"CanCon" is Canadian Content. It was a huge issue in Canada in the 1980s when the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission issued an order that said X amount of music played on Canadian radio stations must be of Canadian origin. (Sorry, I don't remember the exact percentage, but it was pretty high.)
There was a fair amount of concern at that time that Canada was losing its identity to the cultural imperialists from the south, thus the order. You can argue that that heavy-handed rule gave birth to bands like Rheostatics, Broken Social Scene, the Tragically Hip and others because Canadian radio stations were forced to support Canadian musicians.
If you ask me, we here in the States are beneficiaries of that order.
I volunteered briefly at a university radio station in the early 90s in Fredericton, New Brunswick. I think we had to play something like 30% CanCon. I didn't like the concept; I just wanted to play what I wanted to play, and if it happened to be by a Canadian artist, great - there were a ton of great little Canadian bands popping up in the 80s and 90s - but it was the obligation that bugged me.
I saw the Junkies a few times in the 90s; it was always a fantastic experience. The Trinity Session has held up and is still one of my favourite albums of all time.
Very sad to know that today is their last concert ever. I saw them for the first time in a small club in Moncton, New Brunswick back in 1988. End of an era.
The best version of this song is on the Alternative NRG Greenpeace fundraiser CD that came out in 1994. That version was used in an episode of the X-Files a few years later.
I agree!
new?, old?, very old?, Bond theme?? Brand New? WOW!!
Thanks William!
I was thinking the same thing... slow it down a little and it's the perfect Bond theme.
"CanCon" is Canadian Content. It was a huge issue in Canada in the 1980s when the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission issued an order that said X amount of music played on Canadian radio stations must be of Canadian origin. (Sorry, I don't remember the exact percentage, but it was pretty high.)
There was a fair amount of concern at that time that Canada was losing its identity to the cultural imperialists from the south, thus the order. You can argue that that heavy-handed rule gave birth to bands like Rheostatics, Broken Social Scene, the Tragically Hip and others because Canadian radio stations were forced to support Canadian musicians.
If you ask me, we here in the States are beneficiaries of that order.
I volunteered briefly at a university radio station in the early 90s in Fredericton, New Brunswick. I think we had to play something like 30% CanCon. I didn't like the concept; I just wanted to play what I wanted to play, and if it happened to be by a Canadian artist, great - there were a ton of great little Canadian bands popping up in the 80s and 90s - but it was the obligation that bugged me.
I've always thought that Rachael Yamagata sounded quite like Johnette - but the gals from Heart? Don't know about that.