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Hear Me Out: POWER RANKINGS - The Tragically Hip


You'd be hard pressed to find a more galvanizing band to Canadians than The Tragically Hip. Come to think of it, though I'm no expert on the music of all countries worldwide, I'm not so sure there's another band on the face of the earth that instills more national pride. Show me a Canadian who doesn't exude at least a passing respect for this band, and I'll show you someone who should have their papers checked. Over the span of a career that has stretched more than thirty years, The Hip have achieved undisputed legendary status, amassed a glowing discography and proven themselves time and time again as not only one of Canada's most important artistic voices, but also one of our most dependable and consistent live acts. Of course, it doesn't hurt that they've managed all of this without ever subbing out a band member.

With so much success, so many accolades and so few disappointments, it's easy to see why this weekend's (perceived) farewell show is such a bittersweet moment for not just the band's fans, but indeed the entire country. Gordon Downie's terminal brain cancer diagnosis earlier this year has cast the band's current tour in an air of finality, as does their thirteenth record Man Machine Poem. In a way, this summer's tour has been a blessing in that we've been afforded the chance to celebrate the group's storied career while they're still with us; just imagine what we would have said to David Bowie or Prince if given one more shot at communicating with them, and translate that to the opportunity we're presented with now. I've thought a lot about that since May, and I think I'll get around to it after this Saturday's show, and once I've had time to process all the emotions most of us will be feeling while experiencing it.

While a nation waits for what may very well be the most anticipated musical event Canada has ever witnessed, I thought it as good a time as any to institute the first of a planned series wherein I rank a longstanding band's discography. You may not agree with some of these placements; hell, my mind is always subject to change when it comes to things like this. However, the point isn't so much about "worst to first" as it is "here's how they rank in importance to me". Figuring out where these thirteen albums stand to me personally (BTW I've excluded their self titled debut because it's an EP rather than a full album), I was reminded of life events and other situations that played out around the time the records were released. I remember the big deal surrounding Day for Night being released on a Saturday. I remember how good Phantom Power sounded in the first car I'd ever bought with my own money. I remember Music@Work being one of the first CDs I'd ever bought online. I remember receiving a promotional copy of In Violet Light during my last year in radio. I remember working at CD Plus and having our shipment of World Container not arrive in time for release day, resulting in me walking down the hall to Zellers and buying it from the competition because I refused to wait another day.

All of The Hip's albums have a story to tell, and each one of them can be enhanced and/or interpreted differently when applied to our lives. This is the gift The Tragically Hip have given us, not mere pieces of art but also life experiences. With that in mind as well as the music, here is my ranking of The Tragically Hip's studio albums:

13  We Are the Same
Released: April 7, 2009

Highlights The Depression Suite • Queen of the Furrows • Love is a First

Favourite lyric: "Are you going through something? Then I am too." -The Depression Suite




12  Music@Work
Released: June 6, 2000

Highlights My Music at Work • Lake Fever • Putting Down

Favourite lyric: "Want to be your wheezing screen door / Want to be your stars Algonquin / Want to be your roaring floorboard / Want to break the hearts of everyone." -Lake Fever




11  Now For Plan A
Released: October 2, 2012

Highlights At Transformation • Streets Ahead • Take Forever

Favourite lyric: "I want to help you lift enormous things / A pinch, a sting, I don't feel a thing." -At Transformation





10  Trouble at the Henhouse
Released: May 7, 1996

Highlights Gift Shop • Ahead By a Century • Apartment Song

Favourite lyric: "I wrote unfriendly things, truly cruel / On the day that you were born / To prove that words cannot touch beauty / But I was torn." -Put it Off




9  In Between Evolution
Released: June 29, 2004

Highlights Heaven is a Better Place Today • Gus: the Polar Bear from Central Park • It Can't Be Nashville Every Night

Favourite lyric: "Are we family when it's not if but when / Taking care of each other one bullet to another / When it's all, 'if a song can't save us then nothing can'" -Are We Family



8  Man Machine Poem
Released: June 17, 2016

Highlights In a World Possessed By the Human Mind • Here, in the Dark • Ocean Next

Favourite lyric: "Read, read, read / Receive, lose, receive / Be happy / It's all you leave." -Ocean Next




7  World Container
Released: October 17, 2006

Highlights Yer Not the Ocean • The Lonely End of the Rink • Family Band 

Favourite lyric: "You said, 'If I ask you a question are you gonna lie to me?' I said, 'Is that your question? 'Cuz honey, that one's easy'." -The Kids Don't Get It



6  In Violet Light
Released: June 11, 2002

Highlights 'Use It Up' • The Darkest One • The Dire Wolf

Favourite lyric: Music that'll help you be tough / And come together on more than Springsteen / Though most days it's been enough / Then there's music that can take you away." -'Use It Up'




5  Up To Here
Released: September 5, 1989

Highlights Blow at High Dough • New Orleans is Sinking • 38 Years Old

Favourite lyric: "I had my hands in the river / My feet back up on the banks / Looked up to the lord above / And said, 'hey man, thanks." -New Orleans is Sinking



4  Road Apples
Released: February 19, 1991

Highlights Little Bones • Long Time Running • Fiddler's Green

Favourite lyric: "Angst on the planks / Spittin' from a bridge / Just to see how far down it really is." -Cordelia





3  Phantom Power
Released: July 19, 1998

Highlights Poets • Something On • Bobcaygeon

Favourite lyric: "It was in Bobcaygeon / Where I saw the constellations / Reveal themselves one star at a time." -Bobcaygeon





2  Day for Night
Released: September 24, 1994

Highlights Grace, Too • Nautical Disaster • Scared

Favourite lyric: "Anyway, Susan / If you like, our conversation / Is as faint a sound in my memory / As those fingernails scratching on my hull." -Nautical Disaster




1 Fully Completely
Released: October 6, 1992

Highlights Courage (for Hugh MacLennan) • Looking for a Place to Happen • Wheat Kings

Favourite lyric: "The human tragedy / Consists in the necessity / Of living with the consequences / Under pressure." -Courage
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