Is The Tragically Hip the quintessential Canadian band?

[madchives]

this is today's cross country checkup's topic.
News of Gord Downie's terminal brain cancer released a flood of memories about him and his band, The Tragically Hip — described as the quintessential Canadian band. Is it? What are your stories? Join guest host Allison Devereaux, Sunday on the quintessentially Canadian phone-in 1 p.m. PT, 2 p.m. MT, 3 p.m. CT, 4 p.m. ET, 5 p.m. AT and 5:30 p.m. NT.

link to listen online:
http://www.cbc.ca/radio/checkup
click the listen live, of course. ccc is on for 2 hours - no news breaks.
thinking like everyone else, i was startled and very sad to hear about gord downie's cancer.
they definitely are a quintessential Canadian band, if not 'the'.

ps - hope this stays on the main general discussion page for a while/the day, thanks sc.

[seylz_gurl]

this is one is usually on replay for me.

[kenrod]

Little Bones is my favourite Hip tune!

[Darth Penguin]

Tragically Hip: The most Canadian band in the world

When the Tragically Hip announced May 24 that their lead singer Gord Downie was suffering from terminal brain cancer, Canadians expressed an unusual amount of grief, says Jordan Michael Smith.
Few rock bands are publicly mourned by the prime minister and other high-level politicians, comedians, and actors, alongside the country's most prominent musicians.
But the Hip, as they are known, are not ordinary musicians to Canadians. Rather, more than any other artist, they have reflected the sense of what it's like to love and live in a small, beautiful, overlooked country.
To understand why the Hip resonates, it's essential to understand Canada's place in the world. From Confederation in 1867 to the end of World War II in 1945, the country lived in the shadow of Great Britain.
After the United States became the dominant world power, Canada became dwarfed by America.
"Living next to you is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant," Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau told Americans in 1969.
"No matter how friendly and even-tempered is the beast, one is affected by every twitch and grunt."

[frugal50]

what a horrible band
the dude ain't dead yet
and they keep talkin
like he is already

[SnowFlakey]

Quintessential Canadian Band????? My vote goes out for The Guess Who!!!!! Probably before your time.

[Natalka]

^ They would get my vote as well!

I don't even think I could hum a Hip song... or give a title...

[madchives]

i personally consider a lot of canadian bands quintessential to canada, the guess who, who i was lucky to see
in the '70s, being one of course, but the hip have included canada and it's history in so many of their songs,
bobcaygeon, a town in ontario (closest to my dad's schoolhouse/cottage), bill barilko - The last goal he ever scored (in overtime against the Montreal Canadiens' Gerry McNeil in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup final, on April 21, 1951) won the Maple Leafs the Stanley Cup.

barilko disappeared soon after at the age of 24, ,,,,


^{seems to be just me but a lot of the hips/downie's music includes canada's history
and that is important if not quintessential}

[bhlombardy]

What makes the 'Hip so special? It's truly unfortunate about Gord Downey, but the Hip really has come and gone. They're grunge rock, and to be honest, not "Great" -- sure I like a few songs, but I can think of far more bands with a 'quintessential' appeal.

Other than those already mentioned:

Hey anyone ever heard of RUSH? Steppenwolf? BTO? Blue Rodeo? <-- to name a few, and those are the big ones... maybe too old for you youngsters.

But for quintessential? -- how about The Barenaked Ladies? Crashtest Dummies? Great Big Sea (if you're looking for something that defines Canada).

and if anyone in here says Nickleback, I'm personally coming to your house to slap you.

[Darth Penguin]

meh...Nickleback, neither like them or loathe them...

There seems to be a lot of new bands coming through ATM that sound good..The Damn Truth, Barr Brothers, Cage the Elephant...

[anisa]

Could never get into the hip, they aren't interesting to me. We are allowed to all have different tastes in music right?

I am a hard rock and metal mama, not much into the middle of the road, top 40 stuff.

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[anisa]

Grunge? Do people still use that word lol


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[Darth Penguin]

Could never get into the hip, they aren't interesting to me. We are allowed to all have different tastes in music right?

I am a hard rock and metal mama, not much into the middle of the road, top 40 stuff.

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I wanted to to Heavy MTL this year...then Ghost dropped out...cries..

[Darth Penguin]

Grunge? Do people still use that word lol


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Only when I'm talking about the Seattle scene of 1990-93..and only for some bands. It rapidly became as defunct as disco as a musical genre(YMMV!)

[anisa]

I lived the Seattle scene in that era, very diverse, not grungy ;P lol

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