Ambiguously Hip

The Tragically Hip and Canadian Nationalism

Bibliographic Data

ID21344005
AuthorsGregory Millard (corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume55
Issue3
Pages649-672
Publication date2021-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Canadian Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0021-9495 • E-ISSN: 1911-0251
PublisherUniversity of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.3138/jcs-2019-0041
OpenAlexW3199849072
LanguageEN
References cited17

The Tragically Hip are a remarkable, indeed unique, phenomenon in Canadian popular music. Their 2016 final tour, undertaken after lead singer Gordon Downie was diagnosed with brain cancer, spectacularly reinforced longstanding perceptions of a privileged link between the band’s music and Canadian national identity. This article probes this connection, asking why deeply ambiguous and often critical references to Canada sufficed to raise The Hip to an extraordinary status as icons of Canadian nationalism. Drawing from theories of “banal” and “everyday” nationalism, it argues that, while The Hip’s work may legitimately be read as nationalist, Canada’s position as a culturally peripheral nation is the key to explaining the incongruous appropriation of the Hip’s work for nationalist self-celebration. The discourse around The Tragically Hip, then, helps to illuminate some of the ways in which nationalism works in a culturally peripheral context

Aesthetics · Appropriation · Archaeology · Art · Context (archaeology) · Epistemology · Identity (music) · National identity · Nationalism · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Diverse Musicological Studies · Gender Studies · History · Law · Music History and Culture · Musicology and Musical Analysis · Philosophy

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