Rock and roll / Rock et roll
August 30, 2012 1:37 PM Subscribe
While Quebec’s status as the only primarily French-speaking province in Canada has resulted in a distinct cultural industry—particularly with regard to film and music—the province still enjoys many cultural products from English Canada. While movies and TV shows are often subtitled or dubbed into French, it is rare that the same is true of music. A notable exception is the music of Toronto-based
Big Sugar.
In 1996, Big Sugar decided to record a French-language version of their single “
Open Up Baby.” The song, titled “
Ouvre-toi Bébé”, was a big hit on Quebec radio stations. As a result, the band recorded French versions of each single they released from their 1999 follow-up album. The French songs were eventually compiled on an EP titled
Chauffe à bloc.
In 2001, the band decided to go beyond just recording French versions of the singles and recorded an entire album in both official languages:
Brothers and Sisters, Are You Ready? / Brothers and Sisters, Êtes Vous Ready? The English version of the album was nominated for Best Rock Album at the 2002 Juno Awards, while the French version included four French-only tracks not included on the English version.
After playing what was to be their final show on New Year's Eve, 2003, the band has since reformed and released a new full length album—in English only—in 2011.
Bonus links:
A few English songs:
A few French songs:
I had not heard that they'd had gotten back together, thank you asnider! The new album is called Revolution Per Minute and is conveniently available on Spotify. (Hm, much heavier on the keyboards than their earlier stuff, at a quick listen.)
See also Gordie Johnson's other band, Grady.
posted by usonian at 2:06 PM on August 30, 2012 [1 favorite]