The Barenaked Ladies are Canada’s most iconic band

Published on July 18, 2023 by David Wylie

Photo: David Wylie/OJ

When a Barenaked Ladies song randomly comes on the radio, I (half) jokingly remark they are Canada’s most iconic band.

People often laugh, then ask if I’m kidding. After that we’ll argue to varying degrees of seriousness over whether it’s actually The Tragically Hip, Rush, or—god forbid—Nickleback.

Seriously though… suspend your belief for a moment and conjure a world where the Barenaked Ladies never broke up and front-man Steven Page didn’t have an embarrassing cocaine conviction. The band would still be smashing out international hits with their uniquely quirky Canadian vibe. In such a world, nobody would argue over whether they were Canada’s greatest musical export. It would be obvious.

Over a decade after they parted ways, there are few songs by Canadian artists as recognizable as ‘If I Had a Million Dollars,’ ‘One Week,’ or even TV’s the Big Bang Theory theme.

Sadly, in our unfortunate timeline, the band is divided, performing as two separate entities. Page has gone solo and the rest of them are masquerading as the “Barenaked Ladies.” As such, they just can’t harness that je ne sais quoi of musical magic they once had as a cohesive unit.

A little light still remains though, and it was beautiful as an Okanagan sunset at Tinhorn Creek Vineyards’ intimate amphitheater in the South Okanagan during Page’s nostalgic July performance.

Photo: David Wylie/OJ

Likeable, offbeat, and polished, Page was in fine form, high-fiving the audience from the stage. Dressed smartly in a grey suit, despite the evening heat, he held fast against shouts from a somewhat irreverent audience calling for him to “take it off!”

The two-and-a-half-hour set—without a break—included hit after hit. In his distinct voice, Page opened with ‘It’s all been done,’ and ran through a number of classic Barenaked Ladies songs (‘Jane,’ ‘What a Good Boy,’ ‘Break Your Heart,’ ‘Enid’) before closing with ‘Brian Wilson.’

“I try to focus on the most depressing ones,” he told the crowd about his song selection process.

Page also hit high notes from his solo albums, including ‘A New Shore’ and ‘Gravity.’

Steven Page tonight at @TinhornCreek ? pic.twitter.com/11LJkjdRkD

— David Wylie (@okanaganz) July 16, 2023

An entertaining performer, Page earned a lot of laughs from the crowd with his offbeat humour. At one point, he earnestly told those eating in Tinhorn’s Miradoro restaurant, which has a view of the stage, to look away because the show wasn’t intended for them.

Early on in the night he addressed the elephant in the room, saying he feels like he’s going through a second midlife crisis.

“My first was not a great success. You may have read about it in the papers,” he quipped.

For those who didn’t read the headlines at the time, the Juno-award winning singer was arrested in 2008 in upstate New York, along with his girlfriend and her roommate, for drug possession.

That may be a badge of honour for some rock and rollers, but it was the beginning of the end for the Barenaked Ladies.

Page’s mugshot made him look just like any other musician mired in pitfalls of fame. It was the antithesis of what the band had represented: naive carefree innocence of youth.

At their peak, the Barenaked Ladies were a group of geeky guys making surprisingly catchy music as a band with a goofy name.

They made it feel like any regular Canadian could be a rock star. And that’s iconic.

Photo: David Wylie/OJ

Steven Page’s setlist from his Tinhorn Creek performance

The 2.5-hour set covered music spanning from the Barenaked Ladies’ first commercial release, Gordon in 1992, to Page’s 2022 solo album, Excelsior.

Not everyone agrees that the Barenaked Ladies are Canada’s most iconic band

Are the Barenaked Ladies Canada’s most iconic band?

— David Wylie (@okanaganz) July 18, 2023

Writing an opinion piece about how the Barenaked Ladies are Canada's most iconic band. Prove me wrong.

— David Wylie (@okanaganz) July 18, 2023