Vancouver singer-songwriter Matthew Good’s [mg] new album Hospital Music hit stores, the iTunes and the Amazons yesterday just in time for a scuffle with the media. Sun Media coumnist Jeremy Loome wrote a column on July 30th disagreeing with Good’s outspoken position calling for the federal government to withdraw troops from Afghanistan [es]. Loome disagreed with his position, but otherwise was rather complimentary towards Good noting, “Rock star Matthew Good has good intentions, and a well-expressed argument on Afghanistan. That alone puts him well above the maddening crowd of big-mouth celebrities.”

In response Good suggested that Sun Media (a Quebecor Media Company), which owns Vancouver’s 24 Hours but not the Vancouver Sun, was trying to hurt sales of his new record by timing the editorial on the eve of its release [mg]. Then when Sun Media ran a poll suggesting that he should shut up and just play the guitar Good cut off all interviews with their entertainment journalists around the nation. Loome himself has said that there was no editorial mandate for the article, and that he was not even aware Good had a new album coming out. He also said the poll was silly and that he didn’t agree with the inflamatory headline that ran above the article in most papers “Rocker not fighting Good fight”.

Sadly anyone with a word for a name who achieves any sort of fame is going to be the brunt of lazy headlines for the rest of their lives. I think my own interview with Good back in 2005 [teow] ran under a headline along the lines of “The Good words” or something like that. Most writers don’t get to pick their own headlines unless they’re also an editor, and so I do buy the notion that Loome had no knowledge of what was going to run above the article.

Regardless of the controversy, or possibly because of it, the album has gone to number one on Canada’s iTunes. After one listen to during my lunch hour I’m enjoying it, and have to say that “Black Helicopters” is probably one of Good’s best songs yet. “Born Losers” (the song in the included video) is a good single and hopefully will help the album’s continued sales.

On the subject of Afghanistan, which clearly I wanted to hide after the jump so nobody would read it, am I the only one in Canada who does not have a solution to the situation of Afghanistan? Should we stay, should we go? I see the good points in both Loome’s and Good’s arguments. Pulling out could leave chaos and unstable a democracy that has clearly made some imperfect steps towards making lives better in Afghanistan. Clearly though Canadian lives are being lost and there are some serious faults with the government our military is fighting to keep in power. Not only that our being there lets the US further ignore the mess they made in Afghanistan so that they can focus their attention on the mess they made in Iraq.

I am, and I think a lot of Canadians are, torn on the subject. We are a country that thinks of itself as the world’s buddy and we’re always eager to pitch in with blue helmeted UN troops, but these aren’t UN troops even though their mandate is at times quite similiar. So then what do we do?