The Juno Awards - Best New Band Over the years

The Juno Awards are happening in Winnipeg this year, and Robin Thicke was supposed to come but dropped out at the last minute. A fellow I know tweeted, "Thicke's absence opens the door for 13 Engines". I wish.

I went swimming through some history on the Juno Awards, mostly on the category which began as Most Promising Group and morphed into Best New Group/New Group of the Year/Breakthrough Group of the Year. It's easy to find fault in hindsight, but I still think there have been a few odd choices. Some nuggets for ya:

 In 1977, Burton Cummings won for most promising male vocalist. One of the his competitors? Winestoned Plowboy Nestor Pistor.


In 1980 and 1981, Bryan Adams lost out for most promising male vocalist, to Walter Rossi in '80 and Graham Shaw in '81.

Graham Shaw is pretty good though.


In 1998, Age of Electric received a nomination for Best New Group. The band had been releasing albums since 1990. Strangely enough, AOE members Ryan and Kurt Dahle formed a side project called Limblifter, put out a self-titled album in 1996, and managed to get nominated for the Best New Group award - the year BEFORE their old band did.

Age of Electric


Limblifter


1983 saw Rational Youth, The Box, and Images in Vogue lose out to Idle Eyes for Most Promising New Group.

Rational Youth




The Box




Images in Vogue


In 1979, Max Webster lost out for Most Promising Group of the Year to some group called Hometown Band.

Max Webster


Martha & the Muffins and Red Rider lost out in '81 AND '82. One year they lost to Powder Blues Band.

Martha & the Muffins


Red Rider


In 1991, Spirit of the West, Crash Vegas and National Velvet lost out to Leslie Spit Treeo.

Spirit of the West


Crash Vegas


National Velvet


Have the Junos ever gotten this award right? Maybe. Like The Stills and Wintersleep, for example. Rush, Skydiggers, The Hip and The Payolas won, so I am sure some people feel that there have been a few worthy wins.

The Stills


Wintersleep


Skydiggers



However, in 1986 Chalk Circle went up against Cats Can Fly, Eye Eye, One to One, and Glass Tiger. Chalk Circle was robbed, robbed I tell ya.

Chalk Circle
 

Recycling: Sanford, Brian Dunn, Wintersleep, Morning Benders

Okay, some problem with Soundcloud and Hype Machine and maybe even Blogger meant that barely anyone saw posts I dropped on Sanford, Brian Dunn, Wintersleep, and The Morning Benders. This pisses me off to no end, especially since the first three are Canadian artists that deserve attention. So I'm recycling. In fact, I'm also recycling some other mp3s that I think got missed by too many. If you already checked these songs out, thank you. If not, go to the original posts to get the full story and buying info. A real new post will follow soon.

Sanford - Complicated Shoes (phony drawl version)
Sanford - Complicated Shoes by scruffy the yak

Broken by Brian Dunn by scruffy the yak

Wintersleep -- Trace Decay by scruffy the yak

The Morning Benders - Big Echo by The Drift Record Shop

The Morning Benders - Dreams by dannon81

The Cold Wave - Clouded by scruffy the yak

Chris Page-Two Twenty Twos by scruffy the yak

The Parson Red Heads - Punctual As Usual by scruffy the yak

Oomalama by Eugenius by scruffy the yak

Buttermilk by Eugenius by scruffy the yak

Superchunk - Skip Steps 1 & 3 by scruffy the yak

Cruise Night by John K Samson by scruffy the yak

Royal Canoe-Me Loving Your Money by scruffy the yak

Scott Hinkson-A Miracle Complete by scruffy the yak

Kathryn Calder- Slip Away by scruffy the yak

The Blue Shadows-When Will This Heartache End by scruffy the yak

The paperbacks-perpetual autumn by scruffy the yak

The paperbacks-a dizzy chain of bees by scruffy the yak

01 The Best Words - Red Vienna by scruffy the yak

Commetoujours by scruffy the yak

Halomary by scruffy the yak

Wintersleep - Trace and Tour

Wintersleep is back into heavy touring, in Europe now, then including some upcoming shows with Scruffy faves The Hold Steady in the States, then almost everywhere in October and November (view all tour dates here). You can still get in on some pre-sales by going to Wintersleep.com .

Here's a freebie of Trace from the most recent album New Inheritors.

Wintersleep -- Trace Decay by scruffy the yak

Buy Winterleep here.