Billy Bob Thornton's Boxmasters Cancel Canadian Shows After Radio Incident, Boos

Billy Bob Thornton and the Boxmasters canceled their last two dates opening for Willie Nelson in Canada just days after Thornton's awkward interview on CBC's Q show made headlines and led to a Toronto audience booing the Boxmasters' performance. "Special Note: April 10 and April 11 tour dates canceled. Boxmasters musician and crew down with the flu," a note on Billy Bob' official site read after the Boxmasters ducked out of shows in Montreal and London, Ontario.

BBT were booed in Toronto after making a comment on Jian Ghomeshi's Q show that Canadian audiences were like "mashed potatoes without gravy." "Canadian audiences seem to be very reserved," Thornton said on air. "We tend to play places where people throw things at each other. Here, they just sort of sit there. And it doesn't matter what you say to 'em." Thornton later apologized to the Toronto audience, but by then the damage was done, with one audience member yelling out mid-show "Here comes the gravy."

Rather to subject themselves to any more abuse from the audiences up north, the Boxmasters called in sick, though it seems likely they were just sick of being booed. The Boxmasters are expected to open up for Nelson tomorrow night in the friendlier confines of Stamford, Connecticut, so any Canucks who still want to let BBT know what they think of him can drive across the border. Thornton scored the viral video sensation of last week after blowing up at its host when the DJ called the actor "an actor" when he introduced the Boxmasters. Thornton at first refused to answer questions, then sat out when the Boxmasters performed live on the air.

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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