Winnipeg: The Shockingly Musical Dumptown

If hell were to freeze over, it might resemble the corner where Minnesota, North Dakota, and Canada meet. Yet 60 miles north of this frozen inferno lies a city that has defied the odds, not just by existing, but by providing the soundtrack to your life. Welcome to Winnipeg.

 

The City

Ask a Winnipegger whether you should visit their city, and the answer will be probably not.

Sure, the bland landscape is broken up by a series of lakes, including a large freshwater one from which Winnipeg takes its name, but that’s of little consolation when it’s -40°C. Where the prairies meet more prairies, the Arctic chill is unimpeded, meaning this is the spot that even Canadians refer to as cold.

About 749,607 people call Winterpeg home, with that number increasing to only 834,678 when the entire metropolitan area is taken into account, a clear sign that, yes, this is the middle of nowhere.

There’s a human rights museum, a not-so-subtle hint that human rights were violated in the past. There’s the Royal Canadian Mint, producer of Canadian coins as well as those of several other countries (fintech anyone?). And then there’s all the other stuff that makes a city a city—schools, universities, hospitals, grocery stores, restaurants, theaters, parks, and a zoo. Winnipeg even boasts serious crime, poverty, and drug addiction, adding to its urban legitimacy. To top it off, the city can claim a National Hockey League (NHL) team, one that moved to the US in 1996, returned in 2011, and is having trouble selling tickets again.

The Gateway to the West is uneven. It’s isolated. And, again, it’s chilly. But one thing this accidental city is not is cookie-cutter.

English reigns supreme, but the unsuspecting ear could also be greeted with Tagalog, Punjabi, French, or Indigenous languages. The ragtag collection of people, less concerned with impressing anyone than simply surviving, has nurtured great talent, on full display during the city’s festivals—folk, jazz, and fringe.

And nowhere is the artistry more obvious than in your life’s film score.

 

The Music

Neil Young

The legend was born in Toronto, but his musical career began on the mean streets of Winnipeg, where he worked out the kinks (minus the still-craggy vocals) before finding his way to Los Angeles and birthing gems like this one.

 

The Guess Who

It was actually a group from Winnipeg that first sang about an “American Woman”, inspiring a Lenny Kravitz cover 29 years later.

 

Bachman-Turner Overdrive (B.T.O.)

When Randy Bachman left The Guess Who, he put together his own outfit that pumped out hits like “Takin’ Care of Business” and this classic.

 

Crash Test Dummies

And finally, a couple decades later came a band that gave us the Gen-X anthem you think you’re supposed to mock but secretly like.

 

In other words, while you might not be inspired to visit this outpost on the Canadian plains, whether you know it or not, it has already inspired you.