Barenaked Ladies (often abbreviated BNL or occasionally BnL) is a Juno-winning and Grammy-nominated Canadian alternative rock band. The band is composed of Jim Creeggan, Kevin Hearn, Steven Page, Ed Robertson, Tyler Stewart, and formerly Andy Creeggan. They formed in 1988 in Scarborough, Ontario, at the time a suburb of Toronto. They are best known for their hit singles, "One Week", "The Old Apartment", "Pinch Me", "If I Had $1000000" and "Brian Wilson" and for their light-hearted, comedic performance style. The band's trademark at live shows is humorous banter between songs, and improvised raps/songs, both of which are staples at virtually every concert.

Indie origins

Barenaked Ladies began as the duo of Ed Robertson and Steven Page. The two went to school together since Robertson was in grade four (Page was a grade ahead) at Churchill Heights Public School, but were not friends until they ran into each other at a Harvey's restaurant following a Peter Gabriel concert. Each interested 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 Scarborough Schools Music Camp. They would play songs together, and Steve was impressed by Ed's ability to harmonize. When Page had an extra ticket to a Bob Dylan concert that no one wanted, he ran into Robertson at a party. The two attended the concert at Exhibition Stadium (most likely on August 29, 1988 ). Bored by the show, the two turned to amusing each other, pretending they were rock critics, inventing histories and comments about the Dylan band. They also made up various band names; one of which was "Barenaked Ladies".

After six months, Andy Creeggan went on a student exchange trip to Ecuador, and the band was lacking a percussionist. While playing at a buskers' festival in the summer of 1990, they met drummer Tyler Stewart, who took over the position. While Creeggan was gone the band gained some attention when they were winners at the 1990 YTV Achievement Awards. They gained further attention when they squeezed into a small "Speaker's Corner" video booth in Toronto, and performed "Be My Yoko Ono" as well as an ode to Speaker's Corner. After the former song was aired on television it quickly became popular with viewers, and noticeably increased the band's fanbase. Andy Creeggan returned in early 1991 to find that Tyler had taken over the percussion role. This caused some concern for him, and he then moved more toward keyboards, though he still played percussion (usually congas) on some songs. The band quickly embarked upon their first full tour of Canada.