25.things You Dont Know Anout the Legend

From writing original music for Kurt Browning to sharing the phase with Nirvana to making it into Rock Ring, here are 25 things you probably don't know about the Tragically Hip.

The Tragically Hip: the early days. (Canadian Press)

The Tragically Hip isn't a band with a lot of secrets, which is probably ane of the reasons we all love them so much. Its members are forthright folks who take consistently made great music for xxx-plus years. Pb vocalizer-songwriter Gord Downie's recent proclamation that he has terminal brain cancer is devastating for a one thousand thousand reasons, not the to the lowest degree of which is that a husband and a father has to fix, somehow, some way, to say cheerio.

Fans, too, have been in this kind of advanced mourning. Remembering favourite songs, sharing their Tragically Hip stories, celebrating a band that's been too easy to take for granted, that'southward ever been there, playing the hits. An open secret that only Canadians seemed to truly value and empathize.

Merely there's ever more to observe about a person or a matter that you love. And while the Hip is in many ways a totally open book, you also take to know where to await. From writing original music for Kurt Browning to sharing the stage with Nirvana to making information technology into Rock Band, here are 25 things you probably don't know most the Tragically Hip.

ane. The other inspiration for the band's name

The Tragically Hip's proper noun isn't merely taken from a skit on Elephant Parts, the belatedly-nighttime one-act bear witness from Michael Nesmith (aye, formerly of the Monkees). In a 1989 interview with the Georgia Straight, Downie likewise revealed they'd heard the phrase in an Elvis Costello song.

"There's i skit in there that is sort [of] like a Idiot box plea: 'Ship some money to the Foundation for the Tragically Hip.' And that phrase has also appeared in an Elvis Costello song. It crops up every now and again, and information technology's simply a name that nosotros like."

That Costello vocal is "Town Cryer" from 1982'sImperial Chamber.

From AZLyrics.com:

"Maybe you don't believe my center is in the right place,
Why don't you take a good look at my face.
Other boys utilize the splendour of their trembling lip,
They're then teddy bear tender and tragically hip.
I'chiliad never going to cry again,
I'grand going to be equally strong equally them."

two. Nirvana opened for the Hip

According to NirvanaGuide.com, approximately 40 people watched Nirvana open up upward for the Hip on July 7, 1989, at the O'Cayz Corral, Madison, Wis.

Downie would somewhen write the song "Don't Wake Daddy" (fromTrouble at the Henhouse) with a small salute to Cobain in the lyrics.

From AZLyrics.com:

"Sled dogs afterwards dinner,
Close their eyes on the howling wastes.
Kurt Cobain reincarnated,
Sighs and licks his face up."

3. The Hip'south early on live shows were a wellness take chances for fans

In the early days, crowds at Hip shows were fashion more likely to feel physical destruction than any death metal mosh pit. Baker told the Straight about it in 1991.

"The last time across Canada nosotros had a few bad incidents — two in Calgary and i in Edmonton. Someone bankrupt their neck at one of our gigs. Mostly it's phase jumping, but somebody climbed up into the scaffolding and fell off. And the final time in Ottawa was pretty bad too — we had near 30 people taken out on stretchers. Only I don't know what you can practise about people jumpin' off the stage. They want to show their enthusiasm, and we don't want to put a damper on 'em."

4. The title of the band'southward 1991 album, Route Apples, was a tiny human action of Canadian subversion

"It's actually a funny story," Baker told the Straight. "We had several names for the record, and the American label — we're signed directly to MCA The states — felt that all of our titles were too much within jokes, or that they sounded too Canadian. And they're really giving u.s. this, 'Oh no, Americans won't sympathize it.'

"So nosotros said, 'Oh, how almost Road Apples,'" Bakery says, recalling the former slang for horseshit. "And of course they had no thought what road apples were in Los Angeles. They said, 'Oh yeah! Songs that you wrote on the road! We dearest it!'

"At that point everyone was a trivial pissed off that nosotros were encountering and so much resistance from the American characterization about the proper name of the record, and the fact that we're Canadian … and proud of it, I guess."

5. The Hip members were early entrepreneurs

The Hip started its ain music festival, Another Roadside Attraction, in 1993. The first upshot was held in Winnipeg and featured the Hip, Midnight Oil, Crash Vegas, Hothouse Flowers and Daniel Lanois.

six. The Hip released a charity single in support of the surround in 1993

All five acts from the outset Another Roadside Attraction collaborated on a one-off charity single, "State," in 1993 to protest articulate-cutting in British Columbia.

7. In 1995, the Hip got its big American pause

The band playedSaturday Nighttime Live and Dan Aykroyd, fellow hometown hero from Kingston, Ont., appeared only to innovate them. Aykroyd almost seems high-strung upwards to have that honour, which sweetens the whole experience. Cheque out the video of their performance of "Grace, Too," in this bang-up Throwback Thursday post via CBC Music in 2014. Although Downie doesn't quite accept his future frontman swagger perfected at this point, he does slyly change the opening words of the vocal to re-emphasize the ring'southward name, much to the pleasance of the Canadians in the audience.

"We did reach a wider audience withSNL, but information technology's difficult to know what attracts people to your ring in the long run," Downie said in an interview. "Ultimately with our band, it's word of oral cavity. Information technology seems to be the largest crusade of The Hip outbreak — if we tin can align ourselves with a virus. TheSNL thing, on a personal level, was easily the most intimate gig we've ever washed. Information technology's just you and the Cyclops, yous know. You're looking at this camera, and all of a sudden, less becomes more. The gesture of a finger takes the place of a gesture of a whole waving arm."

eight. Their cover vocal selections prove they would be super fun at karaoke

In a 1996 interview on Canoe.ca, the ring members were asked to choose what iii songs they would each comprehend, as well as which Elvis Costello song they'd choose to cover. Among their picks: Iggy Pop'due south "Lust for Life," "Circle Circle" by the Sons of Freedom, "Blackness Day in July" by Gordon Lightfoot, Mary Margaret O'Hara's "To Cry About," the Inbreds' "It's Sydney or the Bush-league," "Lookout Your Step" by Trust, Bruce Cockburn's "Tokyo" and Costello's "Almost Blue." It'due south kind of a fun game to guess who chose which songs, so take a stab at information technology earlier clicking on the link above.

9. If y'all've ever noticed that water is a recurring theme in the Hip's lyrics, you're correct

"Water is stronger than rock," Downie said in an interview. "Water threatens to, at anytime, alluvion in and obliterate the chalk drawing. We leave a temporary impression similar to that of a hull on the surface of the body of water. I could go on and on."

x. Not all of Downie'south songs are a maze of metaphors

Downie also answered a few more questions about lyrics during this interview. The two all-time responses are beneath.

Q. What is "Scared" really almost?

A. Fright of obsolescence? Fear of fraudulence? Fear of fear? A fear-peddler going door-to-door selling ... you lot guessed it ... fear?

Q. Who is Cordelia?

A. Cordelia was used equally metaphor. I dunno, read King Lear — Shakespeare.

11. The Tragically Hip isn't your Canadian BFF

The Hip is often equated with Canadiana, only the ring has always engaged in skilful public discourse about blind patriotism and what "Canada" means and represents.

The following appeared on Canoe.ca:

Q. Exercise you meet it every bit your function or responsibility as public figures to be political? I call back seeing y'all at Molson Park in Barrie on Canada Day and Gord D. spoke bitterly about "Canada Twenty-four hour period" and what nosotros were celebrating that twenty-four hour period. What exercise you lot think virtually what is happening to the poor, marginalized and vulnerable people in our province and this land? Exist interested in any thoughts. (P.Due south. love the music, love the lyrics, love you guys — see you on the 12th of December.)

A. I meet our role or responsibility every bit musicians to be musical. We were a piffling uncomfortable with the manner other musicians on the beak were treated. After an Evian bottle of urine was hurled at the stage it became a little difficult to continue with the whole Fraternal brotherhood affair. Probably a minority, but we had invited all those people equally our guests, and we felt that nosotros had assembled a absurd and interesting solar day of music. Information technology was that day that I began to recall that booze together with Nationalism or Patriotism was a very dangerous mixture. Ultimately, I believe everything would have been manner better if we'd washed the whole thing on July second — we could take historic the Canada of the Self and not the Canada that is sold to united states. — GD

Q. You guys are like a lightning rod for some people'due south patriotism. How exercise y'all feel about fans who identify you and your music then closely with some sort of essential Canadian-ness? Are you proud of that, or is information technology just an unnecessary force per unit area that detracts from the music?

A. We've never consciously tried to elicit a patriotic response from our fans, nor have we tried to embody that in our lyrics. Speaking for GD, I tin can tell you that we've never tried to edit ourselves in any manner. You write about what y'all know, stories that move you in some way, or virtually themes you lot want to explore. Over the years, nosotros have written some songs that refer to Canadian events specifically, and others that reflect our response as Canadians to other themes and issues, because of who we are and how nosotros've been raised. That's where it begins and ends for united states of america. We'd never write a song considering it was Canadian, nor would we avoid information technology.

If some of our fans can but identify with us on a nationalistic level, instead of a musical one, and so I think that reflects more on them than it does on united states of america. Travelling abroad as much every bit nosotros do has led united states to capeesh where we alive and who we are and I think our piece of work reflects that; just we have definitely learned that in that location is no 1 distinct Canadian voice. All perspectives are valid, and then we feel no pressure at all. — GS

12.The Sweet Hereafter helped bring the Hip to an even bigger audience

Director Cantlet Egoyan personally selected the Hip's "Courage" for use in his acclaimed film,The Sweet Time to come.

"I dearest 'Courage,'" he told MTV. "It was of import that people had some familiarity with the song, that it had some resonance."

Sarah Polley's cover is used in the movie and information technology transforms the song into something truly haunting, broken but determined, devastating and damaged, like so much of the film's themes.

xiii. The Hip + hockey

At that place have been lots of things written about the Hip, but the following are amid three of the most unusual volume mentions.

From Chasing the Dream: A Role player's Guide by Tracy McPhee (1999): "When Alyn [McCauley] is not jetting across North America because of the hectic NHL schedule, he likes to relax playing puddle with friends. His music of choice is the Tragically Hip. He does not picket a lot of T.V. simply he is a movie buff."

14. The Hip appeared in an economic theory textbook

The Hip also fabricated their way into a 2005 book called Principles of Microeconomics, in which they are the musical case of a ticket buying finance conundrum.

15. The Hip were name-checked in a bestseller

In her 2015 bestseller, Animal Madness, Laurel Braitman discusses the Hip'due south song, "Gus: The Polar Comport from Fundamental Park."

16. Downie'due south on-air f-bombs changed a Calgary radio station forever

Downie breached the CAB Code of Ethics for swearing during a live interview on the radio in Calgary. Via the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council:

Canadian Circulate Standards Council

17. Downie loves to dance

In 2009, he told author and friend Joseph Boyden "I'm a dancer. Information technology'due south what I dearest to practice more than than anything."

18. Downie believes these things are essential for a good show

"For a testify to be great, something's got to happen. I go for it; I sing, I trip the light fantastic, I heed to this great band, I do what the music urges. My brain tries to become a step alee: jump there, turn, kick, spin, drop to your knees, dab brow with white hanky. Throw hanky into crowd. It's just all really so fun and improvisational and cool and when things suspension or fall down or get wrong, it tin be even amend. This is my evidence, and having said all that, I really want and work to be a great vocaliser. That drives me likewise. To exercise my part for the band."

19. Downie says these ii things go along him grounded

"Family unit and my work. I like hanging with my family and helping them on their style however I tin. There's a new tragicomedy every one-half-hour, there is laughter, in that location are tears, and it's all real. They are endlessly entertaining, they have given me so much, they've given me a chance to "see" things again. And then there'south my work. Lifting the 400 lb. feather. I work every day. I write every mean solar day. I walk around in silent conversation with my latest unfinished songs. I honey it, I love all aspects of information technology, and I've found that doing it every twenty-four hours is the best (simply by no means sure) way to get open, at the prepare, and able to recognize what Raymond Carver called "a new path to the waterfall." To discover those simple statements to pass along that assist or don't."

20. The Hip was immortalized when PS3 added a rails to Rock Band

In 2010, Stone Band added the Hip's "Blow at High Dough" to its offerings.

21. There's a resource to assistance you through the aforementioned maze of metaphors in the Hip's songs

At that place is a deeply comprehensive lyric and reference directory dedicated to the Hip, comprised of people, places, things and events. It's amazing and exhaustive, and so basically a perfect place to lose an afternoon.

22. You can watch a brusque documentary almost the Hip courtesy of the NFB called Family Ring

23. The Tragically Hip equanimous original music for effigy skating legend Kurt Browning

24. Woodstock '99 continues to be the worst

When the Tragically Hip played the horrible 1999 Woodstock Festival, they sang the Canadian national anthem. Fans responded by shouting them downwardly with "The Star Spangled Banner," and allegedly threw rocks and bottles at them.

25. Blitz's Geddy Lee loves the Tragically Hip and Gord Downie

So does Rush's Alex Lifeson.

Hang out with me on Twitter: @_AndreaWarner

ibarrataide1969.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.cbc.ca/music/read/25-things-you-didn-t-know-about-the-tragically-hip-1.4995316

Share this post