From Gordon to the Hall of Fame – My Love for Barenaked Ladies
When I was about 10 years old I got the Barenaked Ladies’ Gordon album on cassette and instantly became a fan.
And now, the Barenaked Ladies are members of the Canadian Music Hall of Fame!
The HoF celebration and reunion of the band in Vancouver at the 2018 Junos was a uniquely Canadian musical moment if there ever was one.
We had Geddy Lee on stage, introducing, praising, and generally gushing over the band. We had Steven Page walking to the front of the room with the band that he co-founded and helped bring to all of our attention in the 90s. We had great speeches full of gratitude and love from Page, Ed Robertson, Jim Creeggan, Tyler Stewart, and Kevin Hearn. And then we had music.
The performance of One Week and If I Had $1000000 was, in my opinion, perfect.
It was a big moment, the biggest maybe, in the career of BNL. But what we got was still exactly what you’d expect from any Barenaked Ladies performance. There were jokes and smiles and special guests and through it all there were two songs that Canadians of multiple generations and musical tastes could sing along to because we all know the words.
I loved it.
It’s been an outstanding career for the band, with highs and lows, big breaks and scandal, and a lot of music. They’ve become iconic in Canada. And for many fans, it all started with that red, white, and blue call on the cover of Gordon.
I listened to that tape front to back over and over again. Learning the lyrics to the songs, singing them when they weren’t even playing, and holding them with me now, more than 25 years later.
It was only later when I had access two more information and music thanks to cable TV and the internet that I became familiar with the Yellow Tapes, with Lovers In A Dangerous Time, and with the Speakers Corner performance of Be My Yoko Ono that helped make the band famous.
I don’t remember if I knew at the time about the Toronto City Hall story and New Year’s Eve 1991. If I did maybe that’s why I liked them as a pre-adolescent boy learning that I was allowed to skirt the rules, feel a little naughty, and have a tape by a band called the Barenaked Ladies.
If we go all the way back to 1992 and Gordon, I can still sing most, if not all, of the songs on that album.
Note: I will admit that The Flag was lost on me as a kid. I didn’t get it. I didn’t connect with it.
From Hello City at track 1 to Crazy at track 15 I bobbed my head, sang along, danced, and loved every minute of this Canadian pop-rock discovery. The album doesn’t hold the band’s largest commercial hit, but it does hold many fan favorites on its tracklist. A look at Barenaked Ladies Spotify profile right now shows three songs (Brian Wilson, Be My Yoko Ono, If I Had $1000000) in their top 10 most played. In a career that now spans 30 years and 28 albums, those hits from their debut full-length record remain as relevant to their legacy as anything else they’ve done.
Because that album was my first, and my introduction to the band, it’s very easy to be overly nostalgic for it. But Barenaked Ladies have done so much more over the last three decades.
The BNL discography includes 28 album releases, including full-lengths, EPs, Compilations/Greatest Hits, Holiday Albums, and Live Recordings. There are hundreds of songs there, some far more recognizable than others. But all of them, barenaked.
What’s interesting, given the notoriety and success that the band has earned in their Hall of Fame career, is that they only have one #1 hit in Canada.
And it’s not the song you think it is.
In 1998, One Week became the band’s breakout hit in the United States. It hit #1 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and the US Modern Rock charts. But, at home in Canada, it peaked at #3.
But, the very next single, It’s All Been Done, took Barenaked Ladies to the top of the Canadian charts, while only getting to #44 on the Hot 100, and #15 on the Modern Rock charts.
It’s likely that the US success of the band propelled the follow-up single to the top in Canada. And it’s certainly arguable that there is a long list of singles that should replace it as their only #1 hit, starting with One Week.
Before we get back into originals and achievements and favourites, I want to take a moment to share an opinion that may be considered a hot take…
I think that the Barenaked Ladies cover of Bruce Cockburn’s Lovers In A Dangerous Time is one of the very best covers ever released. Ever. By anyone.
There it is!
As I was thinking about this post, I was thinking about my personal favourite Barenaked Ladies songs. But I got sidetracked thinking about the times BNL songs were included in TV and movies, capturing my attention, and making me feel good about loving them.
It’s a fact that Barenaked Ladies can be heard every day of the week, all over the world, singing the theme song for Big Bang Theory. And while that is certainly their biggest TV/movie placement, it wasn’t the first and isn’t my favourite.
• In 1996, Grade 9 was included on the D3: Mighty Ducks, soundtrack. I was 14, I saw the movie in theatres, and I already knew the song. It was awesome to hear it as part of a movie franchise that my childhood self (and my adult self) was all in on.
• In 1998, Who Needs Sleep was on an episode of Dawson’s Creek (S2 E7) as the gang stayed up all night, talking relationships and sex, and other teenage issues.
• In 1999, Edtv featured Call And Answer on a soundtrack that also included artists like Bon Jovi, UB40, and Barry White.
• On May 19, 1999, the band performed as narrators throughout an episode of the criminally underrated Two Guys, A Girl And A Pizza Place (S2 E21, Two Guys, a Girl and Barenaked Ladies), capping off the show with a short acoustic performance of It’s All Been Done.
• Also in 1999, It’s All Been Done had a spot on the Drive Me Crazy soundtrack, which also included the Britney Spears classic (You Drive Me) Crazy.
• And in 1999/2000, One Week was heard on the soundtracks of 10 Things I Hate About You, American Pie, and Digimon: The Movie.
It would be hard to argue that there was another Canadian band with as much pop culture clout from 1996 to 2000. That five-year run put them on the map and helped them become a pop band that a generation will hold in their memories as time marches on.
That nostalgia, the love for the band and the songs in the times and places that they existed in my life, that’s why I will always hold onto the love I have from the band as a fan.
With as many albums, singles, hits, and fan favourites as Barenaked Ladies have released in their career; it’s easy to find inconsistencies in the personal favourites of BNL fans.
So, when you look at my Top 10 list, you shouldn’t be surprised if I’ve missed one of yours, or included a song that you might not particularly like. Heck, we might have the same 10 choices, but in vastly different orders.
Please leave a comment telling me what you feel I got right – and wrong.
My Top 10 Barenaked Ladies Songs
10. Pinch Me
9. Jane
8. Break Your Heart
7. Blame It On Me
6. Enid
5. Lovers In A Dangerous Time
4. The Old Apartment
3. Call And Answer
2. Brian Wilson
1. What A Good Boy
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