The Tragically Hip

"The Pearl Jam of Canada” jokes aside, The Tragically Hip has stayed popular for more than 25 years while keeping up its personality and the quality of its songwriting. The Ontario band has a mostly consistent heap of songs to show for itself across 11 studio albums, earnestly blending many classic-rock and pop threads with a sense of humor and singer Gordon Downie’s inspiring-yet-oddball poetics. This year's We Are The Same is a self-conscious tribute to the band's mostly unchanged sound, but the raucous quintet seems unfazed by its own age. Apparently the fans feel the same way—the album debuted at No. 1 on the Canadian Albums Chart, The Tragically Hip's eighth release to do so. 

Updated 10/07/2009