Happy Canada Day: Classic Canadian Alternative compendium

I've been enjoying going back in time and reminding myself of the great Canadian bands that changed the course of independent and alternative music back from the late 80s to early 90s. Why not enjoy some Classic Canadian Alternative while celebrating Canada's birthday on Canada Day?

Click through to music from the following great bands:

Grapes of Wrath

Universal Honey

National Velvet

Wild Strawberries

Pure

Doughboys

The Killjoys

Rusty

Sandbox

Rhymes with Orange

Rough Trade

Lava Hay

hHead

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Classic Canadian Alternative: hHead

hHead was a Canadian alternative band in the grunge vein. They wrote powerful tunes about disenfranchised youth and played energetic shows. I got to see them a few times back in the day. The mosh pits were legendary and I remember a particular Doc Marten to the head at the Rivoli. Good times!

Singer/guitarist Noah Mintz has made quite a name for himself as a mastering engineer, and bassist Brendan Canning is a founder of that legendary Canadian indie collective Broken Social Scene. hHead released three albums, 1992's Fireman, 1994's Jerk and 1996's Ozzy.

"Collide" from Fireman

"Flower" from Fireman

"Answers" from Jerk

"Happy" from Jerk

Pic from last.fm.

Five-by-Five: Classic Canadian Tunes

Today, the radio proclaimed it was playing Supertramp. Well, in fact it was the Spoons. A fine, fine Canadian band. So I have been inspired to write a Five-by-Five post on awesome Canadiana. Here we go:

"Flesh Under Skin" by National Velvet

"Underwhelmed" by Sloan

"Answer" by hHead

"Nova Heart" by Spoons, and

"Shine" by Doughboys