The 2009 Juno nominees were announced on Tuesday to a collective shrug from the nation’s music fans.  

Well, that’s not completely true: Nickelback devotees are likely shotgunning cans of beer in celebration of the frat rock band’s five nominations. But the rest of the country either couldn't care less, or were cringing.

Like every year at the Junos, it’s another good one for middle of the road pop/rock, and not a great one for making Canada come off as very cool place.  

On the bright side, three-time former winner Sam Roberts deserved his four nominations this year, including Artist of the Year, having released one of his best efforts yet in Love At The End Of The World (although it can probably still be considered middle of the road).

When you get to the categories that the major labels don’t care about, things start to look a little more relevant.  If you go through the whole list with a fine-toothed comb, you can find a ton of great Canadian acts: Fucked Up, Feist, Plants and Animals, Black Mountain, Chad VanGaalen, Crystal Castles (even their haters have to admit they belong on the list), Elizabeth Shepherd, Zaki Ibrahim, Deadmau5...hmnn, maybe things aren’t that bad after all?

Maybe if the smaller categories weren’t so stacked with genuinely exciting Canadian talent it wouldn’t be so noticeable how dated and conservative the overall award show looks? Then again, the "talent" performing at the show dooms it to embarrassment anyway. 

As much as music critics also love to slam the Grammys, at least their nomination lists reflect a bit better what’s going on in popular culture at the moment.

So who’s to blame for our uninspiring award show? Are Canadians’ musical tastes actually this bland, or is this a symptom of a music industry that’s been out of touch for so long it seems normal?