it's been 25 years since i lived in canada; while i was aware of them -- i managed to dub someone's cassettes of the first two albums -- my friends were mostly dead/neil-heads who thought the hip were a little too edgy or something. i didn't realize how pan-canadian they'd become until gord's sickness was announced -- i saw someone today comparing it to the u.s. reaction when springsteen goes, which doesn't quite seem to capture it
rip
― mookieproof, Wednesday, 18 October 2017 23:36 (six years ago) link
Yeah--a little bit, but there's a better analogy out there...I don't know: Johnny Cash? Tom Petty? Quintessentially "Canadian" (whatever that means) in the same way they're quintessentially "American" (whatever that means). Springsteen feels like an abstraction to me; Canadians who were really affected by Downie's music seem to feel like they knew him.
Even as someone who loves one-and-one-only song ("Fireworks"), I can see that. That song comes from somewhere I know.
― clemenza, Thursday, 19 October 2017 00:14 (six years ago) link
"phantom power" was an unbelievably meaningful record to anyone who lived through the great 1998 ice storm like me (albeit on the other side of the border), as one of the only real pieces of media that ever directly referenced an event that absolutely devastated a very small part of the us and canada and intensely affected that region long after everyone had more or less forgotten about it.
of course they were a kingston band, so they wouldn't not write about something like that, but it always struck me as a good microcosm of downie's ability to find these little squirreled-away events in canadian history and turn them into great songs. years from now that storm is going to be as distant a memory as all the other obscure historical references in hip songs, and i really hope there's another gord downie someday to keep writing about them.
― the portentous pepper (govern yourself accordingly), Thursday, 19 October 2017 00:31 (six years ago) link
^^^ otm
― ToddBonzalez (BradNelson), Thursday, 19 October 2017 00:33 (six years ago) link
i don't think there is a good analogy. they're much younger than anyone who could possibly be an american analogue, for one thing. and the fact that they *didn't* move to california, unlike many of their predecessors, is key -- there's no comparable act for any of the 'quintessentially american' candidates
― mookieproof, Thursday, 19 October 2017 00:34 (six years ago) link
fwiw john k samson still lives
― mookieproof, Thursday, 19 October 2017 00:36 (six years ago) link
fair point, and samson is extremely good at it too, but he's never quite caught on with the crucial drunk-leafs-fan demographic
― the portentous pepper (govern yourself accordingly), Thursday, 19 October 2017 00:39 (six years ago) link
watched the final concert with my best friend from highschool, he was a huge fan then and still is, and I always sort of heard them by proxy with him. Seeing all the support and empathy for Downie and the celebration of him as an artist was a beautiful thing.
― Week of Wonders (Ross), Thursday, 19 October 2017 01:47 (six years ago) link
Downie makes me proud to be a canadian tbh
― Week of Wonders (Ross), Thursday, 19 October 2017 01:50 (six years ago) link
Canadians who were really affected by Downie's music seem to feel like they knew him.
Just like that killer whale.
― MarkoP, Thursday, 19 October 2017 02:31 (six years ago) link
Also I don't think there is a british equivalent.
― Van Horn Street, Thursday, 19 October 2017 03:05 (six years ago) link
50 Mission Cap. pic.twitter.com/fdMDy0ZGyY— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) October 18, 2017
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 19 October 2017 03:16 (six years ago) link
For Gord. pic.twitter.com/5OJLWyyrV6— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) October 18, 2017
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 19 October 2017 03:25 (six years ago) link
The coverage up here has included one hockey player after another being interviewed; Downie was the lead story on TSN (Canada's ESPN). He and Bobby Orr were supposed to be in close contact the past couple of years.
― clemenza, Thursday, 19 October 2017 03:29 (six years ago) link
the documentary long time running (which i think will be available on netflix later this month) is one of the most beautiful and well-composed rock documentaries i've ever seen. i cried multiple times ofc
― ToddBonzalez (BradNelson), Sunday, 5 November 2017 15:38 (six years ago) link
also the new gord album is v hard to listen to but is full of wonderful songs that feel almost improvised sometimes in their austerity and specificity. drew's production glows
― ToddBonzalez (BradNelson), Sunday, 5 November 2017 15:40 (six years ago) link
it’s on netflix, i really highly recommend it https://www.netflix.com/title/80205085
― ToddBonzalez (BradNelson), Thursday, 30 November 2017 03:32 (six years ago) link
Not on Canadian Netflix doh.
― -_- (jim in vancouver), Thursday, 30 November 2017 04:38 (six years ago) link
i believe it's streaming on crave tv (?) in canada
― ToddBonzalez (BradNelson), Thursday, 30 November 2017 16:45 (six years ago) link
oh i have that, cool!
― -_- (jim in vancouver), Thursday, 30 November 2017 17:35 (six years ago) link
i watched it again last night and cried again
― ToddBonzalez (BradNelson), Thursday, 30 November 2017 17:35 (six years ago) link
Yeah, I blubbed like a big girl, the bit when they're about to go on stage and he's whispering in his colleague's ears, broke me.
― MaresNest, Thursday, 30 November 2017 19:17 (six years ago) link
seeing the fans crying at the shows just kills me
― ToddBonzalez (BradNelson), Thursday, 30 November 2017 19:23 (six years ago) link
Damn much music did a retro lunch special today and played only tragically hip
― synonym toast crunch (Ross), Monday, 4 June 2018 23:17 (five years ago) link
the new (only) hip book, never-ending present, is p good so far. some filler (there's an early chapter about hip cover bands which is just barely interesting) prob bc the band apparently didn't participate in it much (which sounds like them) but still fascinating and full of amazing downie quotes
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Monday, 9 July 2018 21:39 (five years ago) link
i knew their origin story pretty well but not at this level of detail, and the bill barilko chapter is just extremely heartening
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Monday, 9 July 2018 21:40 (five years ago) link
"opiated" gets a few sentences in the book, and between that and its appearance the documentary, i'm belatedly realizing it's one of my favorite hip songs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzxoGcBsk-8
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Monday, 9 July 2018 21:43 (five years ago) link
book has gotten me so deep into this band again that i'm watching old live sets on youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jn83UvFzbjg
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Thursday, 12 July 2018 12:41 (five years ago) link
i ponder the endlessness of the starsignoring said same of my father
either it'll move meor it'll move right through mefullycompletely
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Thursday, 12 July 2018 12:46 (five years ago) link
i love the chapters in that book that swerve away in weird directions - barclay's curiosity isn't bounded by his fandom, he lights up by the unexpected digressions etc, and i do too.
― sean gramophone, Thursday, 12 July 2018 13:53 (five years ago) link
i'm deeper into it and i'm starting to agree! the openers chapter was nice if only as a snapshot of the impact they had on the careers of other canadian bands
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Thursday, 12 July 2018 15:29 (five years ago) link
however i'll never forgive barclay for being kinda needlessly dismissive of music@work
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Thursday, 12 July 2018 15:30 (five years ago) link
you're beau-tifulterrific
your eyesemptypacifics
manmachinepoem
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Monday, 16 July 2018 14:08 (five years ago) link
^^ what a song and lyric
oh i finished the barclay book last year and it’s fine. it makes a lot of choices i wouldn’t have. the manager interviews/stories are both numerous and tedious
but it did make me realize that man machine poem is an even better record than i thought at the time. kind of a masterpiece, up there with day for night and music @ work
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Wednesday, 6 February 2019 20:52 (five years ago) link
Thanks for alerting ilx/us, well *moi*, to the book. Might give Thom as a valentine present. He's a massive fan.
― nathom, Wednesday, 6 February 2019 21:27 (five years ago) link
Gord's birthday today.
― dorsalstop, Wednesday, 6 February 2019 22:11 (five years ago) link
i was wondering why i felt so bad
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Wednesday, 6 February 2019 22:30 (five years ago) link
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-covid-19-kills-nine-infects-34-staff-at-bobcaygeon-nursing-home/
― clemenza, Monday, 30 March 2020 16:34 (four years ago) link
there's a dream he dreams where the high school's dead and starkit's a museum and we're all locked up in it after darkthe walls are lined all yellow, grey and sinisterhung with pictures of our parents' prime ministers
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Tuesday, 18 August 2020 22:23 (three years ago) link
new gord solo album is awesome, i prefer it to the more sketch-oriented introduce yerself. a lot of the lyrics share lines with man machine poem songs so it feels like the gord solo version of that record. the production's kind of obnoxious with vocal effects and instrumental shifts but i am here for it bc it reminds me of battle of the nudes
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Friday, 23 October 2020 20:01 (three years ago) link
the "new" tragically hip "album" (aka EP-length collection of lost songs) is good, if you love road apples it'll hit the spot
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Monday, 24 May 2021 14:24 (two years ago) link
Well, the medicine man started seeing redYou think the snake just dreams up the poison in his head
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Monday, 24 May 2021 14:42 (two years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXPTu_lqgXU
― Maresn3st, Monday, 9 August 2021 12:18 (two years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTsm1fM59Lc
― Maresn3st, Monday, 9 August 2021 12:22 (two years ago) link
This is kinda amazing -
https://www.straight.com/movies/weird-connection-made-between-folk-horror-and-hip
― Maresn3st, Saturday, 18 September 2021 22:54 (two years ago) link
I honestly had been wondering about the name of that album a few weeks ago!
― FRAUDULENT STEAKS (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Sunday, 19 September 2021 00:21 (two years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6bRuOyJTVo
― MaresNest, Wednesday, 17 January 2024 22:36 (three months ago) link