New exhibit at Canadian Museum of History showcases pop music in Canada

CTV News

09-06-2025

The Retro Popular Music in Canada from the '60s, '70s, and '80s exhibit at the Canadian Museum of History. (Dylan Dyson/CTV News Ottawa)
A new exhibit at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Que. takes a look and a listen into popular music in Canada.
The museum has launched its feature exhibit for the year, Retro Popular Music in Canada from the '60s, '70s, and '80s.
The museum's music and performing arts curator Judith Klassen says the exhibit looks at a time when pop music was becoming a major cultural force in Canada.
'The exhibition includes artists, songs, moments from this period,' said Klassen.
The exhibit features more than 160 items such as musical instruments, stage clothing, handwritten lyrics, album covers, posters and more from artists such as Celine Dion, Rush, Michie Mee and more.
'It really explores the dynamic nature of popular music at this time, the ways that artists were pushing boundaries in terms of what we see in the public sphere, engaging with social and political issues,' said Klassen.
Retro music
The Retro Popular Music in Canada from the '60s, '70s, and '80s exhibit at the Canadian Museum of History. (Dylan Dyson/CTV News Ottawa)
Featured in the display is a guitar from Saskatchewan-based band The Northern Pikes.
'[We] wrote the song 'She Ain't Pretty', which became a very popular commercial song, on that guitar, as well as many, many other great songs,' says band member Jay Semko, who was on hand for the exhibit's opening.
'Music is connection. When you look at any guitar or any musical item you see in here, it's an item of connection that connects to people, and I think that's absolutely brilliant. It's so, so cool.'
Performing at the exhibit's grand opening was Gatineau-based hip-hop artist David Dufour, known as D-Track, who says music from those decades has paved the way for current artists like himself.
'As a hip-hop artist, you sample lots of music from these eras, like specifically the '60s and '70s sound, which is a specific sound you want to have sometimes in your samples,' he said.
'I'm a big fan of when you have the piece of paper on which the artist wrote their lyrics, I love that. I like to see how did they write? You know, I'm trying to read it, I don't understand, but that's the way they understood it. So, I really like that.'
The exhibit is open to the public at the Canadian Museum of History until Jan. 18, 2026.