Matthew Good Band – Hello Time Bomb Music Video

The Matthew Good Band emerged from the “geek rock” ashes of the early to mid 90’s, made popular mostly by Weezer, and became one of the biggest bands in Canada at the time. They eventually fell apart when the leader, Matt Good, went on to pursue a solo career after their last album, The Audio Of Being, was released in 2001.

This is the Hello Time Bomb music video that came out in 1999 from their huge selling CD, Beautiful Midnight, which had several hit songs on the radio. It was a time of stardom, but also of turmoil and Matt gained a reputation for being difficult in interviews and among his bandmates.

Matthew Good also happens to be one of my favourite musicians of all time. When I first heard his music I was amazed that it was EXACTLY what I wanted to hear in a song…the lyrics, the guitar hooks, and even the subtle flourishes in the background that most people miss. I thought “this is rock music AS IT SHOULD BE!”

As a solo artist now his music has matured, with words about war, politics and dealing with mental illness, and it’s even more meaningful. He’s been known to speak out about how much he hates what he wrote during his MGB days, and I’m sure this post would make him cringe, but in all fairness everyone starts somewhere in order to mature later on, so consider this video as one of the seeds that allowed him, and me, to grow on.

I will be posting his newer stuff as well, but I wanted to start with this one to form some context for later on. Enjoy it for what it is…GOOD ROCK MUSIC!!

Trivia bit: The bass player, Rich Priske, had just joined them at the time this was filmed and is seen in the vid wearing a white button that says “I’m New”. I met him after one of their shows and he’s a really cool guy!

The Pursuit Of Happiness – Hard To Laugh

This is the music video for The Pursuit Of Happiness “Hard To Laugh”. It’s got the rocking late 80’s vibe going on and TPOH in their prime with singer Moe Berg lamenting about his chick gone bad. Classic Canadian rock!!

“…but you’ve got to laugh to prevent yourself from cryin’…” Ain’t it the truth though??

Crash Test Dummies – Superman's Song

The Crash Test Dummies Superman’s Song is a mournful tale about the death of the superhero and his funeral attended by a group of aging superheroes long past their prime. It won a MuchMusic video of the year award in 1991.

It was also the band’s first hit single of the cd “The Ghosts That Haunt Me”, written by the deep voiced singer Brad Roberts. Man, that guy has some low pipes!! Watch the Crash Test Dummies performing Superman Song and relive one of the best tunes from the early 90’s again…

Cowboy Junkies – Sun Comes Up It's Tuesday Morning

The Cowboy Junkies are easily one of the most unpretentious bands in modern music. The sincerity in the voice of singer Margo Timmins and songwriting from her brother Michael is heartfelt. They’re here to tell a musical story and we are the captive audience.

In the Cowboy Junkies “Sun Comes Up, It’s Tuesday Morning” we hear the emotional tale of a woman who perhaps has had a rough life, but still seeks comfort in that which is familiar to her. She misses those things which reminded her of him, but she also likes being alone as well…

“Yeah, sure I’ll admit there are times when I miss you
Especially like now when I need someone to hold me
But there are some things that can never be forgiven
And I just gotta tell you that I kinda like this extra few feet in my bed…”

That last verse flows into one of the best lap/pedal steel guitar solo’s I’ve ever heard, played beautifully by Kim Deschamps, who later joined Blue Rodeo.

Listen now to the Cowboy Junkies – Sun Comes Up, It’s Tuesday Morning…

Sarah Harmer Basement Apartment

I’ve always liked Sarah Harmer’s sweet vocal abilities, ever since I first heard her when she was in the band Weeping Tile. While that band sounded more raw and rock oriented than Sarah’s folk and country influenced solo albums, anything with her singing in it is still worth listening to on a perfect day.

The music video for Sarah Harmer “Basement Apartment” features great lyrics and visuals about frustration and change, as well as old memories that never seem to let go. It was her first big hit as a solo artist and it’s still my personal favourite.

Take yourself back a few years and relive living in a basement apt. “below street level…barely alive…” again.

Blue Rodeo 5 Days In May

Blue Rodeo “5 Days In May” is from their Five Days In July CD, which had several laid back radio friendly singles. But, then again, that could describe pretty much ANY of their releases. These guys have had a string of successful hit songs and albums over their 20+ year career and are easily one of Canada’s best known bands.

They also put on one hell of a great live show and I’ve seen them perform several times over the years, from a small university gig to a large concert hall and everything else along the way. The sound of Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor in harmony is pure musical bliss!

Watch the Blue Rodeo “5 Days In May” music video now!

Skydiggers What Do You See

This is the music video for the Skydiggers “What Do You See?” single off their Road Radio album. It’s one of those catchy 90’s Canadian rock tunes that you can blast from your car with the top down, cruising down a long, country highway with reckless abandon. Crank it!!

The song features the vocal talents of band members Andy Maize and Peter Cash (co-written with his brother Andrew). It is my humble opinion that Andrew Cash is one of Canada’s best songwriters and it’s a damn shame that he hasn’t released more music for me to listen to constantly on my stereo until the neighbours are humming along with me.

As the story goes, Peter left the Skydiggers to form the Cash Brothers with Andrew and the diggers continued on without him. I have to state, for the record, that ANYTHING these guys do is great. Whether it’s listening to a Skydiggers CD or the Cash Brothers or Andrew Cash solo…it’s ALL good. In fact, if you find music recorded by ANY of these guys then I suggest you buy it immediately! Ok, gushfest is over!

The first time I watched a live Skydiggers show was way back in the late 80’s when they were the opening band for Blue Rodeo doing a college tour. It was, and still is, the BEST live gig I’ve ever attended, and I’ve seen a LOT of concerts. You could very much tell that both bands truly loved playing live and were there for the music and the fans and nothing else mattered.

Blue Rodeo actually did something like 5 encores that night and, even after most of the audience had left the building, they still came back to play another encore for the hardcore fans (like myself) who were still listening. Their keyboardist at the time, Bob Wiseman, had a multicoloured keyboard and did his solo single “Airplane On The Highway” (anyone remember that one?). Awesome!

Enjoy listening to Skydiggers – What Do You See right here on Canucky.com!

Hinterland Who's Who Loons

The haunting call of the loon is a common sound around lakes in Canada and this government sponsored Public Service Announcement (PSA) was heard just as often coming from Canadian TV sets all across the country in the 1970’s and 80’s. The Hinterland Who’s Who Loons video is probably the best remembered in the series of short films, but they also made clips for beavers, bears, moose, geese and more.

Up here in the Great White North, the loon is an icon, and is even on our $1 coin, which is aptly called the loonie. They look like gold pieces but are still only worth a dollar (even less south of the border! lol). Oh well, let’s just forget about the economy for now and just enjoy this video from a time back when a buck would actually buy something…

Friendly Giant TV Show

The Friendly Giant TV show was a classic Canadian children’s program that ran from the 1950’s through to the 80’s and, along with Mr. Dressup, was a staple of every childhood memory from the east to the west coast. The shows were only 15 minutes long and featured Bob Homme as FG and puppeteer Rod Coneybeare as Rusty the Rooster and Jerome the Giraffe.

This was not your average kids show. It featured classical compositions and renaissance music that introduced many of the young viewers (and their parents) to songs they would otherwise never hear. The Friendly Giant opening theme instrumental itself is the old English folk song called “Early One Morning” (this is sung with lyrics as well). Bob Homme played the recorder while John Duncan played harp accompaniment. When additional musicians were needed Friendly was joined by Angie and Fiddle (aka “The Jazz Cats”).

I’ve posted 2 clips here because I wanted to show a good representation of the opening and closing credits, plus I wanted to include other iconic moments such as The Friendly Giant’s boot (“look up…look waayyy up!”), the chairs, his whistle to Jerome and the cow jumping over the moon. The intro video also includes some great old Canadian TV commercials for Participaction, Fraggle Rock and the popular Beachcomers show (another favorite of mine!). *Note: Youtube removed the version with the ads, so I’ve replaced it with the Halloween episode!

I hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane with The Friendly Giant and friends as much as I did…

Dave Carroll United Breaks Guitars

Canadian singer Dave Carroll, from the local Halifax, Nova Scotia band Sons Of Maxwell, had a nasty experience with United Airlines last year and he decided to make a video about it. It seems the airline baggage handlers roughed up his $3500 Taylor guitar and they refused to fix it! After 9 months of being denied compensation, he finally decided to take matters into his own hands and do what any creative musician would do in his situation…he wrote a song about it!

United Breaks Guitars video is the first in a 3 part series about his ordeal and he promises 2 more to follow. Maybe the company will do their own video response as well? They could call it “We Never Broke Nothin’!!” perhaps??

No, wait! They never said they didn’t break it…in fact, they acknowledged that they DID destroy it…they just don’t care.

Yeah, United breaks guitars…