The Redemptive Barenaked Ladies Blogpost

When I was 7 or 8 years old, I loved that one song on the radio about the Chinese chicken. From there, within a span of 10 years, we bought every Barenaked Ladies (aka "BnL") album ever released (and apparently still do, right Callie?). They were my favorite from age 8 to age 16. 

For all you people out there who like listening to different artists but don't care for going into weird underground crap, I guarantee you that diving into BnL is a safe, memorable, worthwhile experience. You will learn that they have storytelling skills. GREAT live show (from personal experience). Their unpopular stuff is often better than the singles. They are very diverse/talented musicians. And Steve Page has THE VOICE OF AN ANGEL. 

(watch video of him nailing 'O Holy Night' below)  

:(

In the past few years, the band has faded and my music taste is a million miles away (heartless towards past favorite "One Week"). Steven Page got in trouble with cocaine and left the band. Their next album sucked. 2013's Grinning Streak sucked less, but dang, I miss Steve.
I write this post out of redemption. Both for the band and for myself. I still look back at all their music in fondness and reminiscence. But most of my siblings think I'm a jerk when it comes to music taste. But here I claim that there is still some goodness in BnL. I now redeem both my critical attitude toward the band and redeem the band's career with this list of great/my favorite BnL songs!

Canada X10

Pre-list notes:
--My favorite Bnl albums: #1 Gordon (1992) #2 Maroon (2000) #3 I don't really care...
--Honorable mention: "Easy," "Bull in a China Shop," "I Can I Will I Do," "Jane"
--The top of this list is basically the Steve show.
--OK, screw it, I still secretly love Gordon.

**MY 25 FAVORITE BARENAKED LADIES SONGS**

#25 "Something You'll Never Find" Indiana, bandannas, bananas... cue the trumpet.
#24 "Helicopters" The story is totally fake, but it's really cool.
#23 "Sound Of Your Voice" Better than most new Weezer songs. + GREAT video.
#22 "Enid" Great horns section.
#21 "Pinch Me" I think they just made this song for money. But it definitely worked. + Cool outro.
#20 "War On Drugs" We had no idea how literal this song was when we heard it, did we?
#19 "Hello City" Ah, the swingin' sounds of Gordon! I wish the band stuck with that.
#18 "Straw Hat And Old Dirty Hank" Great fiddle playing + Cheeky stalker story = Clinches the list.
#17 "Light Up My Room" A suburban boy's love song with random imagery.
#16 "Testing 1, 2, 3" Thank goodness "Another Postcard' wasn't this album's only single, good grief...
#15 "Off The Hook" Great storytelling. And very sad. The production and themes of Maroon shine here. Affairs. Bloopy keyboards. Catchy. Cool finalizing guitar part.  
#14 "Lovers In A Dangerous Time" Any of y'all heard the original Bruce Cockburn version of this song? It's good! And BnL's cover takes a near-opposite approach. 
#13 "The Flag" I love the cello here. Beautiful, freaking depressing song.
#12 "The Old Apartment" The band's first US top-100 hit! Great riff; near-classic. Cool story to boot. And of course... Steve... 
#11 "Break Your Heart" So the lyrics here are pretty stupid. But you gotta love that sax part! And Steven's vocal work on the climax is probably his all-time best. 
#10 "Falling For The First Time" Maroon had energy. Ed's songwriting isn't always my favorite, but this is a lyrically cute love song with some instrumental chops. 
#9 "When I Fall" A love song where a businessman ponders death. My kinda music.
#8 "Wrap Your Arms Around Me" Great track. Do not dis this track.
#7 "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/We Three Kings" (w/ Sarah McLachlan) F'REAL THO.
#6 "Serendipity" Kevin only wrote a few songs for the band and I loved them all. This particular one has this very basic, alt-rock, joyful, summertime, nostalgic feel to it. Cool outro to boot.
#5 "Call And Answer" Beautiful song. Excellent lyrics. Great 90s alt-rock guitars. Love the piano, too. "REBUILD! REBUILD!" 
#4 "What A Good Boy" Possibly BnL's greatest lyrical triumph. This one still gives me the chills. I guess it's just a self-loathing love song, but dang, it's a good one.
#3 "Too Little Too Late" The band's best album opener. An excellent power pop riff. Heavy hand claps. A lyrical response to the band's unfortunate road to mainstream success. Yes boys, even now, you can be taken seriously.
#2 "If I Had $1,000,000" Here we have the band's comedy they'd carry with them the rest of their career at its best. Everyone knows the words. An All-Canadian Classic. + "Dijon ketchup" should be a thing.
#1 "Brian Wilson" The Barenaked Ladies are not just some band that crank out jokes to 4-chords, OK? This song has some humor in it. It also has some darkness. It's about an artist whose miles ahead of them. But for a few minutes here, they come close. A worthy, unique tribute.

Always.