tigerthelion Wrote:The Hip ruled. You know what's the funny part about it though. There are probably more people who watched the show that think Simple Plan put on the performance of the night than thought the Hip did. Strange, strange
I get the feeling that there were a lot of young people in the crowd and watching on TV who showed up (or tuned in) just to see the younger bands, and they probably weren't very familiar with the Hip. They didn't grow up with them like we did, and they don't know the history or understand the reasons for their legendary status. I think Gord may have frightened and confused a lot of those kids with his bizarro stage antics and stark originality. These kids have been force-fed pre-packaged pop punk and hip-hop on a daily basis by the mainstream, and and I'm guessing that when the Hip strolled on stage and played those two songs, these kids witnessed something that they had never seen before. I'm absolutely certain that their powerful performance made the rest of the bands nervous, like "holy shit, how are we gonna follow that??" Billy Talent looked like they were trying too hard, like they were trying to one-up the Hip in terms of energy. Not surprisingly it didn't work, and compared to the Hip they came off looking like the young inexperienced garage band that they are.
There are a LOT of great young bands coming out of this country right now who absolutely blow bands like Simple Plan and Billy Talent right out of the water, but young music fans aren't being exposed to them. And that's a shame. As much as the Junos still suck, I at least give them credit for taking some chances over the last couple of years by featuring (or at least nominating) talented artists like K-OS, Feist, Sam Roberts, The Weakerthans, The Constantines, The Arcade Fire, and Broken Social Scene. These artists, along with other incredibly talented folks like Matt Mays, Kathleen Edwards, Pilate, and Greg Macpherson are the future of intelligent Canadian rock, and they need to be supported and nurtured. The Hip know this, and that's why you always see them dragging along some young unknown indie band on tour with them. And that's why you hear Gord quoting the Weakerthans during "Grace, Too". I think it's kind of his unique way of saying "this band is amazing, and I think you should check them out." He's trying to educate younger music fans by telling them that there's a lot more to choose from than what Muchmusic is shoving down their throats. That's a great thing, and it's one of the things that makes the Hip so damn special. Holy crap, this is a long-winded post. I'll end it here.
