Canadian Pop Music: 1950 - 1980
Secondary

Pop music is significant not only as a multi-billion dollar industry, but also as an accurate social barometer and powerful cultural force. Canadian Pop Music traces the development of pop music in Canada from its beginnings as a minor American off-shoot to its maturation as an internationally successful industry.

The Early Years: 1950s-1960s looks at the pop music scene of the 1950s when Canadian singers such as Paul Anka and The Crewcuts became successful in the us, and rock and roll was in its early stages. In the 1960s, rising folk singers Ian and Sylvia, Gordon Lightfoot, and Joni Mitchell, and Quebec chanteuses-such as Gilles Vigneault and Pauline Julienne-were prominent.

The Canadian Star System and the Expatriates: 1970s examines the rapid growth of the Canadian music industry when singers such as Anne Murray, The Guess Who and Gordon Lightfoot became international stars. Other significant occurrences in the 1970s were the emergence of Quebec Rock and the rise of three of the most original rock writers of the 1970s, Robbie Robertson, Joni Mitchell, and Neil Young.

Maturation of an Industry: Late 1970s and Early 1980s focuses on the solidifying of the industry, the increasing internationalism, and the many successful performers. This part points out and examines why Canadians accounted for as much as 15% of the U.S. charts in the early 1980s.

INCLUDES TEACHERS' GUIDE