Show notes
Production #636 | Song #5 | Guest: Chris Jericho
Winnipeg to Worldwide
This week’s countdown takes us into the sacred territory of the Top 5, and who better to usher us in than Winnipeg’s own Chris Jericho? Yes — that Chris Jericho: wrestler, rock frontman, podcaster, and lifelong music obsessive.
Jericho drops by to share a Hipstory that winds through Winnipeg clubs, Red River Community College, college-gig security shifts, and even a chance backstage beer offer from a young Gord Downie. He recalls the moment someone predicted, “These guys are going to be Canada’s Rolling Stones,” and how right that turned out to be. From there, the stories spill — touring abroad, rediscovering the band after Gord’s illness, and parsing just what makes The Hip feel so distinctly Canadian no matter where you’re standing in the world .
From Prairie Bars to Packed Arenas
Together, we dig into how a song can hit like a cannonball — and how riff, lyric, and swagger combined to propel the band from campus bars to multi-night arena stands. Jericho marvels at the way Gord slipped surreal imagery into a rocker, at the joy of lyrics that morph each chorus, and at the Hip’s rare ability to stay intact as a five-piece gang from the first EP to the final tour .
There’s wrestling talk, there’s band-life talk, there’s even pool-hall humidity trivia. And threaded through it all is the sense that The Hip weren’t just a band — they were, and are, a measure of what Canadian rock could mean when it refused to be anything but itself.
Next Week
We’re down to #4. Think myths. Think shadows. Think of a song that reshaped the way we listen to The Hip forever.
“I met Gord in ’89 before they broke big. He was tall, skinny, and had this presence — even then. They offered me a beer, and I said I was working. Just regular guys. And then? Boom. A year later they’re everywhere.”
— Chris Jericho
About Our Guest
Chris Jericho is a Winnipeg native, wrestling legend, and frontman of Fozzy. He’s also a music lifer whose fandom runs from Iron Maiden to The Hip, with stories that stretch from Prairie bars to sold-out New York clubs. He’s been called many things in his career — champion, showman, podcaster — but here, he’s simply a Canadian kid telling the truth about a band that mattered.
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Abacus tally this week:
a prairie beer rider, a pool-hall cue finger, and the ghost of Shockley himself.
So there’s that.
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