A. The Tragically Hip formed in 1983 in Queen's University residence, Waldron Tower, in Kingston, Ontario. Guitarist Paul Langlois joined in 1986; while saxophonist Davis Manning left that same year. They took their name from a skit in the Michael Nesmith movie, "Elephant". In the mid 80s they performed in small music venues in Ontario until being discovered by MCA Records. They were then signed to a long-term record deal with MCA, and recorded the self-titled EP “The Tragically Hip”. The album spawned two singles. They followed up with 1989's "Up to Here". This album produced four singles, including "New Orleans Is Sinking", all four of these songs became staples of modern rock radio play lists in Canada. "Road Apples" followed in 1991, producing three singles and reaching No. 1 on Canadian record charts. During the Road Apples tour, Downie became recognized for ranting and telling fictional stories during songs, such as "Highway Girl" and "New Orleans is Sinking".
B. The sound on these first two full-length albums is sometimes characterized as "blues-tinged," although there are definite acoustic punctuations throughout both discs. While the band failed to achieve significant international success with these first two albums, their sales and dominance of modern rock radio in Canada gave them license to subsequently explore their sound. On November 1, 2005, The Hip released a double CD, double DVD box set, "Hipeponymous", including all of their singles and music videos to date, a backstage documentary called "Macroscopic", an animated Hip-scored short film entitled "The Right Whale", two brand new songs, a full-length concert from November 2004, "That Night in Toronto", and a 2-CD greatest hits collection "Yer Favourites", which was selected on-line by 150,000 fans.
C. In October 2005, several radio stations temporarily stopped playing "New Orleans Is Sinking", out of sensitivity to the victims of Hurricane Katrina, which had devastated the city in early September of that year. However, it received considerable pirate radio and relief site play and gained some notoriety and praise in New Orleans due to its attitudinal proximity to the city's culture. In 2006 another studio album, entitled "World Container", was released, being notably produced by Bob Rock. It produced four singles, and reached the No. 1 spot on the Canadian rock music charts. The band toured concert dates in major Canadian cities, and then as an opening act for The Who on several US dates. A tour of Eastern Canada, Europe, and select cities in the United States occurred late in the year.
D. On February 23, 2008, The Hip returned to their hometown of Kingston, Ontario, where they were the first live act to perform at the new K-Rock Centre. In 2009, the band again worked with producer Bob Rock, and "We Are the Same" was released in North America on April 7, 2009. It produced three singles. To promote We Are the Same, the band invited The Hour's George Stroumboulopoulos for a live interview at The Bath House Recording Studio in Bath, Ontario (where most of the album was recorded), and they played seven new songs as well as unique versions of five other songs. The interview and performance were broadcast live in more than eighty theatres across Canada.
E. Not given in any of the above paragraphs.
