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The Tragically Hip Top Forty Countdown: Song 18 — Claire from Ann ArborHey, it’s jD. And welcome to the wide open middle of the countdown — that beautiful, feral terrain where deep cuts go to become legends and personal faves start to collide with consensus picks.This week on The Tragically Hip Top Forty Countdown, I’m joined by one of our most thoughtful and eloquent membersHIPers: Claire from Ann Arbor. We talk about discovering The Hip as a millennial from the U.S., falling hard thanks to Hockey Night in Canada, and how a steady diet of CBC and her dad’s hockey tapes led her straight to 50 Mission Cap. (That’s right — before she even knew the song, she knew the legend of Bill Barilko. That’s parenting done right.)But what really makes this one hit different? Claire’s lived experience as a disabled fan navigating concerts, fandom, and feeling safe in the crowd. Her reflections on inclusivity, identity, and finding community through The Hip are honest, funny, moving, and — in true TTHTop40 fashion — a little nerdy in the best possible way.We’re not just counting down songs here. We’re collecting stories. Claire’s is one you’ll be glad you heard.🧠 This week’s guest brings:A first Hip show in Detroit (2007, World Container tour — “life-changing” in her words)A wheelchair user’s perspective on what makes Hip crowds feel safer than punk pitsSome spicy (but respectful) Bob Rock-era takesLove for lyrics, cadence, and that one time Gord used “countervailing” in a fucking rock songA once-in-a-lifetime moment: sitting down with all four remaining band members after the Massey Hall event💬 Episode Quote“I felt like Hip shows were the first place where I found my people. I always felt safe, welcome — like I belonged. That changed everything.”👋 About Our GuestClaire from Ann Arbor is a librarian, lyric nerd, and longtime Hip fan who’s seen the band live nearly a dozen times across the Midwest and Ontario. She’s got great taste, a sharp eye for storytelling, and a high-level appreciation for both In View and It’s a Good Life If You Don’t Weaken. We love her for all of that.📬 Got a Story to Share?Join the countdown. Leave a voice memo at castfeedback.com/tthtop40 or email us a tale at tthtop40@gmail.com. The best ones get airtime — and bonus points for emotional devastation, nerdy detail, or full-on Hip hijinks.📡 Listen & Subscribe:SpotifyApple PodcastsYouTube: @dewvre1974Website: dewvre.com/tthtop40📲 Follow Along:Instagram: @tthtop40Facebook Group: facebook.com/groups/tthtop40💥 Support the Show:Join the membersHIP over at buymeacoffee.com/tthtop40. No perks, no pressure — just passion. Every dollar goes to keeping this passion project alive and raising funds for ALS Canada.Transcript: Track 2:[0:02] Hey, it's JD here, and you're probably tired of podcasts asking you for money. I get it, so I'mnot going to ask. I am, however, going to strongly suggest, with love, that you give me money. Thisisn't about exclusive perks or gated content, though those exist. It's about supporting somethingyou believe in. If you've been enjoying the Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown, If it's made you laugh,think, feel something, or reconnect with a band that means the world to you, this is your chance togive back. I make this show because I love the hip, I love this community, and I believe in tellingstories that matter. But it all takes time, energy, and of course, your support. By joining themembership, you're not just helping to keep the show running, you're also helping to raise moneyfor the ALS Society of Canada. No minimum, no catch, no problem. BuyMeACoffee.com forwardslash TTH Top 40. Membership. Support the show. Support the cause. Support what you love.Track 1:[1:13] A member of the DATC Media family.Track 2:[1:16] Previously on the Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown.Track 1:[1:20] Jeff from Belville, what did you think of Cordelia the first time you remember hearing it? Yeah,Jamie, you know, I kind of described in the first part, the first time I heard it, which is back in 91 upin the coach house and, you know, would have been the third song by the hip that I had heard. AndI think at that time we were, you know, closely paying attention to the first few songs. And I can't,you know, say exactly what I felt in that moment, but it stopped me in my.Track 3:file:///Users/jd/Desktop/TTHTop40%20-%20623.htmlPage 1 of 11The Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown2025-05-23, 5:21 PM[1:58] Hey, it's JD here, and welcome to the Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown. It is my pleasure tobe with you here week over week, counting down the 40 essential songs by the hip that youselected with your very own top 20 ballads. I then tabulated the results using an abacus and S, B,and Lonely Boy, XOXO. How will your favorite songs fare in the rankings? You'll need to tune inevery week to find out. So there's that. This week I'm joined by TTH superfan Claire from AnnArbor. How the hell are you doing on this hip-tastic day, Claire from Ann Arbor? I'm doing very well.Thank you for having me. Oh, it's my pleasure. You guys do all the work in these episodes. I just sithere and listen to your experiences and sit in awe. You know, it's real cool. Mm-hmm. Well, happyto, really happy to be here with you. Awesome. Well, let's get right into things. Let's not beat aroundthe bush. Let's get right into things and get into your hip origin story.Track 3:[3:09] Right well this is going back pretty far but um maybe not quite as far as some other hip fansbeing more of a millennial myself i um was in high school probably about 14 years old when i think ifirst heard the hip and found out about the hip um i think my memories Because maybe I'm notquite remembering everything exactly the way it happened, but I want to say... We rarely do.Exactly. I want to say that back in the early to mid-2000s, again, when I was a lovely, pretty angstyteenager.Track 3:[3:58] I was very into definitely music. I loved music, but I also just really loved hockey so much. Sogrowing up in the Metro Detroit area, of course, I'm a Red Wings fan, but we're lucky here in theMetro Detroit area that we get CBC, Channel 9, and we are able to watch Hockey Night in Canada,which again and in those days um was just such a fun experience saturday night hockey night incanada um my my dad kind of got me into you know watching coach's corner and uh ron mcclainand don cherry and um the maple leafs so yeah i.Track 3:[4:54] I think watching CBC really opened up a lot of that Canadian culture to me. Not just hockey.Yeah, for sure. And, like, I really just enjoyed the content on CBC. It was just a little different thankind of the American media at the time. And then I want to say that either maybe the first hip songwas part of a Hockey Night in Canada montage. I know I remember 50 Mission Cap pretty well askind of stopping me in my, you know, watching whatever I was watching or probably listening to orwatching a hockey game and hearing it. That was like, oh my gosh, I've heard the Bill Baroccostory from my dad and his hockey fans. And I'm like, a band is actually singing about this. Youknew the Bill Berilco story prior to hearing 50 Mission Cats? So thanks to my dad, because... That'sfile:///Users/jd/Desktop/TTHTop40%20-%20623.htmlPage 2 of 11The Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown2025-05-23, 5:21 PMso cool. He definitely had me on a steady diet of like, like hockey, like old hockey videos andknowing like old leaf players. So that was interesting that they definitely.Track 3:[6:19] Made me a fan with that but then I do also remember the That Night in Toronto DVD fromtheir live show I believe playing on CBC because that also really solidified being a huge fan I justfelt like their recordings are one thing but then the live.Track 3:[6:48] Show was just a whole other realm of, being impressed and kind of like stunned by their justthe way they were on stage and then the type of music they were playing and.Track 3:[7:09] I mean, absolutely. It's an incredible thing to watch this band live. And I was just talking withsomebody earlier today, in fact, about seeing them live. And if you were lucky enough to see themlive, and I'm going to ask you next whether you did or not, it really cements how great they are. Itunderscores. It's like the records are dynamite, but holy crap, like you said, it's a whole otherdimension. Yeah, no, it was, yeah, it was great timing in a way. Again, looking back at this time oftheir kind of band arc in the mid-2000s, it was when I first saw them, got to see them, becauseagain, I was kind of just a teenager and getting into different music. So I sort of wish I got to seethem in more like the 90s era, but I was too young at that time. But I looked up old tour dates torefresh my memory, and I believe the first one, the first live show, was at the State Theater, which isnow the Fillmore, in Detroit in 07, in April of 2007.Track 3:[8:36] And after that again being very lucky to continue to see them I believe seven or eightadditional times so definitely all the Detroit shows, Windsor shows as well as, Cleveland andLondon, Ontario after that so I got Wow you've traveled a little bit yeah it's been like kind of a.Track 3:[9:05] They're just.Track 3:[9:07] Pulled me in so much that, and again, with my dad being kind of my fan buddy, I got him intothem, just like he got me into hockey. So it was really nice because we did some good traveling,good bonding experiences to see hip shows. Oh, that is so cool.Track 3:file:///Users/jd/Desktop/TTHTop40%20-%20623.htmlPage 3 of 11The Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown2025-05-23, 5:21 PM[9:31] Yeah, I wish I had been able to get my dad into the hip. Wasn't gonna ever happen thoughnever you have like oh sorry how many times have you seen them live i i need to go through i don'thave ticket stubs anymore which really sucks i moved too many times to keep them and there's alot of people listening right now saying fuck you you keep them no matter what and you're right i'msorry it doesn't make sense but uh i do have i do have uh an account on um setlist.fm and i've wentthrough that a few times and looked at the shows i've been to and i want to say it's 17 to answeryour question in a really long-winded way that's amazing you know but i had a i had a real gap iwas from a small town so i had like a three-year gap off the top and then i sort of went on a hiatusfrom inviolate like.Track 3:[10:38] After inviolate light all the way through to man machine palm so i didn't see them i saw themon the fully completely reissue or not the reissue the the anniversary tour i saw them on that andthen i saw them on the man machine palm tour but i didn't see them in the 2000s really oh i'mjealous I'm envious of you, you know, having now discovered these records and really listened tothem thoroughly. Wow, they're so good. What's your go-to at this point?Track 3:[11:13] Album-wise? Sure. Yeah. Oh, gosh. Well, yeah, I think just seeing that World Container touras my first tour was pretty life-changing, not to be too overdramatic. You're in the right room to saythat. Yeah, they were really just top of their game. Although I have to say, like, like watching oldvideos, it's not like they were ever not at the top in a way, but the World Container album was.Track 3:[11:56] I felt like it was just right place at the right time in a way because a lot of the music that I wasa big fan of at the time, I was sort of one of those sort of like warp tour emo kids in a way and punkthat was maybe like trendy at the time, sort of pop punk. So I liked how there were sort of elements.I mean, you could argue, I'd love to hear others', thoughts on this, like, if it had somewhat of a pop-punk angle on some of the songs, but still staying true to their true sound, I just think that it waseasy to get into World Container, some of those songs, and, of course, again, live, they were somuch fun. And I think in view was always, I felt like the fans just really responded to every time theyplayed in view. I know there were some controversial, I don't know, I feel like viewpoints on WorldContainer maybe at the time, or like that it was too far from what people thought they would soundlike.Track 3:[13:17] I think there's a lot of people that just have issues with Bob Rock, ultimately. And some offile:///Users/jd/Desktop/TTHTop40%20-%20623.htmlPage 4 of 11The Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown2025-05-23, 5:21 PMthose people that have issues with Bob Rock were...Track 3:[13:30] What word am I looking for? Validated, I suppose, with the docuseries, finding out that theband didn't really enjoy those records. Well, they did say they felt recharged with World Containerin the documentary. And it's like, okay, yeah, that's cool.Track 3:[13:47] Right. And then it kind of, as it progressed, which is interesting. I mean, good on them forkind of letting us in, which makes it very... Very interesting to think about those days.Track 3:[14:02] But, yeah, I kind of wrote down that I remember that hip show and then the following hipshows as feeling— so this is kind of like a tangent, but I felt very safe at those concerts, whichsounds weird. But again, with being into maybe the bands at the time, which were maybe morepunk shows, kind of more places where people would mosh or like be very aggressive in the crowd,hip shows kind of opened up other types of music for me that I felt. And then ultimately i got awayfrom kind of those more punk bands because being so i'm in a i use a power wheelchair and i'm adisabled um music fan which can be a little tricky being in a wheelchair at a show with with a bunchof people yes in in a crowd and of course um.Track 3:[15:18] It just felt different. It felt safer at hip shows. The fans, I always felt, I don't know, just very athome. Again, it's kind of a hard, it's not a tangible thing. But yeah, like I felt like hip fans werealways so inclusive and like welcoming and that sometimes I felt pretty different growing up andpretty like not like the others. But yeah, I feel like I felt like I was with my people kind of at hipshows. You found your people. Yeah. For sure.Track 3:[15:57] They definitely are. um i know that you know obviously gord has the microphone but i'm sureall the other fellows too are very cognizant of um smaller people differently abled peopleunfortunately females in general um in the front near the front where they can see it that you knowthey're always on the audience to, like, hey, chill the fuck out, you know? I think they mentionedthat a little bit in the documentary sort of at their maybe earlier shows. There was maybe some... Itwas a little more rowdy. Yeah. Yeah, no, and I mean, I think maybe the most rowdy show was inLondon, which was an outdoor festival. Oh, wow. I forget the exact name of the park in London,Ontario, but that was more on the rowdy side. So maybe people...file:///Users/jd/Desktop/TTHTop40%20-%20623.htmlPage 5 of 11The Tragically Hip Top 40 Countdown2025-05-23, 5:21 PMTrack 3:[16:53] Let it all out at more of the outdoor shows versus like the indoor and especially for the Detroitshows felt more kind of like an intimate or did you ever see them in an arena?Track 3:[17:11] So, no, that's the interest. I am jealous that you got to go to the last tour because that wouldhave been an amazing experience to see an arena show. But the biggest venue was the CaesarsCasino in Windsor. In Windsor. Okay. Okay. Yeah, I know that. No, the reason I ask was becauseyou've seen them in a small venue, and you've seen them outside. If you had seen them in anarena, you've got the trifecta there. But I'm glad you got to see them outside, because there…
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