History Music / BarenakedLadies

!!This band shows examples of:

** "You + Me vs The World" references: Series/{{MacGyver|1985}}, [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Wesley Crusher]], and [[WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls Buttercup]].

* YokoOhNo: Discussed and inverted in "Be My Yoko Ono", which not only includes a verse indicating the narrator's preference for true love over "musical genius", but also openly criticizes people who blame Yoko One for the breakup of Music/TheBeatles.

* ThrowItIn: The phrase "But not a real green dress, that's cruel from "If I Had $1000000" (see IronicEcho) was sung by Steven Page as a joke when they recorded the basic track (the band recording 15 live takes of "If..." during the ''Gordon'' sessions). The band liked it so much they decided to keep it in the song.

* StalkerWithACrush

* BilingualBonus: A line in "Maybe Not" has the Dutch curse "donder maar op". roughly translated to "Fuck off", so it triples as both a PrecisionFStrike and GettingCrapPastTheRadar.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar:
** ''Born On A Pirate Ship'' is named after a childhood attempt at this; try saying the album name while sticking your tongue out and pinching it.
** The song "Go Home" has the line "And if you think of her as UsefulNotes/CatherineTheGreat, then you should be the horse that helps her meet her fate". [[note]] referring to the [[NeverLiveItDown oft-repeated]] [[UrbanLegend legend]] that she was killed attempting to make love to a [[BestialityIsDepraved horse]].[[/note]]

[[caption-width-right:350: [[NonIndicativeName Wait a minute.]] [[TheInternetIsForPorn This isn't what I came here for.]] [[note]] The current lineup. L-R: Tyler Stewart (drums/vocals), Kevin Hearn (keyboards/vocals), Ed Robertson (Lead vocals/guitar), Jim Creegan (bass/vocals).[[/note]]]]

** Music/{{Rush}}'s "Tom Sawyer" and "The Spirit of Radio", and Music/VinceGuaraldi's "Linus and Lucy" are sampled and a reference to "[[Music/LedZeppelin Stairway to Heaven]]" is made during "Grade 9".
** The Housemartins' "Happy Hour" is referenced in "Hello City"

[[caption-width-right:350: [[NonIndicativeName Wait a minute.]] [[TheInternetIsForPorn This isn't what I came here for.]]]]

* CanadaEh: They were born in Canada.

** From the song Jane... first verse: "Still dazzled by her smile while I shop there"; last verse: "Still dazzled by her smile while I shoplift there".

** “Break Your Heart” has Steven, now singing from the woman’s point of view, scream in anger after the line “my heart will be fine, but please stop wasting my time! Aagh, Aaargh! AAAAAARGH!”

** "You + Me vs The World" references: {{MacGyver}}, [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Wesley Crusher]], and [[WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls Buttercup]].

* YourCheatingHeart
** "Off The Hook" is sung in the second person to someone (presumably a woman) who's male partner cheated on them and wants to be forgiven, until their partner catches them calling the person they were unfaithful with, ultimately blowing their second chance.
** The third and forth verses of "Call and Answer" imply that the "crazy, messed up things" that the other person does is [[AbsenceMakesTheHeartGoYonder cheating on the narrator when he's not home]].

* AlbumTitleDrop: While not a lyric, per se, the last word uttered on ''Gordon'', in the outtakes tacked onto the end of ''Crazy'', is the title.

* AlbumTitleDrop: While not a lyric, per se, the last word uttered on ''Gordon'' is the title.

* AnimatedMusicVideo

* [[AscendedFanboy Ascended Fan]]: Steven Page is an avid fan of Music/TheMountainGoats and has performed with them during the Ships and Dip cruise.
** Similarily Kevin Hearn is a fan of relatively unknown Dutch band ''Nits'' and has played with them at their 30 year celebration in 2004, also getting their drummer Rob Kloet to play on his solo efforts.
* BadSanta: His elves have a few grievances to discuss in "Elf's Lament"
* BaitAndSwitch: Their cover of "Jingle Bells," which begins as a sombre piano ballad before unexpectedly bursting into the much more uptempo version we all know, only getting more and more ridiculous as it goes along.
* TheBandMinusTheFace: Following Steven Page's departure.

* BrickJoke: "I'd buy you a fur coat but not a real fur coat, that's cruel." In the next verse, they sing "I'd buy you a green dress, but not a real green dress, [[BrickJoke that's cruel]]."

* CallingTheOldManOut: "Great Provider".

* CanadaEh

* ConversationalTroping: "Box Set" seems to discuss just about every music trope that an aging musician past his prime will inevitably run into.

* ADateWithRosiePalms: One possible interpretation of "It's Only Me (The Wizard of Magicland)."

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: ''Born On A Pirate Ship'' is named after a childhood attempt at this; try saying the album name while sticking your tongue out and pinching it.

* GranolaGirl: "Alternative Girlfriend" has shades of this.

* IronicEcho / MeaningfulEcho: The line "You're the last thing on my mind" in the song "Tonight Is The Night I Fell Asleep At The Wheel" goes from meaning "I'm not thinking about you" to something completely different by the end of the song.

** From the song Jane... first verse: "Still dazzled by her smile while I shop there"; last verse: "Still dazzled by her smile while I shoplift there"

[[caption-width-right:350: [[NonIndicativeName Wait a minute]]. [[TheInternetIsForPorn This isn't what I came here for.]]]]