Barenaked Ladies

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Template:Infobox band Barenaked Ladies (often abbreviated BNL) is a Canadian alternative rock band currently composed of Jim Creeggan, Kevin Hearn, Steven Page, Ed Robertson, and Tyler Stewart, and formerly Andy Creeggan. They formed in 1988 in Scarborough, Ontario, a suburb of Toronto, and are best known for their hit singles, One Week, Pinch Me, If I Had $1000000 and Brian Wilson, and for their light-hearted and comedic performance style.

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Indie origins

The band formed out of happenstance when guitarist Ed Robertson agreed to perform with his Rush cover band, Three Guys From Barrie, in a battle of the bands for the Second Harvest food bank at Nathan Phillips Square. Ed's band broke up and he forgot about the gig. When he received a phone call asking him to confirm the gig, he replied that the name of the band had changed to 'Barenaked Ladies' (one of a number of names he and friend Steven Page had randomly made up shortly before while bored at a Bob Dylan concert at Exhibition Stadium). He then called his friend Steve and asked if he wanted to do the gig. They arranged three rehearsals and missed them all. They played the show, but instead of competing, they played while the other bands set up, playing every song they could think of that they both knew. The show went well and they were invited to open a show for another well-known local band.

The band's first tape, Buck Naked, released in 1989, was recorded in basements and bedrooms, and featured only Steve and Ed. One night, they invited their friends, percussionist Andy and bassist Jim Creeggan, to play with them. They enjoyed the experience and invited the brothers to join the band. Barenaked Lunch (also known as the Pink Tape) was released in 1990, and featured two new band members. Unfortunately, the tape was mastered incorrectly and played too fast. As there were very few copies made of both early tapes, copies are now extremely rare.

While Andy was on a trip to Ecuador in 1990, the band was lacking a percussionist. While playing at a buskers' festival, they met drummer Tyler Stewart, who took over the position. While Andy was gone the band gained some attention when they were winners at the 1990 YTV Achievement Awards. They gained further attention when they squeezed into a small "Speaker's Corner" video booth, operated by CityTV in Toronto, and performed "Be My Yoko Ono" as well as an ode to Speaker's Corner. After the former song was aired on television it quickly became popular with viewers, and noticeably increased the Barenaked Ladies fan-base. Andy returned to find that Tyler had taken over the percussion role. This caused some concern for Andy. He moved more towards keyboards, though he still played percussion (usually congas) on some songs.

The full band's first release of note was the 1991 independent Yellow Tape, the first indie release by any band to achieve platinum status (100,000 copies) in Canada. Sales of the cassette tape were jumpstarted when BNL were taken off the bill of a concert in Nathan Phillips Square outside Toronto City Hall because a staffer for then-mayor June Rowlands saw the band's name and felt it objectified women, which catapulted BNL into a media frenzy.

Also in 1991, the band contributed a cover of Bruce Cockburn's "Lovers in a Dangerous Time" to the Cockburn tribute album Kick at the Darkness. That song became the band's first Top 40 hit in Canada.

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1990s

The band's first full album, the hotly anticipated Gordon, released in 1992, was a smash hit in Canada and included some of the band's most well-known songs, including "Enid", the first single; "Be My Yoko Ono", the single which helped fund the album; If I Had $1000000, which spawned a Kraft Dinner -- or, in the US, Kraft Macaroni & Cheese -- throwing tradition at live shows that the band has discouraged; and "Brian Wilson", named after Beach Boy Brian Wilson (who later covered the song on a live album). It benefited from the fact that a number of songs on the album (including the latter three) had been live favorites for a while and had been recorded on past releases like the Yellow Tape. While the band was doing remarkably well in Canada, they found that it translated into little success in the U.S..

BNL's second album, Maybe You Should Drive, released in 1994, fared considerably less well with the Canadian public. On the album, the band toned down its comic image, collaborated with kd lang producer Ben Mink, and produced what many critics acknowledged as a more mature work. They tried touring in America, but the tour was a failure and ended up losing money despite an appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Before the next release Andy Creeggan left the band because of his discomfort with the direction of the band and to attend McGill University.

The band released Born on a Pirate Ship in 1996 as a quartet. The album received two large boosts from the inclusion of the song "Shoebox" on the Friends soundtrack, and from the Jason Priestley-directed video for "The Old Apartment", which got notable American airplay. The Ladies were supposed to appear on an episode of Beverly Hills 90210, but those plans fell through. Kevin Hearn was hired as the keyboardist for the subsequent tour and ultimately joined the band full time.

From two dates on the Born on a Pirate Ship tour during 1996, BNL recorded and released a live album called Rock Spectacle, which had a modest radio hit in the United States with "Brian Wilson." The album went Gold in America and the success of Brian Wilson, coupled with the success of "The Old Apartment", lead to a new situation for the band. They knew their next album would be their chance to make it big in America.

Image:Tv weird al steven page.jpg

They turned out to be right, as the 1998 release Stunt became (and still remains) their greatest success, buoyed by "One Week", which hit the number one spot on the storied Billboard Hot 100. Immediately after Stunt was released, however, Kevin Hearn was diagnosed with leukemia, eventually undergoing a bone marrow transplant and spending several months at a Toronto hospital recovering. The band toured, with friends Chris Brown and Greg Kurstin both filling in on keyboards until Kevin recovered enough to rejoin them on the road. The singles "It's All Been Done" (used as the opening theme song on the short lived animated TV series Baby Blues) and "Call and Answer" (which later appeared in the film "EdTV") also came from this highly successful album. The band was also asked to contribute a song ("Get In Line", ending up as a single) to the soundtrack of the FOX cartoon, King Of The Hill.

Image:Bnlomf1.jpg

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2000s

Maroon, released in 2000, did fairly well led by the single "Pinch Me", though not as well as Stunt had. In 2001, they released a compilation album, entitled Disc One: All Their Greatest Hits 1991-2001, in reference to a line from their song "Box Set". It contains 15 singles from previous BNL albums, two singles from other compilations, and two new tracks (including the single "Thanks, That Was Fun").

Everything to Everyone was released October 21, 2003. The first single off the album was "Another Postcard (Chimps)", which received modest radio play. "Testing 1, 2, 3" was the second single off of the album and received a video, but no CD single, while "Celebrity" was released later in the UK with a CD single, but no video. "Maybe Katie" and an edited version of "For You" from a concert in Glasgow, Scotland were also released as singles to radio. Unfortunately, the album was their weakest seller in years, with a short chart life, despite positive reviews. With the release, the band fulfilled their contract with Reprise Records, which they did not re-sign. This made the band independent for the first time since 1992 (though they retained a distribution relationship with Warner Music). On the subsequent tour, in early 2004, the band began offering their full live shows for purchase as a download or CD-R on an eponymous website, as well as subsequent studio releases. Recently, they have enabled users to purchase individual songs from concerts for 99 cents each.

The band's most recent album is Barenaked for the Holidays, which was released on October 5, 2004. It was their first independent record since the Yellow Tape, as well the first album recorded at Steven Page's then-recently completed studio at his farmhouse called "Fresh Baked Woods".

In January 2005, the band taped a television pilot for a variety show, tentatively titled "Barenaked Ladies Variety Show", which was ultimately rejected by the FOX network. Later that year, the band was asked to write music for the Stratford Festival's musical production of Shakespeare's As You Like It. Steven Page wrote most of the music (Shakespeare had provided lyrics in the play), and the band recorded it for the actors to sing over. The recording (with Page's vocals) was available on CD from the festival and on the band's website. On July 2 2005 BNL took part in the Live 8 concert in Barrie, Ontario.

In the summer of 2004, while touring in support of Everything to Everyone, the band decided to play one song at each show that they had never performed in public or hadn't performed in a long time. A few of the songs included new songs they were trying out. In the fall of 2005, the band went into the studio at Fresh Baked Woods to begin recording approximately 30 songs. They broke from the studio in November and December of that year to play a 22-show holiday tour, each night of which they played one of their new songs.

An iTunes Originals - a collection of interviews and live songs (coupled with some old album tracks) was recorded while the band was in the studio and was released in February 2006 exclusively on the iTunes stores. In January the band went back into the studio to finish up the recordings they started the previous fall. They have not decided on an official plan of release, but have suggested that they will most likely release a normal-length album in the fall of 2006, and release the other new songs in subsequent EPs. What they have promised is that all the tracks they record will be released at some point. Three of the songs have also been overdubbed into 'Simlish' (a gibberish language used in the Sim series of video games by Maxis) for release in a future Sims 2 expansion pack. The band has also indicated that a boxed set is due to be released this year from Rhino Entertainment which will include demos, unreleased songs and other exclusive material.

In a recent podcast, Ed Robertson announced that the band is planning a fan cruise, tentatively called the "Barenaked Ladies Ships and Dip Cruise", for January 15-19, 2007. While it is not official, it has been suggested that the band will be joined by special guests, including Guster and Andy Creeggan.

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Side projects

Tyler Stewart, Jim Creeggan, Kevin Hearn, and Steven Page all have past or present side projects during their time off from BNL. Tyler was part of a trio called Don't Talk Dance which released a self-titled album in 1995, but are no longer together. Jim is part of the alternative/jazz trio The Brothers Creeggan, with brother and former BNL member Andy Creeggan and friend Ian McLauchlan. They have been on hiatus for several years now. Andy also has several solo albums. Kevin is the frontman of Kevin Hearn and Thin Buckle, who play a mix of alternative rock and jazz with many other eclectic influences. Steve has a side project called The Vanity Project. The first self-titled album was written mostly with long-time collaborator Stephen Duffy. Steve has said that the project is an opportunity for him to write with non-BNL writers, and a future release might not necessarily include Duffy.

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Biography

Barenaked Ladies have authorized a biography, Public Stunts Private Stories, written by friend of the band and fellow "Scarberian" Paul Myers, brother of actor Mike Myers. It is published in Canada by Madrigal Press. An updated 2003 version includes a different cover, information about Disc One and Everything to Everyone, and fixes several typos found in the original version.

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Discography

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Early albums

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Primary album discography

Gordon
(1992)
#1 CAN

Maybe You Should Drive
(1994)
#175 US, #57 UK

Born On A Pirate Ship
(1996)
#111 US

Stunt
(1998)
# 9 CAN, #3 US, #20 UK

Maroon
(2000)
#2 CAN, #5 US, #64 UK

Everything to Everyone
(2003)
#6 CAN, #10 US

Barenaked for the Holidays
(2004)
#64 US

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Secondary album discography

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Live albums

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Songs recorded for compilation albums

  • Lovers In A Dangerous Time on Kick at the Darkness (1991) (later included on Disc One)
  • Fight the Power on Coneheads soundtrack (1993)
  • Shoe Box on Friends soundtrack (1995) (later included on Born On A Pirate Ship)
  • Grim Grinning Ghosts on Disney's Music From The Park (1996)
  • Get In Line on King of the Hill soundtrack (1999) (later included on Disc One)
  • Green Christmas on The Grinch soundtrack (2000) (later re-recorded for Barenaked for the Holidays)
  • La la la la Lemon on For the Kids (2002)
  • It's Only Me (The Wizard of Magicland) on NHL 2002 soundtrack (2002) (previously included on Disc One)
  • One Little Slip on Chicken Little soundtrack (2005)
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Singles

  • 1991
    • "Be My Yoko Ono", later included on Gordon
    • "Lovers In A Dangerous Time" from Bruce Cockburn tribute album Kick at the Darkness
  • 1992
    • "Enid" from Gordon
    • "Brian Wilson" from Gordon
    • "What a Good Boy" from Gordon
  • 1993
  • 1994
    • "Jane" from Maybe You Should Drive
  • 1995
    • "Alternative Girlfriend" from Maybe You Should Drive
    • "A" from Maybe You Should Drive
    • "Shoe Box" from Born On A Pirate Ship / Friends soundtrack
  • 1996
    • "If I Had $1000000" from UK version of Born On A Pirate Ship
    • "Grim Grinning Ghosts" from Disney's Music From The Park
  • 1997
    • "The Old Apartment" from Born On A Pirate Ship
    • "Brian Wilson 2000", Rock Spectacle version as b-side
    • "Govatsos Shuffle", a live improvisational rap recorded at an August, 1997 concert
  • 1998
    • "Brian Wilson" from Rock Spectacle
    • "One Week" from Stunt
    • "It's All Been Done" from Stunt
  • 1999
    • "Alcohol" from Stunt
    • "Call And Answer" from Stunt / Ed TV soundtrack
    • "Get In Line" from King of the Hill soundtrack
  • 2000
    • "Pinch Me" from Maroon
    • "If I Had $1000000" from Rock Spectacle
  • 2001
    • "Too Little Too Late" from Maroon
    • "Falling For The First Time" from Maroon
    • "Thanks That Was Fun" from Disc One: All Their Greatest Hits
  • 2002
    • "It's Only Me" from Disc One: All Their Greatest Hits
  • 2003
    • "Another Postcard" from Everything to Everyone
  • 2004
    • "Maybe Katie" from Everything For Everyone
    • "Testing 1, 2, 3" from Everything to Everyone
    • "Celebrity" from Everything to Everyone
    • "War On Drugs" from Everything to Everyone
    • "For You" from Everything to Everyone
    • "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" from Barenaked For The Holidays
    • "Christmastime (Oh Yeah)" from Barenaked For The Holidays
    • "Green Christmas" from Barenaked For The Holidays
    • "Elf's Lament" from Barenaked For The Holidays
  • 2005
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DVD/Video releases

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External links

eo:Barenaked Ladies es:Barenaked Ladies fr:Barenaked Ladies hu:Barenaked Ladies pl:Barenaked Ladies

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