They picked up their first Juno award вЂ“ Most Promising Group of the Year вЂ“ in 1990.ДЄs their popularity in Canada grew, the Tragically Hip seemed primed to cross over in America, especially during alternative rockвЂ™s Nineties heyday. Their self-titled debut EP arrived in 1987 while their first LP, Up to Here, followed in 1989. TheyвЂ™re five Canadian guys who go up on stage and they look like their audience. I think thatвЂ™s all part of what appeals to Canadian fans. вЂњThere can be a certain darkness in the lyrics, in some ways that reminded me of reading and listening to Leonard Cohen or Robertson Davies. вЂњGord Downie is definitely in the tradition of great Canadian poets,вЂќ Dickinson told the National Post in 2016. The group gigged around Canada throughout the Eighties and eventually earned a record contract after then-MCA president Bruce Dickinson caught them live in Toronto. WeвЂ™re still trying to figure out what makes us Canadian, and we have one of the loudest neighbors in the world, so this band helped a country, and Gord helped people lyrically, slowly start to try to define themselves.вЂќДownie formed the Tragically Hip in 1984 alongside childhood friends Bobby Baker, Paul Langlois, Gord Sinclair and Johnny Fay. Speaking with The New York Times around the bandвЂ™s final show, Broken Social SceneвЂ™s Kevin Drew summed up the Tragically HipвЂ™s influence: вЂњWeвЂ™re a country that hasnвЂ™t really embraced its history just yet. In 2013, the band was featured on a set of postage stampsВ and in July, they received the Order of Canada, one of the countryвЂ™s highest honors. But the bandвЂ™s greatest accomplishment may be transcending their status as a key Canadian cultural touchstone to an integral part of the countryвЂ™s identity. The band also earned 16 Juno Awards вЂ“ the most ever for a band and the fourth-most ever for an artist вЂ“ picking up their last two in April for Group of the Year and Rock Album of the Year for Man Machine Poem. Over three decades, the Tragically Hip released 14 studio albums, the majority of which topped the Canadian album charts and were eventually certified Platinum (their first three LPs all went Diamond).

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