Juno Awards + Alanis Morissette + Merkin = Canada

If you think back to the 2004 Juno Awards — the annual ceremony that’s basically Canada’s Grammys — the most surprising thing isn’t that Nickelback somehow took home two of those molten glass statues, or that quadruple nominee Céline Dion didn’t win any of them. No, if people have even the vaguest memory of that year’s show, it’s probably a dim recollection of host Alanis Morissette flashing a set of synthetic nips. 

Morrisette was slightly irked that one of her song lyrics had been censored in the United States — some radio stations wanted her to remove the word “asshole”  — so she walked onstage wearing a bathrobe and said that she was glad to be in the “True North” where she was allowed to say whatever she wanted. (The joke was that all of those four-letter words she said into the mic were beeped out by the broadcast censors. Hilarious!) 

“At least we live in a land where we can still think about the human body as being beautiful, and we’re not afraid of the female breast,” she said. “Which is why I’m truly proud to be able to stand here and do this.” As she spoke, she unbelted her robe and revealed a bodysuit, complete with a pair of prominent “nipples” and an untamed thicket of pubes. 

The assistant director then reminded Morissette that, despite being in Canada, she still couldn’t appear nude (or even faux nude), and the entire thing was a very Canadian send-up of the controversy that was still bubbling in the U.S. after Janet Jackson’s now infamous “wardrobe malfunction” during the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show. According to the NZ Herald, Morissette was asked if Jackson should be granted “cultural refugee” status in Canada, and she replied “Now that’s a good idea.” 

But still: two awards for Nickelback? 

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This week’s Video Rewind is called “Corey Hart Approved This Movie Quiz!” It’s a round all about movies with characters wearing sunglasses at night. Get it? Like the song he released nearly 40 years ago? We’re very hip at Geeks Who Drink. By the way, that song got three Juno nominations and won for Best Video…the first time they ever gave the award out. Congrats, Corey! Check out the round here:

_{Featured image courtesy of: Justin Higuchi Creative Commons Attribution 2.0}