While 90's pop rock is generally characterized by a pleasant, but fairly straightforward "alternative" take on adult rock (enter the Gin Blossoms, the Wallflowers, Counting Crows, etc.), it did undeniably have some bright spots. After all, good pop music quite simply is good pop music, regardless of the aesthetic it's packaged in. One of the brightest of these bright spots (careful, you may hate me for saying it) was the ironically named Barenaked Ladies. Strip away the initial aesthetic, awkward fat dudes playing tongue in cheek wordplay oriented pop, and you will see that in their wake the group actually left some well rounded, and in fact straight up excellent records. Which doesn't happen terribly often in the scheme of (seemingly) manufactured mainstream pop. Two albums stick out in particular, 1998's 'Stunt' and 2000's 'Maroon'. And as much as I fancy myself an open minded purveyor of the musical collective, I'm not gonna lie, when I went to see them on a Saturday night, those two albums were all I really wanted to hear.
Let me give a dollop of background to the event for reference: the place is Council Bluffs, Iowa, the kickoff town of Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa (don't ask me how I got mixed up in this, I don't even own a bike). The ride consists of 7 days, about 500 miles, almost 12,000 cyclists, and one kick-off concert: the Barenaked Ladies. Not a bad pull for the nature of the event (I mean, biking isn't exactly rock'n'roll lifestyle). You may argue that it is merely a testament to where the Ladies have fallen to in the world, and I would humbly grant you your opinion. Either way, there I was amongst a couple thousand cyclists hoping to get some wordy, pop infused sonic memorabilia of my early highschool days. I was dissapointed.
Granted, the band has put out four studio albums since 'Maroon', so maybe my expectations to hear the stuff I know and love shouldn't have been so high; but like I said, I did not go into this one with an open mind. I heard five songs I truly enjoyed over an hour and a half long set, and you could probably name at least three of them: "If I Had $1,000,000", "Pinch Me", "One Week", "It's All Been Done" and "Falling For The First Time". What made this unbearable were the upwards of six semi-improvised comedy excursions focusing on biking, ribs, and the security guard Shawn, that replaced the other songs I would have enjoyed. After hearing the same sing songy rib jokes for the fourth time around, and coming to the realization that because of this I was not going to hear the music I wanted to, I grew impatient. Even "One Week" got watered down to a jokingly played country-esque number infused with, of all cliches, the riff from "Dueling Banjos". The newer songs played, frankly, were not as good as the older material. A few lived up, but the set quickly grew tired.
What I saw on the stage that night was a band who has submitted to being confined by the stereotypes they are associated with, and ultimately grown exhausted by the limited musical bounds these have allowed them to operate in. Yes, I think the Barenaked Ladies have gotten tired of being the Barenaked Ladies. So what do they do? Instead of playing songs which in their mouth have long gone stale, and not feeling the freedom to expand their sound beyond its original confines, they have chosen to populate their shows with jokes and in the studio put out childrens albums. Ultimately, it was a fun night with friends, but if you want to see a band who is excited about and completely engaged in the music they are making, the Barenaked Ladies will have to get crossed off that list.
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