It has taken time for the Junos to be accepted. Throughout the years, the Junos suffered criticism and ambivalence from the very industry they were designed to celebrate. Admittedly "Mickey Mouse" shows were televised in the beginning and things were so bad that Anne Murray spurned the awards and Stompin' Tom Connors, as well, had his issues. He thought the Canadian music industry had become too "Americanized" and returned all of his Junos in protest.
Over the past ten years or so, the Juno Awards has gotten increasingly more like its American counterpart, the Grammy Awards. The show is slicker, louder, more performance oriented, and the awards have evolved into something Canadian artists actually consider worthwhile. Winning a Juno helps increase an artist's record and concert ticket sales, and CARAS (Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences) annually releases a compilation CD of the winning songs, which helps expose the music to new audiences.
For the most part, I enjoyed this year's show. It was refreshing to see indie bands like Great Lake Swimmers and Metric perform, instead of the usual Nickelback pyrotechnics. Great performances by Billy Talent and Michael Bublé too. However, the "Juno on George" segments could have been improved. Aside from showing us how many people had crowded on to George Street (St. John's famous music street and something they do every weekend) and subjecting us to horribly wooden hosts, these segments were much ado about nothing. How about outside performances on George? Nope. Thumbs down for this. And I wasn't crazy about the decision to use musicians and bands as hosts instead of a single host for the entire show. Musicians are not always good at the TV thing. Bring back Russell Peters. At least he's funny.
And I learned something. Myles Goodwin is kind of a dick.
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