[NWOntario]

I doubt it'll ever happen, but an oral history of the Tragic...sorry, The Tragically Hip would be fascinating. Mark Yarm's oral history of Seattle, Everybody Loves Our Town, is an indispensible overview of the rise, fall, and continuation of the Seattle Sound; it has the benefit of having been written when all but one of the major players was still alive, and any Hip oral history would invariably suffer without Gord Downie, but it'd be a wonderful thing - they're all thoroughly interesting people.

[direwolf74]

I doubt it'll ever happen, but an oral history of the Tragic...sorry, The Tragically Hip would be fascinating. Mark Yarm's oral history of Seattle, Everybody Loves Our Town, is an indispensible overview of the rise, fall, and continuation of the Seattle Sound; it has the benefit of having been written when all but one of the major players was still alive, and any Hip oral history would invariably suffer without Gord Downie, but it'd be a wonderful thing - they're all thoroughly interesting people.

I agree, Mark Yarm's book is excellent. I also really enjoyed Pearl Jam Twenty and U2 by U2, which were written in a similar style.

Another book I recommend often is Our Band Could Be Your Life by Michael Azerrad, which covers the rise of the American indie-rock/punk movement in the 80s. It's an essential read if you're into bands like the Replacements, Husker Du, Dinosaur Jr, the Minutemen, and Sonic Youth, etc...

[Moof_Milker]

I doubt it'll ever happen, but an oral history of the Tragic...sorry, The Tragically Hip would be fascinating. Mark Yarm's oral history of Seattle, Everybody Loves Our Town, is an indispensible overview of the rise, fall, and continuation of the Seattle Sound; it has the benefit of having been written when all but one of the major players was still alive, and any Hip oral history would invariably suffer without Gord Downie, but it'd be a wonderful thing - they're all thoroughly interesting people.

I agree, Mark Yarm's book is excellent. I also really enjoyed Pearl Jam Twenty and U2 by U2, which were written in a similar style.

Another book I recommend often is Our Band Could Be Your Life by Michael Azerrad, which covers the rise of the American indie-rock/punk movement in the 80s. It's an essential read if you're into bands like the Replacements, Husker Du, Dinosaur Jr, the Minutemen, and Sonic Youth, etc...

And The Beatles anthology book too. If someone had the time, energy and resources to collect and compile all of the interviews recorded with Gord over the years, there'd be enough to fill a book. Combine that with quotes past and present from the other members (and relevant associates -- ie; producers, managers, crew, etc.) and you'd be able to carve out quite the comprehensive story of the band. I have read dozens of books on the Beatles - many very good ones, but none that can compare to that Anthology book.

[mark]

i'm almost done the book - starting the chapter on the residential schools.

i must say that, like others, i enjoyed the first half much more than the 2nd half. even the chapter on cover bands, while long, i thought was ok. but did we really need 30 pages talking about other people with cancer? this book could easily have been more than 100 pages shorter.

[fingernailsonhull]

i'm almost done the book - starting the chapter on the residential schools.

i must say that, like others, i enjoyed the first half much more than the 2nd half. even the chapter on cover bands, while long, i thought was ok. but did we really need 30 pages talking about other people with cancer? this book could easily have been more than 100 pages shorter.

Agree with this. Some of the chapters, especially some of the later ones, feel an often lot like he's reaching for filler.

[direwolf74]

i must say that, like others, i enjoyed the first half much more than the 2nd half. even the chapter on cover bands, while long, i thought was ok. but did we really need 30 pages talking about other people with cancer?

Cancer is unfortunately a big part of the Hip's story though. If you're writing a book about them, it makes sense to not only discuss Gord's illness and death, but also talk about the disease itself. Personally I thought that chapter was well done, and I appreciated the comparisons to other artists who recorded albums in similar situations like Bowie, Cash, Leonard Cohen, and Warren Zevon.

[mark]

I don't think it is a big part of their overall story though. it was a major story of their ending, of course. if gord was in a car accident and then died a year later from complications arising from the accident, would we expect to see a full chapter on other musicians who died in car accidents? stilly example, I know.

the hip had a long and storied career before cancer cut it short. I would argue that cancer is just a small, yet tragic, part of their story.

[direwolf74]

the hip had a long and storied career before cancer cut it short. I would argue that cancer is just a small, yet tragic, part of their story.

Good point. I'd still like to see a more comprehensive documentary that covers their entire career. Something like R.E.M. by MTV or Rush-Beyond the Lighted Stage would be cool. Right now most people are remembering Gord for his cancer, the final Hip tour, reconciliation, the shiny suits and the Jaws t-shirt. But for those of us who grew up with the Hip, he was so much more than that. I thought the Long Time Running doc did a beautiful job telling the latter part of the story, and Barclay's book covers a lot of ground with that as well. But eventually I'd like to see the same amount of attention paid to his earlier career and those mind-blowing years where he was the greatest frontman in rock and the Hip were the best band in the land. That little tribute video they played at this year's Junos showed just a tiny glimpse of how f'n awesome and crazy Gord was during the band's heydey. I want to see more of that stuff emerge from the archives eventually.

[NWOntario]

It still kinda fucks me up reading statements like "the final Hip tour" and "Gord's death." I think I'm still in heavy denial.

I do think a Gord only biography is in order. I thought Barclay did reasonably well not turning his book into a hagi-Gord-ography, but a proper Gord bio could supplement what he wrote and give the man his full due imo.

[potsie]

One of the things that is missing for me with this book is an uninterrupted story arc. My favorite aspect of any rock biography is the time period representing the ascent up the mountain and a discussion of the time spent at the top before popularity begins to wane, as it does for every band. The book loses momentum with the interspersed chapters and the excitement of this early time period isn't felt in the book. It's also missing a few details about milestones (e.g. Where were the band when they first heard a song of theirs on the radio) that someone among 80+ interviewees (Jake Gold?) could likely have supplied. The book is prefaced by saying the chapters can be read in any order and I think this is a mistake. A good biography should, above all, flow like a story. Setting the book up so that one could jump in at any chapter turns it into something more akin to a reference book and the story suffers for this.

Another aspect that warrants more discussion is the impact of MuchMusic and the band's music videos on their popularity. In my opinion (and this is speaking from my experience as a teenager in the early 1990's) this played a huge role in the band's rise in popularity. They made some fantastic videos throughout the 1990's and ruled MuchMusic at that time and this isn't really examined in the book other than a few scant details. I would love to get some more insight into the creative decisions behind some of the shoots, although maybe this can only come from the band themselves.

[mark]

It still kinda fucks me up reading statements like "the final Hip tour" and "Gord's death." I think I'm still in heavy denial.

I do think a Gord only biography is in order. I thought Barclay did reasonably well not turning his book into a hagi-Gord-ography, but a proper Gord bio could supplement what he wrote and give the man his full due imo.

i'd have to go back and get the actual passage, but i thought there was a couple lines near the end of the chapter on cancer where Barclay implied that someone encouraged Gord to write a biography. or maybe i misinterpreted it.

[potsie]

It still kinda fucks me up reading statements like "the final Hip tour" and "Gord's death." I think I'm still in heavy denial.

I do think a Gord only biography is in order. I thought Barclay did reasonably well not turning his book into a hagi-Gord-ography, but a proper Gord bio could supplement what he wrote and give the man his full due imo.

i'd have to go back and get the actual passage, but i thought there was a couple lines near the end of the chapter on cancer where Barclay implied that someone encouraged Gord to write a biography. or maybe i misinterpreted it.

I remember reading something to that effect as well but thinking "He has trouble remembering his own kid's names, how much would he be able to recollect from the band's past?" I think he would have needed some significant help from other band members in pulling together an autobiography.

[andrew sharpe]

But for those of us who grew up with the Hip, he was so much more than that. I thought the Long Time Running doc did a beautiful job telling the latter part of the story, and Barclay's book covers a lot of ground with that as well. But eventually I'd like to see the same amount of attention paid to his earlier career and those mind-blowing years where he was the greatest frontman in rock and the Hip were the best band in the land. That little tribute video they played at this year's Junos showed just a tiny glimpse of how f'n awesome and crazy Gord was during the band's heydey. I want to see more of that stuff emerge from the archives eventually.

Amen.

[Rye]

It still kinda fucks me up reading statements like "the final Hip tour" and "Gord's death." I think I'm still in heavy denial.

I do think a Gord only biography is in order. I thought Barclay did reasonably well not turning his book into a hagi-Gord-ography, but a proper Gord bio could supplement what he wrote and give the man his full due imo.

i'd have to go back and get the actual passage, but i thought there was a couple lines near the end of the chapter on cancer where Barclay implied that someone encouraged Gord to write a biography. or maybe i misinterpreted it.

I remember reading something to that effect as well but thinking "He has trouble remembering his own kid's names, how much would he be able to recollect from the band's past?" I think he would have needed some significant help from other band members in pulling together an autobiography.

I don’t have the book in front of me, but I thought it said Gord started to write a memoir after his diagnosis, specifically about his life after being diagnosed. I don’t think it said he was writing a biography.