God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen / We Three KingsBarenaked Ladies

Barenaked Ladies

Barenaked Ladies is a Canadian pop rock band that has sold more than 15 million albums and won eight Juno Awards. The group began in Scarborough, Ontario in 1988 while Steven Page and Ed Robertson were counselors at a music camp. When Robertson’s band dissolved, he learned all of Page’s songs and the two began performing together at the camp. The duo originally came up with Barenaked Ladies as a one-time name for a charity gig, but then decided to keep it.

BNL continued performing, becoming known for creating songs on the spot based on song names as requested by the audience. When comedy troupe Corky and the Juice Pigs were impressed by BNL’s demo, they offered the duo an opening slot on a regional tour, then a national tour in 1989. For a hometown gig late that year, the duo invited camp friends Andy & Jim Creeggan to play percussion and bass and immediately realized “from the first note” it was the new sound they wanted. However, Andy Creeggan soon took a leave of absence and the band found drummer Tyler Stewart at the Waterloo Busker Festival to replace him.

Their rise to success began when songs from their demo tapes like “If I Had $1,000,000” and “Brian Wilson” began to receive radio play. Then an impromptu performance of “Be My Yoko Ono” inside Toronto’s Speaker’s Corner video booth aired on both CityTV and MuchMusic. However, it was when Toronto city officials decided BNL’s name was too offensive for their New Years Eve performance that they got massive national exposure, including the cover of The Toronto Star and mentions on national TV news outlets. Their self-released Yellow Tape sold 18,000 copies over the next month and would go on to be the first independent release to achieve platinum status (100,000 copies sold) in Canada. During these events, Andy Creeggan had returned and began mixing keyboards in with his (now-additional) percussion.