Today's song comes from the Canadian band Barenaked Ladies, who after years of being underground favorites in America went all the way to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with their single "One Week" in the fall of 1998. The following year, the group contributed a song to the soundtrack for the TV animated series King Of The Hill; the result, "Get In Line", went to #28 on Billboard magazine's older-skewing Adult Top-40 radio chart. That was followed by a re-release of their older single "If I Had A Million Dollars" from their Live Spectacle concert album, which also popped on to the Adult Top-40 list at #37.
Later in 2000, the band returned with their next studio album, Maroon. The lead single from the set was "Pinch Me", written by their co-lead singes Steven Page and Ed Robertson, and produced by Don Was. A much more subtle song than "One Week"'s manic stream of consciousness, yet still retaining their trademark quirkiness. The verses go at a middling pace like a dream, until you get to the rapid-fire chorus with such killer lines as "Then you try to scream but it only comes out as a yawn" and "When you realize that a guy my size might take a while" which just get into the brain. The production is laid back as Robertson delivers his lines with a straight face, and in the music video, he's even cloned in a crazy fast food shop...
"Pinch Me" became the Barenaked Ladies' second and so far last top-40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in November of 2000. The song was their biggest hit on the Adult Top-40 format, spending six weeks at #2, while making it to #30 on the Alternative Rock radio list and #2 on the Adult Album Alternative (or "Triple A") rock format chart. Internationally, the single climbed to #4 in their native Canada. The Maroon album, released in September of that year, peaked at #5 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, going on to sell over a million copies. At the Grammy Awards in 2001, "Pinch Me" was nominated for best Pop Duo/Group with Vocal Performance, losing out to Steely Dan for "Cousin Dupree".
The second single from Maroon, album opener "Too Little Too Late", a bright uptempo track that had Page on lead, went to #13 on the Adult Top-40 chart, and #11 on the Triple-A rock format, but stalled down at #86 on the pop Hot 100. That was followed by "Falling For The First Time", which matches the frenetic energy of their last album's "robbed hit" "It's All Been Done", but sadly just missed the Adult Top-40 top ten at #11, while missing the pop and rock radio lists altogether. Both of these deserved much better (as I said about the follow-ups on their last set).
After a greatest hits release in 2001, The band returned in 2003 with their sixth studio album on Reprise Records, Everything To Everyone. While the album scored their third top ten success on the Billboard 200 at #10, it only stayed on the list for ten weeks, failing to even go gold. The lead single from the set, "Another Postcard (Chimps)", got to #9 on the Adult Top-40 radio chart, and #14 on the Triple-A radio list, but stalled down at #82 on the pop Hot 100, their most recent placing there. The song did hit the Canadian sales top-40 at #28. After the second try, "Testing 1,2,3" did make the Triple-A top ten at #10, and #19 on the Adult Top-40 stations, the Ladies departed from Reprise.
Forming their own label, Desperation Records, the group released a seasonal album, Barenaked For The Holidays, in 2004, as well as a companion EP for Hanukkah two years later, and a one-off album of Shakespeare verses set to music. They finally re-emerged with a new studio album, Barenaked Ladies Are Me, in 2006, along with a reissued Barenaked Ladies Are Men a year later. Lead single "Easy" just missed the top ten on the Triple-A Rock chart at #11, while "bubbling under" the pop Hot 100 at #122.
Snacktime! a children's album, was released in 2008, but it would be the last set to include Page, whose publicized arrest for cocaine possession precipitated his parting with the band. He would release four wide-release albums, with 2010's Page One the most notable, spinning of the single "Indecision" which was a minor hit on the American Triple-A Rock format at #25.
Meanwhile, Robertson, Jim Creggan, Tyler Stewart, and Kevin Hearn continued as a foursome, releasing All In Good Time later that year. The first single, "You Run Away", was their last American radio hit to date, reaching #21 on the Adult Top-40 chart and #19 on Triple-A Rock radio, and made the Canadian top-40 at #25. But during that time they were better known in the U.S. for recording the theme song to the hit TV show The Big Bang Theory.
Signing with Vanguard Records, the Barenaked Ladies put out Grinning Streak in 2013, which returned them to the Billboard 200 top ten at #10. The band released two more studio albums and a live set, BNL Rocks Red Rocks, which was their most recent Billboard 200 appearace at #101. Going back to their renamed Raisin' Records indie label, their most recent release, Detour De Force, arrived in 2021.
In 2018, the band were inducted into the Canadian Music Hall Of Fame, and reunited with Page for a one-off performance at the country's Juno Awards.
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Here's the group performing "Pinch Me" at Farm Aid 2000...
...and from a year later in concert for a pay-per-view special and on their Barelaked Nadies video...
In 2007, Robertson did a "Bathroom Sessions" of the song, predicting the COVID-19 quarantine performances running rampant in the next decade...
Also that year from the band's last tour with Page...
Finally, speaking of COVID, the remaining foursome did a quarantine version of "Pinch Me" themselves in 2020...
Up tomorrow: Boyband plays with romantic geometry.
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