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by Jim Smith |
The Juno Awards are fun. That, at least, is the official position of the Canadian Recording Industry Association which runs the annual awards for what passes as the best of Canadian recorded music and the people who make it.
The truth of the matter is that the Junos are pale imitations of the Grammy Awards, the American music awards that inspired the Junos. It could hardly be any other way; Canada has only a handful of truly successful musicians while the United States provides much of the world's top talent. The Grammies bring out the greatest recording stars in the world; the Junos involve dozens of performers who are far from being household names.
The Junos began as the Maple Music Awards in 1967, run by RPM Weekly, the national trade publication of the Canadian music industry. RPM hoped that national awards would make Canadians proud of their recording artists and help them succeed internationally. Unfortunately, it didn't work out that way, primarily because, over the years, the Junos (the name was changed in 1970 to honour the government official who forced Canadian radio stations to play more Canadian music) have been awarded to some unworthy recipients while the nation's truly leading artists have been ignored time after time.
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Take Murray McLauchlan, for example. McLauchlan is a city boy who sings songs that tell of life in the streets. But McLauchlan also owns a Juno as "Country Male Vocalist of the Year". Since winning the award, McLauchlan's career has gone into serious decline. |
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Anne Murray has also been nominated in the country music category year after year, winning as often as not. Anne was bitter about the awards for several years but has finally redesigned her career so it is more heavily country oriented.
Colleen Peterson, a folksinger who was first nominated for a Maple Music Award 11 years ago, won the "Best New Female Vocalist" Juno last year. The award involved a serious lapse in logic.
Then there's the T.H.P. Orchestra, a bunch of studio musicians that never did exist as a legitimate group. (The T.H.P. Orchestra that eventually made some live appearances consisted of different personnel from the band that made the records). That non-existent group won a Juno in 1977 for "Best New Group".
The list of boobs is almost endless. Lighthouse was named "Group of the Year" at a time when the Guess Who were at their international sales peak. Heart beat out B.T.O. last year for the "Group of the Year" award, even though B.T.O. had been one of the world's most successful groups up to that point. Patsy Gallant beat out Joni Mitchell last year. Neil Young has never won a Juno. And so on.
No, the winners generally don't make sense. And the problem lies in the way they are selected. Anyone remotely associated with the Canadian music business as part of a record company, an employee of a radio stations a manager, a booking agent or whatever can pay $15 a year and become eligible to vote in the annual contest. Consequently, someone with no knowledge whatever of country music is eligible to vote for the country music winners. And the country music workers vote for the rock winners. And everyone votes for the folk category. And so on. Votes are cast out of ignorance as well as friendship.
So the importance of the Junos must be taken with a grain of salt. None of which makes it any less fun to watch the televised awards (the CBC will televise the awards on Wednesday, March 29th, beginning at 9 p.m.EST), even if it's only to see what horrendous mistakes the voters can make this year. The CBC had trouble with its first attempt at televising the awards three years ago but has learned from its mistakes and should put on a good show this year.
The nominees in the various categories (with our comments in brackets) are:
BEST SELLING ALBUM
Burton Cummings: My Own Way To Rock
Andre Gagnon: Le Saint Laurent
Dan Hill: Longer Fuse
Rush: A Farewell To Kings
Stampeders:The Best of the Stampeders
(No voting here; the award goes to the album with the highest sales figures. So who cares? The performer has already been rewarded with royalty payments. Besides, the best-selling record was probably a K-tel collection which isn't eligible.)
BEST SELLING SINGLE
April Wine: You Won 't Dance With Me
Patsy Gallant: Sugar Daddy
Dan Hill: Sometimes When We Touch
Patrick Norman: Let's Try Once Again
The Raes: Que Sera Sera
(Another sales contest. Who Cares?)
FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
Carroll Baker
Claudia Barry
Charity Brown
Patsy Gallant
Joni Mitchell
(Mitchell is the obvious choice but can't count on many Canadian votes. Carroll Baker is a hit with the country voters. Patsy Gallant won last year. The other two can be ignored. Best bet: Carroll Baker.)
MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
Burton Cummings
Dan Hill
Gordon Lightfoot
Valdy
Gino Vanelli
(Personal preference and likely winner: Burton Cummings. But Dan could slip in because of his success with sentimental songs. Lighfoot is always possible, depending on the way the "adult" radio stations vote.)
GROUP OF THE YEAR
April Wine
Bachman-Turner Overdrive
Rush
Stampeders
Trooper
(Voting is based on the 14 months preceding December, 1977; Bachman-Turner Overdrive was still a heavy act at that time. Should be a struggle between Bachman-Turner and Rush but Trooper could be a sleeper. Don't count out April Wine. In these votings, anything is possible.)
COMPOSER OF THE YEAR
Burton Cummings: My Own Way To Rock
Myles Goodwin: You Won 't Dance With Me
Dan Hill: Sometimes When We Touch
Carlyle Miller: Sugar Daddy by Patsy Gallant
G. Thurston: It always Happens This Way [by Toulouse]
(Should be close between Cummings and Hill. Hill did not write the entire song, however; it was co-composed by Barry Mann, one of the most successful pop composers in American history. Cummings' song was a good, clean rocker; Hill's song is sheer mush.)
COUNTRY FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
Carroll Baker
Julie Lynn
Anne Murray
Chris Nielsen
Colleen Peterson
(Carroll Baker all the way. Notice that Colleen Peterson was dumped into country because they didn't know where to put her.)
COUNTRY MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
Gary Buck
Wilf Carter
Jimmy Arthur Ordge
Ray Griff
Ronnie Prophet
(Carter is one of the grand old men of country music but has lived in the States for decades so he can be counted out. Watch for a strong showing by Ronnie Prophet.)
COUNTRY GROUP OF THE YEAR
Burton & Honeyman
Carlton Showband
The Emeralds
Good Brothers
Mercey Brothers
(The Good Brothers should have little trouble here since they are primarily a pop act and will pick up a lot of the non-country voters.)
BEST NEW FEMALE VOCALIST
Claudia Barry
Lisa Dal Bello
Alma Faye Brooks
Glory-Anne Carriere
Roxanne Goldade
(Impossible to predict. Claudja Barry was also nominated for Best Female Vocalist category; is that fair?)
BEST NEW MALE VOCALIST
David Bradstreet
Peter Pringle
Walter Rossi
Malcolm Tomlinson
Pat Travers
(Bradstreet may be a sentimental favourite; a veteran who finally found some success last year. Travers lives in England; count him out.)
BEST NEW GROUP
Blacklight Orchestra
Hometown Band
Jackson Hawke
Max Webster
Prism
(Blacklight Orchestra could pull off a T.H.P. Orchestra coup and win, even though it doesn't deserve to be nominated. Max Webster and Jackson Hawke should split the Ontario votes, leaving Vancouver's Prism to clean up.)
INSTRUMENTAL ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Blacklight Orchestra
Liona Boyd
Andre Gagnon
Hagood Hardy
Moe Koffman
(What an assortment! Boyd is a classical guitarist. Koffman plays jazz flute. Hagood Hardy writes commercials. The Blacklight Orchestra is into disco. And Andre Gagnon thrives on lush orchestrations. Best bet: Andre Gagnon.)
FOLKSINGER OF THE YEAR
Bruce Cockburn
Dan Hill
Gordon Lightfoot
Murray McLauchlan
Valdy
(The names never seem to change in this category. Lightfoot is the class of the field but Hill could win this if he misses in Male Vocalist category. Since folk music no longer exists, isn't it time to dump this category?)
We've left out a handful of other awards that have no public interest. Our thought for the year: perhaps the Recording Industry Association could restructure its voting criteria to be fair to those Canadian artists who try so hard.
****BULLETIN****
The Junos are not universally popular. As this issue goes to press it appears that musicians, managers & affiliated music people in Western Canada will boycott the awards. Their dissatisfaction appears to stem from the strange nature of certain nominations. Should provide interesting viewing..
©1999 TG Magazine/Le Magazine TG
tgmag@tgmag.ca