Gord Downie, singer of The Tragically Hip has left us, RIP

A very unique mind, I've been a TH fan since 1989. I would put "Up To Here", "Road Apples", and "Fully Completely" up to almost any other bands 3 albums in a row, they are fantastic rock and roll albums.
Gord.

 

I guess I'd say start with Up To Here. I don't know that it really got any better than that.

As someone else said, the early albums have more of that blues rock edge present in other bands of the time. I like it, it gives the songs just a bit more bite. Gord's lyrics are great on that album, but he's just a little more concise, the album just hits a little harder than the rest.

Fully Completely is certainly right up there with Up To Here, consistent and many iconic songs.

The S/T first album I seldom listen to, an immature work.

Road Apples and Day For Night have many gems but have just a bit more filler.

Henhouse had 3-4 great cuts and some utter garbage IMO.

Phantom Power was a nice return to form. Rocked harder than they had since Up To Here and some great lyrics, Bobcaygen and some great deep cuts on that album.

After that things got spottier, more for the established fan base. Nothing unusual as a band ages.

Gord was a great frontman live. Great lyricist. Swung for the fences, certainly wrote his share of howlers, but always pushed the envelope.

I don't cry for Gord's artistic life, I think he had a great one beyond what he could have imagined. As someone of near the same age, it's more that he doesn't get the last 20 years of his life, time with kids and family, time for contemplation etc.

He brought joy to the world. I'm glad he meant so much to Canada. RIP.

 

Thanks all for your suggestions !

 

Did anyone watch this? It was a nice overview of their last tour, and even though Gord was the focus, the rest of the band was given ample screen time. It makes me wonder what those surviving members (Rob Baker, Gord Sinclair, Johnny Fay, Paul Langlois for those who haven't heard their names) will do now. The Hip surely has ended, but musically they are so rich and so talented, it would be a great shame if they stopped making music together. I saw Gord play with the Sadies a few years ago, playing all new songs from the Conquering Sun album, and it worked so beautifully that the rest of the band with a new singer (or singers), and NOT trying to be the Hip would work very well if done right. We shall see what the future holds, as their best friend just died.

I also liked the no commercial break of last night's doc, just like the last concert on CBC. They put together a nice collection of old interviews afterward. I remember those Erica M, Sook-Yin Lee, Denise Donlon years of Muchmusic very fondly. When entertainment interviews had actual intelligent content and not just soundbytes and tabloid gossip and reality show antics. Ah the 90s.

 

Like other poster suggested, "Up to Here", "Fully Completely" and "Day for Night". Or, just grab "Yer favourites".

 

Nice Gord Downie tribute tonight opening Hockey Night In Canada. A hockey team equipment manager who is a cancer survivor said anytime you listened to Downie's lyrics you always feel like you are home, no matter where you travel. That is what made him so special.

 

Here’s a link to the local music scene involving a couple of Hip members:
Fennell goes soul searching on new album

 

As several people have already mentioned, it's difficult for non-Canadians to truly understand just how important the Tragically Hip were to this country and how deeply engrained into our culture the band was. To give you an idea, Gord's passing is pretty much the Canadian equivalent of what the rest of the world would be feeling if Mick Jagger died. The Hip were the Canadian Rolling Stones.

RIP

 

Probably his last filmed performance:

CBC TV

 

Absolutely g-ddamn right!

 

I love the Hip, but my local Rock Station "Chez106" played "only" their music from the moment they found out of his passing, right through till the end of the weekend. That was like 6 days straight.

RIP Gordie.

 

I don't think that's quite it.

I wonder if the British relate to The Rolling Stones in the same way that Canadians relate to the Hip. The Stones were more of an international phenomenon, certainly beyond their early years. They actively courted success in America and played in a style which was always heavily indebted to uniquely American roots. Their music was more reflective of the American culture than their own. They decamped from Britain readily as tax exiles and never really seemed willing to wrap themselves in the Union Jack. That was more of a Kinks kinda thing...

The Tragically Hip were always coming from a uniquely Canadian perspective and never veered from that. Their music was never as obviously American-influenced as the Stones, certainly not lyrically. The band's songs were littered with references to Canadian people, Canadian places and the Canadian experience. More so than The Guess Who, more so than Rush, more so than pretty much any other Canadian artist who managed to achieve their level of success. It was as though Stan Rodgers had plugged into the national zeitgeist, rolled 'em all up to 11 and rocked out. They remained proudly, defiantly Canadian and that was strong medicine for a national psyche caught forever in a deluge of cross-border cultural influence that prodded our national insecurities and left us longing for heroes we could really call our own. The fact that they never really cracked the US market ( remember watching them on Saturday Night Live doing Grace, Too ? ) made us clutch them even more tightly to our national bosom - they were Canada's Band and if the Americans didn't dig it, to hell with'em. And The Hip seemed OK with that so we loved them even more for it. That really spoke to us.

They weren't "Canada's Rolling Stones". They...were...ours. And they were us.
They were Canada's Tragically Hip.

The Hip - Grace Too Video - Pinkbike

D.D.

 

RIP Gord

I was in Toronto last week and I saw Bobby Baker at a mall near my hotel. I wanted to walk up to him and give my condolences but he was with his family & I figured I shouldn't bother him.

I saw The Hip in concert in 2001 in Toronto. Great show!

 

At the present time, a LOT of people are finding comfort in their music.

 

GordFM

 

Got forbid when Neil Young, Geddy Lee or Celine Dion passes......

 

This pretty much sums it up:

Mike Fraser on Twitter

 

A eulogy describing Gord's personality :

 

I can't like that enough. Brilliant

 

From ctv news dot c'eh: Gord Downie's brother thanks crowd at Hip singalong, calls for Indigenous reconciliation.

 

great story!

 

I can't get enough of this song lately, I can't believe it took me so long to appreciate In Between Evolution.

 

It was only last year I finally listened to Now For Plan A as I had gone on a hunt for the song I saw in 2012 that was new that I just remembered "drip drip" from, turned out it was We Want To Be It - that led me to eventually discover the rest of that amazing album. I had already fallen in love with Man Machine Poem.

Other than a couple singles I really didn't know much of anything past Phantom Power, it's been really just since Gord's passing that I've delved more deeply into the catalogue, so far I've become intimately familiar with the first two incredible albums following Phantom, Music at Work (2000) and In Violet Light (2002) - so many amazing tracks...how did I not know how great the Hip's post 90s material was until just this year? Lake Fever, Stay, The Bastard, The Completists, Toronto #4, The Bear, Throwing Off Glass, The Dire Wolf, It's a Good Life...so now I'm really looking forward to In Between Evolution next. I've wanted to listen to each album through 3-4x before moving on, to really get familiar with it. Loving almost everything so far.

I also have listened to Trouble and Phantom as I really only knew the singles from those, all terrific. Just picked up the DVD of That Night in Toronto, the performances of Nautical Disaster and It's a Good Life ir You Don't Weaken are so good, nice PCM stereo track too - also the way Johnny drums the opening third of Ahead by a Century is WAY cooler than the studio version.

What I'm really getting off the 2000, 2002, 2012 and 2016 albums is how great the guitar work is, every bit the equal of Stone and Mike's interplay from Pearl Jam.

Wish I had realized the genius of this band in the 90s, I would definitley have had 20-30 shows under my belt by now instead of 2. Lyrics, musicianship, groove, they had it all.

 

I am slightly biased as a longtime fan, but I don't think they have a weak album in their catalogue. Music@Work is maybe a bit spotty for me in the back half and We Are The Same is maybe a track or two too long. They kept evolving and trying new things, while still sounding like The Hip. Unless there's an album they were close to completing, and not counting any unreleased songs seeing the light as some for of release, Man Machine Poem is a pretty great album to close with.

 

Long Time Running now streaming on Netflix!!!