Barenaked Ladies
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Barenaked Ladies is a canadian Rock band that is famous for their lighthearted and frequently humorous performances on the concert stage. Among their earliest hits are "One Week" and "Pinch Me". In 2007, the band released a new album entitled Barenaked Ladies Are Men.
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About
Indie Beginnings
The perfectly funny musicality of Canadian alternative pop group Barenaked Ladies' (often abbreviated as BNL or BnL) can be traced from Scarborough, Canada where Steven Page and Ed Robertson were living their normal lives as normal school guys with a passion for music. Although not exactly friends from the start, they started to hang out more often after seeing a rather disappointing performance of a band at the Exhibition Stadium.
These two youngsters started performing in local shows around and called themselves "Barenaked Ladies", a quirky term they coined while they were watching the concert, and thought that it would be a funny name of a band. Joining Page and Robertson who can both play the guitar and sing, are brothers Jim and Andy Creegan on bass and keyboards, and drummer Tyler Stewart, thus Barenaked Ladies started their wacky performances as musicians.
The Yellow Tape, the group's first independent release in 1992 marks their early success, being the first indie album to reach Platinum status, selling more than 80,000 copies around the country.
Early Success
Sire was the first to handle BNL and they released the funny and at the same time witty album Gordon in 1992 under the said label. The said album includes teen listeners' favorites "Enid", "Be My Yoko Ono" and "If I Had a $1,000,000" and so the BNL started to conquer North America as pop hitmakers. After 2 years the group released their follow-up album Maybe You Should Drive with more a matured style without losing their usual wit and humor.
In 1995, Andy Creegan unexpectedly left the band to study college. Good thing Kevin Hearn played with the band during a tour with Billy Bragg and stayed until the present! The band released Born On A Pirate Ship under Reprise Records with the fresh new band lineup and their music was still as good as ever.
1996 live album Rock Spectacle was a result of the non-stop summer touring ang live shows the band had following an appearance in Beverly Hills 90210 where they sang their Top 40 hit, "The Old Apartment". The band continued to gain themselves fans from all the audiences that came to love them because of their on-stage banter and comic reliefs. Not long after, the album was certified Gold in the US and yeah, looks like it's their ticket to invade America!
BNL Now
Cool and composed, the band seemed to be ready for the biggest commercial debut there is for them, but who would have thought that they would have such a big hit song entitled "One Week" and their album Stunt will debut at the no. 3 spot of the Billboard top 200 and remained in the top 10 for more than 10 weeks!
Their onstage charisma and brilliant performances backed their equally great songs and they came to be the Barenaked Ladies' we all know today.
Two years later, the band released Maroon and proved their staying power in the business. Having survived more than one decade in the music industry, the band members continue to grow as some of them married and raised their own families. Also in the year 2000, the band won for them several awards including a nomination for Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for "Pinch Me."
And no, they won't ever stop! In 2001 the band released Disc One: All Their Greatest Hits celebrating all the good times they shared together not as a band but also as a musical family. Just recently in 2006, the band released the first part of their recent recordings entitled Barenaked Ladies Are Me, which was followed by the second half Barenaked Ladies Are Men in 2007 that was 5 months after their previous release.
The Barenaked Ladies have so much up and under their sleeves and their history lies on their music. It's all up to their listeners and fans to discover the brilliance hidden in the comical selves of the BNL.
Band Lineup
| Member | Instrument |
|---|---|
| Ed Robertson | Vocals, Guitar |
| Steven Page | Vocals, Guitar |
| Tyler Stewart | Drums, Backing Vocals |
| Jim Creeggan | Bass, Stringed Instruments, Vocals |
| Kevin Hearn | Keyboards, Guitar, Vocals |
| Andy Creegan |
Keyboards (left the band in 1995) |
Awards & Certifications
| Year | Award | Category |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Juno Awards | Best Pop Album & Best Group |
| Year | Album | Certification |
|---|---|---|
| 1991 | The Yellow Tape | Platinum (Canada) |
| 1996 | Rock Spectacle | Gold (USA) |
Chart Toppers
| Year | Title | US | Can | US Modern Rock | UK | Album |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | "The Old Apartment" | 88 | - | - | - | Born on a Pirate Ship |
| 1997 | "Brian Wilson 2000" | 68 | - | 23 | - | Rock Spectacle |
| 1998 | "One Week" | 1 | 9 | 1 | 5 | Stunt |
| 1998 | "It's All Been Done" | 44 | - | 15 | 28 | Stunt |
| 1999 | "Alcohol" | - | - | 33 | - | Stunt |
| 2000 | "Pinch Me" | 15 | - | 30 | - | Maroon |
| 2000 | "Too Little Too Late" | 86 | - | - | - | Maroon |
| 2003 | "Another Postcard" | 82 | - | - | - | Everything to Everyone |
News
Tours & Concerts
06/15/07 - Detroit, MI (DTE Energy Music Theater)
06/16/07 - Buffalo, NY (Art Park)
06/17/07 - Cleveland, OH (Plain Dealer Pavillion)
06/18/07 - Chicago, IL (Charter One Pavilion)
Ships and Dips III - have fun and cruise with Barenaked Ladies for the third time!
01/27/08 - Fort Lauderdale, FL
01/28/08 - Fort Lauderdale, FL
01/29/08 - Fort Lauderdale, FL
01/30/08 - Fort Lauderdale, FL
01/31/08 - Fort Lauderdale, FL
02/01/08 - Fort Lauderdale, FL
Announcements
Ships and Dips III
The infamous 90's band does it again with 'Ships and Dips III! There's no stopping the music and comedy as you ride and float with the group themselves together with some of their chosen friends in a cruise from Miami, Florida to Grand Cayman and Jamaica!
It's never too early to plan your vacation, go to shipanddip for more information.
Discography
Albums
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EP's
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Compilations and Live Releases
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Other artists
Similar artists
Influences
Contemporaries
Trivia
- In 1998,guitarist/keyboardist Kevin Hearn was diagnosed with Leukemia and spent months recuperating. After a bone marrow transplant he hops back into the group and BNL was at its best once again.
- BNL recorded several songs for soundtracks including "Green Christmas" for The Grinch and "One Little Slip" for the animated movie Chicken Little.
- They also have an authorized biography entitled "Public Stunts Private Stories" written by Paul Myers and was published by Madrigal Press in Canada. An updated and a better proofread version was published in 2003.
Reviews
External Links
Categories: Artist | Rock | Alternative
