Retro Video of the Week: "Brian Wilson" by Barenaked Ladies

Tomorrow marks the 30th anniversary of Canadian pop rockers Barenaked Ladies' debut studio album, Gordon.  The album did quite well in the band's native Canada, topping the Canadian album chart for eight weeks and eventually was certified diamond in Canada.

In the U.S., sales didn't really take off until after the band released their 1996 live album Rock Spectacle -- which was one of those albums that it seemed like everyone in my dorm had.  Gordon eventually went gold in the U.S.

The album contains some of the band's most beloved songs, like "If I Had $1,000,000," "Brian Wilson," "Enid," and "What a Good Boy," all of which were Top 40 hits in Canada, with the first three reaching the Top 20 and "Enid" going to #2.

I'm going with "Brian Wilson" because it's one of my favorite BNL songs and because I love Brian Wilson.  Steven Page, one of the band's two lead singers and the lead singer of this song, started writing the song in 1990, and it's an obvious ode to Wilson, but also kind of a commentary on the dark side of Wilson's life, like when he had some mental health issues and was basically being held captive by psychologist Eugene Landy (who is referenced in the song).  Musically, the song starts slow and acoustic and then busts into a perfect little early '90s alt-pop song.