Quote:
Originally Posted by troutman
Rick Mercer on why the Tragically Hip isn’t famous in the U.S.
http://www.cbcmusic.ca/posts/12496/w...mous-in-the-us
This was the curse of being the Hip, they would go to Fillmore, a famous venue, and they would sell out in five minutes. But, no Americans could get in. By the time they were like, 'What's this happening in this sold-out show with this insane band,' you couldn't get in because every Canadian filled up the space.
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I think it has to do more with the fact that the Hip were not quite mainstream at a time when mainstream was the only thing major radio stations would play. They had a bit of an alt-rock, grunge feel back when hair bands and lifestyle rock were in. In Canada, they had entities like the CRTC and CBC pushing Canadian content and they benefited from it greatly at a time when Canadian rock lacked anything different.
Then when the music scene shifted and alt-rock became the new mainstream, they were already established in Canada. It's one thing to be a musician that gains popularity in the US as a Canadian where being Canadian is just a footnote, but it's different going into that market as something established and branded as Canadian and with music that has Canadian references. Canada isn't sexy in the U.S. We're funny and dorky, but not to be taken seriously. For example, a band like Nickleback gained fame as a rock band in the US that just happened to come from Canada. They didn't go into that market as an established famous "Canadian" rock band. The Hip might be one of the biggest bands to have this happen to them, but they aren't the only.
It's kind of a double edged sword. Without the support of the CRTC, they may have never caught on at all, or perhaps they would have caught on bigger in the long run but it would have taken more time. At the same time though, it seemed like the Hip only made one really big attempted push into the US market and then just backed off. They seemed content being a Canadian thing.
If it was really just that Canadians filled the venue in the US consistently, then their agents should have been canned for not booking larger venues.