I’ve been a Barenaked Ladies fan for my entire life, never getting tired of their music.  As my friends and even family have grown tired of hearing me gush about Ed’s “Bathroom Sessions”, their funny music videos and other various things, I’ve been looking for a way to show some sort of gratitude to the musicians that have impacted me so greatly. I realize that famous people with millions of dollars along with countless fans don’t have the time to listen to the story of a random fan, so I thought this would be a good place to share it.

 

It really doesn’t matter if anyone replies to my post or even reads it, I just want to organize my thoughts on the subject in hopes that some can relate.

 

 

I’ll keep this as condensed as possible, I promise. My name is Molly (left in the pic),  I’m 20 years old and I live in Columbus, Ohio. Last year, I was taking an English course at my local community college. My new-age, hippie style professor asked us to write an essay about a random childhood memory that wasn’t necessarily significant, but always stuck with us. After doing some thinking, I remembered the perfect example.

 

I was four or five years old, playing with my toys in the family garage while my father drank beer and smoked Black n Milds after a long day at work. He popped a CD into his car stereo and we sat there together listening to the album Rock Spectacle.

 

This is honestly one of my earliest memories. It was late on a summer evening, I remember the smell of smoke and the sound of lawn mowers humming accompanying the CD. Of course we sang “If I Had a Million Dollars” at the top of our lungs, my Dad using his hilarious but slightly unsettling impression of PeeWee Herman trying to sing. I didn’t know who the hell Brian Wilson was and why he was always lying in bed, but it didn’t matter to me. The sound of Steven and Ed’s voices were comforting and the little stories and jokes at the end of the tracks made me laugh. I didn’t even understand the inappropriate title of the band until I was much older, and then found them to be even more likeable and funny.

 

Maybe it’s due to the nostalgic aspect of it, but Rock Spectacle will always be my favorite album of all time, played by my favorite band.

 

 

Even today listening to completely different albums from the group, they are in my opinion the most musically talented band I’ve ever heard. I think another reason I’m so attached to  BNL is because I can tell they are genuinely good people. Ed Robertson is a musical genius as well as a kindhearted person. The way they all supported Kevin through his battle with cancer was so inspiring. As I grew older, their positive song lyrics helped me get through my difficult battle with depression and anxiety and showed me that it wasn’t always going to be that way. 

 

I could write an entire book about BNL, but really have no intentions of boring anyone to tears with my touchy-feely bullshit! I’ve never had the kind of passion for an artist’s music as I have had for this band. If you’ve made it this far into reading this, thank you. If you think I’m crazy, that’s fine as well.

 

I plan on getting married in a few years and can’t wait to have “Lovers in a Dangerous Time” played as the first song. I know that’s incredibly cheesy, but I don’t care. Anyway, thanks again! All I would like is for my incredibly long story/incoherent rant to make one person smile. 

 

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