If Gordon Lightfoot and The Iriah Rovers are on this list (both excellent acts in their respective sub genres)...why not Anne Murray...who had several significant crossover hits???

Cool! I like that list more than the old one. No love for Skinny Puppy, Jeff Healey, Hot Hot Heat, Caribou/Manitoba, Junior Boys, Klaatu, David Foster and anybody I listed in my suggestions behind the DeFranco Family? (Sorry if I'm a pain in the ass, but I always do that. Ask piper.)

Uhm, why isn't Joni Mitchell #2? She beats both Rush and the Band in all the categories.

Pain in the ass is right haha. But you're right, I still need to add those ones. Before, I send the next version to Lew, I'll be sure you have a look at it

Gotta respectfully disagree with you. First, with regards to Rush, they destroy Joni in terms of popularity. Just take a look at these album sales links from the RIAA. The first is Rush's, then Joni. No Contest. Joni does beat Rush in acclaim but nowhere near the margin they beat her in popularity.

http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata ... =tblTopArt
http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata ... =tblTopArt

With regards to the Band, I agreed its a bit closer (that's why they're 3 and Rush is 2). Joni may squeak by them in terms of popularity but I think the deciding factor is acclaim and influence. I think Allmusic's Bruce Eder sums it up better than me:

For roughly half a decade, from 1968 through 1975, the Band was one of the most popular and influential rock groups in the world, their music embraced by critics (and, to a somewhat lesser degree, the public) as seriously as the music of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Their albums were analyzed and reviewed as intensely as any records by their one-time employer and sometime mentor Bob Dylan. Although the Band retired from touring after The Last Waltz and disbanded several years later, their legacy thrived for decades, perpetuated by the bandmates' respective solo careers as well as the enduring strength of the Band's catalog.

Lookin' forward to it. You're doing a good job.

pauldrach, since Canada now has its own list on the site, are you going to remove the Canadian artists from your international artists list like you did to the non-English British artists? You can probably add back any artist you've removed since the new forum started if you do.

Rush beat Joni in popularity but I think Joni takes influence and acclaim fairly easily. Anyway, objectively measuring a rather popular artist against a rather influential and acclaimed is not possible. So if you're giving popularity a little more relevance than for instance Brian does, it is not a problem as long you're being consistent with it, and I think you are.


Well, Eder is right that The Band is among the most influential and acclaimed artists of there era (of any era actually), but Joni Mitchell is as well. Her recorded output is at least as acclaimed as The Band's and her influence outdoes that of The Band. Joni was hugely influential on contemporary and alternative singer/songwriters, hugely popular styles since the 1970's. The Band set the stage for all the roots rock and alt-country bands to come, important as well, but not quite as big as the styles Joni influenced.

Let's also take a look at Rush vs. The Band:
Rush take popularity easily. Rush's influence is rather limited. When they broke through, prog was already an established genre. They had influence on later prog styles (neo-prog, prog-metal) but these are not very big styles overall. The Band takes influence fairly easily.

Rush's acclaim largely rests on a few albums from the late 1970's/early 1980's. These are acclaimed records within their respective style but they lack the widespread acclaim The Band had in the late 1960's/early 1970's. The Band also takes acclaim fairly easily.

No, I'm not too keen on doing that. Adam's list is pretty different from mine as he created this list from a Canadian point of view. The point of the international list was judging the artists from a US/UK point of view to acknowledge their success in the biggest music markets without originally evolving from them.

I still think that overall, Joni beats both:

Joni vs. Rush
Popularity: Rush by quite a bit
Acclaim: Joni
Influence: Joni by quite a bit

Like pauldrach said, I'm not sure that Rush is significantly influential enough, while Mitchell's influence is fairly prevalent in most singer-songwriter albums.

Joni vs. The Band
Popularity: Joni
Influence: Tie/Joni
Acclaim: Tie/Joni

Mitchell is really one of the most acclaimed artists of all time, even for only her Ladies... to Court & Spark period. I'd say she's the highest of the three in acclaim, with the Band not far behind. Popularity is probably Rush - Mitchell - Band, all with leads big enough to disregard any ambiguity. Influence is most likely a tie between Joni and the Band, with Rush behind by a quite a bit.

I might be open to Joni and The Band trading places but I'm still not convinced for Rush. I agree that Joni beats them on both acclaim and influence but Rush's popularity to this day is something that I believe sets them apart. Rush still get played a whole lot on classic rock stations (now would be the time for gminer to lay down some airplay stats lol). Aside from the odd AC/Lite rock station, Joni isn't really on the airwaves today. Check out the RIAA link I posted and you'll notice two things. First, Rush has 30+ platinum albums compared to her 4. Second, you'll notice that her best selling albums are all concentrated near her heyday (late 60s-mid 70s). On the other hand, Rush's commercial success spans decades, to this day in fact. Joni Mitchel would have to take acclaim and influence by A LOT to make up for such a large gap. I'm assuming you guys are in my age group (late teens - 20s) and I know anecdotal evidence isn't worth much but...common. Do you know any Joni Mitchell fans under 30?

I know myself. I'm definitely a Joni fan but wouldn't consider myself a Rush fan. I'm aware of another person, even younger than I am, that is a Joni fan as well. I am not aware of any Rush fans among the people of my age group I know personally.

I'm a Joni fan, and I'm in my mid-teens. Not a Rush fan though.

Joni absolutely destroys Rush in acclaim. From Ladies Of The Canyon to The Hissing Of Summer Lawns (throw in Hejira for good measure), every Mitchell album was lauded by critics and musicians alike. Prince, Madonna, Elvis Costello, and others have expressed their respect and admiration of Mitchell's work. She's been covered by dozens of artists, and she's been named in various songs by other artists, an indicator of their acclaim for her.

She was an influence, especially lyrically, to a plethora of artists, ranging from the three already mentioned, to Jeff Buckley, to Maynard James Keenan, to Morrissey; emphasizing the diversity of her music and how it affected other artists.

I doubt that Rush's popularity could make up for that.

If we are talking about artists who were actually born in Canada, the best known, the most influential, and about quality music, flawless music, music that makes you think and laugh, music that is witty and very well written and produced, then that title belongs to Leonard Cohen.

Leonard Cohen is the greatest Canadian Rock Artist

The 100 Greatest Canadian Rock Artists: MY TOP 77!

01. Leonard Cohen
02. Neil Young
03. Joni Mitchell
04. The Band
05. Gordon Lightfoot
06. The Guess Who
07. Bachman-Turner Overdrive
08. Buffy Sainte-Marie
09. Bruce Cockburn
10. Paul Anka

11. Anne Murray
12. Bryan Adams
13. Rush
14. Blue Rodeo
15. The Pixies
16. The Tragically Hip
17. Cowboy Junkies
18. The Pursuit of Happiness
19. The Grapes of Wrath
20. Northern Pikes

21. Barenaked Ladies
22. Ian & Sylvia
23. Kate & Anna McGarrigle
24. k.d. lang
25. Alanis Morissette
26. Celine Dion
27. Avril Lavigne
28. Nelly Furtado
29. Andy Kim
30. Dan Hill

31. Gino Vanelli
32. Lighthouse
33. Trooper
34. Triumph
35. Ian Thomas
36. Red Rider
37. Max Webster
38. Sweeney Todd
39. Tom Cochrane
40. Kim Mitchell

41. Corey Hart
42. David Foster
43. The Diamonds
44. Martha & The Muffins
45. April Wine
46. Loverboy
47. Payola$
48. Prism
49. Chilliwack
50. Aldo Nova

51. The Spoons
52. Frozen Ghost
53. The Jitters
54. Gowan
55. Doug and the Slugs
56. BLVD.
57. Haywire
58. Mitsou
59. Lee Aaron
60. Sass Jordan

61. Maestro Fresh Wes
62. The Jeff Healey Band
63. Glass Tiger
64. Toronto
65. Terry Jacks
66. The DeFranco Family
67. Five Man Electrical Band
68. Crash Test Dummies
69. Platinum Blonde
70. Hank Snow

71. Oscar Peterson
72. 54-40
73. Honeymoon Suite
74. Paul Janz
75. Jann Arden
76. Alannah Myles
77. Jane Child

Although all the members of Heart are Americans, Digital Dream Door lists them as a Canadian band because Heart's first two albums were released by Mushroom Records. The male members of Heart were draft dodgers. Ann and Nancy Wilson were romantically involved with the male members of Heart. They followed them to Canada where they began recording.

Mushroom Records was a recording label company founded in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, by brothers Wink and Dick Vogel in 1974. Shelly Siegel was the label's Vice-president and creative director. Mushroom released approximately 15 LPs and 50 singles between 1974 and 1980. The Mushroom label released recordings in Canada through a distribution arrangement with A&M Records. It was distributed in the United States through a network of independent distributors, which included Fourth Street East in Chatsworth, California. The company was also incorporated in the U.S. and maintained a second office on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. Some Mushroom recordings were also released in Europe through Arista Records. Heart's two Mushroom albums were later purchased and re-issued by Capitol Records when the band moved to that label in 1985.

Heart on Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_(band)

Heart formed in Seattle. They went to Canada in 1972 as draft dodgers. Mushroom opened in 1974. Heart's first album in 1976.