Ed Robertson and Steven Page were teenage friends in Toronto whose irreverent band, The Barenaked Ladies, was gathering a cult following. College radio and alternative favorites, the band was denied permission to play in concert in their hometown in 1992 because the then-mayor thought their name inappropriate for a city-sponsored concert. Redemption took years, but eventually the band not only played that concert, but was awarded keys to the city.
Rock Spectacle, a live album, was the first breakout hit album for The Barenaked Ladies, but it was their follow-up, Stunt, which launched them into the mainstream. Fueled by the hit One Week, the album debut at #3 on the Billboard album chart – still the highest ranking album the band has released to date although two other albums reached the Top 10. The band has also had spotty success on the singles chart. One
Week eventually topped the charts, but Pinch Me was their only other trip to the mainstream Top 40.
A heavy tour band with a huge fan base, The Barenaked Ladies were musically relevant, but enjoyed a degree of personal obscurity that few top bands muster. Page told Rolling Stone in 2000, “I really cherish the anonymity, at least, that I enjoy in Canada. I mean, I live in Toronto. People in my neighborhood know where I live and they don’t care.”
Winning multiple Juno awards, the Canadian equivalent of a Grammy, as well as receiving a Grammy nomination may have changed that anonymity. The band is also likely to become more well known as 2005 unfolds. Fox Television announced in September 2004 that it was putting a Barenaked Ladies variety show into development. Meanwhile, the band was tapped to score an Ontario version of Shakespeare’s As You Like It, which has been updated to the 1960s.
The band opened 2005 playing in the Canada for Asia concert for tsunami relief with the likes of Bryan Adams and Celine Dion and riding the success of Barenaked for the Holidays, the holiday album they released at the end of 2004.
–G. Bounacos