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Rolling Stone Picks 10 Essential Tragically Hip Songs

Hello, America. Thank you for taking an interest in the Tragically Hip. Sorry to say, though, that you’re a little late to the party. Really late. Still, we appreciate Rolling Stone helping out by offering up ten essential Hip songs.

During their 32-year career, spanning 14 studio albums and millions of records sold, the Tragically Hip have become synonymous with Canadian music. By filling their songs with national lore, singer Gord Downie, guitarist Paul Langlois, guitarist Rob Baker, bassist Gord Sinclair and drummer Johnny Fay have tapped into the Canadian condition in a rare way. “If you’re a musician and you’re born in Canada it’s in your DNA to like the Tragically Hip,” City and Colour’s Dallas Green told The Canadian Press.

So it’s no exaggeration to say that an entire country mourned when the band announced in May that Downie had been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. “His status as an extraordinary Canadian creative force and icon is not to be understated,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said of Downie at a press conference the following month.

The band, known for their lengthy and raucous tours, told their fans they were doing it one more time – in their words: “This feels like the right thing to do now, for Gord, and for all of us.” After releasing their latest album, Man Machine Poem, in June, and playing shows across the country through July and August, they will take the stage for what is likely to be the last time together on Saturday, August 20th, in their hometown of Kingston. The concert will be televised and live streamed, following a national outcry after the tour sold out in minutes, and Trudeau will be among the attendees. Canada will get to say goodbye to its most treasured band, fronted by a poet who made a country proud, patriotic and fiercely grateful for the music. As a tribute to the group, we look back at 10 songs that define the Tragically Hip.

Here’s the list.

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

Alan Cross has 37907 posts and counting. See all posts by Alan Cross

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