I think we can all agree that Rush is one of the biggest bands to come out of Canada. Many would also contend Rush are the best Canadian band; others would disagree. No matter. We decided to give those New World men a breather and consider 16 other bands cultivated in Canada.
There are so many great Canadian bands that a field of 16 seemed terribly restrictive. We doubled the size of the field to 32 (hey, we’re all about the least we can do). We fine-tuned the field down to 16 with two preliminary lightning rounds, featuring eight 3-band polls.
The following bands were sadly eliminated in those lightning rounds: 54-40, BTO, Blue Rodeo, Broken Social Scene, Chilliwack, Crash Test Dummies, Glorious Sons, Honeymoon Suite, Mahogany Rush, Nickelback, Our Lady Peace, Prism, Sloan, Stars, Sum 41 and Voivod. We thank these stellar artists for their service and hope to see some of them in future tournaments. Fair thee well.
All the matchups are detailed in the bracket below. Each match was contested on Twitter. Results are expressed in %.
There was no Rush in this tournament; it was meant to be pleasant and relaxing. Thanks to everyone who participated and helped us pick a favorite band from Canada. And congratulations to The Band – those other guys from TO aren’t the only men who hold high places.
Final Four
| FINAL FOUR | FINALS | CHAMPION | FINALS | FINAL FOUR |
| The Band (71%) | The Band (53%) | The Guess Who (47%) | The Guess Who (61%) | |
| Triumph (29%) | THE BAND | The Tragically Hip (39%) |
Opening Rounds
| ROUND 1 | ROUND 2 | MOVING ON |
| The Band (Toronto) (71%) | ||
| Anvil (Toronto) (29%) | The Band (60%) | |
| The Band | ||
| Men Without Hats (Montreal) (37%) | Loverboy (40%) | |
| Loverboy (Calgary) (63%) | ||
| Arcade Fire (Montreal) (66%) | ||
| 3 Days Grace (Norwood ON) (34%) | Arcade Fire (40%) | |
| Triumph | ||
| Triumph (Mississauga ON) (59%) | Triumph (60%) | |
| Cowboy Junkies (Toronto) (41%) | ||
| The Guess Who (Winnipeg) (81%) | ||
| Metric (Toronto) (19%) | The Guess Who (64%) | |
| The Guess Who | ||
| Steppenwolf (Oshawa ON) (40%) | April Wine (36%) | |
| April Wine (Waverley NS) (60%) | ||
| The New Pornographers (Vancouver) (39%) | ||
| Bare Naked Ladies (Scarborough ON) (61%) | Bare Naked Ladies (40%) | |
| The Tragically Hip | ||
| Saga (Oakville ON) (46%) | The Tragically Hip (60%) | |
| The Tragically Hip (Kingston ON) (54%) | ||
