Preview
SLOAN
Wednesday May 11
The Whiskey
Year-end Top 10 lists. Essential tracks. Best whatever of all time. They’re a staple of music journalism and the source of heated debates, but really, they’re kind of lame. While there may be merit in prodding music fans to seek out forgotten classics, the exercise frequently comes across as being more about the people who write the lists than the music itself.
"Well, that’s why I never pay attention to these things, to tell you the truth," says Patrick Pentland, "because I never agree with them. It’s always like, ‘That song sucks, what are you talking about?’ And I also don’t trust people. I think if they’ll put a song that will get that kind of reaction, they’ll vote for that song to show that their record collection is a little bigger than everybody else’s."
So how does Pentland interpret his band Sloan’s placement on both CBC Radio One’s "50 Essential Canadian Tracks" (No. 45, "Coax Me") and Chart magazine’s Top 50 Canadian Albums and Songs Of All Time (No. 1, Twice Removed, which also topped the list in 1996) this year?
"You know, it’s flattering," he admits with guarded diplomacy. "It’s nice to be recognized as part of the Canadian music culture, I suppose. But with Chart putting Twice Removed as, like, the No. 1 record of all time or whatever it is, we don’t believe that. It’s just something that people write."
There are definitely other Canadian musicians who have been more influential or who will be remembered more than Sloan, Pentland says. It’s not like they believe their record is better than any of the Neil Young recordings mentioned, for example. (Incidentally, Sloan’s Jay Ferguson rallied behind Young on CBC’s 50 Tracks 1970s panel. Young’s selection, "Heart of Gold," wound up at number three – 42 spots ahead of "Coax Me.")
"It’s nice to be included, but we’re not, like, ‘Ah finally, we made it onto this CBC list, that’s great, now we can all go on vacation.’"
The band has received acclaim in more meaningful ways, as Pentland reveals.
"We have had people come up to us who have met through liking our band, and they got married and their first dance at their wedding was ‘I Can Feel It,’" he says.
How does that make him feel, particularly since the song, the final track from Twice Removed, was a track he wrote?
"Well, it’s a good feeling," he says. "I mean, it doesn’t blow your mind or anything ’cause it is a song that anybody could listen to. But you know, it’s nice to think that to some people, your band is a part of their lives more so than just something they listen to."
And doesn’t that speak volumes more than what some list-making music hack could ever write? |
Copyright ©2005 FFWD. All rights reserved.