The Top 100 Canadian Singles? Really?

As a sort of punch-line to Bob Merserau's previous argument starter 2007's The Top 100 Canadian Albums – which could've been subtitled "According To Music Biz Geezers Who Don't Buy Records" – the New Brunswick-based CBC reporter is at it again with The Top 100 Canadian Singles (Goose Lane Editions). Once again he has polled his pals in the Canadian music industry's old boys network for their favourite singles to come up with a puzzling list which better reflects the tastes and biases of label reps, radio personnel and music writers than the vast majority of music lovers in this country who spend their own hard-earned dollars on records.
Consequently, the resulting list of 100 singles that Merserau has compiled with the best of intentions is skewed towards commercial radio staples in the 60s 70s and 80s. Anything that isn't easily categorized as pop or rock gets the short shrift so don't expect to see any metal, punk, hardcore, jazz, blues, disco, R&B, electronic, funk, reggae (no, Bruce Cockburn's Wondering Where The Lions Are doesn't count), soca, calypso, polka or even much country or folk. And sorry Wes Dakus, Sadies and Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet – there's no twangy instrumental stuff either. But even popular music styles since the 90s like rap, techno, house music doesn't fare much better.
On the upside, Mersereau and company collectively managed to fight back their inclination to fill the enitre list with their fave tunes by Neil Young, Guess Who and Leonard Cohen, however, they found it difficult to not to big up The Band, Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell and Bryan Adams. Here are the Top 100 Singles compiled by Mersereau, who will be participating in interactive Facebook interview staged by Roch Parisien on his Rocon Communications page on Sunday (October 10) from 2 pm to 4 pm. 

1. The Guess Who — American Woman
2. Neil Young — Heart Of Gold
3. The Band — The Weight
4. Bryan Adams — Summer of '69
5. Leonard Cohen — Hallelujah
6. Steppenwolf — Born to Be Wild
7. Gordon Lightfoot — If You Could Read My Mind
8. Bachman Turner Overdrive — Takin' Care Of Business
9. Ian and Sylvia — Four Strong Winds
10. Anne Murray — Snowbird
11. Joni Mitchell — Big Yellow Taxi/Woodstock
12. Rush — Tom Sawyer
13. Blue Rodeo — Try
14. Tragically Hip — New Orleans Is Sinking
15. Gordon Lightfoot — The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald
16. Leonard Cohen — Suzanne
17. Tom Cochrane — Life Is A Highway
18. Guess Who — These Eyes
19. Gordon Lightfoot — Sundown
20. Sloan — Underwhelmed
21. The Band — Up On Cripple Creek/The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
22. Maestro Fresh Wes — Let Your Backbone Slide
23. The Diodes — Tired of Waking Up Tired
24. Rush — The Spirit of Radio
25. Crowbar — Oh What A Feeling
26. Rough Trade — High School Confidential
27. Martha and the Muffins — Echo Beach
28. Stampeders — Sweet City Woman
29. Arcade Fire — Wake Up
30. Barenaked Ladies — If I Had $1,000,000
31. Robert Charlebois — Lindberg
32. The Pursuit Of Happiness — I'm an Adult Now
33. Ugly Ducklings — Nothin'
34. Sloan — Coax Me
35. Rush — Closer To The Heart
36. Teenage Head — Picture My Face
37. Guess Who — Shakin' All Over
38. Five Man Electrical Band — Signs
39. Blue Rodeo — Lost Together
40. Ron Hynes — Sonny's Dream
41. Men Without Hats — The Safety Dance
42. Rheostatics — Claire
43. Lighthouse — One Fine Morning
44. A Foot In Coldwater — (Make Me Do) Anything You Want
45. Corey Hart — Sunglasses At Night
46. Loverboy — Working For The Weekend
47. Trooper — Raise A Little Hell
48. Parachute Club — Rise Up
49. Alannah Myles — Black Velvet
50. Terry Jacks — Seasons In The Sun
51. Malajube — Montreal —40C
52. Neil Young — Cinnamon Girl
53. Alanis Morissette — You Oughta Know
54. Feist — 1234
55. Arcade Fire — Rebellion (Lies)
56. k.d. lang — Constant Craving
57. Neil Young — Rockin' In The Free World
58. Michel Pagliaro — Lovin' You Ain't Easy
59. Bruce Cockburn — Lovers In A Dangerous Time
60. Tragically Hip — Bobcaygeon
61. Joni Mitchell — A Case of You/California
62. The Demics — New York City
63. Bryan Adams — (Everything I Do) I Do It For You
64. Tragically Hip — Ahead By A Century
65. Blue Rodeo — Five Days In May
66. Hank Snow — I'm Moving On
67. Harmonium — Pour un instant
68. Steppenwolf — Magic Carpet Ride
69. Sloan — Money City Maniacs
70. Celine Dion — My Heart Will Go On
71. k—os — Crabbuckit
72. The Kings —This Beat Goes on/Switchin' To Glide
73. Neil Young — Old Man/Needle and the Damage Done
74. Jean Leloup — 1990
75. Payola$ — Eyes Of A Stranger
76. Blue Rodeo — Hasn't Hit Me Yet
77. Bachman Turner Overdrive — You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet
78. Bruce Cockburn — Wondering Where The Lions Are
79. April Wine — You Could Have Been A Lady
80. Teenage Head — Let's Shake/Somethin' On My Mind
81. Joni Mitchell — Help Me
82. Trooper — We're Here For A Good Time
83. Lighthouse — Sunny Days
84. Jean—Pierre Ferland — Le petit roi
85. Bryan Adams — Cuts Like A Knife
86. Stompin' Tom Connors — The Hockey Song
87. Tragically Hip — Wheat Kings
88. Gilles Vigneault — Mon pays
89. Spirit of The West — Home For A Rest
90. New Pornographers — Letter From An Occupant
91. Guess Who — No Time
92. Mashmakhan — As The Years Go By
93. Neil Young — Hey Hey My My
94. Paul Anka — Diana
95. Daniel Lanois — The Maker
96. The Spoons — Nova Heart
97. Beau Dommage — La complainte du phoque en Alaska
98. Ron Sexsmith — Secret Heart
99. Bryan Adams — Run To You
100. Wintersleep — Weighty Ghost


Disheartening as Mersereau's Top 100 Canadian Singles list may be, I can't say that I was shocked after seeing his equally cringe-inducing Top 100 Canadian Albums. No doubt most fans of Canadian music will have their own "I can't believe they left off..." moment. There's probably another book in compiling all the great Canadian singles that were missed by Mersereau's list. I'd have no problem coming up with an alternate 100 but here's the first 50 which immediately came to mind in no particular order: 

The Haunted - 1-2-5

Painted Ship - Frustration b/w Little White Lies

Ronnie Hawkins - Forty Days

Ian & Sylvia - You Were On My Mind

Slow - Have Not Been The Same

Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet - Having An Average Weekend

Poppy Family - Where Evil Grows

David Clayton Thomas and the Boss Men - Brainwashed

It's All Meat - Feel It

Oscar Peterson - Night Train

Klaatu - Calling Occupants

The Great Scots - That's My Girl (Rotten To The Core)

The Action - TV's On The Blink

Bonnie Dobson - Morning Dew

Eddie Spencer - If This Is Love (I'd Rather Be Lonely)

Hank Snow - Ninety Miles An Hour (Down At Dead End Street)

The SIdewinders - Put The Blame On Me

Martin Martin - Press Right Here

Luke & The Apostles - Been Burnt

Jackie Shane - Stand Up Straight and Tall

MG & The Escorts - Someday Fool

A Passing Fancy - I'm Losing Tonight

The Jury - Who Dat?

Eyes Of Dawn - Time To Be Going

Blue Shadows - Deliver Me

Gene MacLellan - The Call

Bonnie Dobson - I Got Stung

Marius Cultier - Coco Boogaloo

Les Lutins - Je Cherche

Don Norman and the Other Four - Low Man

R. Dean Taylor - There's A Ghost In My House

Ugly Ducklings - Just In Case You Wonder

Les Miserables - Vivre Avec Toi

Dream Warriors - My Definition of a Boombastic Jazz Style

Jackie Mittoo - Wishbone

Carla Whitney - It's You For Me

Rascalz (w/Kardinal Offishall, Checkmate, Thrust, Choclair) - Northern Touch

Esquires - It's A Dirty Shame

The Fringe - Plastic People

Subhumans - Death To The Sickoids

R. Dean Taylor - Indiana Wants Me

Skaliwags - Turn Him Down

The Free-For-All - Show Me The Way

Pointed Sticks - What Do You Want Me To Do?

The Quid - Crazy Things

Nick Ayoub - Perception

Underworld - Go Away

Satan & The D Men - She'll Lie

Jo-Jo & The Fugitives - Chips, Chicken, Banana Split

Patsy Gallant - From New York To L.A.