Canada vs Australia

[videoheadcleaner]

Wow, support for down under is hugely limited. And I feel kind of saddened by this.

Firstly, there is more to Australian music than AC/DC, generic Beatles/ACDC cover bands and The Avalanches. Although AC/DC hold the mantle as the most favoured Aussie band on this site, a man by the name of Nick Cave clinches onto second. Cave's music has had a massive impact on the punk and post-punk scene of Australia and other countries. I think sometimes his influence on others (and those associated with him) is underappreciated. Sure, he won't sell records at the rate of Neil Young, Arcade Fire or others from the UK or US. But he should be valued more over the bogan rock that is applauded by many.

In addition, Canada's location, population and influence is greater than that of Australia. Canada is located in the Northern Hemisphere which dominates anything that happens in the world. Music from Australia, South Africa, South America or New Zealand never get as much airplay or recognition as those in the Northern Hemisphere. It is about where we lie. I hear more Australian music than other countries, as would Canada, Germany and South Korea. As stated before, Canada's population is larger and their influence on and from other Northern Hemisphere countries is greater. Comparing these two countries has merit but ultimately, Australia is still that land down under.

Finally, a mainstream pop demographic are more likely to listen to what is given to them, rather than explore. Here, I would think that people would expand their minds and music taste. However, I still see a reluctance to explore Australian music. The main players are there and a few critic's choices but Australia is still the small fish in the Western World of music. I'm not saying this as 'pity us, pity us' but more as a 'look at us, closer.' Uniquely Australian artists like The Drones, The Waifs and Powderfinger should be considered. In the top 100 ranked band on BEA, Arcade Fire is at 9, Neil Young at 19 and Rush at 56. This is the top three from Canada. Australia? AC/DC at 48. That's it. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds are at 112 and The Avalanches (with 1 album) are not in the top 200.

This could be said for many countries, but the fact remains that Canada is a more exposed and more accessible country to get music from. Australia has talent out there. Some would disagree with this; at the moment 23-4.

In summary, I voted Australia. I find the music from Australia (that I have listened to) to be diverse, intruging and what I want to listen to most of all. I have 824 Australian albums compared to 59 Canadian albums so the justification for my reason is based on my quantity. I am sure with further exposure to other Canadian music, I would find more gems and masterpieces as I find in Australian music.

And I will tone down my attitude towards Australian music, since that's what seems to be the consensus here.

[Happymeal]

Going through my charts to see what I have from each country:

Australia: The Drones, Nick Cave, Harkan, The Avalanches, Cut Copy, Men At Work,

Canadia: Broken Social Scene, Crash test Dummies, Wolf Parade, Strapping Young Lad, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Bryan Adams, The Band, Leonard Cohen


For me, Canadia does have some artists I don't like/hate (e.g Arcade Fire, Rush, Metric, and etc.) while Australia doesn't have quite as many I dislike so it's about tied for me.

[AlexZangari]

Canada. You guys were forgetting The Unicorns!
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kill yr idols

[Robert Anton Wilson]

Canada because the toilets flush on the right side and it is a shorter drive for me to get there but otherwise but are a-OK.

A country originally meant as a prison VS a country initially meant as a hunting ground
Beaver VS Kangaroo
Neutral and compromising to the point of being meaningless VS incomprehensible accent
Celine Dion VS Frontier Psychiatrist
Grizzly Bear VS Koala
The coldest capital int he world VS the country with the most creatures that can kill man
Evangeline Lilly VS Nicole Kidman (add a pool of red Jell-O and you've got something epic there)

Both require 3 a's to be spelled right

Yeah, the toilet flushing is the only element making a significant difference.

[BasdeWit97]

Gotye comes from Australia, so I have to choose for that.
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[GeevyDallas]

Vote Australia

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[Defago]

[Dingerbell]

^ Your argument certainly is convincing.

[Guest]

OP can shut his mouth. Both Canada and Australia are great countries with great music. Although for the reasons elaborated in this thread (population etc.) it's not fair just comparing music of these two countries out of the wider context. But I'll go with Canada anyway because . . . eh . . . I don't like sunny weather (actually I hate sunny weather and all of my good memories have been in snowy weather and happiness in my mind is associated with snow and grey (what is this spell-checker? Grey is wrong??) clouds).

Canada
Arcade Fire (Bell Orchestre)
Godspeed You! Black Emperor (A Silver Mt. Zion, Efrim Manuel Menuck)
Do Make Say Think
Neil Young
Venetian Snares
Women
Loscil
Crystal Castles
Broken Social Scene
Tim Hecker
Caribou
Julie Doiron
Esmerine
Leonard Cohen
HRSTA
The Band
Wolf Parade
Great Lake Swimmers
Moonface
Set Fire to Flames
Fly Pan Am


Australia
Dirty Three (The Tren Brothers, Mick Turner, Warren Ellis)
The Necks
The Avalanches
Cut Copy
Bluetile Lounge
Nick Cave
Triosk
Foetus (J. G. Thirlwell)
The Go-Betweens
Dead Can Dance
sleepmakeswaves
The Church

[JMan]

You forgot to give Australia AC/DC. But I'd go with Canada only for Arcade Fire and Rush.