Pretty good article. I went to a handful of wild all-ages shows beginning in 1979. I don’t specifically remember the Dishrags but I do remember the Modernettes of which Mary Jo Kopechne was a member. There were lots of women and girl punks around.
I didn’t know I was witnessing a scene, as described in Canadian punk rock:
Hardcore got going after that, and shit got real when some of the punkers formed Direct Action and blew stuff up.
How does anyone remember anything from back then? Certainly I’m fuzzy on it. I do remember it was grimy, exhilarating, exhausting, and dangerous.
On Spotify is “Vancouver Complication”; a decent collection of the music from back in the day. Googling that will get a track list and links to videos.
Fully agree! In poking around the internet to research my comment I looked up some graffiti I remember seeing everywhere in Vancouver in the 80’s: “Talk minus Action = Zero”. All that comes up is the DOA album of that name from 1991, very much later. So google isn’t helping. Eff! I wished I documented what I saw.
Or maybe that is just another thing I mix up in my memories. I swear I remember the New Pornographers from the late 80’s too. They formed in 1997.
Yeah, honestly, this is a problem with oral histories (although I think they are a great way to do historical research)… our brains are not recording machines. We constantly revise our own memories in a way that makes sense to us, and reflects our later experiences, so those memories recalled later aren’t always good as a singular source. They’re great put into conversation with other sources (including other oral histories, official and unofficial archives, etc). I think that we probably remember our feelings better than the specific details of events we lived through…
You can also apply for heraldry after being awarded a honour/decoration.
Personally, I don’t see what the bother is in this chat. The Order of Canada is awarded to many actors, musicians, artists etc… It’s a recognition of representing Canada positively on the international stage, and generally doing good.
One could make a better case for the Dishrags or the ‘B’ Girls as punk pioneers. More clearly paving the way, you could make a case for Carole Pope, even if she wasn’t strictly punk.
Rough Trade - High School Confidential (HQ Remastered Audio) | sonicboy19
Not to take anything away from Joni Mitchell who was a pioneer on several fronts. Or the entirety of the 80’s and 90’s, where a bunch of women were representing in Canada.
Neither do I. Most of the chat in the thread is about what musical genre Avril Lavigne fits in. I’m not qualified to comment on that, I’m just pleased she has been recognized. I really hope you’re not implying otherwise.
My comment was to correct the multiple errors in the article about the description of the awards system and the all-too-common assumption that everything Canada does is with the permission of, and at the direction of, the British monarch.
I didn’t see anyone “bothered” by Lavigne or insult her or anything of that nature… But given that she’s often called “punk” or at the very least “punk influenced” talking about genre is a relevant discussion.
Pre-ordered this so I could get it in my grubby hands as soon as possible. It’s a banger. I saw them play in some shithole in Albany right after they put their second album out, way back when. (I think it was less a statement on their stature at the time but more of a “practice show” at the very beginning of a tour where they were playing bigger venues.) They put on a hell of a show.
Not even if you just count the mainland. Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobego are all in North America.
It’s not a knighthood. You get postnominals for your name, not a title.
And it wasn’t because Elizabeth was “tired” of giving British titles to Canadians.
In the 1920s, Canada banned Canadians from receiving foreign honours and titles. Although a conservative (of course) government in the 1930s restored British honours, wartime Liberal prime minister Mackenzie King resumed the ban. The ban was formalized in the 1960s by Liberal prime minister Lester Pearson and reaffirmed by Progressive Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney in 1988.
If a Canadian citizen wants a knighthood or to become a Grand Moff or Lord Fancypants, they have to renounce their Canadian citizenship.
It was the Canadian push for independence, not Liz being bored, which removed British honours from Canadian life.
In 1967, the Order of Canada was a established to honour Canadians. Elizabeth, as the Head of State, signed off on it (as required by Canadian law), but otherwise had nothing to do with it.
Also to historicize scenes like this and help people understand why they’re important…
