Canada has given the world a lot of great music, and this isn't breaking news. Maybe it is the folkiness of Gordon Lightfoot or the prog-rock of Rush; excellence has been achieved. Ranking the biggest rock bands from the Great North can be a bit foolhardy, but Ultimate Classic Rock tried recently. It left one worthy band off.
This article isn't going to be about how bad UCR is because that would be a lie. The site is excellent at what it does. The issue is only with one particular article, and how the "Big 4" of Canadian rock bands was theorized.
The groups chosen were Rush (of course), the Guess Who, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, and Bryan Adams (which isn't a band, obviously, but a person). The Tragically Hip does get a passing mention, and therein lies the problem.
Recent list of the Big 4 Canadian rock bands criminally leaves out the Tragically Hip
If one is going to come up with the best of Canada, one should not view the list from an outsider. There is an inherent organic untruth about creating a best-of-nation ranking and not being truly tied to what the country would think. For instance, if someone from Albania came up with a grouping of the best American bands and didn't include the Talking Heads.
UCR's Canadian best screams that it is an outsider's point of view based more on sales than artistic merit or what Canadians would think. The Tragically Hip might not have been the most popular band outside of Canada, but they are, through and through, Canadian, and artistically elite.
If the Prime Minister delivers an emotional press conference after the death of a singer/lyricist of a specific band and that band isn't on a list of the best bands from that nation, there is an issue. That is what happened when former PM Justin Trudeau gave a message to Canadians after the death of Hip frontman Gord Downie in 2017.
UCR's Gary Graff lists the Hip this way: "And for every Triumph, Nickleback or Barenaked Ladies, there's a legion of others -- April Wine, Coney Hatch, Moxy, Trooper, Chilliwack, Kim Mitchell, Max Webster, the Tragically Hip, Our Lady Peace the Sam Roberts Band and many more -- whose fame was limited to the provinces."
A Canadian wouldn't have mentioned the Tragically Hip in passing. They are too important.
And yes, maybe the four bands Graff did list sold more records, but that shouldn't be the point of that kind of ranking. It is about which musicians represent a country, in this case, Canada, and whether they sold millions of albums in the US or the UK shouldn't matter. The article wasn't, "The Big 4 Canadian rock bands if you might never step foot in that wonderful country."
Graff also writes, "In determining this Big 4, we have determined to keep our consideration to those who stayed home to launch and maintain most, if not all, of their careers -- and certainly the key breakout and successful eras."
That would appear to be antithetical to leaving the Tragically Hip of the Big 4. The above paragraph should be a reason why the Hip was among the Big 4. In fact, besides Rush, if a list of the Big 2 of Canadian rock were created, Geddy Lee and the boys should be one of them, and the Tragically Hip should be the other.