About Barenaked Ladies
Barenaked Ladies is a Canadian rock band formed in 1988 in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough, Ontario. The band developed a following in Canada, with their self-titled 1991 cassette becoming the first independent release to be certified gold in Canada. They reached mainstream success in Canada when their debut with Reprise Records, Gordon, featuring the singles "If I Had $1000000" and "Brian Wilson", was released in 1992. The band's popularity subsequently spread into the US, beginning with versions of "Brian Wilson" and "The Old Apartment" off their 1996 live album Rock Spectacle, followed by their fourth studio album Stunt, their breakout success in 1998. The album featured their highest-charting hit, "One Week", as well as "It's All Been Done" and "Call and Answer". Their fifth album, Maroon, featuring the lead single "Pinch Me", also charted highly. In the 2010s the band became well-known for creating and performing the theme song for the sitcom The Big Bang Theory.
Initially a duo of Ed Robertson and Steven Page, the band quickly grew to a quintet, adding brothers Jim and Andy Creeggan and Tyler Stewart by 1990. Andy Creeggan left the band in 1995 and was replaced by Kevin Hearn. Page left in 2009, reducing the group to a quartet.
The band's style has evolved throughout their career, and their music, which began as exclusively acoustic, quickly grew to encompass a mixture of pop, rock, hip hop and rap. The band's live performances feature comedic banter and freestyle rapping between songs. They have won multiple Juno Awards and have been nominated for two Grammy Awards. The group has sold over 15 million albums and singles and were inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in March 2018.
Barenaked Ladies began as the duo of Ed Robertson and Steven Page. The two went to school together since Robertson was in grade four at Churchill Heights Public School but were not friends until they met each other at a Harvey's restaurant after a Peter Gabriel concert. Each was pleased to find that the other liked Gabriel; they began talking and found they had many of the same tastes. The two became friends and bonded further when they were both counsellors at Interprovincial Music Camp located in McKellar, Ontario. Page was impressed by Robertson's ability to harmonize when they began playing songs together.
Page had an extra ticket to a Bob Dylan concert at Exhibition Stadium and asked Robertson to join him. Bored, they amused each other by pretending they were rock critics and inventing histories about the Dylan band. They also invented fictional band names, one of which was "Barenaked Ladies."
On another front, Robertson had agreed to perform with his cover band in a battle of the bands at Nathan Phillips Square for the Second Harvest food bank, but the band broke up. A week before the show, Robertson received a phone call to confirm the gig, so he improvised the band had changed its name to "Barenaked Ladies." He then called Page and asked if he wanted to do the gig; Page reportedly could not believe Robertson had given that name. They arranged three rehearsals and missed them all. Instead of competing at the show on 1 October 1988, while the other bands set up they played every song they both knew. The show went well, and they were invited to open for another established local band, The Razorbacks, at the Horseshoe Tavern the coming weekend. Missing three more scheduled rehearsals, they improvised their set once again. These acts set a precedent for Barenaked Ladies concerts, which still almost always contain improvised raps, songs, and banter.
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