The world knows Canadians for their polite manners and overall friendly, pleasant nature. But if you’ve ever witnessed a fistfight at one of our national hockey games, you might think differently. It’s not a bad thing, we’re just passionate about the game.
We still maintain this stereotype that we live in a rugged wilderness that is steeped in ice and snow for the better part of six months out of the year. While that is true, at least the snow and ice part, I wouldn’t go so far as promoting the myth that we can open our back door and see a polar bear roaming across the arctic tundra. The closest most Canadians have ever been to a polar bear is the one on the front of a toonie, what we call our two-dollar coin. We have a loon on our one dollar coin, so we call it a loonie and when the two-dollar coin came out, well, never mind, we just called it a toonie. It’s a Canadian thing, eh!
All the myths and legend aside, the world also knows Canadians for their great music, especially rock music. I’m sure Rush, Bryan Adams, Nickelback and Alanis Morissette ring a few bells. These are just some of the greats that have made a splash on the international stage from the great white north. There are others and that is what this week’s music topic will be about.
Now, I’m sure you have a lot of great music in you’re country and you could rhyme off a string of amazing bands. It’s the same thing in Canada. We have a lot of great bands, but I didn’t set out to write an encyclopedia on the subject, so I’ve narrowed my list down to the bands that only broke through onto the international stage.
To make it even harder, I limited these Canadian acts to those who have achieved Gold, Platinum or Diamond status with the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The RIAA is an organization that represents the recording industry in the United States, including the big three, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group.
An RIAA Gold record consists of five hundred thousand units sold; Platinum, one million units sold and Diamond, is ten million units sold.
After hemming and hawing about how to best represent these acts in a fair light, I decided to base my list solely on the number of units sold by the band and their impact on the world stage. So please don’t blow a stack if I ranked one act higher than the other or regulated them to the honorable mentions list.
So let’s get this thing started.
Rush
Rush was a power trio from Toronto, Ontario, formed in 1968 by Alex Lifeson (guitar), Geddy Lee (vocals/bass/keyboards) and original drummer John Rutsey. Rutsey was replaced by Neil Peart in 1974 due to health reasons after their self-titled debut release.
Musically speaking, Rush dominates the rock musical landscape in Canada. They are one of the best-selling bands in history, not just Canadian history. History! They are third in the world, with the most consecutive gold and platinum records sold by a band, just behind The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.
While immensely popular as a progressive rock band throughout the 1970s, the band smashed the radio airwaves with their five time platinum 1981 Moving Pictures release, garnering such memorable songs as Tom Sawyer, Red Barchetta and Limelight.
Their other platinum studio albums include Fly by Night (1975); 2112 (1976) 3 X Platinum; A Farewell to Kings (1977); Hemispheres (1978); Permanent Waves (1979); Signals (1982); Grace Under Pressure (1984); Power Windows (1985); Roll the Bones (1991) and Clockwork Angels (2012).
Nickelback
Next on the list is Nickelback. Formed in the small town of Hanna, Alberta in 1995 by brothers Mike Kroeger (bass) and Chad Kroeger (vocals/guitar) along with cousin Brandon Kroeger (drums) and Ryan Peake (guitar/keyboards).
Often being the subject of ridicule, Canadians either love or hate this band. Despite this, they are one of Canada’s biggest musical exports, going diamond with their 2005, All the Right Reasons release. Their breakthrough came with the single, How You Remind Me, from their 2001 album Silver Side Up on Road Runner Records.
They have a string of platinum releases under their belt including, The State (1998); Silver Side Up (2001) 6 X Platinum; The Long Road (2003) 3 X Platinum; Dark Horse (2008) 3 X Platinum and Here and Now (2011).
Alanis Morissette
Alanis Morissette took the world by storm with her release of Jagged Little Pill in June 1995. It has since gone Diamond + 7 Platinum or 17 X platinum.
Hailing from Canada’s capitol Ottawa, Ontario, she started off as a dance artist putting out two albums in that genre in the early nineties, with her first album, Alanis (1991), going platinum in Canada (one hundred thousand copies) and her second album, Now Is The Time (1992), reaching gold status in Canada (fifty thousand copies).
Her breakthrough came after a move to Los Angeles where she met Glen Ballard, who helped write and produce Jagged Little Pill. They landed a record deal with Maverick Records, co-run by Madonna, in the spring of 1995.
Her two follow up albums also reached platinum status, with Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie (1998) 3 X platinum and Under Rug Swept (2002).
Bryan Adams
Bryan Adams spent a lot of his childhood traveling with his parents all over the world, where his father worked as a Canadian diplomat. As a kid, he spent most of his time in Ottawa, Ontario and then moved to North Vancouver, British Columbia, at age 15 with his mother, while his father was posted abroad.
Here, he joined the band Sweeney Todd best known for their 1976 hit Roxy Roller, replacing lead singer Nick Gilder. It was through a mutual friend at a music store that he met Jim Vallance, ex-drummer and primary songwriter for Vancouver based band PRiSM, under the pseudonym Rodney Higgs.
His writing collaboration with Jim Vallance, propelled Bryan Adams to the international stage releasing multiple platinum albums including his 1984 five time platinum release, Reckless. Reckless spawned such hits as One Night Love Affair, Run To You, Heaven and Summer of ‘69.
His other platinum albums include Cuts Like a Knife (1983); Into the Fire (1987); Waking Up the Neighbours (1991) 4 X Platinum and 18 til I Die (1996).
Avril Lavigne
Avril Lavigne is the pop-punk queen of Canada, from the small town of Napanee, Ontario. She won a radio contest in 1999 to perform with Shania Twain, at one of her shows in Ottawa, Ontario, in front of twenty-thousand people. This was the beginning of her rise to stardom as she was signed to Arista Records in November 2000 and given a two album record deal worth 1.2 million and an extra nine-hundred-thousand publishing advance.
After months of struggling to find the right sound for her debut album, the recording of Let Go was finally completed in January 2002 and released in June 2002. It reached number two on the Billboard top 200 albums chart and has since gone on to reach seven times platinum. It is also the best-selling album by a Canadian artist in the 21st century.
Her other platinum albums include Under My Skin (2004) 3 X Platinum and The Best Damn Thing (2007) 2 X Platinum.
Loverboy
Loverboy was formed in Calgary, Alberta in 1979 by Mike Reno (vocals), Paul Dean (guitar), Matt Frenette (drums) and Scott Smith (bass). Reno had been a member of Toronto’s Moxy, replacing front man Buzz Shearman. He co-wrote and performed lead vocals on their 1978 release, Under the Lights. Dean and Frenette were former members of Winnipeg, Manitoba band Streetheart, recording a cover of 1960s band Them, Here Comes the Night.
They opened for Kiss in 1979 after being taken on by manager Bruce Allen. Their self-titled debut album, released in August 1980 was well received on both sides of the border going two times platinum in the U.S. It was their 1981 followup album, Get Lucky that sealed their popularity, going four times platinum and reaching number seven on the Billboard album charts. Get Lucky produced the classic hits, Working for the Weekend, When It’s Over and Lucky Ones.
They had two more platinum selling albums following the success of Get Lucky including, Keep It Up (1983) 2 X Platinum and Lovin’ Every Minute of It (1985) 2 X Platinum.
Three Days Grace
Formed in 1997 in the small town of Norwood, Ontario, the original lineup of Three Days Grace consisted of Adam Gontier (vocals/guitar), Neil Sanderson (drums/vocals) and Brad Walst (bass).
Moving to Toronto, they met producer Gavin Brown, who helped them put together a demo from the songs they had written over several years. Approaching record label EMI Music Publishing with their demo, the record label was impressed and asked for more material. They eventually signed a deal with Jive Records on the strength of the song I Hate Everything About You.
They released their self-titled debut album in July 2003 and it peaked at number 69 on the Billboard 200 chart, going two times platinum.
Their 2006 follow-up, One-X, came after singer/guitarist Adam Gontier successfully completed treatment for an addiction to OxyContin. The single, Animal I Have Become, was released in April 2006 and has been one of their most successful singles, selling over two million copies. The album peaked at number five on the Billboard 200 chart, going 3 X Platinum.
Their 2009, Life Starts Now, also reached platinum status.
Neil Young
Last but not least, we have Neil Young rounding out our list of multi-platinum Canadian artists. Spanning a music career of over 60 years, Young has recorded some of the most memorable albums of the era including 1972s Harvest. Harvest produced the number one hit Heart of Gold and the album went on to be the best-selling album of that year.
Neil Young lived in Toronto, Ontario until 1960, then moved with his mother to Winnipeg, Manitoba. It was here that he formed his first band, the Squires, and it was while playing a gig at The Flamingo in Fort William, Northern Ontario, that he met Stephen Stills. After the Squires, he worked as a solo artist playing folk clubs in Winnipeg, becoming friends with Joni Mitchell and penning a top 40 song called, Flying on the Ground is Wrong, for The Guess Who.
He made his way to Los Angeles, where he formed the band Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, releasing three albums between 1966 and 1968. After the breakup of the band, Young put out a self-titled solo album in 1969 after signing with Reprise Records, who also represented Joni Mitchell. He had another stint with Stephen Stills in 1969, joining supergroup Crosby, Stills & Nash, releasing the album Déjà vu in March 1970.
In addition to Harvest, Young has had a string of platinum albums over his career, including Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (1969); After the Gold Rush (1970) 2 X Platinum; Rust Never Sleeps (1979) and Harvest Moon (1992) 2 X Platinum.
Honorable Mentions:
Barenaked Ladies
Stunt (1998) – 4 X Platinum
Maroon (2000) – Platinum
Simple Plan
No Pads, No Helmets…Just Balls (2002) – 2 X Platinum
Still Not Getting Any… (2004) – Platinum
Theory of a Deadman
Scars & Souvenirs (2008) – 2 X Platinum
Aldo Nova
Aldo Nova (1982) – 2 X Platinum
The Band
The Band (1969) – Platinum
April Wine
Nature of the Beast (1981) – Platinum
Triumph
Allied Forces (1981) – Platinum
Jeff Healey Band
See the Light (1988) – Platinum
Alannah Myles
Alannah Myles (1989) – Platinum
Our Lady Peace
Clumsy (1997) – Platinum
Sum 41
All Killer No Filler (2001) – Platinum
Default
The Fallout (2001) – Platinum
Steppenwolf
Steppenwolf (1968) – Gold
The Second (1968) – Gold
Monster (1969) – Gold
Steppenwolf 7 (1970) – Gold
The Guess Who
American Woman (1970) – Gold
Share the Land (1970) – Gold
Bachman–Turner Overdrive
Bachman–Turner Overdrive (1973) – Gold
Bachman–Turner Overdrive II (1973) – Gold
Not Fragile (1974) – Gold
Four Wheel Drive (1975) – Gold
Head On (1975) – Gold
Saga
Worlds Apart (1981) – Gold
Corey Hart
First Offense (1983) – Gold
Boy in the Box (1985) – Gold
Fields of Fire (1986) – Gold
Glass Tiger
The Thin Red Line (1986) – Gold
Arcade Fire
Funeral (2004) – Gold
The Suburbs (2010) – Gold