Canadian Rockin'
by Bob Cook

There’s been plenty said about the 10th anniversary of the release of Nirvana's Nevermind. Big deal. Shouldn't we be talking more about the 20th anniversary of Hoser Rock?

In 1981, four albums emerged from Canada, signalling the commercial, rockin' breakthrough of north-of-the-border artists. Sure, until that point an occasional Guess Who would get through the border crossing, but these four albums let Canadians succeed on Canadian terms, making the pop world safe for Barenaked Ladies and Sarah McLachlan, even if they didn’t rock. All of the bands — Rush, Triumph, April Wine and Loverboy — had been around for a while, but their simultaneous emergence in 1981 started trends that have never seemed to die — most notably hockey hair, better known as the mullet. And almost all showed hair-metal bands how to do a killer power ballad.

Meanwhile, Nevermind signaled the commercialization of the punk and indie rock movements, and made the world safe for Matchbox 20, or matchbox twenty, or whatever the hell they call themselves these days.

Before these four albums hit the States, Canadian rock had had some history, but not much. While the Guess Who, from Winnipeg, had made it big here — and don’t forget Calgary's Stampeders, who had a 1973 hit with "Sweet City Woman" — the Velvet Underground of this foursome was Bachman-Turner Overdrive. Randy Bachman, guitarist in the Guess Who and BTO, would be the movement's spiritual leader — its Lou Reed, if you will — a Mormon writing working-class tales about "takin' care of business and ain't seein' n-n-n-n-n-n-nothin' yet" amplified to 11 with crunching guitars and a beat so simple Perry Como could boogie to it. It also fit well in commercials for cars and office supplies.

So what are these fab four?

Rush, Moving Pictures. Triumph, Allied Forces. April Wine, The Nature of the Beast. Loverboy, Get Lucky. Toronto, Scarborough, Montreal and Vancouver.

All were veteran bands before these albums were released with the exception of Loverboy, whose release was only its second album. The Midwest, home to more mulletheads driving Camaros per capita than anywhere else, glommed onto these bands first, making it a rare case of the non-Chicago Midwest leading a trend.

Even within this community, there were clear delineations. Rush, thanks to drummer Neil Peart and his Ayn Rand-inspired lyrics, got the wild-armed air drummers and the stoner intellectuals. Triumph, a Rush knock-off, got the stoners who liked Rush but didn't want to think so fuckin' hard, man. April Wine got the flat-out rockers who followed the band's advice in "Wanna Rock," believing "disco is just a social disease." And Loverboy was what they all listened to if they had a girl in the car.

The bands' ascendency reflected a love for everything Canada, and 1981 was, in fact, the year you could come out as a Canadian. One of the most popular comedy duos was Bob and Doug McKenzie, two hosers — what they called each other — on the Canadian comedy show SCTV, still shown today on NBC. Bob & Doug (Rick "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" Moranis and Dave "I Survived Working with Brett Butler" Thomas) even had a hit record the next year, complete with a guest spot by Rush bassist Geddy Lee.

Their success paved the way for a sort of Canadian coming out party — Dan Aykroyd is Canadian! Lorne Greene is Canadian! Lorne Michaels is Canadian! Paul Shaffer is Canadian! The Montreal Expos made the playoffs!

To sound like a movie preview, in a world in which April Wine's Myles Goodwyn could pose in a Montreal Canadiens hockey sweater and still move 1 million albums in the States, who wouldn't want to be Canadian?

And that was the problem. American bands lifted their haircuts, thudding drums and high-register voices, making metallish music a force of the 1980s and, as annual Poison summer ampitheater tours have proved, beyond.

There was even a backlash — it's possible the punk and industrial scene of Vancouver, represented by D.O.A. and Skinny Puppy, cropped up under the utter horror that their town may be best known as the home of the singer who always wore a headband and sang "Almost Paradise." Sadly, most of the bands didn't know how to milk their success, and most — except Rush, which still proves its enduring geekdom on seemingly thousands of websites — are stuck playing the Pembroke, Ontario, townhall green or some rib fest. As guitarist Brian Greenway put it, "Back then it was, I'M IN APRIL WINE!! Now I'm like, "I'm in April Wine...."

But, somewhere, there’s a permanent place for these four bands. Just go to a small or medium-sized Midwestern town, see the Trans Am go by, and listen to the music coming out the window. I ... I ... I think it's Triumph's "Magic Power"! "I'm young now, I'm wild now, I want to be free ..."

E-mail Bob Cook at bobc@flakmag.com.