The Tragically Hip: Classic or Dud? Search and Destroy

I've still never listened to a Tragically Hip album. They were entirely a radio and MuchMusic band for me, which I'm guessing is true for most Canadians. It was only last year when they were getting so much attention that it dawned on me how much they were in the ether.

Their final concert last year was an extraordinary Canadian moment.

OTM.

Was just listening to Phantom Power on my last long drive.

god i am so crushed

Good story on the new album:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/18/arts/music/gord-downie-tragically-hip-dead-final-album.html

It's amazing how much great music this man managed to make, in this last phase of his life. (I particularly like Secret Path)

RIP.

Their final concert last year was an extraordinary Canadian moment.

Even as someone who felt completely alienated from the event and the Hip phenomenon more broadly, this is pretty clear, though the way Trudeau used Downie as a prop to make it seem like his government was going to take indigenous issues seriously is a bit sickening in retrospect

RIP

For me, one of the most mesmerizing things about Gord Downie was the many references -- real or alleged -- in his lyrics. There were times when I liked them more than the music itself, and I would read up on where he might've gotten an idea for some of them. It has made me ponder more about his music and how he approached music-making. His death is such a great loss to the music world. It has also motivated me to listen to his solo work, which I admittedly never listened to much.

I would like to share this web-site that has briefly catalogued some of his lyrics' meaning http://www.hipmuseum.com/directory.html

Rest in peace, Mr. Downie.

Per the description here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Time_Running

The documentary film based around last year's tour will be on Netflix at the end of November (exception being Canada itself, where it will be on Crave TV).

oh good i've been wanting to watch that

i love the hip museum website, it has been my favorite thing on the internet for like.... 15 years now? anyway i hope you enjoy his solo work, sound of space; battle of nudes is one of my favorite albums of all time and my favorite thing he ever did and is also home to my favorite guitar tones

BradNelson, it's funny you should mention it. I was just telling someone that I am kind of a "tone nerd." I'll make sure to listen to Battle of Nudes tonight. Thank you.

of course! it brings me so much joy to be able to recommend that album to anyone

armed with skill and it's FRUSTRATION
and grace
too

erroneous apostrophe ruining previous post sorry

So many good lyrics, so many great turns of phrase, man, RIP Gord. :(

rest in peace Gord

Their final concert last year was an extraordinary Canadian moment.

― dinnerboat, Wednesday, October 18, 2017 6:57 AM (nine hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

as an immigrant here it was a very strange and sui generis event of national unity to observe. was out for a walk during the earlier part of the show and could hear it and see it through people's apartment windows and it was on the tv in bars. streets were noticeably quieter. then watching the show, the prime minister was in the crowd, middle-aged hoser men in the crowd were crying their eyes out at the denouement. my next door neighbour, a real normy type from the prairies got home from watching it at the bar after and was shittered listening to the hip for hours into the am.

rip gord.

gord was my favorite writer; i would not necessarily be a writer at all had i not encountered his lyrics at a v impressionable age (14). i can't believe, after introduce yerself comes out next week, i'm never going to hear another new gord downie lyric. when i think about this i just lose my shit entirely

it's been 25 years since i lived in canada; while i was aware of them -- i managed to dub someone's cassettes of the first two albums -- my friends were mostly dead/neil-heads who thought the hip were a little too edgy or something. i didn't realize how pan-canadian they'd become until gord's sickness was announced -- i saw someone today comparing it to the u.s. reaction when springsteen goes, which doesn't quite seem to capture it

rip

Yeah--a little bit, but there's a better analogy out there...I don't know: Johnny Cash? Tom Petty? Quintessentially "Canadian" (whatever that means) in the same way they're quintessentially "American" (whatever that means). Springsteen feels like an abstraction to me; Canadians who were really affected by Downie's music seem to feel like they knew him.

Even as someone who loves one-and-one-only song ("Fireworks"), I can see that. That song comes from somewhere I know.

"phantom power" was an unbelievably meaningful record to anyone who lived through the great 1998 ice storm like me (albeit on the other side of the border), as one of the only real pieces of media that ever directly referenced an event that absolutely devastated a very small part of the us and canada and intensely affected that region long after everyone had more or less forgotten about it.

of course they were a kingston band, so they wouldn't not write about something like that, but it always struck me as a good microcosm of downie's ability to find these little squirreled-away events in canadian history and turn them into great songs. years from now that storm is going to be as distant a memory as all the other obscure historical references in hip songs, and i really hope there's another gord downie someday to keep writing about them.

^^^ otm

i don't think there is a good analogy. they're much younger than anyone who could possibly be an american analogue, for one thing. and the fact that they *didn't* move to california, unlike many of their predecessors, is key -- there's no comparable act for any of the 'quintessentially american' candidates

fwiw john k samson still lives

fair point, and samson is extremely good at it too, but he's never quite caught on with the crucial drunk-leafs-fan demographic

watched the final concert with my best friend from highschool, he was a huge fan then and still is, and I always sort of heard them by proxy with him. Seeing all the support and empathy for Downie and the celebration of him as an artist was a beautiful thing.

Downie makes me proud to be a canadian tbh

Canadians who were really affected by Downie's music seem to feel like they knew him.

Just like that killer whale.

Also I don't think there is a british equivalent.

50 Mission Cap. pic.twitter.com/fdMDy0ZGyY

— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) October 18, 2017

For Gord. pic.twitter.com/5OJLWyyrV6

— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) October 18, 2017

The coverage up here has included one hockey player after another being interviewed; Downie was the lead story on TSN (Canada's ESPN). He and Bobby Orr were supposed to be in close contact the past couple of years.

the documentary long time running (which i think will be available on netflix later this month) is one of the most beautiful and well-composed rock documentaries i've ever seen. i cried multiple times ofc

also the new gord album is v hard to listen to but is full of wonderful songs that feel almost improvised sometimes in their austerity and specificity. drew's production glows

it’s on netflix, i really highly recommend it https://www.netflix.com/title/80205085

Not on Canadian Netflix doh.

i believe it's streaming on crave tv (?) in canada

oh i have that, cool!

i watched it again last night and cried again

Yeah, I blubbed like a big girl, the bit when they're about to go on stage and he's whispering in his colleague's ears, broke me.

seeing the fans crying at the shows just kills me

Damn much music did a retro lunch special today and played only tragically hip

the new (only) hip book, never-ending present, is p good so far. some filler (there's an early chapter about hip cover bands which is just barely interesting) prob bc the band apparently didn't participate in it much (which sounds like them) but still fascinating and full of amazing downie quotes

i knew their origin story pretty well but not at this level of detail, and the bill barilko chapter is just extremely heartening

"opiated" gets a few sentences in the book, and between that and its appearance the documentary, i'm belatedly realizing it's one of my favorite hip songs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzxoGcBsk-8

book has gotten me so deep into this band again that i'm watching old live sets on youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jn83UvFzbjg

i ponder the endlessness of the stars
ignoring said same of my father

either it'll move me
or it'll move right through me
fully
completely

i love the chapters in that book that swerve away in weird directions - barclay's curiosity isn't bounded by his fandom, he lights up by the unexpected digressions etc, and i do too.

i'm deeper into it and i'm starting to agree! the openers chapter was nice if only as a snapshot of the impact they had on the careers of other canadian bands