The Hit List
Sandy MacDonald Nov 26,2010
Readers gain an insightful perspective of the Canadian music industry as Bob Mersereau’s provocative list of The Top 100 Canadian Singles is put to the page
How long does it take to ignite a supersonic music career? Sometimes just three and a half minutes, with an unforgettable pop radio song that delivers pure auditory magic. The history of popular music is awash with those magic songs—from Elton John’s Candle in the Wind (the top selling single of all time at 37 million copies in the U.S. alone) to one hit wonders The Kingsmen, who shifted more than 12 millions copies of the cryptic Louie Louie.
Here in Canada, most musical stars have built their careers on radio singles, launching a single song that captures the imagination of a nation of listeners. From the plaintive prairie folk-rock of Neil Young’s Heart of Gold and the transcendent beauty of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah to the irrepressible urgency of Hank Snow’s I’m Moving On, Canadian singles have lit up the charts across this country and around the world.
New Brunswick music journalist Bob Mersereau celebrates our greatest radio songs with his new book, The Top 100 Canadian Singles (Goose Lane Editions). Built around a meticulously researched list of the nation’s top 100 singles, the engaging book does a great service to Canadian music by shining the spotlight back on some of the country’s seminal pop music. The hard-cover edition is a companion volume to Mersereau’s 2007’s The Top 100 Canadian Albums.
“The radio single was a specific art form that Canadians proved we could excel at,” explains Mersereau from his office in Fredericton. “They had to craft a song that would gather interest all over the country and around the world—a little three-minute gem.”
Bob Mersereau
Mersereau lives and breathes music. During his time as a music columnist and arts reporter for CBC television, the role of the single and of radio in shaping a music career has changed.
“Radio used to be the be-all and end-all, but now it’s just one of a dozen different platforms,” he says. “The definition of a single has changed dramatically… everything can be a single in the download era. If a listener wants a single track, they can buy that single track—and it still costs only ninety-nine cents.”
Part of the motivation for this book project, says Mersereau, is stirring some recognition for some of the great Canadian musical acts that have slipped quietly into fond memory. Well, perhaps not quietly—many live on loudly through classic rock radio.
The history of popular music in the past few decades has largely been written by American and British writers, tending to focus on the cultural impact of their own hometown heroes, says Mersereau.
“They stop at their own borders, and rarely take a trip across ours. What those writers fail to realize is that in every case there is a Canadian or two or three standing shoulder to shoulder with the others who are now in the rock ‘n’ roll hall of fame. And the hits are there to prove it. Hank Snow’s I’m Movin’ On still has the record (for most weeks at No. 1 on the country chart) and Alanis Morrisette still has the record for a debut album sales.
“Think what Shania did to country music or Paul Anka’s (impact) as the first teen idol.”
Topping the much-anticipated list is The Guess Who’s American Woman/No Sugar Tonight, a double-sided single from 1970. The rest of the top ten is loaded with classic boomer-era Canadiana—Neil Young, The Band, Bryan Adams, Leonard Cohen, Steppenwolf, Gordon Lightfoot, BTO, Ian & Sylvia and Anne Murray.
Deeper into the list is some East Coast content, including tracks by Sloan, Ron Hynes, Hank Snow, April Wine, Stompin’ Tom Connors and Wintersleep, who sneak in under the wire at No. 100 with their Weighty Ghost.
Like any arbitrary best-of collection, this list is sure to spark spirited reaction from some music fans —there’s no Sarah McLachlan, Nickelback, Doug and the Slugs, Shania Twain, Diana Krall or Stan Rogers.
Mersereau is unapologetic. He figures he cast the net widely enough.
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To arrive at the Top 100 list, Mersereau canvassed a vast networkof music writers, musicians, industry insiders and informed fans and asked them to send along their personal top ten list of all-time Canadian singles. And they responded in droves. More than 700 jurors submitted their own lists, and from that stack of data, the author was able to boil down this final list.
Among the jurors are renowned Toronto musicologist Rob Bowman, St. John’s songwriter Ron Hynes and CTV broadcaster Seamus O’Regan. CNN’s Washington correspondent and founding Much Music VJ JD Roberts jumped at the chance to participate. “John is a busy guy as host of the CNN morning news,” notes Mersereau. “So I sent off a little email and I heard back from him that day. I didn’t go through any hoops. All the jurors are passionate about the music.”
While the Top 100 list is a provocative device sure to spark some lively debate, the key to the book is the series of essays written by Mersereau to accompany each selection. When quilted together, the stories give the reader a charming and insightful perspective of the Canadian pop music industry for the past sixty years—from Hank Snow to Feist.
“I tried desperately to get as many interviews as I could,” explains Mersereau. “It was great to have Leonard Cohen in the Albums book before his career exploded. It was great to sit with Gord Lightfoot and Cockburn—they’re just so generous with their time and stories.”
The book shares the stories behind the songs, often in the words of the artists who were there for the ride. Randy Bachman recalls how American Woman started with his spur-of-the-moment guitar riff off-stage during a Guess Who concert back in 1970.
“I broke a string, and Burton Cummings announced that the band would be taking a break while I changed my string,” recounts Bachman.
While tuning his guitar, Bachman slipped into an improvised chunky riff that immediately turned heads in the audience.
“The band, sensing something was going on from my head motions, came on stage and we started to jam that riff.” Cummings later wrote the words and the band had a massive smash hit, the first Canadian single to top the American charts.
“All the stories are fresh for this book. The artists have had the benefit of time to think back about what these songs meant—fresh reflection.
“There are so many great stories,” says Mersereau, “but what they all have in common is that at some point, there is a stroke of luck.”
Mersereau talks to producer John Simon who helmed The Band through its glory days, Bryan Adams about his classic Summer of ’69 and Gordon Lightfoot about the night of partying before he recorded If You Could Read My Mind.
While the book is certainly packed with priceless insider music lore, Mersereau says it should appeal to anyone with even a passing interest in Canadian music.
“You don’t have to be a huge music fan to enjoy this book. The stories are compelling enough—you certainly don’t have to buy into the national pride thing.
“I’ve talked to so many people who have told me that the Albums book is their coffee table book. One woman told me she took it on first dates, saying if she didn’t know the guy, it would give them something to talk about.”
