The two weddings that I've attended with Wendy have both been for Canadians of my generation, which meant that the DJ played Spirit of the West's Home for a Rest (a song where they managed to beat The Pogues on their own turf) and a couple of big hits that she didn't recognize. I've decided to give her a hand by making her a mixed CD of the essential Canadian rock and pop tunes for people out age (specifically people who went to high school in the mid-to-late eighties and university in the late eighties to mid-nineties).

So far, I've come up with:

I need more songs! If you have any suggestions, please let me know in the comments. Some guidelines:

  • The songs should have been hits only within the borders of Canada, or even my area of Canada (Ontario/Quebec). There's no point in putting Tom Cochrane's Life is a Highway or Bryan Adams' Summer of '69 on this CD; the point is to give her music that's new to her.
  • The term "hit" is relative. It the song had a cult following in my neck of the woods (say, a hit in the Ontario/Quebec university zone in the early 90s but unknown in New England), it counts.
  • More than one song by the same artist is okay.
Oh, and could someone tell me if the Dream Warriors' My Definition of a Boombastic Jazz Style was or wasn't a hit in the Excited States? It did well here in Ontario and was also a minor club hit in the UK.

Your suggestions, please...