Popular Canadian Musical Groups Quiz

Answer: Rush

It's Rush I'm speaking of. In 1974, the band made their only personnel change when the original drummer, John Rutsey, had to leave the trio due to a serious illness. That opened the door for Neil Peart, whose addition to Rush is often cited as being "all they needed to become the best power trio ever".

The other two members, Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson, are the two members who use different names rather than their birth names. The lead guitarist, Lifeson, was born Alex Zivojinovic, while Lee was born Gary Lee Weinrib.

In 2012 they released their twentieth studio album, "Clockwork Angels", which is testament to their prosperity as one of the best progressive rock bands in existence. With all of the awards and quality music they've put out, Rush's fans, as well as many in the music business, are perplexed as to why ***it has taken Rush 40+ years in the music business to have it announced that they will be FINALLY accepted into the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame! ***This information was reported to me today, December 13,2012, by FT editor Agony. GREAT NEWS!

Answer: FM

The band FM added their third member in 1977, drummer Martin Deller, and embarked on a successful ten-year career, before running into a five year period of inactivity. Despite many years of on-again/off-again relationships between Nash the Slash and the band, he remains an enigma as his real name is still unknown to fans and followers.

This is most likely attributed to the fact that Nash has never shown his face and has always kept it covered with white bandages as well as wearing sunglasses and a fedora.

Answer: Barenaked Ladies

The Barenaked Ladies, formed in 1988 in Scarborough, Ontario, achieved huge fame and success in Canada, but like most Canadian groups, struggled to become known south of the border. Along with their huge award-winning song, "If I Had A Million Dollars", they also found fame with songs such as their 1993 Album of The Year, "Gordon", as well as several catchy singles such as "Pinch Me", "One Week", and "Brian Wilson", a ditty about the Beach Boys' own musician.

They also did very well with a remake of fellow Canuck Bruce Cockburn's hit, "Lovers In A Dangerous Time".

In 2000, they won the World Music Award for World's Best-Selling Canadian Group. Despite several personnel changes, the BNL continue to pull in huge crowds and still garner various music awards.

Answer: Bachman-Turner Overdrive

Known better by the shorter moniker of B.T.O., Bachman-Turner Overdrive still receives an immense amount of airplay, especially from their hugely popular songs such as "Let It Ride", "Roll On Down The Highway", "Hey You", and their massive hit, "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet", which was only intended to be recorded once and sent to Randy Bachman's brother, Gary, who had a stutter and was constantly being teased about his inability to get dates due to his shyness.

The song was never meant to be included in any of their album recordings but once it had become known, it was an instant hit so the band decided, with Gary's reluctant go-ahead, to include it in its next release.

It turned out to be a great decision for B.T.O. as it helped their album sales quickly rise and by 1975 they had album sales of three Gold records and two Platinum. B.T.O fans are still fondly referred to as "Gearheads" which refers to the group's gear-shaped logo.

Answer: Hedley

The members of Hedley consist of Chris Crippin (drums, backing vocals, and rhythm guitar), Jacob Hoggard (lead vocals, acoustic guitar, rhythm guitar, and piano), Tommy McDonald (bass guitar, backing vocals), and Dave Rosin (guitar, backing vocals). The rumor is that Hedley took their name from Hedley Street after their attempt to purchase the town of Hedley, British Columbia, fell through.

Hedley has garnered much early success and in 2012, many of their fans were thoroughly disappointed when it lost the UR Fave Artist of the Year to none other than Justin Bieber. One of the band's biggest career moments was playing at the closing ceremonies of Vancouver's 2010 Winter Olympics.

Answer: Crash Test Dummies

A good hint for this group would be "stay away from cars". That would be a good piece of advice for the Crash Test Dummies who appeared on the Canadian music scene in 1988 and played mostly at Winnipeg nightspots such as The Blue Note Cafe and Spectrum Cabaret. Four years after their beginning, they won the Juno Award for Canada's Group of the Year.

Although they continued to have great musical success, as of 2012 that accolade stands as their only award yet. The singer with the thick, baritone voice I referred to is Brad Roberts, known for his singing ability on tunes such as "Superman's Song" and albums like "God Shuffled His Feet".

Answer: Doug and the Slugs

In 1979, Doug and the Slugs released their first big Canadian hit and from that point, the rest is history. Up until the death of the charismatic and musically energetic Doug Bennett in October of 2004, they played night after night to sold out audiences in some of the busiest and most popular venues in Canada.

Although their music had limited success in American music stores, they were hugely popular on America's MTV due to the quality and humour of their videos. After Bennett's death, there was no consideration of continuing without him, but after a five-year hiatus from touring, they incorporated a Doug Bennett look-alike/sound-alike artist and went back to work in 2009.

Answer: April Wine

The hint "springtime band" was referring to 'April' Wine. The band name was chosen because the band members simply thought "April" and "Wine" sounded good together. As the information in the question alludes to, it must have been a good choice since they've enjoyed nothing but success since they first appeared on the rock scene way back in 1969.

Other than a six-year hiatus so Myles Goodwyn and some other band members could embark on solo efforts, April Wine is still playing to full houses both in Canada and internationally over forty years after their initial beginnings.

Answer: Lighthouse

It was almost unheard of in the music world at the time Lighthouse hit the airwaves for a Canadian band to have such early success on the U.S. charts, but by 1972 Lighthouse had five albums on the US Top 200 Charts and five singles on the RPM Magazine Listings and the US Hot 100 Charts. Over their nearly twenty combined on-again/off-again years in the music business, Lighthouse has incorporated no less than sixty-three different musicians.

The band is best known for their hits, "One Fine Morning", "Pretty Lady", and "Sunny Days".

Answer: Nickelback

Before the beginning of their huge success under their present band title, Nickelback, they were known on local stages around Alberta and British Columbia as a cover band known by the moniker Village Idiots. That band was begun by Chad, Mike, and Brandon Kroeger, as well as Ryan Peake.

The name originates from Chad Kroeger's job at Starbuck's Coffee, where he often found himself saying, "Here's your nickel back." During their career, more than seventeen years in the business since their beginning in 1995, Nickelback has won thirty-two awards from a total of seventy-eight nominations.