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**Barenaked Ladies - Stunt: The Quirky Canadians' Masterpiece of Millennial Angst**

★★★★☆

Before Barenaked Ladies became the soundtrack to suburban minivan rides across North America, they were just five goofballs from Toronto with an unfortunate band name and an inexplicable ability to turn neuroses into infectious pop songs. By 1998, when *Stunt* landed with the force of a caffeinated meteor, the band had already proven their worth with two stellar releases that established their peculiar place in the alt-rock ecosystem.

Their 1992 breakthrough *Gordon* was a masterclass in turning social awkwardness into art. Songs like "If I Had $1000000" and "Brian Wilson" showcased Steven Page and Ed Robertson's gift for cramming entire novels worth of character development into three-minute pop confections. The album's success in Canada was so overwhelming that it practically required its own postal code. Then came 1994's *Maybe You Should Drive*, a darker, more introspective effort that proved these weren't just novelty act one-trick ponies. While it didn't match *Gordon*'s commercial heights, it cemented their reputation as serious songwriters who just happened to have a pathological need to make people smile while contemplating existential dread.

*Stunt*, however, was their bid for global domination, and boy, did they nail it. Musically, the album finds the band at their most adventurous, blending their signature acoustic-driven alt-rock with everything from hip-hop beats to orchestral flourishes. It's pop music for people who read too much and worry about everything, delivered with the kind of manic energy that suggests the band consumed nothing but espresso and anxiety for six months straight.

The album's crown jewel is undoubtedly "One Week," a rapid-fire verbal assault that somehow manages to name-check Aquaman, Sailor Moon, and chickity China while maintaining an emotional core about relationship dysfunction. Robertson's tongue-twisting verses became the stuff of karaoke legend, launching a thousand failed attempts by drunk college students trying to keep up with lines like "Gonna make a break and take a fake, I'd like a stinking aching shake." It's simultaneously the smartest dumb song and the dumbest smart song ever recorded.

But *Stunt* isn't a one-hit wonder masquerading as an album. "It's All Been Done" serves up philosophical resignation with a side of irresistible hooks, while "Alcohol" transforms addiction into a surprisingly tender character study disguised as a drinking song. The album's secret weapon might be "Call and Answer," a gorgeous duet with Sarah McLachlan that proves the band could do sincere without sacrificing their essential weirdness. Meanwhile, tracks like "Never Is Enough" and "Some Fantastic" showcase their ability to craft radio-friendly anthems without completely abandoning their indie sensibilities.

The production, helmed by Susan Rogers (Prince's former engineer) and the band themselves, strikes the perfect balance between polish and personality. Every acoustic strum rings clear, every vocal harmony sits perfectly in the mix, and somehow the whole thing sounds both meticulously crafted and effortlessly spontaneous. It's the kind of album that rewards both casual listening and obsessive deep dives into the lyrical minutiae.

*Stunt* catapulted Barenaked Ladies from Canadian curiosities to international sensations, selling over four million copies in the US alone and spawning multiple hit singles. "One Week" spent exactly one week at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, a coincidence so perfect it had to be orchestrated by the pop gods themselves.

Twenty-five years later, *Stunt* remains the band's commercial peak and artistic sweet spot. While subsequent albums have had their moments – and the band has continued touring and recording even after Steven Page's 2009 departure – nothing has quite captured the lightning-in-a-bottle magic of this particular moment. The album exists as a time capsule of late-'90s optimism, when being clever was still cool and sincerity could coexist with irony without anyone calling it problematic.

In an era of manufactured pop and focus-grouped alt-rock, *Stunt* stands as a monument to the power of genuine weirdness and the enduring appeal of really, really good songs performed by really, really likable people. It's the rare album that managed to be both hugely popular and genuinely innovative, proving that sometimes the best