[VioletLite]

So I am at home on a very rainy Sunday afternoon watching 'That night in Toronto' and feeling pretty sentimental about our favourite band and just a tad impatient about the upcoming tour. (Am I the only one who ALWAYS gets goose bumps during Bobcaygeon when they sing the Toronto line in that song and flash a huge picture of the city up behind them on the big screen and the crowd goes slightly mental, by the way?).

I want to hear stories about how you became a Hip fan. What hooked you? Was it a certain song or a certain moment? A certain person?

Mine began in 2002, whilst travelling across Western Europe on a bus, during a 16 day Contiki tour. I sat at the back with all of the Canadians because they were by far the coolest kids and I loved listening to their accents.
We could give the driver CD's to play during the journey. Next thing I hear THIS song. You know when a song just grabs you and won't let go??!!! It was 'Something On'. I was all "WHO IS THIS BANDDDD????!!!!!" and the canadians then faked incredulous and said "I just can't believe!!". hehe. Not really, instead I got a three hour educational session on this band. We were in Paris, had all drank wayyyyyyyy too much and with our love for this band firmly in place and in our drunken states, trudged around the city looking for a tattooist who would ink the Maple Leaf on all of our ankles.....

One handed me his Phantom Power disc right then and there and that was the minute the love affair began (with The Hip, not the man who gave me the disc :lol: ).

I moved to the US from Australia in 2004, and saw them live for the first time not long after, on the IBE tour. This summer I will be seeing them twice, for the 6th and the 7th times, on my birthday too no less, in my new home town of Seattle.

It doesn't really get any better than that :thumb:

[Gusthepolarbear12]

Thats an awesome story!!!
I honestly couldnt stand the hip about 3 years ago, and slowly they grew on me and now are 90% of what I listen to everyday for the past 2 years.

P.s I alwaysss get goosebumps on that night in toronto during bobcaygen, and also after the huge sped up part of hundredth meridian where he screams HUNDREDTH MERIDIAN and all the lights come up.

awsome.

[MikeyD]

My Dad had loved them for years and the boys in my family decided to go on a nice golfing/white water rafting trip down to Golden B.C. and one of the CD's we played during our 8 hour trip was Yer Favourites, the greatest hits album.

And at first I didn't care for them. I could listen to them but for some reason I wasn't fond of Gord Downie's voice. It was just kind of awkward to me, but then it eventually got to the point of "It's A Good Life If You Don't Weaken" and I actually thoroughly enjoyed the song. And after the CD was done, I wanted to hear that one song one more time so I could download it on my computer and listen to it from there.

All I knew is that the song was mellow and it had a beautiful riff to it, so eventually we started playing through all of the mellow songs trying to find out which one it was and the songs were slowly beginning to grow on me.

Eventually I found out that it was "It's A Good Life If You Don't Weaken" but regardless, the band was starting to grow on me. I asked to hear the album again on the way back home and really grew fond of Gord's voice and the unique characteristic of it. And that's pretty much how everything started.

I guess The Tragically Hip is unique in that every song they put out kind of grows on you. I definitely noticed this in We Are The Same. There was maybe only a couple songs I loved at first glance (Morning Moon and The Last Recluse).

So yeah, they've been my favourite band for about a year I'd say.

Most of my favourite bands are due to the unique characters of the lead singers and the stories they present.

[mastodonfarm]

My story isn't interesting in the least, but important to me! In April 1998 I stumbled across an alt station out of Woodstock, NY (100.1 WDST). A welcome find since the only other radio around me was NYC's top 40 and hip hop stations, and the local dinosaur rock stations. I discovered the Dummies (beyond "Mmm Mmm"), Julie Darling, Cowboy Junkies, CAKE, Patty Griffin. On and on. One day a rocking song about hockey or Bobby Orr or national pride came on and I loved it. Fricken loved it. Next time it was on, I paid attention, got the details and bought the album: "Phantom Power" from some Canadian band that NO ONE ever heard of (except a friend from Rochester). Damn, from to back it kicked so much ass. After a little research, I found out they had like 5 other albums and a live one too! DING, new favorite band. BTW, PP is till my favorite album.

[Triacc]

My grab you by the balls story came in 1989-90 while driving in my 1980 Dodge Colt ( hey is was fresh out of high school and paid $1500 for it and the insurance was $4500 but that is another story) and heard Boots Or Hearts come on the radio and loved it. Later that day I purchased the cassette of Up To Here and played it until the tape wore out. Soon after I also purchased their debut album and loved it also. I heard that the boys are not as enthusiastic about that album but I love it and wish they would play more from it at their shows. This upcoming tour will be my 62 and 63rd time seeing them live and I can't wait.

[daylight]

Nautical Disaster on the MuchMusic Countdown. Do they even have 30 videos in rotation anymore?

[rocketsan22]

Seieng them perform the song Montreal live for the first time in Carlisle Ontario. Seeing it again live in Montreal years later. Listening to Up to Here way too many times in high school...

[spottrax]

Interesting enough, I actually seen the Hip for free in 93 at Chene park in Detroit. I barely knew who they were. I had heard 3 pistols and blow at high dough on 89X but didn't really know much about the band. On the way to the Chene Park ampatheater I was guessing the place would be about half full.... Little did I know that every person in Windsor would show up! The place was absolutely jammed packed.

I enjoyed the show but was not totally sold on the band yet.

Fast forward to about 1997 and my brother who was already ga ga about the Hip gave me a copy of Day For night. He gave me a printed copy of the words for nautical disaster....AND THAT WAS IT! I got it completely. I immediately bought RA, TATHH, UTH and LBU (I already had FC).

I will be seeing them for the 15th and 16th times this spring (maybe more). Not only are the Hip a big inspiration to me as a musician but they are my favorate band to simply enjoy and keep me going through tought times..

I was lucky enough to meet the band at a soundcheck last tour and hang with them briefly... great guys, great tunes...

:thumb: :thumb:

[bstrauss24]

In highschool, when everyone there (Buffalo suburb) used to walk the halls quoting Live Between Us Rants....

"Jesus Christ, it's a big fucking bear!!"

[Gibson]

My dad bought the cassette of "Up To Here," and it was the only tape other than one from the Eagles. I couldn't stand the Eagles, so I had that album memorized front to back. It was all I knew as an 8 year old. Had every tape ever since, and then bought the cds when I was old enough to have my own player.

[joshwayy]

1991...a friend put in road apples after he saw them on the Lake Champlain Ferry- Blues Cruise and when I heard Cordelia I was hooked....being a King Lear buff. They have been my favorite band since....

it's great to see how the newer fans have gotten hooked...and I too am very, very happy to have the same guys, making new music and apparently still very much into their art. They make music for us, and those like us, damn few left. :thumb:

[ceebuler]

Even though the Hip were already big in Canada and I lived in the heart of southern Ontario, as a 12 year old kid I equated the Hip with Metallica and other hard rock bands - I think it was their name that scared me, before I even knew any of their songs. But then I saw them do Grace, Too on SNL, and I was instantly hooked. I was mesmerized by Gord Downie.

I found out from a friend of mine that you could listen to clips of the latest CD, Day for Night, by calling 1-800-Atlantic. I'd obsessively call that number throughout the day to listen to brief clips of Grace, Too, Fire in the Hole, and Nautical Disaster. Then that same friend lent me Road Apples, and I couldn't get enough - I remember singing along to Twist my Arm after hearing it only once. I still sometimes remember the lyrics the way I used to sing them: "Thar she blows, Jacques Cousteau...that's all the words that I know!"

I got a paper route - probably so I could afford to buy Day for Night - and then gradually got into the bootleg scene. I remember I got started by making a special trip to a store in Hamilton called Records on Wheels, where I bought every Hip bootleg they had (about 11 tapes, I think). Then I traded with people online - back then there were dozens of Hip fan websites, many dedicated to trading bootlegs. I'd trade cassettes by mail, and on my paper route I would listen to any new cassettes that I'd received that week.

At the peak of my fandom, I even analyzed all the bolded lyrics in the Day for Night liner notes to see if there was hidden meaning to those words. Nope, there wasn't.

I remember having my dad pick me up early from a grade 8 party so I could line up at Sunrise Records to buy Trouble at the Henhouse at midnight the second it was released. There were a lot of people lined up, and the album was playing loudly in the store. It felt like belonging to an exclusive club - all of us big enough fans to be here waiting to get the CD a few hours before everyone else. Shortly thereafter I camped out outside the same Sunrise Records overnight to be one of the first in line to buy tickets to my first Hip show. Lots of people I knew did the same, and one friend managed to get a bunch of tickets (even though many of us camped out, it was not first come-first served; everyone was given wristbands with numbers and a random number was drawn - that person became the front of the line, and everyone else had to file behind according to their numbers; camping out was thus totally pointless, but still a fond memory).

That first show was Copps Colliseum, 1996. Rheostatics opened, and after hearing Bad Time to be Poor, I bought the Blue Hysteria, and my next favourite band was born. I lost count of shows somewhere around 35, with the "Evening With" tour in 2000 being, probably, the most memoroable, along with any show that featured a song I hadn't heard live before (the Hershey Centre in Mississauga comes to mind for closing with On the Verge).

And it goes on and on and on...

[thinkdontpray]

i had heard various hip songs on the radio but for whatever reason when i first heard courage and saw the video i fell in love with it. that would have been 1992, making me 11 years old. from then on i latched onto the band and their music and turned my friends and even family onto the boys. first saw them at edenfest in 1995, i believe thats when it was. i live about 10 minutes from mosport, where the concert was being held. ended up getting free tickets which were given to local residents as a thank you for putting up with all the people and noise. had a family friend who worked behind the scenes and so i got to meet rob and gord and get a tshirt autographed. the next day there was a bus parked beside the local beckers and my friends and i were amazed by the size of the thing. low and behold, who walks off the bus? rob! he recognized me and said hi and even though my friends had no idea who he or the hip were, i felt like the most important person in the world

god i love the hip

[MattyM]

I've told this before.

It was very early in 2006 and my better half was cruising Limewire trying to download Gary "US" Bonds' New Orleans on my laptop. She shouted over to me a song title and a band name that seemed vaguely familiar. We downloaded NOIS, liked it a lot and she proceeded to download a ton more tracks. The only other ones to make a dent on me at first were Bobcaygeon and Wheat Kings (I was going through a mellow phase). Fast forward a few months and I noticed that The Hip were playing a date in London, so I bought tickets and gave them to Emma inside the only Hip CD readily available in the UK at the time (In Violet Light - on play.com). She was ecstatic but I have to say, my hopes weren't high at all. We went to the gig and I was mesmerised by the fans, there was a guy videotaping the queue and everyone who'd got there early were in matching shirts. I got chatting to one of them (BigA) and bagun to find out how important this band was to so many people.

Wisely I kept my suspicions that they were overrated to myself and awaited their appearance on stage. As the crowd began to chant their name I realised I had no clue who these guys were, what they looked like or any of their back story. For the first time a concert would really be a voyage of discovery, I was feeding off the crowd by then, really excited then the band entered, they played Don't Wake Daddy and I thought to myself "These guys are okay, there's a real vibe to them", Gord took the mike and introduced Courage and that was it, I was hooked!

Within a couple of months I had almost all the albums (IBE evaded me until christmas and, I'm ashamed to say, I didn't buy an actual copy of World Container until I visited Toronto in late 2007), I'd joined this site and I was fast evicting Led Zep from the pinnacle of my list of favourite bands.

[tthhead87]

The first time I heard The Hip I was 11 years old, my counselor at camp was jamming to Phantom Power. Back then I knew fuck all about music, but for some reason I really like Poets and Something On. A few years down the road I had a bunch of there albums and listened to them everyone once and while but I didnt really give every song the time of day and kind of just listened to my fav's off each cd instead of the entire albums.

2001 rolls around and I got to see The Hip live for the first time . It was a benefit for Sept 11th at the ACC with OLP, Alanis, BNL, Choclair I think . It was a small set because of all the artist performing, but it changed everything... Maybe it was the quarter of weed I'd smoked with my older brother that night (and I was only 13), or maybe it was just the show, but something about that night changed me forever ... I was obsessed ...I bought every album and listened to every song... I starting looking for places to get live shows... I couldn't wait to see them live again ... 2002 I saw them both nights at the Hummingbird... Those shows further propelled me into The Hip's music, the more I saw them, the more I wanted to listen and the more I wanted to see them again ... I was raised in a family with an older brother who dealt drugs and by the time it was 2003 I was already selling weed myself and smoked more weed then any kid at that age should ever smoke. I usually had a P or two sitting around so we used to roll up a HO for a shows and smoke a persy joint during every track I couldnt even stand by the end of some of them. The show that changed it all for me though had to be Edgefest 2003. Rolled down to Barrie with a crew of boys armed to the teeth with weed and beer and just had the greatest day ever. OLP was unreal and The Hip played one of the sweetest shows I've heard till this day. After that show I was hooked, I became truly hip to the hip .... 27 shows later and I havent looked back since.