The Tragically Hip

When the 1960s made-for-TV Monkees split up, member Micheal Nesmith embarked on his own projects, trying to reclaim his sense of artistic integrity. In 1981 he made a movie called Elephant Parts that included music interspersed with comedy bits. One of those bits was called “the tragically Hip,” and a group of musical guys from Kingston, Ontario, thought it was the perfect name for a band.