The Mini-Listen #3
Published October 16, 2003
"Another Postcard" - Barenaked Ladies (Everything To Everyone)
I'm sure these guys are talented musicians...but I just don't get 'em. There's been so much positive press about them that I always wonder "Is It Me?" Nope. It's just not working.
The only song of theirs that I've come close to liking is "It's All Been Done" (from Stunt), which reminds me of XTC's "Peter Pumpkinhead". And every time I hear a Barenaked Ladies song I'm reminded of the silly yodeling on the Focus' "Hocus Pocus"....especially when they do that "white-guy-sorta-rap" thing. Come to think of it, that's what happens when I hear They Might Be Giants.
Oh well.
Everything To Everyone comes out on October 21st. Get it if you don't remember who Focus was.
(First posted on Mark Is Cranky)
Mark Saleski is a writer and music obsessive based out of the Monadnock region of New Hampshire. On his best day, he hopes to channel the ghosts of Lester Bangs and Jack Kerouac. He spends the hours of 9:32PM to 1:37AM carving out music reviews and essays for Jazz.com, Blogcritics.org and other publications.
- The Mini-Listen #3
- Published: October 16, 2003
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- Section: Music
- Writer: Mark Saleski
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the one great thing about the mitsubishi ad was how it used the guy/girl music stereotype (or at least the one i have in my mind)...which is that a guy would definitely be the one to learn all of those words...while the guys didn't care and just sorta had a good time making fun of the dorky chorus.
Check out how I summed up my feelings about this commercial earlier this year.
The only Barenaked Ladies song I like is The Old Apartment, which came out while I was helping a friend deal with the psychological impact of leaving her abusive husband.
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I'm not a huge fan of theirs. I think they've got some great songs, but a lot of mediocre stuff as well. I actually tend to prefer their newer stuff, which I'm sure is blasphemy to hardcore fans, but the early stuff is just a little too on the goofy side (and yet they have some stunningly strong songs on those albums too.) Take Gordon for example: "Grade 9" makes me cringe. "Hello City" makes me wiggle with joy. "What a Good Boy" gives me chills. "If I Had $1,000,000" I'm just sick of. Maybe You Should Drive was much stronger, and is probably the best all-around album of theirs. My biggest problem with them is they tend to rely on melodrama for "depth." Sometimes it works, sometimes it's just too much. That's the Ladies in a nutshell to me, actually.
I'd be a happy man if I never, EVER hear "One Week" again - the song drove me nuts, and then a year or two Mitsubishi picked it up and and never stopped using it for their ad campaign featuring way-too-cool yuppies that piss me off. I can't watch that commercial. I can't. It just boils my blood. Even thinking about it boils my blood . . . what can I break around here?!