If ever there was a band synonymous with a country, it’s Canada’s The Tragically Hip. They’ve released 14 studio albums over their three-decade career, nine of them reaching number one in Canada and 11 of their 54 singles appearing on the Top 10 Canadian singles list. They’ve been honored with countless Canadian music awards, including 14 Junos, and that’s just the beginning.
But why is this band the one that Canadians identify with so intimately? In a country that brought the world Neil Young, Barenaked Ladies, Grimes and Arcade Fire, why have The Hip become so successful in Canada without reaching that same global appeal?
The most obvious answer lies just south of the border. America’s power and influence in the entertainment industry is inescapable, and rather alluring when you’re an artist trying to make it. From Justin Bieber and Drake to Alanis Morissette and Celine Dion, many Canadian musicians make a bigger name for themselves by migrating to America, where living loud and luxuriously are the gold standard.
The Hip, on the other hand, remained largely in the Great White North, never touring outside of Canada for more than a few months. In fact, lead singer Gord Downie sold his rather modest and down-to-earth Toronto home in 2015 without relying on his fame or identity to raise the value (in true Canadian form).
That’s not to say The Tragically Hip brushed off their American neighbors. They notably appeared on Saturday Night Live in 1995 after the release of Day For Night, which went platinum in Canada. They were introduced by former SNL cast member and fellow Canadian Dan Aykroyd, who was from the band’s hometown. They even managed to sell out San Francisco’s famous rock ‘n’ roll nightclub, the Fillmore West.
Yet neither of these performances translated to American acclaim. Instead of playing one of their popular and guitar-driven singles to an electrified SNL crowd of Americans, they went with their mid-tempo Canadian hits, “Nautical Disaster” and “Grace, Too.” And as it turned out, almost every ticket to their sold out show at the Fillmore was purchased by a Canadian expat. They came in droves, proudly sporting Canada’s colors and signature maple leaf to hear a band that reminded them of home.
It was never that Americans didn’t like them – it was always that Canadians loved them more."
It was never that Americans didn’t like them – it was always that Canadians loved them more. When you’re Canadian, and a band is singing about places you’ve actually been and referencing moments from your childhood, you immediately identify with it. There’s someone finally acknowledging what it is to be Canadian in the most honest way.
The Hip aren’t solely a pitch to patriotism, however. Much of their music challenges Canada – the politics, the justice system, the direction the country is headed.
“Wheat Kings” from their 1992 album Fully Completely is an example of this kind of critique, shining an unflattering spotlight on Canada’s judicial system and its unfortunate history of wrongful convictions.
“Twenty years for nothing, well, that’s nothing new. Besides, no one’s interested in something you didn’t do,” Downie sings. It’s a song about David Milgaard, a 17-year-old from Winnipeg who was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the rape and murder of nurse Gail Miller in 1970. He spent 23 years in prison before his exoneration.
This song challenges the way that Canadian citizens respond to situations like this. “A nation whispers, ‘We always knew that he’d go free.’ / They add, ‘You can’t be fond of living in the past / ‘Cause if you are, then there’s no way that you’re going to last.’”
It’s a plea for their country to stop sweeping things under the rug; a plea for change and for Canada to take ownership of its identity.
They didn’t seek out their title as “Canada’s band,” they earned it."
Interviewers always ask the band how they feel about their position as representative of the nation, and they always respond with the same answer: Their job as musicians, Gord Downie said in a 1996 interview, is simply to be musical; they want their audience to connect with them on a musical level before anything else.
This is where The Hip – somewhat ironically – become “Canada’s band.” Because they challenge Canada to support and embrace the “Canada of the self” rather than the “Canada that is sold to us.” This commitment to unbridled authenticity is what draws the entire nation to them. They didn’t seek out their title as “Canada’s band,” they earned it.
This past May, the band announced that beloved frontman Gord Downie had been diagnosed with brain cancer. In the wake of this terrible news, the band decided to go on one last summer tour through Canada to promote their new album and to give the fans a chance to see the band live one more time.
Their last show took place on August 20th at the sold out Rogers K-Rock Centre in their hometown of Kingston, Ontario. CBC televised the concert, billing it “The Tragically Hip: A National Celebration” to a viewership of 11.7 million Canadians. Around 27,000 of those viewers were gathered outside of the venue in Kingston to watch and say goodbye to one of the most important bands in the country’s history.
An entire country showed up to witness one of the band’s and Gord Downie’s most vulnerable, raw, and brilliant performances of “Grace, Too” on that Saturday – an entire country showing up to support the band that has always shown up for Canada.