The Political Economy of Canadian Music, Part 2

Since it has nearly 80 million hits, chances are that you've already seen this video of Canadian indie band Walk off the Earth's version of Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know," but did you notice what is says about life in the "Socialist Paradise" to the north? It's not simply that all five musicians are reduced to playing one guitar (which is presumably owned by the entire agricultural collective) but that, because socialism stifles individual initiative, they're only able to imagine doing a cover of someone else's music. At least the clumsy marketing attempt at the end of this version of the video suggests that the entrepreneurial spirit hasn't quite been crushed out of them.

Nonetheless, there would seem to be creative benefits to life under oppression. Note how much dramatic energy Gianni (the guy in the middle) brings to the chorus. It works really well for the song, but he's probably just pissed off that his "apartment" is a hotplate and a cot in a corner of what used to be Celine Dion's dining room.

All the same, an amazing version of an outstanding song, which reminds some of the Tenants of some stuff that happened one summer.

Update: Since Mark mentioned The Key of Awesome's parody, the Tenants have decided to post it below. Note that it offers a different explanation for the circumstances of the video that are based on assumptions of capitalist decadence and are therefore obviously wrong. BTW, the extensive marketing efforts at the end of the video make it clear that this is not a product of Canada.