SOMETHING TO SING ABOUT
150 moments in Canadian music
51 Nov. 9, 1974: Bachman-Turner Overdrive (Winnipeg/Vancouver) hits No. 1 in North America with You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet.
52 1975: Performing Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde in Dallas, tenor Jon Vickers (Prince Albert, Sask.) turns mid-performance to an audience member to shout, “Shut up with your damn coughing!”
53 Nov. 10, 1975: The bulk carrier SS Edmund Fitzgerald sinks on Lake Superior, inspiring Gordon Lightfoot’s No. 1 hit The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
54 April 1, 1976: Perhaps Rush’s definitive album, 2112, is released. It becomes its first platinum album here.
55 Sept. 23-24, 1976: Folk singer songwriter Stan Rogers (Hamilton) records his debut album, Fogarty’s Cove, containing the modern sea shanty Barrett’s Privateers.
56 Nov. 25, 1976: The Band’s final concert in San Francisco. Joined by musical friends including Joni Mitchell and Neil Young, the concert became the film The Last Waltz.
57 March 4-5, 1977: April Wine (Waverley, N.S.) co-headlines a charity concert at a club in Toronto with The Cockroaches — or as they are better known, The Rolling Stones.
58 Feb. 28, 1978: Joey Keithley, Randy Rampage and Chuck Biscuits form D.O.A. in Vancouver. They become punk icons, inspiring bands worldwide with politically charged music.
59 March 29, 1978: Oscar Peterson and bandleader Guy Lombardo (London, Ont.) are inaugural inductees into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.
60 Nov. 3, 1978: Diff’rent Strokes debuts, with the theme song by Alan Thicke (Kirkland Lake, Ont.). Thicke also wrote the theme to The Facts of Life, among other TV shows.
61 July 2, 1979: Young’s Rust Never Sleeps drops, voted album of the year by Rolling Stone critics.
62 1979: The Log Driver’s Waltz, an animated film featuring the title song performed by Kate and Anna McGarrigle (Montreal), is released as part of NFB’s Canada Vignettes series.
63 Feb. 27, 1980: Earth, Wind & Fire win the Grammy for best R&B song for After the Love Has Gone. The song is co-written by Victoria, B.C.’s David Foster; it’s his first of 16 Grammys.
64 April 2, 1980: Vancouver’s Trooper, which released the quadruple-platinum compilation Hot Shots in 1979, wins group-of-the-year Juno.
65 May 10, 1980: Bruce Cockburn (Ottawa) performs Wondering Where the Lions Are on Saturday Night Live.
66 July 1, 1980: O Canada officially becomes the national anthem.
67 July 10, 1980: Victoria resident Raffi releases Baby Beluga. The song’s been covered by Eddie Vedder and Bob Dylan.
68 Sept. 19, 1980: Identical twins Tegan and Sara Quin born in Calgary.
69 Jan. 12, 1981: April Wine’s biggest album containing its biggest hit is released: The Nature of the Beast, with the power ballad Just Between You and Me.
70 November 1981: Anthem Records releases Bob and Doug McKenzie’s Great White North album, featuring the hit Take Off (with Rush’s Geddy Lee singing).
71 Feb. 1, 1982: Late Night with David Letterman debuts, with musical director Paul Shaffer (Thunder Bay, Ont.). Shaffer, who also co-wrote the hit It’s Raining Men, remains with Letterman until his TV run ends May 20, 2015.
72 Sept. 8, 1982: Gould’s final recording session, conducting a Wagner piece.
73 Oct. 4, 1982: Gould, 50, dies from a stroke.
74 1983: Toronto’s Mary Margaret O’Hara begins recording her debut album. Not released until 1988, Miss America becomes a critical favourite and cult classic.
75 1983: The Tragically Hip form in Kingston, Ont. Nine of their 13 studio albums will hit No. 1.
76 April 11, 1983: Buffy SainteMarie (Qu’Appelle Valley, Sask.) wins the best original song Oscar for co-writing Up Where We Belong, featured in the film An Officer and a Gentleman.
77 June 2, 1983: Rogers, 33, dies in a plane fire in Hebron, Ky.
78 1984: Tommy Hunter and Wilf Carter among the first inductees in the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame.
79 Jan. 21, 1984: Corey Hart (Montreal) releases his debut single, Sunglasses at Night. It hits No. 7 in the U.S. Seven months later, the video gets heavy rotation on …
80 Aug. 31, 1984: MuchMusic, now known as Much, debuts on television.
81 Sept. 10, 1984: Kids series The Elephant Show, starring Toronto singing group Sharon, Lois & Bram, debuts. Sharon Hampson, Lois Lilienstein and Bram Morrison get the Order of Canada in 2002.
82 Nov. 5, 1984: Vancouver’s Bryan Adams releases Reckless: the first Canadian album to top a million sales on home soil.
83 December 1984: Leonard Cohen releases his defining single, Hallelujah. It’s been covered by more than 300 artists.
84 Feb. 10, 1985: Canadian musical royalty unite to record the famine-relief single Tears Are Not Enough, co-produced by Adams and Foster.
85 May 12, 1985: Ottawa-raised pianist Angela Hewitt, then 27, wins the $15,000 first prize at the Toronto International Bach Competition.
86 July 1985: Toronto’s Platinum Blonde releases its only No. 1 hit, Crying Over You. The album, Alien Shores, goes quintuple platinum.
87 July 13, 1985: At Live Aid in Philadelphia, Canada is represented by Adams and Young, who also perform with Crosby, Stills & Nash.
88 Nov. 4, 1985: Edmonton “cowboy punk” musician k.d. lang wins the Juno for most promising female vocalist.
89 January 1986: Newmarket, Ont.’ s Glass Tiger hit it big with its first single. Don’t Forget Me (When I’m Gone) reaches No. 1 here; No. 2 in the U.S.
90 Oct. 24, 1986: Drake born in Toronto. He has the most charted songs by a solo artist in Billboard Top 100 history.
91 Sept. 16, 1988: Dance music show Electric Circus debuts on MuchMusic and Citytv, garnering a loyal U.S. viewership. It ended on Dec. 12, 2003, after 15 seasons.
92 June 25, 1990: Inaugural presentation of what’s commonly known as the Much Music Video Awards. Toronto’s Our Lady Peace, with 10, has won the most MMVAs.
93 1992: The Ottawa Senators begin to play Stompin’ Tom’s The Hockey Song, released in 1973. Other rinks follow.
94 Dec. 30, 1992: Tom Cochrane (Lynn Lake, Man.) performs his only U.S. top 40 hit, Life Is a Highway, on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
95 Jan. 2, 1993: Toronto’s Snow releases Informer, Billboard charttopper for seven weeks.
96 March 11, 1993: Great Big Sea (St. John’s, N.L.) plays its first gig at Memorial University.
97 Jan. 30, 1995: Jann Arden (Calgary) reaches No. 1 with Insensitive. The single tops the RPM 100 for three weeks.
98 June 13, 1995: Ottawa’s Alanis Morissette reinvents herself with the album Jagged Little Pill. It wins five Grammys and tops 33 million in sales.
99 1996: To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Juno Awards, CARAS/MCA releases a four-CD compilation of Canadian music, Oh What a Feeling. Four CD sets are also released for Juno anniversaries in 2001 and 2006.
100 Dec. 5, 1996: Wilf Carter, 91, dies in Scottsdale, Ariz. Look for the final part on Thursday.