[mrlayance]

The song has a love-hate with the band I am sure...

[thipfan73]

The song has a love-hate with the band I am sure...

I can totally understand. I've done musical theater, sung in choruses, I'm a former band geek and I play piano. I know what it's like to have a song you love or even hate played over and over and over again and then you just get SICK OF IT. I can't imagine what it's like to have to play NOIS so much. They must hate it, however, it is one of their signature songs and they should play it, such is the price of fame!

[skippy the wonder dog]

There's something downie said introducing last of the unplucked gems one time that stuck with me: imagine we're a finback whale, and you're a norwegian whaling crew with explosive harpoons.

Demanding continual recycling of the greatest hits as "the price of fame" is akin to whacking that explosive harpoon into the whale. If you want to hold onto the whale you have to kill it. If you love the whale, just be happy to see it surface every once in a while and wave its tail around in whatever way it wants to. If you're lucky, you'll see it do that jump-out-of-the-water-and-come-down-with-a-big-splash thing. Whatever they call that, I don't know, I'm not a whaler. Just an everyday killer of metaphors.

Do you want to see a band stagger around the stage recycling their greatest hits from 1989 in between bouts of cryogenic freezing, like some godawful endless Guess Who reunion tour? Or would you rather just buy the ticket and take the ride, and enjoy whatever it is they're into at the time?

If you missed the day when it was new and vibrant, you missed it. Just like you'll never see Hendrix reinvent the electric guitar. Do you want to see someone imitate him? No? Well, why do you want to watch a band imitating itself?

Nothing wrong with NOIS, but I'd rather see more chances taken and fewer standards replayed. I don't care what they play, as long as they want to play it. The other path leads to the cryogenic chamber.

[scottitude]

...I don't care what they play, as long as they want to play it...

Well said, skippy! :thumb:

[thipfan73]

...I don't care what they play, as long as they want to play it...

Well said, skippy! :thumb:

I agree, but I've never been to a hip show and I'll be going to my first hip show in Clifton Park, Oct 21, and I'd like them to play NOIS along with many other songs.

BTW, I've learned that what I want in life and what I get in life are two different things sometimes. If I get it, that's great, if not, oh well, life goes on. MY life won't end if they don't play Nautical Disaster, Josephine, Bobcaygeon or NOIS in concert.

[Stephen Dame]

I'd like to chime in late and say NOIS can never go.

You've gotta dance with the one who brung ya.

It's very possible that if it wasn't for that song, we wouldn't have all this enjoyment every two years... NOIS facilitated a better band, it made it all possible. You could argue that without "NOIS," there is no "Escape" etc.

I've been to many shows with first timers or new Hip fans who are just DYING to hear that song, we're a minority folks, NOIS is a crowd pleaser.

Plus, one of my favourite things to do at Hip shows is put my arms around total strangers and scream: "NOOOOOOOOOO" at the appropriate times. In fact, at GA shows I often introduce myself to people by saying: "Hey, I'm Steve, ya ready to scream along with Gordie?" I've made a bunch of instant friends with that... and it's really, really fun.

NOIS, long may you run.

[cferneyh]

I've been to many shows with first timers or new Hip fans who are just DYING to hear that song, we're a minority folks, NOIS is a crowd pleaser.

Well put Stephen. :thumb:

[The Darkest Canuck]

I FEEL SO GOOD I GOTTA SCREAM!

[asteeves]

I agree put NOIS away for a while, even one tour without hearing it would be nice, if you feel you need to hear a live version of the song put on Live Between Us, unless Gord wants to start up some new crazy monologues, now that would be cool.

[thipfan73]

I've been to many shows with first timers or new Hip fans who are just DYING to hear that song, we're a minority folks, NOIS is a crowd pleaser.

Well put Stephen. :thumb:

Thank you Stephen!

[skippy the wonder dog]

You've gotta dance with the one who brung ya.

I dunno ... tell that to Bob Dylan, who has survived repeatedly alienating his fans. And who is still doing new and interesting things long after most of his contemporaries have switched over to rehashing their greatest hits.

Anyway, it ain't NOIS that's the problem, it's the fact that a lot of casual Hip listeners have no interest in anything more recent than 1995. But as long as they're putting out stuff like IBE, is there really a problem?

[Stephen Dame]

You've gotta dance with the one who brung ya.

I dunno ... tell that to Bob Dylan, who has survived repeatedly alienating his fans. And who is still doing new and interesting things long after most of his contemporaries have switched over to rehashing their greatest hits.

Anyway, it ain't NOIS that's the problem, it's the fact that a lot of casual Hip listeners have no interest in anything more recent than 1995. But as long as they're putting out stuff like IBE, is there really a problem?

I love the Hip, but they're not Bob Dylan. When you're a once-in-a-generation pioneer of music, maybe you can afford to alienate some fans. However, I'd still argue that what I posted about the Hip applies to Bob too... he makes the wrong decision IMHO if he refuses to play his songs.

The Hip's fanbase has followed and evolved with the band over time, and as anybody who went to any of the festival gigs this summer can tell you, there are a lot of fans who weren't even alive when '87's STD came out. For those fans, and in the interest of sending everybody (Not just us) home happy... I stand by it: NOIS can never go.

And you're right: as long as they keep producing new, progressive music, I'm happy to hear NOIS in the middle of it all... again.

[Sunday_Gamer]

If the Hip is on a stage and I'm in range, let them play whatever the fark they want... shit I'll listen to Gordie and the boys doing Avril Lavigne covers if that's what they feel like playing...

Bring on NOIS, I'll welcome it with a smile, like I do all my old friends.

Sunday

[Stephen Dame]

Bring on NOIS, I'll welcome it with a smile, like I do all my old friends.

Sunday

An "old friend," that's a beautiful way to put it... you might not always like 'em, but you'll always love em.

[skippy the wonder dog]

Hmm, well, maybe one of the reasons that Dylan is a pioneer is that he ain't afraid to alienate his fans. I mean, he started doing that almost from the get-go. And he has done some seriously bad stuff over the years, too.

If you listen to the boots from Downie's last solo tour, the coolest thing is the number of songs that get cranked out in completely different versions. One of the reasons he can do that is he isn't dealing with fan expectations that he's gonna crank out Blow at High Dough just like he did in 1989.

Honestly, I think "NOIS has got to go" is over the top, but what bothers me is the way people want the band (or any band) to simply rehash. Like I said, I don't care what they play as long as they want to play it.

Although I draw the line at Avril Lavigne covers.