RIP Gord Downie
Oct. 24th, 2017 06:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bedsitter23Although we knew it was coming, it was still sad to see Tragically Hip frontman Gord Downie go.
I was a teen in the late 80s and early 90s and living in the country, it made us not a cable house, but a satellite dish house.
I spent nearly every waking moment watching MuchMusic (at least when I wasn't watching The Comedy Channel) which was Canada's version of MTV.
MuchMusic appealed to me so much more than MTV. Although I loved MTV as well, MuchMusic felt more like the original MTV, the budget was minimal and had more of a diy-appeal, the VJs were a gang- it was all of the things that I would have had with MTV if I had been slightly older, but they were now moving on into big budget production.
Best of all was that it was music pretty much 24/7/365. Like Early MTV, that meant they played a lot of stuff to fill the time. It was more of a potpurri. MTV would play Anthrax, Boogie Down Productions and Big Audio Dynamite sure, but they were each relegated to a specific place and time in the lineup. MuchMusic would play them back to back.
The other redeeming quality was that they had to follow the Canadian content rules and play home grown music. These rules weren't as basic as they sound- it was a mix of the performer, the producer, the writer, band members and who knows what else. Which made Rod Stewart a Canadian artist but Bryan Adams not.
Canada had a lot of great homegrown music and indeed The Hip were top of the list. For me, the best were The Tragically Hip, Blue Rodeo, The Northern Pikes and blues rocker Collin James. I indeed loved Cowboy Junkies and The Pursuit of Happiness which made some inroads in the alt-rock scene. There was a great unconventional wave too (Barenaked Ladies, Moxy Fruvous, Rheostatics. I could go on and on with great Canadian bands that are fairly obscure this side of the border- 54-40, Jann Arden, Bruce Cockburn, Holly Cole and others. Given time, I couldn't name them all- 70s/80s Rockers like Rush, the BTO/Guess Who family, Chilliwack, Kim Mitchell, Red Rider, Gowan, obscure punks like the Viletones and Payola$, Madonna wannabes and pop divas like Mitsou and Alanis (Morrissette), female rockers like Lee Aaron and Sass Jordan, 90s grunge hopefuls Moist and The Tea Party and a whole list of those who hit big in America at least for a moment like Jeff Healey, Sarah Mclachlan, Our Lady Peace, Alannah Myles and Celine Dion.
Even from a rap point of view, Maestro Fresh Wes surely deserved a bigger audience in the pre-Biggie and Tupac days and would have been a great addition along the likes of Kid N Play, Kool Moe Dee and Heavy D. Jazz influenced 90s duo The Dream Warriors were deserving of recognition when they appeared with the likes of A Tribe Called Quest, Digable Planets and De la Soul.
In any case, the Tragically Hip were great. They have been called Canada's REM. In retrospect, there may have been better comparisons, but that was the go to description for any late-80s college rock band with traditional roots influences.
For me the band is defined by their early hits- like "Blow at High dough", "38 Years Old", and "New Orleans is Sinking". This was way before Amazon and you could find any album you want and get it. If you can't find it on Amazon, it's going to be on the internet somewhere- either a digital download from Bandcamp or from the band itself.
The Hips first record- 1987s eight song EP was only released in Canada. I was lucky to be that kind of person who looked everywhere and found it in a pawn shop.
1989s Up to Here saw a bit wider release, and I was able to find it pretty easy in the Amazon-of-that-day The Columbia House Music Club.
Not to speak ill of the dead, but I am less of a fan of the bands maturing work. Specifically, I am talking about what is considered their masterpiece -1992's Fully Completely.
Now that we are 25 years on, I remember that album getting quite a bit of promotion. The local newly launched alt-rock station played the single "Courage" a lot, and that song and "At the 100th Meridian" were definitely heard by a lot of American ears. Yet with the wave of 90s Nostalgia, I never hear about The Hip.
Wikipedia seems to do a bit of explanation. While Fully Completely was supposed to break America, they stopped American production after two weeks. To be fair, "Courage" may be good, but it's not quite as striking as the biggest songs of some of their contemporaries- Gin Blossoms, Live, Verve Pipe and Toad the Wet Sprocket.
I stopped following the band but they continued to turn out their art, and so maybe that is my loss. In any case, it indeed is a loss in that they were a great band and brought joy to a lot of people.
I was a teen in the late 80s and early 90s and living in the country, it made us not a cable house, but a satellite dish house.
I spent nearly every waking moment watching MuchMusic (at least when I wasn't watching The Comedy Channel) which was Canada's version of MTV.
MuchMusic appealed to me so much more than MTV. Although I loved MTV as well, MuchMusic felt more like the original MTV, the budget was minimal and had more of a diy-appeal, the VJs were a gang- it was all of the things that I would have had with MTV if I had been slightly older, but they were now moving on into big budget production.
Best of all was that it was music pretty much 24/7/365. Like Early MTV, that meant they played a lot of stuff to fill the time. It was more of a potpurri. MTV would play Anthrax, Boogie Down Productions and Big Audio Dynamite sure, but they were each relegated to a specific place and time in the lineup. MuchMusic would play them back to back.
The other redeeming quality was that they had to follow the Canadian content rules and play home grown music. These rules weren't as basic as they sound- it was a mix of the performer, the producer, the writer, band members and who knows what else. Which made Rod Stewart a Canadian artist but Bryan Adams not.
Canada had a lot of great homegrown music and indeed The Hip were top of the list. For me, the best were The Tragically Hip, Blue Rodeo, The Northern Pikes and blues rocker Collin James. I indeed loved Cowboy Junkies and The Pursuit of Happiness which made some inroads in the alt-rock scene. There was a great unconventional wave too (Barenaked Ladies, Moxy Fruvous, Rheostatics. I could go on and on with great Canadian bands that are fairly obscure this side of the border- 54-40, Jann Arden, Bruce Cockburn, Holly Cole and others. Given time, I couldn't name them all- 70s/80s Rockers like Rush, the BTO/Guess Who family, Chilliwack, Kim Mitchell, Red Rider, Gowan, obscure punks like the Viletones and Payola$, Madonna wannabes and pop divas like Mitsou and Alanis (Morrissette), female rockers like Lee Aaron and Sass Jordan, 90s grunge hopefuls Moist and The Tea Party and a whole list of those who hit big in America at least for a moment like Jeff Healey, Sarah Mclachlan, Our Lady Peace, Alannah Myles and Celine Dion.
Even from a rap point of view, Maestro Fresh Wes surely deserved a bigger audience in the pre-Biggie and Tupac days and would have been a great addition along the likes of Kid N Play, Kool Moe Dee and Heavy D. Jazz influenced 90s duo The Dream Warriors were deserving of recognition when they appeared with the likes of A Tribe Called Quest, Digable Planets and De la Soul.
In any case, the Tragically Hip were great. They have been called Canada's REM. In retrospect, there may have been better comparisons, but that was the go to description for any late-80s college rock band with traditional roots influences.
For me the band is defined by their early hits- like "Blow at High dough", "38 Years Old", and "New Orleans is Sinking". This was way before Amazon and you could find any album you want and get it. If you can't find it on Amazon, it's going to be on the internet somewhere- either a digital download from Bandcamp or from the band itself.
The Hips first record- 1987s eight song EP was only released in Canada. I was lucky to be that kind of person who looked everywhere and found it in a pawn shop.
1989s Up to Here saw a bit wider release, and I was able to find it pretty easy in the Amazon-of-that-day The Columbia House Music Club.
Not to speak ill of the dead, but I am less of a fan of the bands maturing work. Specifically, I am talking about what is considered their masterpiece -1992's Fully Completely.
Now that we are 25 years on, I remember that album getting quite a bit of promotion. The local newly launched alt-rock station played the single "Courage" a lot, and that song and "At the 100th Meridian" were definitely heard by a lot of American ears. Yet with the wave of 90s Nostalgia, I never hear about The Hip.
Wikipedia seems to do a bit of explanation. While Fully Completely was supposed to break America, they stopped American production after two weeks. To be fair, "Courage" may be good, but it's not quite as striking as the biggest songs of some of their contemporaries- Gin Blossoms, Live, Verve Pipe and Toad the Wet Sprocket.
I stopped following the band but they continued to turn out their art, and so maybe that is my loss. In any case, it indeed is a loss in that they were a great band and brought joy to a lot of people.
