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.
The Drop-Off
The Tragically Hip Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
No one is no one and nobody in a crisis
There's no swimming past the drop off or feeling sorry for yourself
Ya don't go swimming past the drop off or else
Yer a pistol, yer a gun and suddenly I have no prices
Ya don't go swimming past the drop off or else
The fates are amok and spun, measured and out and the past is meant to please us
Saying "Holy Fuck it's Jesus," the surface is green and the dark interweaves in a lonely iridescence
It's terribly deep and the cold is complete and it only lacks your presence and nothing else
When the summer is done and nobody sympathizes.
Yer no friend of Dylan's, Yea you won't see another crisis
There's no swimming past the drop off or feeling sorry for ourselves
A don't go swimming past the drop off or else
Personal stakes will get raised and get raised
Til your story gets compelling if you lacked the sense
Or were willfully dense is forever in the telling
The surface is green and the dark interweaves
In a lonely iridescence
It's terribly deep and the cold is complete
And it only lacks your presence and nothing else
Nothing else and no one else
The Tragically Hip's song "The Drop-Off" is a song about the dangers of pushing personal limits, and how it can lead to dire consequences. The lyrics are an eerie warning against being too reckless, and a call to be cautious and responsible. The song begins by suggesting that in the summer, when everyone is carefree and carelessly happy, nobody has their price, and nobody is anybody in a crisis. There is a sense of innocence and bliss in this opening verse, one that is soon shattered by the looming danger of the "drop off."
The drop off, which is mentioned repeatedly throughout the song, is a metaphor for a place where one's personal limits are pushed too far. It's a point of no return, where you can no longer swim back to shore or save yourself from danger. The lyrics are a warning against crossing this threshold, and insist that "Ya don't go swimming past the drop off or else." The song also touches on the idea that some people are risk-takers, and that they sometimes pay the price for this behavior. The last verse further emphasizes this point, suggesting that those who push their limits too far will eventually pay the price, and that the story of their recklessness will be forever in the telling.
Line by Line Meaning
When the summer is young and nobody has their price
At the beginning of the season, no one is trying to get rich.
No one is no one and nobody in a crisis
In times of crisis, everyone is equal.
There's no swimming past the drop off or feeling sorry for yourself
Don't go too far beyond your limits or indulge in self-pity.
Ya don't go swimming past the drop off or else
Danger lies beyond your comfort zone and you need to respect it.
Yer a pistol, yer a gun and suddenly I have no prices
You are powerful and valuable, and that makes me disregard material things.
The fates are amok and spun, measured and out and the past is meant to please us
Our destinies are uncertain and the past only exists to serve us.
Yer a comet from earth in a Kiss Alive shirt
You are a striking and unique individual, even in a common outfit.
Saying "Holy Fuck it's Jesus," the surface is green and the dark interweaves in a lonely iridescence
You are a remarkable sight to behold, but the environment is haunting and desolate.
It's terribly deep and the cold is complete and it only lacks your presence and nothing else
The water is dark, cold and deep, and only your absence is felt among it.
When the summer is done and nobody sympathizes.
At the end of the season, no one cares about your struggles.
Yer no friend of Dylan's, Yea you won't see another crisis
You are independent and won't be saved by anyone like Dylan in his music.
Personal stakes will get raised and get raised
The risks you take become greater and greater.
Til your story gets compelling if you lacked the sense
If you lack common sense, your story will still become captivating.
Or were willfully dense is forever in the telling
Even if you purposely acted dumb, the story will continue.
Nothing else and no one else
In the end, nothing and nobody truly matters except yourself on this journey.
Lyrics © Peermusic Publishing
Written by: GORDON DOWNIE, GORDON SINCLAIR, JOHNNY FAY, PAUL LANGLOIS, ROBERT BAKER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind