A documentary about Canada’s beloved music network is premiering in Toronto this fall and tickets for the live event go on sale today.
The two-hour film 299 Queen Street West, by Toronto director Sean Menard, provides backstage access to the inception of MuchMusic in August of 1984 and its peak from the mid 90s to early 2000s.
The anticipated Toronto premiere will take place this fall on Sept. 22 at Roy Thomson Hall and tickets are available as of 10 a.m.
The film, named after the studio location, is a recollection of monumental moments in Canadian entertainment history. The flick is loaded with years of footage from the archives of its owner, Bell Media, along with YouTube clips and first-hand stories from past MuchMusic’s VJs, including Namugenyi Kiwanuka, Sook-Yin Lee, George Stroumboulopoulos, Rick Campanelli, and more.
Menard felt the organic on-air interactions of MuchMusic’s glory days had to be told.
“There was this part of history that had not been properly celebrated or documented. And they revolutionized television around the world,” he told Now Toronto in a phone interview on Tuesday.
“There were real leaders, with what they did, having no money but having total creative freedom. And I just thought, yeah, I want to bring that to the world because it was important.”
MuchMusic’s, known as the “Nation’s Music Station” captured show hosts who had no prior experience interviewing the world’s biggest international and local artists while interacting with a live studio audience, prior to the eventual wind down of daily music shows in the early 2000s.
“YouTube really killed MuchMusic because before that, if you wanted to watch a certain music video, you had to tune in and if you didn’t, you missed it,” Menard said.
“But then in many ways, it revitalized it because a lot of people held on to the old VHS tapes, and especially during COVID just launched onto YouTube which was super helpful,” he continued on the ways various clips came together in his film.
In July 2021, Bell Media revived the MuchMusic brand with a new TikTok channel, featuring classic series such as VIDEO ON TRIAL, INTIMATE AND INTERACTIVE and MUCHMUSIC SPOTLIGHT.
Menard, who currently lives in Toronto but grew up in Hamilton by a single mother, says in many ways he was raised by MuchMusic.
He’s hoping the documentary will provide a glimpse of what pop culture was like when he was a child to the younger generation.
“For those that have experienced it, it’s going to be super nostalgic and things that they remember watching is really going to bring them back. But I really made it for a younger generation, or generation that never watched it. So they can really see what the world was in the 80s and 90s,” he said.
Menard also plans on bringing VJs from the documentary to the Toronto viewing to recreate a MuchMusic “intimate and interactive” experience and is soon to announce dates for similar premiere events across Canada.
When asked about the choice to document untold Canadian art stories, the director doubles down on the importance of documentation.
“I think there are overlooked and especially positive stories in the arts too. You know, it’s just I haven’t seen enough of them when Canadians have accomplished all that we’ve been able to accomplish.”
The film director also revealed he learned some interesting facts while making the film, such as Canada’s significant involvement in the popularization of hip-hop culture via MuchMusic’s RapCity and VJ Michael Williams. He also learned that Michie Mee was not only the first Canadian woman to get a major American record deal but also the first recognized rapper in the country.
This is not the first-time Menard has shed light on notable Canadian popular culture stories that have otherwise been left untold. He also directed The Carter Effect, a 2017 documentary detailing former Toronto Raptor Vince Carter’s career.
Last month, 299 Queen Street West premiered at the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival in Austin, Texas.
Tickets for the Toronto premiere of 299 Queen Street West can be purchased here.
