The Hip Trivia Quiz

Answer: Kingston, Ontario, Canada

The Tragically Hip formed in in Kingston, Ontario in 1983. The group started with Rob Baker and Gord Sinclair, who were both students at Kingston Collegiate. These two then met Gord Downie and Johnny Fay, the same year. They sang in the area locally for two years and then picked up guitarist Paul Langlois in 1986.

Answer: Gord Downie

Gord Downie has been the lead singer of this popular group ever since they first started. He has lived in the Kingston, Canada area all his life and is very much into ecology and water rights. He has four children and a long-time wife Laura. He is known for keeping his family life very private.

Answer: The movie "Elephant Parts"

Originally calling themselves The Rodents, after the group saw the film "Elephant Parts" by Michael Nesmith, they renamed themselves after one of the skits featured in this film. And if you were wondering, this is the Michael Nesmith who had been a member of the Monkees.

Answer: Phantom Power

Released in 1998, "Phantom Power" was the sixth full-length album by the Tragically Hip. It won a Juno Award for Best Rock Album, and one for Best Album Design. One of the singles on the album, "Bobcaygeon" also won the Juno Award for Single of the Year in 2000.

Answer: New Orleans is Sinking

"New Orleans is Sinking" (1989) is one of The Hip's greatest hits. It was the second single from the band's first full-length album "Up to Here". This hit song reached number one position on the RPM Canadian Content chart. While playing this song live, the band plays another song in between the beginning of the song and the end, this is known as a bridge jam.

This song has been adopted by certain groups who are protesting the building of idea of building cities in areas that are below sea-level, such as New Orleans.

Answer: Bill Barilko

In 1993, the Tragically Hip released the song "Fifty Mission Cap" on their third album "Fully, Completely". It is a song about Bill Barilko, who was a famous hockey player for the Toronto Maple Leafs. He died in a plane crash in Northern Ontario in 1951.

Despite extensive searches his body was not found until 1962. The very next year, the Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup. They did not win the Cup during the whole period of time in between.

Answer: False

This is not true. If it is about a ship sinking, there have been almost no ships sinking with over 4,000 men aboard. And the Edmund Fitzgerald had only 29 men aboard. It can be hard when listening to this song to understand if they are singing about a real ship sinking or if they are singing about the break-up of a relationship with a woman named Susan.

Answer: They were inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.

On Saturday April 2, 2005, The Hip was honored at the 2005 JUNO Gala Dinner and Awards ceremony, by being inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. They earned over 30 Juno nominations of which they won at least 11. They were added to Canada's Walk of Fame in 2002. Also in 2013, they were honored by the Canadian government in a series of postage stamps.

Answer: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

In what is probably going to be the band's last concert, the band played at Rogers K-Rock Center in their hometown of Kingston on August 20, 2016. Attending this concert was Prime Minister Justin Trudeau dressed in a black Tragically Hip t-shirt. He told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, in a live interview before the show that "This is a moment that's going to be extremely powerful for all Canadians, and I know Gord and the Tragically Hip are an inevitable and essential part of what we are and who we are as a country. And tonight we get to say thanks, and we get to celebrate that."

Answer: Lead singer developed brain cancer.

On their website, On May 24, 2016, The Tragically Hip announced that Gord Downie had been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. His doctors at Toronto's Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center confirmed his diagnosis of a glioblastoma. The band did one more tour and released their 14th studio album "Man Machine Poem".

It is estimated that over 11.7 million people watched their last concert while it was streamed live by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on television, internet and the radio.