadian background definitely has definitely contributed to his isolated allure, especially early on. Over the years, Drake has made “runnin’ through the 6 with my woes” a kind of epic drama. Toronto isn’t just a backdrop to the 6 God’s music, it’s a character. He evokes his favorite spots, streets from his past, the city’s weather, its housing projects, its transit system, even the simple thrill of flying into YYZ airport after being away awhile. “Been flowin’ stupid since Vince Carter was on some through the legs, arm in the hoop shit,” he rapped on “Weston Road Flows,” where the memory of not having enough pennies to buy pizza is balanced against brags about topping the charts. If we didn’t know where Drizzy was from, watching his rise might’ve been much less interesting. —J.D.

4
Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen, portrait, London, June 1974. (Photo by Michael Putland/Getty Images)
Michael Putland/Getty Images

The Montreal poet came from the land of the ice and snow in the Summer of Love, born with the gift of a golden voice that has seduced winter ladies ever since. Leonard Cohen turned the Great White North into his Tower of Song. He was well into his thirties when he dropped his 1967 debut, drawing on the ritual traditions of Jewish Montreal. In the most Canadian rock romance of all time, he told Joni Mitchell he was “constant as the Northern Star”— slightly exaggerating his skill at fidelity. But they both got classic songs out of it — she wrote “A Case of You” and he wrote “Joan of Arc.” Cohen wandered from Greek islands to Zen Buddhist monasteries to the Chelsea Hotel, running for the money and the flesh, especially the flesh. He gave the world “Hallelujah,” “Famous Blue Raincoat,” “Anthem,” “Treaty,” “Avalanche,” and his original love song to his hometown, “Suzanne.” (“I knew it was a song about Montreal,” he told the BBC in 1994.) He kept writing brilliant tunes into his eighties, right up to his 2016 farewell, You Want It Darker, murmuring his vocals from a wheelchair, signing off with one final “sincerely, L. Cohen.” His voice will sigh eternally. —R.S.

3
Rush
UNITED STATES - DECEMBER 01: Photo of Alex LIFESON and RUSH and Geddy LEE and Neil PEART; L-R: Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, Neil Peart posed, group shot, (Photo by Fin Costello/Redferns)
Fin Costello/Redferns/Getty Images

No band from the U.S. or U.K. was bold enough to meld metal and prog in the Seventies — to achieve that glorious fusion, we needed a trio from the great land of Canada. If there was something intrinsically Canadian about the work of Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and the late Neil Peart, it was the way they let their extraordinary music overshadow their personalities, playing some of rock’s most showoff-y parts without ever evincing any ego. When Lifeson soloed — think “Limelight” — Peart and Lee would often manage to slip in their own solos underneath him. Rush’s proggiest days were in the Seventies, but they never stopped innovating — their synth-y Eighties work holds up as a world of its own — never lost their senses of humor, and never performed at anything less than the peak of their abilities. —B.H.

2
Neil Young
Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young performs on stage with Crazy Horse at Hammersmith Odeon, London, 28th March 1976. (Photo by Michael Putland/Getty Images)
Michael Putland/Getty Images

Young left Canada in 1966, when he famously drove his Pontiac hearse illegally across the U.S. border and never turned back. “The great Canadian dream is to get out,” he told us in 1979. It would take him more than five decades to get his U.S. citizenship, due to a 1968 drug bust and President Trump’s tight immigration policy for the delay. But we know his love for his home country also played a role, as heard in gems like “Helpless,” “Ambulance Blues,” “Journey Through the Past,” and “Far From Home.” (The best example is the Time Fades Away deep cut “Don’t Be Denied,” which includes lines about his father Scott Young, a famous Canadian sports journalist and author.) Some of his most beloved and intimate shows have taken place there, like Massey Hall in 1971 and Omemee in 2017. And even on his most L.A. rock moments, the love for his home shines through. Ever thought about the dog on the cover of 1969’s Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere? Its name was Winnipeg. —A.M.

1
Joni Mitchell
Portrait of Canadian musician Joni Mitchell wearing a loose-fitting white cotton dress, New York, November 1968. This image was from a photo shoot for the fashion magazine Vogue. Mitchell wears two rings on her hand and is in a white loose-fitting white cotton dress. (Photo by Jack Robinson/Getty Images)
Jack Robinson/Getty Images

“It’s a long way from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, to Carnegie Hall!” Joni Mitchell told the New York crowd on Feb. 1, 1969. She hadn’t been in the states very long, but soon she would become so immersed in the West Coast singer-songwriter scene that casual fans wouldn’t even realize she was Canadian. And like her old pal Neil Young — who, as a child, suffered from the same Canadian polio outbreak as Mitchell, and wrote “Sweet Joni” about a girl from Saskatoon — she’d always return to her roots. Most obvious is “A Case of You,” where she sings “I drew a map of Canada/Oh, Canada/With your face sketched on it twice” (for fellow Canadian Leonard Cohen). Then there’s 1972’s For the Roses, a perfect album Mitchell crafted in British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast, recovering from the burst of stardom Blue brought her. She eventually returned to L.A., but never lost sight of her home country. In 1979, deep into her career, she reflected on her early years spent in Canadian coffeehouses. “None of us had any grandiose ideas about the kind of success that we received,” she told Rolling Stone. “In those days it was really a long shot. Especially for a Canadian.” —A.M.

07-05-2023, 09:25 AM	#6
charlene Moderator Join Date: May 2000 Posts: 16,001	Re: Rolling Stone Magazine-Top 50 Canadian Artists 5 Drake LONDON, ENGLAND - JUNE 28: Drake performs at the New Look Wireless birthday party at Finsbury Park on June 28, 2015 in London, England. (Photo by Joseph Okpako/WireImage) Joseph Okpako/WireImage Drake’s sadboi flow, frosty beats, and oversharing intensity completely transformed the emotional and sonic language of hip-hop, and his Canadian background definitely has definitely contributed to his isolated allure, especially early on. Over the years, Drake has made “runnin’ through the 6 with my woes” a kind of epic drama. Toronto isn’t just a backdrop to the 6 God’s music, it’s a character. He evokes his favorite spots, streets from his past, the city’s weather, its housing projects, its transit system, even the simple thrill of flying into YYZ airport after being away awhile. “Been flowin’ stupid since Vince Carter was on some through the legs, arm in the hoop shit,” he rapped on “Weston Road Flows,” where the memory of not having enough pennies to buy pizza is balanced against brags about topping the charts. If we didn’t know where Drizzy was from, watching his rise might’ve been much less interesting. —J.D. 4 Leonard Cohen Leonard Cohen, portrait, London, June 1974. (Photo by Michael Putland/Getty Images) Michael Putland/Getty Images The Montreal poet came from the land of the ice and snow in the Summer of Love, born with the gift of a golden voice that has seduced winter ladies ever since. Leonard Cohen turned the Great White North into his Tower of Song. He was well into his thirties when he dropped his 1967 debut, drawing on the ritual traditions of Jewish Montreal. In the most Canadian rock romance of all time, he told Joni Mitchell he was “constant as the Northern Star”— slightly exaggerating his skill at fidelity. But they both got classic songs out of it — she wrote “A Case of You” and he wrote “Joan of Arc.” Cohen wandered from Greek islands to Zen Buddhist monasteries to the Chelsea Hotel, running for the money and the flesh, especially the flesh. He gave the world “Hallelujah,” “Famous Blue Raincoat,” “Anthem,” “Treaty,” “Avalanche,” and his original love song to his hometown, “Suzanne.” (“I knew it was a song about Montreal,” he told the BBC in 1994.) He kept writing brilliant tunes into his eighties, right up to his 2016 farewell, You Want It Darker, murmuring his vocals from a wheelchair, signing off with one final “sincerely, L. Cohen.” His voice will sigh eternally. —R.S. 3 Rush UNITED STATES - DECEMBER 01: Photo of Alex LIFESON and RUSH and Geddy LEE and Neil PEART; L-R: Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, Neil Peart posed, group shot, (Photo by Fin Costello/Redferns) Fin Costello/Redferns/Getty Images No band from the U.S. or U.K. was bold enough to meld metal and prog in the Seventies — to achieve that glorious fusion, we needed a trio from the great land of Canada. If there was something intrinsically Canadian about the work of Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and the late Neil Peart, it was the way they let their extraordinary music overshadow their personalities, playing some of rock’s most showoff-y parts without ever evincing any ego. When Lifeson soloed — think “Limelight” — Peart and Lee would often manage to slip in their own solos underneath him. Rush’s proggiest days were in the Seventies, but they never stopped innovating — their synth-y Eighties work holds up as a world of its own — never lost their senses of humor, and never performed at anything less than the peak of their abilities. —B.H. 2 Neil Young Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young performs on stage with Crazy Horse at Hammersmith Odeon, London, 28th March 1976. (Photo by Michael Putland/Getty Images) Michael Putland/Getty Images Young left Canada in 1966, when he famously drove his Pontiac hearse illegally across the U.S. border and never turned back. “The great Canadian dream is to get out,” he told us in 1979. It would take him more than five decades to get his U.S. citizenship, due to a 1968 drug bust and President Trump’s tight immigration policy for the delay. But we know his love for his home country also played a role, as heard in gems like “Helpless,” “Ambulance Blues,” “Journey Through the Past,” and “Far From Home.” (The best example is the Time Fades Away deep cut “Don’t Be Denied,” which includes lines about his father Scott Young, a famous Canadian sports journalist and author.) Some of his most beloved and intimate shows have taken place there, like Massey Hall in 1971 and Omemee in 2017. And even on his most L.A. rock moments, the love for his home shines through. Ever thought about the dog on the cover of 1969’s Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere? Its name was Winnipeg. —A.M. 1 Joni Mitchell Portrait of Canadian musician Joni Mitchell wearing a loose-fitting white cotton dress, New York, November 1968. This image was from a photo shoot for the fashion magazine Vogue. Mitchell wears two rings on her hand and is in a white loose-fitting white cotton dress. (Photo by Jack Robinson/Getty Images) Jack Robinson/Getty Images “It’s a long way from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, to Carnegie Hall!” Joni Mitchell told the New York crowd on Feb. 1, 1969. She hadn’t been in the states very long, but soon she would become so immersed in the West Coast singer-songwriter scene that casual fans wouldn’t even realize she was Canadian. And like her old pal Neil Young — who, as a child, suffered from the same Canadian polio outbreak as Mitchell, and wrote “Sweet Joni” about a girl from Saskatoon — she’d always return to her roots. Most obvious is “A Case of You,” where she sings “I drew a map of Canada/Oh, Canada/With your face sketched on it twice” (for fellow Canadian Leonard Cohen). Then there’s 1972’s For the Roses, a perfect album Mitchell crafted in British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast, recovering from the burst of stardom Blue brought her. She eventually returned to L.A., but never lost sight of her home country. In 1979, deep into her career, she reflected on her early years spent in Canadian coffeehouses. “None of us had any grandiose ideas about the kind of success that we received,” she told Rolling Stone. “In those days it was really a long shot. Especially for a Canadian.” —A.M.