Chart Attack
Chart Attack was a Canadian online music publication. Formerly a monthly print magazine, it was called Chart and published from 1991 to 2009.[1] Online content ceased to be updated sometime between mid 2017 to 2019, after which owner Channel Zero laid off the site's staff.[2] The site's content is no longer available live online, the domain has been taken over by a usurping commercial website unrelated to music. Much of the old content is still available as web archives at the Wayback Machine.
| Categories | Music |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Channel Zero |
| Founded | 1991 |
| Final issue | 2009 |
| Country | Canada |
| Based in | Toronto |
| Language | English |
| ISSN | 1198-7235 |
History and profile
Launched in 1991 as National Chart, the magazine was started by York University students Edward Skira and Nada Laskovski as a tipsheet and airplay chart for campus radio stations in Canada.[3][4] The magazine soon grew to include interviews, CD reviews and other features. National Chart was considered an internal publication for the National Campus and Community Radio Association, Canada's association of campus radio stations, and was not available as a newsstand title.
When Skira and Laskovski graduated, they incorporated Chart as an independent magazine, and began to pursue national newsstand distribution. Although it was no longer an NCRA publication, many campus radio stations continued to file airplay reports for the magazine's Top 50 chart even though its status as the official NCRA chart was transferred to the new publication !earshot.
The magazine's primary focus was Canadian alternative rock and indie rock, although they profiled important international acts, and rap and pop music acts as well.[5] At its peak, the magazine had a press run of 40,000 copies per issue, making it the largest paid circulation music magazine in Canada in its era.[5]
The magazine ceased publishing a print edition in 2009, continuing as a web-only publication. The website briefly suspended publication in summer 2011, but its acquisition by andPOP, a Canadian entertainment news website, was announced on November 1, 2011.[6] In 2013, andPop was in turn acquired by Channel Zero.[7]
The site laid off its staff in 2017.[8]
Reader polls
In 1996, 2000 and 2005, the magazine conducted polls of readers, musicians and music industry professionals to determine the 50 best Canadian albums and songs of all time. There were 25 albums and 18 songs which ranked in the top 50 in all three polls.
Top 50 albums
Top 50 songs
| Rank | 1996 | 2000 | 2005 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Demics, "New York City" | The Guess Who, "American Woman" | The Guess Who, "American Woman" |
| 2 | Sloan, "Underwhelmed" | Sloan, "Underwhelmed" | Sloan, "Underwhelmed" |
| 3 | The Guess Who, "American Woman" | Gordon Lightfoot, "If You Could Read My Mind" | Neil Young, "The Needle and the Damage Done" |
| 4 | The Pursuit of Happiness, "I'm an Adult Now" | Bryan Adams, "Summer of '69" | Gordon Lightfoot, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" |
| 5 | Martha and the Muffins, "Echo Beach" | Gordon Lightfoot, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" | Bryan Adams, "Summer of '69" |
| 6 | Bachman–Turner Overdrive, "Takin' Care of Business" | The Pursuit of Happiness, "I'm An Adult Now" | Rush, "Tom Sawyer" |
| 7 | Blue Rodeo, "Try" | The Tragically Hip, "New Orleans Is Sinking" | The Band, "The Weight" |
| 8 | Treble Charger, "Red" | The Diodes, "Tired of Waking Up Tired" | Neil Young, "Cortez the Killer" |
| 9 | Rush, "Tom Sawyer" | The Demics, "New York City" | Neil Young, "Heart of Gold" |
| 10 | Slow, "Have Not Been the Same" | Neil Young, "Cinnamon Girl" | Leonard Cohen, "Hallelujah" |
| 11 | Neil Young, "Cinnamon Girl" | Maestro Fresh Wes, "Let Your Backbone Slide" | Neil Young, "Rockin' in the Free World" |
| 12 | The Tragically Hip, "New Orleans Is Sinking" | Sloan, "Money City Maniacs" | Maestro Fresh Wes, "Let Your Backbone Slide" |
| 13 | Neil Young, "Rockin' in the Free World" | Slow, "Have Not Been the Same" | Gordon Lightfoot, "If You Could Read My Mind" |
| 14 | The Band, "The Weight" | Blue Rodeo, "Try" | The Tragically Hip, "New Orleans Is Sinking" |
| 15 | Gordon Lightfoot, "If You Could Read My Mind" | Neil Young, "The Needle and the Damage Done" | Payola$, "Eyes of a Stranger" |
| 16 | Payola$, "Eyes of a Stranger" | Joni Mitchell, "Big Yellow Taxi" | Neil Young, "Cinnamon Girl" |
| 17 | The Diodes, "Tired of Waking Up Tired" | Rush, "Tom Sawyer" | Joni Mitchell, "A Case of You" |
| 18 | k. d. lang, "Constant Craving" | Rough Trade, "High School Confidential" | Leonard Cohen, "Suzanne" |
| 19 | Men Without Hats, "The Safety Dance" | Neil Young, "Rockin' in the Free World" | The Weakerthans, "Left and Leaving" |
| 20 | Skinny Puppy, "Dig It" | Martha and the Muffins, "Echo Beach" | Sloan, "Coax Me" |
| 21 | Young Canadians, "Hawaii" | Sloan, "Coax Me" | The Band, "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" |
| 22 | Rough Trade, "High School Confidential" | Trooper, "Raise a Little Hell" | Blue Rodeo, "Hasn't Hit Me Yet" |
| 23 | Gordon Lightfoot, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" | The Tragically Hip, "At the Hundredth Meridian" | Leonard Cohen, "Famous Blue Raincoat" |
| 24 | Bryan Adams, "Summer of '69" | The Tragically Hip, "Courage (for Hugh MacLennan)" | Rush, "Closer to the Heart" |
| 25 | Leonard Cohen, "Suzanne" | Rheostatics, "Record Body Count" | Stompin' Tom Connors, "The Hockey Song" |
| 26 | Doughboys, "Shine" | Len, "Steal My Sunshine" | Neil Young, "Down by the River" |
| 27 | Five Man Electrical Band, "Signs" | The Tragically Hip, "Grace, Too" | Gordon Lightfoot, "Canadian Railroad Trilogy" |
| 28 | Ian and Sylvia, "Four Strong Winds" | 54-40, "One Gun" | Bachman–Turner Overdrive, "Takin' Care of Business" |
| 29 | Sloan, "Coax Me" | Bachman–Turner Overdrive, "Takin' Care of Business" | The Guess Who, "No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature" |
| 30 | Neil Young, "Heart of Gold" | Rufus Wainwright, "April Fool's" | Sloan, "Snowsuit Sound" |
| 31 | A Foot in Coldwater, "Make Me Do (Anything You Want)" | Payola$, "Eyes of a Stranger" | Treble Charger, "Red" |
| 32 | Anne Murray, "Snowbird" | Sweeney Todd, "Roxy Roller" | Bruce Cockburn, "Lovers in a Dangerous Time" |
| 33 | Crowbar, "Oh, What a Feeling" | Spirit of the West, "Political" | k-os, "The Man I Used to Be" |
| 34 | The Viletones, "Screaming Fist" | Anne Murray, "Snowbird" | The Pursuit of Happiness, "I'm an Adult Now" |
| 35 | 54-40, "I Go Blind" | The Tragically Hip, "Ahead by a Century" | Sloan, "The Good in Everyone" |
| 36 | Terry Jacks, "Seasons in the Sun" | Gordon Lightfoot, "Sundown" | Hayden, "Bad As They Seem" |
| 37 | Spirit of the West, "Political" | Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet, "Having an Average Weekend" | Joni Mitchell, "Big Yellow Taxi" |
| 38 | The Haunted, "1-2-5" | Doughboys, "Shine" | Neil Young, "Cowgirl in the Sand" |
| 39 | The Ugly Ducklings, "Nothin'" | Leonard Cohen, "Suzanne" | Rush, "Limelight" |
| 40 | Slow, "I Broke the Circle" | Sarah McLachlan, "Vox" | Blue Rodeo, "Five Days in May" |
| 41 | Andy Kim, "Rock Me Gently" | 54-40, "Baby Ran" | Sloan, "Everything You've Done Wrong" |
| 42 | The Stampeders, "Sweet City Woman" | Blue Rodeo, "Diamond Mine" | Blue Rodeo, "Try" |
| 43 | Gordon Lightfoot, "Sundown" | The Grapes of Wrath, "All the Things I Wasn't" | The Guess Who, "These Eyes" |
| 44 | Tom Cochrane, "Life Is a Highway" | Leonard Cohen, "So Long Marianne" | Rheostatics, "Horses" |
| 45 | The Grapes of Wrath, "All the Things I Wasn't" | Neil Young, "Heart of Gold" | Alexisonfire, "Accidents" |
| 46 | The Guess Who, "These Eyes" | Spoons, "Nova Heart" | The New Pornographers, "Mass Romantic" |
| 47 | Cowboy Junkies, "Sweet Jane" | Joni Mitchell, "A Case of You" | Sam Roberts, "Hard Road" |
| 48 | Sweeney Todd, "Roxy Roller" | Stompin' Tom Connors, "The Hockey Song" | Neil Young, "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" |
| 49 | Sarah McLachlan, "The Path of Thorns (Terms)" | The Tragically Hip, "Locked in the Trunk of a Car" | Rufus Wainwright, "April Fool's" |
| 50 | Joni Mitchell, "Big Yellow Taxi" | The Ugly Ducklings, "Nothin'" | The Ugly Ducklings, "Nothin'" |
References
- Chart goes paperless Archived May 22, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, eye weekly, January 15, 2009.
- Ritchie, Kevin. "Chart Attack Goes On Hiatus". NOW Magazine. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
- (June 3, 2000). "Charting a success story: From eight-page newsletter to 70-page glossy, Chart has grown along with the decade's music", Toronto Star, p. M2.
- Flynn, Andrew (May 14, 2000). "Chart magazine makes it 10: Little publication grew strong by focussing on Canuck music", Canadian Press. Reprinted in The Daily News, p. 29.
- Megan Thow (Spring 2002). "Critical Miss". Ryerson Review of Journalism. ISSN 0838-0651. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014.
- "Video Saves the Radio Star - Online Video Poised to Revive Indie Music Site"Archived November 3, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. MediaCaster, November 1, 2011.
- "Channel Zero Acquires Controlling Interest in ANDPOP" Archived January 3, 2014, at the Wayback Machine. Broadcaster, June 11, 2013.
- "Canadian music site Chart Attack goes on hiatus" NOW Toronto, February 6, 2017.