During their year career, spanning 14 studio albums and millions of records sold, the Tragically Hip have become synonymous with Canadian music. By filling their songs with national lore, singer Gord Downie, guitarist Paul Langlois, guitarist Rob Baker, bassist Gord Sinclair and drummer Johnny Fay have tapped into the Canadian condition in a rare way. The concert will be televised and live streamed, following a national outcry after the tour sold out in minutes, and Trudeau will be among the attendees. Canada will get to say goodbye to its most treasured band, fronted by a poet who made a country proud, patriotic and fiercely grateful for the music. As a tribute to the group, we look back at 10 songs that define the Tragically Hip. In the months after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, a number of Canadian radio stations temporarily stopped playing the song out of respect for the victims. The album Road Apples continued to build on the band's bluesy sound. In a interview with The Georgia Straight , guitarist Rob Baker shared how the album got its name. After the band suggested a number of ideas that their label deemed inside jokes, they countered with Road Apples , the slang term for horse droppings. Songs that you wrote on the road!


162-I’m a Werewolf, Baby
A close look at one of Canadian music's brightest back catalogues, song by song.
And yet, the Tragically Hip have never really managed to break through south of the 49th Parallel. The band sells out enormous hockey arenas in Manitoba, but has trouble filling a person club in Washington, DC. Until recently, that is. Their final show, in their hometown of Kingston, Ontario, was livecast around the world, and finally — finally! If an entire nation, including its respected prime minister, show up or tune in for a rock concert, there must be something to it. Decades before Making a Murderer captivated US audiences, the story of David Milgaard going free after serving 23 years in prison for a rape he did not commit was big news throughout Canada. The track is more raw than their later work, but the potential is coming through all the seams. First things first. As most Canadians know, MacLennan is a celebrated Canadian author who wrote several novels that are more or less required reading north of the border. The original recorded version is stunning, but there are also some terrific live renditions during which Downie spins yarns during the musical bridge.
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They released 13 studio albums, two live albums, one EP, and over 50 singles over a year career. Nine of their albums have reached No. They have received numerous Canadian music awards, including 16 Juno Awards. Between and , The Tragically Hip were the best-selling Canadian band in Canada and the fourth best-selling Canadian artist overall in Canada. Following Downie's diagnosis with terminal brain cancer in , the band undertook a tour of Canada in support of their thirteenth album Man Machine Poem. After Downie died on October 17, , [4] the band announced in July that the Tragically Hip name would be retired. The Tragically Hip formed in in Kingston, Ontario.
Canada will be closed tomorrow in observance of a national treasure. We're honoring their history by counting down their Top 15 Songs. With Downie serving as its lightning rod—equal parts history teacher, sherpa, sage, activist, poet laureate and ranting interpretive dancer— it is perplexing to attempt to explain how success eluded the quintet in the States. Little could he have predicted…. Experimental flair that recalls Radiohead and production by Kevin Drew Broken Social Scene bring forth a still-vibrant band. Probably one of the most Canadian of anthems the band ever recorded. Look around.