Thanks, That Was Fun

Important music news, especially if you're Canadian and understand the history of pop music in this country. If you haven't heard already - which you should have by now, if you are of the aforementioned demographic (but I understand if you're busy; I know I damn well am) - the Barenaked Ladies have received a little shake-up in their membership. Or Steven Page left.

After 20 years as a songwriting duo, Page and Ed Robertson will no longer be dually writing songs anymore. The break comes with no (announced) hard feelings, and everyone is (officially) happily going their separate ways. More importantly, the Barenaked Ladies are not disbanding (I made a punny). Ed, Kevin Hearn, Jim Creeggan, and Tyler Stewart will still be going into the studio in April, touring later this year, all that.

But this is a big deal. And you can see that this band is a big part of my listening life here. They're one of the first bands I was made aware of when hanging out with my friends, around 12, when I think people start defining and internalizing their tastes in music. Listening to "Grade 9" when I was in Grade 7 didn't seem unusual to me - these were fun songs, played by fun guys. BNL are an institution in the history of Canadian pop music, and it's a shame to see one of the frontmen signing off.

This is where I want to make something clear. Page is not(or was not) the lead singer of the Barenaked Ladies. There were two lead singers - now there will be one, even though I'm predicting now that Kevin's role as a singer and songwriter will become even more pronounced in this new environment. But I've heard a lot of mention of BNL losing their leader, and I just don't think that's true. A major contributor? Absolutely. But I look forward.

Page has a new solo project out, called The Vanity Project. It's been largely co-written with British songwriter Stephen Duffy. This is good news, because here are some of the Page-Duffy contributions to BNL in the 90's:

I'll Be That Girl
Alcohol
Call and Answer
I Live With It Every Day
Jane
Alternative Girlfriend

3 of these were included in 2001's Disc One: All Their Greatest Hits. And a good friend of mine has highly recommended the album. On the other side, Robertson and Hearn have contributed their fair share to the catalogue, both individually and in partnerships with Page and each other. So I'm not worried about output from either side.

But this is huge, a point I've pretty much beaten into the ground. Jian Ghomeshi, host of CBC Radio's Q, took time out of his show on February 25th to underscore the gravity of the band's announcement. I think a lot of us, whether we love BNL or simply accept them, took them for granted as the band that would never die. And I'm not going to get hypocrtical now and decide to lament the loss of the band as a whole. But this is a fundamental shift in their make-up.

Anyway, don't mourn for too long. They're on amicable terms still, Steven left to pursue other things rather than as the result of a violent falling-out, and we can all keep our fingers crossed that there will be a reunion, however fleeting it may be.

For listening... well. Listen to all your favourite BNL tunes, from the wacky to the political. But I will take this opportunity to be poignant.

Don't let them see you cry.