U.S.A.
Michael Jackson - Thriller
The Eagles - greatest hits 71-75
Pink Floyd - The Wall
Led Zeppelin - IV
AC/DC - Back in Black
Garth Brooks - Double Live
Billy Joel - Greatest hits I and II
Shania Twain - Come On Over
Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
The Beatles - The Beatles (White Album)
Guns n’ Roses - Appetite for Destruction
Canada
Michael Jackson - Thriller
Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
Led Zeppelin - IV
Pink Floyd - The Wall
Meat Loaf - Bat out of Hell
Alanis Morissette - Jagged Little Pill
Eagles - Greatest Hits
Shania Twain - The Woman In Me
Shania Twain - Come on Over
Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of The Moon
First of all there is a bit of cross over between nations. I think even Gadhafi listens to Thriller (probably listening to Beat It right now). Eagles’ tours will continue to pack plane loads of people from Northwest BC to relive their youth at some sold out arena. Fleetwood Mac wrote the best love-tragedy since Shakespeare, and Led Zeppelin IV could make Zeus feel like a weakling.
Furthermore, the reason we bought so much Shania is pretty obvious, she was a superstar, tweaking country with pop and rock to make herself an inoffensive, mildly sexy, occasional leapard suit wearing icon. Her next move should be to start releasing Annie Lennox adult contemporary-type music. Women my age are going to eat it for breakfast and force feed it to their kids. Just like my mom did with Annie.
But I digest, the reason why we bought so much Pink Floyd is far less obvious. We bought their records because this band sounds like what our country looks like. I know the debate is supposed to be between the Rolling Stones and the Beatles, but in North America it has played itself out as Beatles v. Floyd. If ever we give tours of Canada in a glass bottomed jet, the soundtrack wouldn’t be TheTragically Hip or Joni Mitchell or Bruce Cockburn. It would be Pink Floyd; going at the right speed our nation would sync up to Pink Floyd the way Dark Side does with The Wizard of Oz.
Compare Canada’s sparse population to Pink Floyd’s sparse sound, there is a connection. Pink Floyd doesn’t sound like they’re from Britain. They sound like they’re from the Yukon, inspired by unbroken white plains of snow butting up against towering mountains of “Us and Them” climax. Psychedelic rock was built for Canadians, northern ones especially.
South of the border you can see where the love for the Beatles comes from. Parts of The White Album sound like I’m riding my Schwinn Cruiser down to the ball diamond and providing inspiration for Norman Rockwell paintings. Contrast that with Canada, you’re out under the Northern Lights, it’s cold, no warm guns here, just a series of questions a la “Hey You.” Is it any coincidence that Ted Harrison was in the prime of his painting career at the same time Dark Side and The Wall were at the height of their popularity? It probably is...but you get the picture.
Also, it’s good to know that we have selected Dark Side of the Moon as it removes us from any of these:
AC/DC - good, but mostly ridiculous
Guns N’ Roses - would not have succeeded in Canada unless album had been repackaged as “Appetite for Moderation”
Billy Joel - again not sure, I liked that River of Dreams song when I was seven, but he was jumping on the 80s tribal sound a decade too late. You fooled me when I was seven Bill, never again.
Buying more Floyd is a quiet loud statement about who we are as a country, sound dominates lyrics on their albums, just as geographic spacing dominates dialogue in this country. Canadians are used to being able to go long stretches alone, and we go with Pink Floyd, because it takes an endless hovering sound to traverse this land.
*I went with eleven because there are eleven double platinum albums in Canadian history