Fully & Completely: redux – Music @ Work

Guest: Rob Johannes

🎧 Episode Overview

In Episode 9 of Fully & Completely: redux, we dive headfirst into Music @ Work, The Tragically Hip’s 2000 studio album — a record often misunderstood, occasionally maligned, but undeniably pivotal.

Joined by musician and longtime Hip devotee Rob Johannes, we unpack why this album may represent the band’s second great unshackling — their “Kid A moment,” as Rob puts it.

From John Cage references and Indigenous commentary to experimental production textures and some of the strongest background vocals in the band’s catalog, Music @ Work emerges as a bold, transitional, and deeply layered record.

Is this the Hip’s most cohesive album of the 2000s?

Is it their quiet revolution?

Is it better than its reputation?

Let’s get into it.

🔍 What We Explore in This Episode

🎙 The Context of 2000

• Radiohead’s Kid A and artistic reinvention
• Outkast’s Stankonia
• U2’s return to form
• Cultural tension at the turn of the millennium
• Where The Tragically Hip fit in that landscape

🎸 The Production Shift

• Steve Berlin’s return
• Recording at the Bathhouse
• The abandoned train-recording concept
• Electronic textures meeting organic instrumentation

🔥 Key Track Deep Dives

• “My Music @ Work” – deceptively upbeat with dark undercurrents
• “Tiger the Lion” – John Cage, experimental art, and Mission Statement 2.0
• “Lake Fever” – cholera, young love, and Algonquin mythmaking
• “Put It Down” – subtle political commentary and ricochet culture
• “Stay” – desperation, longing, and balance
• “The Bastard” – Billy Sunday, theology, swagger

🎤 Gord Downie’s Evolution

• Phraseology and rhythmic tension
• Consonant holds and vocal elasticity
• Serving the song vs. serving expectation
• The politics that simmer beneath the poetry

💬 Pull Quote

“This is the Hip’s Kid A moment. The unshackling. The second time they tore it down to rebuild it.” – Rob Johannes

🎶 Why Music @ Work Matters

This isn’t just the follow-up to Phantom Power.

This is a pivot point.

Where Fully Completely led to Day for Night,

where Trouble at the Henhouse recalibrated,

where Phantom Power reasserted control —

Music @ Work quietly breaks the machinery open again.

It’s experimental without announcing itself as experimental.

It’s political without sermonizing.

It’s cohesive in ways that only reveal themselves years later.

This episode reframes the album not as a stumble —

but as a deliberate recalibration of The Tragically Hip’s creative identity.

👤 About Our Guest – Rob Johannes

Rob Johannes is a Toronto-based musician and longtime Hip champion whose deep appreciation for the band’s experimental and arts-driven eras makes him the perfect guide for this conversation. His perspective — shaped by both West Coast and Ontario Hip culture — brings fresh nuance to how Music @ Work was received and how it should be reconsidered.

📢 Join the Conversation

What’s your relationship with Music @ Wo