The group met while in high school at Kingston Collegiate Vocational Institute (KCVI) and all attended Queen's University in Kingston. They started as a cover band playing Rolling Stones and Doors covers, and were first represented by a local Kingston agent named Bernie Dobson.
They were first signed in 1987 after Bruce Dickinson, the then VP of A&R at MCA Records saw them perform live at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto, Ontario. Later that year they released their debut EP The Tragically Hip, though they were largely unrecognized until 1989's Up To Here. Up To Here established them as one of the best and most influential bands in Canada. In 1992, they created the Another Roadside Attraction festival, which tours Canada to promote smaller, unknown emerging bands.
The band is immensely popular in Canada. Although they have never achieved great success in the United States, they have never specifically sought it and have enjoyed their warm Canadian reception. When touring in Canada they typically play to sold-out arenas; when touring in the United States they play smaller venues and clubs. Performances abroad are usually attended by Canadian expatriates. In Europe, The Hip perhaps have their greatest following in the Netherlands.
The band permits recordings of their performances, so an active trading community thrives. The tone and content of much of their music is a paean to the Canadian experience and touches on such themes as small-town life, geography, and hockey.
The Tragically Hip received a star on the Canadian Walk of Fame in 2002, and they were inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame at the 2005 Juno Awards. They have performed at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, and played a three-song set at the worldwide broadcast Live 8 benefit concert on July 2nd, 2005 to help make poverty history for the poor African nations.
On April 7th, 2009, the band's twelfth album We Are The Same was being released in North America, and it immediately rose to Number 1 on the Canadian charts. The album features twelve diverse new recordings produced by Bob Rock who had produced 2007's World Container and is perhaps best known for his work with Metallica, Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, Bryan Adams, The Offspring, Michael Bublé and Simple Plan. This album features songs that range from "levity and light to melancholy and anger" according to the band's website. Recorded primarily at The Bathouse Studio, band's recording studio located in a historical coach house west of their hometown, Kingston, Ontario, and its first single was "Love Is A First", which features the ironical addictive hook, 'love is a curse'.
Despite some side solo projects in the past couple of years, the band has completed a new studio album at The Bathouse Studio and in Toronto with Gavin Brown, who is perhaps best known for his work producing Metric, Three Days Grace, Barenaked Ladies and Billy Talent. The album is entitled Now For Plan A and it was released on October 2nd, 2012. This album's first singles were "At Transformation" and "Streets Ahead" and they are available on iTunes and through the band's website.
Man Machine Poem is the fourteenth studio album which is scheduled to be released June 17th, 2016. The album takes its name from a track on their Gold-selling 2012 release, Now For Plan A, and it was recorded at The Hip’s home studio The Bathouse, produced by Kevin Drew, founding member and producer of Broken Social Scene, Andy Kim (singer, songwriter and Arts & Crafts label co-founder) and Dave Hamelin, songwriter and producer from The Stills and Eight and a Half. Album pre-orders are currently available on either CD or Vinyl through the band's "Gift Shop" on their official website: www.TheHip.com or digitally through iTunes. “In A World Possessed By The Human Mind” and “Tired As Fuck" were its first singles, and both were made immediately available for digital download with the album's pre-order.
Early on May 24, 2016, The Tragically Hip announced via a post on their official website and through e-mail subscribers that its lead singer and primary lyricist, Gord Downie, is suffering from aggressive terminal brain cancer, and that the band will do one final national Canadian tour "For Gord". Concert dates for this final tour were available on-line through Ticketmaster, but sold out in minutes. There was a national outcry from devoted fans who claimed that scalpers had scooped up most of the tour's tickets using "bots". Petitions were filed to successfully encourage Canada's national television network, the CBC, to produce and air Live the final August 20, 2016 concert. Broadcast live from the band's hometown, at Kingston's Rogers K-Rock Centre, a national audience viewed The Tragically Hip's final tour show, The concert opened with "50 Mission Cap" and ended almost two hours later, after a third encore, with "Ahead By A Century". All proceeds from the tour were donated to The Gord Downie Fund, at the Sunnybrook Foundation for Brain Cancer Research. Donations can be sent to: http://sunnybrook.ca/foundation.
For the latest band details, please visit their official website: www.TheHip.com.
Daredevil
The Tragically Hip Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You say your name like you're no longer convinced
But now they're strapping you in, and closing the lid
And they're dropping you in, what's done, you did
The barrel's picking up speed, there's water leaking in
That old equilibrium just starts to spin and spin
Do you like to be judged or liked?
And plunging over the falls?
Curious and grim
We wrestle at the rim
We wonder all about him
And the point of it all
I'll be short and brief and to the point
The fighting has resumed
In that tone of voice
The plague is exhumed
He said, "what I'm going through
Is essentially all true
Made no less amazing by the fact that it's see through"
You'd like to be judged or liked
And you like it inside a barrel
Plunging over the falls
Strong and green and dim
It wrestled him like nothing
Out, out, out and in-
To the thrill of them all
And the real wonder of the world
Is that we don't jump too
And the real wonder of the world
Is that we don't jump too
And the real wonder of the world
Is that we don't jump too
The Tragically Hip's "Daredevil" is a story-song that speaks about a person who is an adrenaline junkie, or daredevil, and is now facing their ultimate challenge. The singer is being strapped into a barrel and placed at the top of a waterfall. The lyrics open with the singer expressing their inability to comprehend the excitement and nerves of the person about to undergo this experience. However, they acknowledge that this is exactly how the daredevil feels. As the barrel starts to gather speed and water leaks in, the daredevil's world starts to spin out of control.
The song then questions the daredevil's motives and what drives them to take such risks. Do they desire to be judged or liked? Are they searching for something more profound in life? The song implies that the daredevil's adventure is not solely determined by the thrill of the experience but also the importance of the outcome. The lyrics also mention a discussion about the resumption of fighting, the exhumation of the plague, and a statement by the singer that their experiences are genuine and transparent.
The song goes on to show the excitement and wonder of those who are watching the daredevil's ride down the waterfall. It ends with a powerful assertion that the real amazement of a daredevil's plunge is not in the fact that they jump, but rather than the rest of us don't.
Line by Line Meaning
I can't imagine how you feel, and this is how you feel
Acknowledging the difficulty of understanding someone else's emotions and expressing that the words spoken truly represent how they feel
You say your name like you're no longer convinced
Not feeling fully confident in one's own identity and communicating that uncertainty through speech
But now they're strapping you in, and closing the lid
Being prepared for an extreme and potentially dangerous action with no escape, and feeling trapped and enclosed
And they're dropping you in, what's done, you did
Accepting that the consequences of one's own actions have led to a perilous situation with no way out
The barrel's picking up speed, there's water leaking in
Feeling the physical effects of a dangerous situation and fearing for one's own safety
That old equilibrium just starts to spin and spin
Experiencing a loss of balance and control in the face of extreme circumstances
Do you like to be judged or liked?
Reflecting on one's own motivations and whether they seek validation through approval or acceptance of others
Do you like it inside a barrel, and plunging over the falls?
Questioning the willingness to take extreme risks for the sake of excitement or fulfillment
Curious and grim, we wrestle at the rim
Expressing the complicated mix of fascination and fear that arises from witnessing someone else in a perilous situation
We wonder all about him, and the point of it all
Questioning the motivations and purpose behind someone willingly risking their safety for an extreme experience
I'll be short and brief and to the point
Asserting a straightforward and direct approach to communication
The fighting has resumed, in that tone of voice
Indicating a sense of conflict or tension, even in seemingly harmless communication
The plague is exhumed
Bringing past traumas or issues back to the surface, often causing pain or distress
He said, 'what I'm going through is essentially all true, made no less amazing by the fact that it's see through'
Asserting the truth and authenticity of one's own experiences, even if others may not fully understand or see them
You'd like to be judged or liked, and you like it inside a barrel, plunging over the falls
Reiterating the question of whether one seeks validation or excitement through extreme experiences
Strong and green and dim, it wrestled him like nothing, out, out, out and in- to the thrill of them all
Describing the intense physical and emotional experience of taking extreme risks and the thrill it can bring
And the real wonder of the world is that we don't jump too
Reflecting on the bravery and courage it takes to face extreme situations and the admiration we have for those who take those risks
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Peermusic Publishing
Written by: Robert Baker, Gordon Downie, Johnny Fay, Paul Langlois, Gordon Sinclair
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind