Music
28 signs you grew up with '90s Canadian music
by Mark Teo
August 19, 2013
Source: Flickr.com
Plenty of us are fond of Canadian music from the ’90s, and for good reason: It was a period when our music made great strides internationally (thanks, in part, to Sub Pop’s northern obsession), and it incubated heaps of still-cherished cultural cornerstones. (It’s still considered, for example, The Hip’s finest age.)
But it’s also a time when a lot of us came of age, bursting into our adolescence armed with our first-gen Casio G-Shock watches, a pullover Starter jacket, and regrettable undercuts. It’s when we discovered Rusty’s Fluke or Treble Charger’s Self=Title or, for the lubricant-obsessed, Moist’s Silver. It’s when we grew up. So, without further ado, here, 28 signs you grew up in the ’90s—and north of the border.
1. This guy introduced you to some of your favourite bands.
For that, we’re forever grateful to Tarzan Dan and his wonderful show, The Hit List. More on him here.
2. And this somehow made sense to you.
These days, PJ Phil’s rocking a fearsome beard. But what ever happened to Snit? And what was he supposed to be? A piece of chewed-up gum?
3. Your friend’s band played on Jonovision, and you were in the studio audience.
… And we were all convinced that Mugshot or Sweener were going to be Canada’s next biggest band. It actually happened for the band in the above clip—Sum 41. Also, check six of our fave Jono moments.
4. You read Chart Magazine—in print. (And still read Chart Attack.)
Photo: avrillavignelover.blogspot.com
Along with Exclaim! (which is still going strong), Chart used to be Canada’s go-to print music mag. It folded in 2009, but the site Chartattack.com continues—despite itself having a briefly suspended publication through summer 2011—with new management, and former editor Aaron Brophy is, among other things, now an AUX contributor.
5. You remember Alanis pre-Jagged Little Pill.
She actually sounded pretty good!
6. Your favourite album—like, for example, this…
Image: Myleftthumb.wordpress.com
Yep, that’s Hugh Dillon on the cover.
7. …sounded best with 45 seconds of anti-skip.
Photo: youbeat.com
Which never really worked when you were busy with “aggressive inline,” either.
8. You had a fansite—and were part of a Canrock webring.
You secretly hope your employers don’t check the Wayback Machine. Or our post about still-alive Canadian music fansites.
9. You still know how to use IRC for your piracy purposes—even if you’re been through Napster, Audiogalaxy, Soulseek, Oink, and What.
Source: Emuleplus.info
Because, I mean, where else would you find all your Matthew Good B-sides?
10. You played your first pirated music on this.
Surprisingly, Winamp still exists.
11. You knew the Doughboys’ “Shine” like the back of your hand.
Thanks to after-school music programming, you’ve committed this song to stone-cold memory. It remains one of your favourite theme songs of all time.
12. This, too.
And we’ll be honest: The RapCity intro’s still kind of a jam.
13. You knew Sook-Yin before Sook-Yin became the Sook-Yin we know (and love) today.
Now, she still has a pretty cool day job hosting CBC’S DNTO.
14. You remember Strombo’s nose ring…
Photo: thetyee.com
Way before Strombo was hired by CNN—where he recommended that you “smoke weed everyday,” even if he doesn’t “rock the ganj”—he, and his marvelously feathered soul patch, could’ve passed as Hed PE’s original bassist.
15. …and Jian’s band.
Has it really been 20 years since Moxy Fruvous formed? Yes it has.
16. …and Mike Bullard’s jokes. Even if you’re trying to forget.
No, we won’t let you forget about this dude, either.
17. Your older sibling’s hand-me-down World Famous backpack had names like Harem Scarem and Sven Gali written on it in Sharpie.
If there were a single icon of the ’90s in Canada, it would be a World Famous canvas knapsack. (Which, in fact, wasn’t world famous—the brand was strictly Canadian.)
18. You thought Columbia House was a steal.
Photo: Tumblr.com
And it was. I mean, $1.98 for 12 CDs (or cassettes)? Score. The months of harassment that would follow, however…
19. But the best mailorder was done through Cargo Records.
Along with Sonic Unyon, Cargo was a distribution force in Canadian music. Their label also had some excellent Cancon, having cut Shadowy Men On a Shadowy Planet, Doughboys, and Asexuals records.
20. You knew Sub Pop for Nirvana… but also Chixdiggit, Eric’s Trip, and Jale.
These days, Sub Pop’s Canadian forays are most associated with METZ and The Constantines. But their initial obsession with Canada started much earlier, when the cut long-players from Jale, Chixdiggit, Eric’s Trip, and Julie Doiron.
21. You remember the ill-advised collaboration between Edwin and Alex Lifeson. No one else did.
It was a vanity project by Rush’s Alex Lifeson. To, ahem, modernize it, he recruited I Mother Earth singer Edwin. Nothing to see here.
22. Maybe it’s because your first job was at Sam the Record Man.
Photo: Flickr user 24by36
Sam the Record Man’s flagship Toronto location—pictured above—is now gone. But the memories created by its one-time 130-store empire will last forever. R.I.P., Sam.
23. Or even better: Music World.
Photo: filmschoolprojects.com
Let’s not pretend: We were all mall kids at some point, and we totally bought our In Utero posters from Music World.
24. Forget Candies and JNCO. You had MOD ROBES.
Photo: toronto.livejournal.com
These once-fashionable hospital scrubs looked fresh—especially when paired with an alien patch, and inverted visor (ahem, “the raincatcher”) and a pair of puffed-out Airwalks.
25. And Stitches’ very own Exco line. (By Marc Exco, duh.)
Photo: List4all.com
There’s nothing more Canadian than being second-best. Stitches, a notorious discount mall clothier, understood this. Hence Exco, a store-brand line that countered the once-hot Ecko, specializing in knockoff hoodies, phat pants, and oversized plaid tees. Best-worn with your spiffiest pair of four-stripe Adidas.
26. And Randy River.
Photo: Yelp.ca
Not that Stitches was the only place to buy board short-shants mashups. Randy River was just across the mall, offering up enough steel beaded necklaces to clothe an entire Korn concert.
27. But was there a more defining video of the era than “Northern Touch”?
Heck, we watched it more than Monday Night Raw.
28. Well… yes. Here, on the perils of eating too many chocolate bars.
This vid deserves to be spoken of in the same breath as Degrassi, Jonovision, and Catwalk.
(BONUS: 29. You work at AUX.TV.)
Tags: Music, Cancon, Lists, News, canrock, cargo records, Doughboys, matt good, MuchMusic, Sam the Record Man, Sook-Yin Lee
