It was 1992 and I was getting started as a d.j. on my college radio station. A record rep had sent us a debut album by a band called Barenaked Ladies. Good attention grabber, especially for a 19-year-old. But they were fully-clothed men. They were funny. And they were really good.
The album was called Gordon. My friends and I listened to it over and over again. When we heard Barenaked Ladies were coming to Pittsburgh, we were quick to get our tickets. They played a club in the Strip District, which seemed fitting for a band called Barenaked Ladies, although it wasn’t actually a strip club. I’ve seen them many times since then and, to this day, whenever I hear one of their songs on the radio, I’m instantly transported back to the ’90s.
The Canadian band was launched in 1988 by the duo of Ed Robertson and Steven Page, who had gone to school together in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough, Ontario. Eventually, keyboardist Andy Creeggan, bassist Jim Creeggan, and drummer Tyler Stewart filled out the original Barenaked Ladies lineup. Andy left the group in 1996 and was replaced by Kevin Hearn. Steven Page departed in 2009. They continue to record and perform as a quartet.
Fun Fact — Barenaked Ladies wrote and performed the theme song for the hit TV series, The Big Bang Theory, which originally aired from 2007 to 2019 and continues to run in syndication. A full-length version of the song, also known as “The History of Everything,” was released as a single in 2007.
