Gordon

When Barenaked Ladies’ debut album was first released, the cover image was slightly misleading: it showed what appeared to be a bunch of extremely goofy 15-year-old kids pulling faces. What was really misleading (apart from the fact that they were, in fact, several years older than they looked) was the goofiness. Yes, the album featured some silly novelty songs like “If I Had $1,000,000” and “Be My Yoko Ono,” and the band was famous for equally silly onstage shenanigans, often involving boxes of macaroni and cheese – but Gordon also showed them to be remarkably talented musicians and, when they wanted to be, composers of serious and beautiful songs. Lead vocals and songwriting duties were shared by Steven Page and Ed Robertson, but most of the band contributed tight and dense vocal harmonies and virtuoso musicianship. Page in particular was a remarkably gifted melodicist, and when he split with the band in 2009 they never fully recovered their mojo.