[Ponch]

I think we are a rare breed amoung young fans, but if you ask any 28-36 Canadian music fan who their favorite band is, and 90% will say The Tragically Hip.
The 90's were The Tragically Hip, and the soundtrack for most Canadian during that decade.

[the Doctorb]

the hip will forever be #1 to me...but i think green day is on top of the world right now...have you listened to their new album? anything but marginal

Green Day aren't doing anything the Clash haven't already done... ie LONDON CALLING.
Yes, this is off topic, but it had to be said.

not true...london calling is a great song, but have you listened to the entire american idiot cd?? brilliant...

I'm talking about the LP London Calling... the whole album. It will blow your mind, and put Green Day to shame.

i own both albums, in fact i have the anniversary edition of london calling, complete with DVD...honestly, i think american idiot stands beside it as an equal..if not better....

To each his own I guess.
I've got respect for Green Day, don't get me wrong. But I don't think any album deserves the type of HYPE American Idiot has gotten over the last year.
Just my 2 cents.
Doc

[opiated]

i agree to disagree as well...

[Pudge7681]

Hip fans are much like any fans of any band or team. We cheer on our guys hoping for them to do the best and even when they release a mediocre song or album we stand by them and look for the brighter spots. I don't think that it's a bad thing that some people don't like us as fans. I feel being a fan of the Hip is like cheering for the underdog at times. This is 2005 not 1995. It was much easier to claim you were a hip fan in the mid 90s as it was the cool thing to be. Now with the new style of music out we must realize that we will be looked down upon for not joining jumping on the wagon. I will sit and listen to anyone's music and respect that music for what it offers, I just choose to respect the Hip more.

That being said, I do think that in my experience some Hip fans ruin it for the many. The overly drunk guy that pukes on my shoes at a concert, or the ass pushing the girls on the rail out of the way just so he can wave his Maple Leaf jersey at Gord (newsflash pal...he's a B's fan) make me wonder why I even try to enjoy a concert. Then I look around at the thousands of other people NOT acting like complete clowns and realize that these are the brother/sisterhood I relate too. So long live the Hip and long live the Hipfan!

[NMAS]

Hip fans for the most part are a bunch of Idiots in my opinion, True fans like the ones on this FOrum are different, I don't think there are to many of us that wear and wave the Flag at shows, Most of us know that Gord and the Boys don't like to see that crap ( especially if the show is in canada.. what the hell is the point). It is the fans at the big out door show that are the Idiots, it is the only show they will see in two years and they get stupid.

[LastStop]

Yeah,
Let them say that we are all a bunch of drunk canadian flag waving idiots.

OK, you are. Congrats. You do know that the band hates when you do that, right?

[Stephen Dame]

Maybe I have missed something, or the fact that I am an insane fan of the Hip that has blinded me, but what is so wrong with us Hip fans that I have been hearing about lately?

I jump squirrels in the park and steal their nuts... maybe I'm the problem.

[chicagoblackhawks77]

Please!!!!! Green Day is a complete rip off (take your pick here): A). The Clash B). The Sex Pistols C). Red Hot Chili Peppers

And what the hell is wrong with waving the Canadian flag?

[chris]

Sloan released "Coax Me" in 1994 with the infamous line, "It's not the band I hate, it's their fans" which leads me to believe that the issue is not a recent one.

People have a hard time supporting things that they don't understand; and they often take out their frustrations of not understanding out on those who do.

But what do I know, I'm just a Hip fan and proud of it! (Shameless plug: <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.hipfans.com">www.hipfans.com</a><!-- w --> )

[Jenna_Bird]

And what the hell is wrong with waving the Canadian flag?

There is nothing wrong with it, but there is a time and a place. A hip show is a debatable venue. Yes the band is Canadian, yes they have come to signify Canadian rock, but when the band makes comments about such fans and actions, marking them as negative, then there is something to be said. I don't mind displays of pride or patriotism, but when some asshole has a flag in front of my field of vision for 95% of the show, I'm not going to be too happy about it. When someone thinks that he or she is entitled to knock me out of the spot I stood in line for for 6 hours just because he or she has a Canadian flag that "Gordie just has to see", then I find it troublesome and problematic.

-Jenna

[emperor penguin]

And what the hell is wrong with waving the Canadian flag?

There is nothing wrong with it, but there is a time and a place. A hip show is a debatable venue. Yes the band is Canadian, yes they have come to signify Canadian rock, but when the band makes comments about such fans and actions, marking them as negative, then there is something to be said. I don't mind displays of pride or patriotism, but when some asshole has a flag in front of my field of vision for 95% of the show, I'm not going to be too happy about it. When someone thinks that he or she is entitled to knock me out of the spot I stood in line for for 6 hours just because he or she has a Canadian flag that "Gordie just has to see", then I find it troublesome and problematic.

-Jenna

I agree, the main problem is that it blocks people's vision. Flags are big and people behind them can't see. The same goes for signs, they're not neccessary. You can show your appreciation for the band by cheering.

[thipfan73]

And what the hell is wrong with waving the Canadian flag?

There is nothing wrong with it, but there is a time and a place. A hip show is a debatable venue. Yes the band is Canadian, yes they have come to signify Canadian rock, but when the band makes comments about such fans and actions, marking them as negative, then there is something to be said. I don't mind displays of pride or patriotism, but when some asshole has a flag in front of my field of vision for 95% of the show, I'm not going to be too happy about it. When someone thinks that he or she is entitled to knock me out of the spot I stood in line for for 6 hours just because he or she has a Canadian flag that "Gordie just has to see", then I find it troublesome and problematic.

-Jenna

I agree, the main problem is that it blocks people's vision. Flags are big and people behind them can't see. The same goes for signs, they're not neccessary. You can show your appreciation for the band by cheering.

Yep, been there done that a WWF events, the signs that people hold up just piss me off. I'd be pissed if someone brought a flag to a hip show and waved it around and blocked my view. There's nothing wrong with being proud of where you're from. Wear a shirt with the flag on it or something and besides, how are we going to know you're from Canada? I could go to a store or even online and buy a Canadian flag and wave it around at a hip show just because the hip are from Canada. I'd never wear a "proud to be Canadian" shirt or something like that.

If you really want the hip to know you're proud of them being from Canada, meet them after the show and tell them.

[NMAS]

And what the hell is wrong with waving the Canadian flag?

There is nothing wrong with it, but there is a time and a place. A hip show is a debatable venue. Yes the band is Canadian, yes they have come to signify Canadian rock, but when the band makes comments about such fans and actions, marking them as negative, then there is something to be said. I don't mind displays of pride or patriotism, but when some asshole has a flag in front of my field of vision for 95% of the show, I'm not going to be too happy about it. When someone thinks that he or she is entitled to knock me out of the spot I stood in line for for 6 hours just because he or she has a Canadian flag that "Gordie just has to see", then I find it troublesome and problematic.

-Jenna

I agree, the main problem is that it blocks people's vision. Flags are big and people behind them can't see. The same goes for signs, they're not neccessary. You can show your appreciation for the band by cheering.

Yep, been there done that a WWF events, the signs that people hold up just piss me off. I'd be pissed if someone brought a flag to a hip show and waved it around and blocked my view. There's nothing wrong with being proud of where you're from. Wear a shirt with the flag on it or something and besides, how are we going to know you're from Canada? I could go to a store or even online and buy a Canadian flag and wave it around at a hip show just because the hip are from Canada. I'd never wear a "proud to be Canadian" shirt or something like that.

If you really want the hip to know you're proud of them being from Canada, meet them after the show and tell them.

Good points all of you. If you want to wave a flag put it on your house or apartment window. Do you realize it is degrading to the country if a flag touches the ground or gets stepped or dirty, let alone wrapping around your stinky body. Show some respect for your country

[hotmetal401]

Chris you beat me to the Sloan quote.

Backwards baseball cap, rugby shirt wearing frat boys is probably the best way to stereotype the collective. Drunken flag wavers who take the fact that Das Hip were never big in the US as a personal slight against Canadians perhaps? Kind of like Dave Matthews Band fans (except on a smaller Canadian level perhaps?)

Certainly not me beliefs but a very jaded analysis. Lisa Lacatuer(sp) on 50 Tracks had a pretty damning testimony against Courage that rallied against the band and its fan, which I think may have been the muse for GD's rant at the Junos.

The Queen St West Can-Con battle lines are being drawn!

Cheers

Pat

[10d]

And in walks the American Fan, again...

The first time caught the Hip was on the Henhouse tour, in San Francisco. I must have been 21 at the time. There is no National Identity here, for me. I've never even been to Canada.

My roommate in my first apartment was another born'n'raised California boy who'd gotten into the Hip while we were in high school, with the Road Apples album.

He kept sitting me down, half screaming, "Damnit, listen to Fully Completely you sonaofabitch! I don't care about your Danzig, or your Frank Zappa, for Christ's Sake... Listen to Locked in the Trunk of a Car!"

It grew into a love thing, for me. No Nation behind it. No pride in Our Boys.

And when I saw them for the first time, I was in total awe of their brilliance, of Gordie's madness... I was also disturbed on a personal level by the percentage of the crowd that was drunk and screaming and pushing and otherwise acting like Americans.

And this is a personal thing, for which the Prime Minister, the Band, and the Nation cannot be blamed. It is also not a phenomenon that the Hip have any lone claim to.

The first time I saw Mr. Bungle was on the tour for Disco Volante, and the entire set was strangled jazz, and Mexican pop... & there was an over-large cross-section of the crowd screaming "Play Love is a Fist!!!! Play Girls of Porn!!!" & Knocking my girlfriend in the head.

(There was also a guy who witnessed the head-knocking and concert-whispered to me "If he does that again, we'll each grab an arm, and drag him off...").

When I saw Oingo Boingo 11 years ago there were people moshing.

I suspect that, like anything, when a force rises to Represent Something, there must be a force to counter it, regardless of reason, or value.

Anyway, that's one Yankee's opinion.