The Bobs
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- This article refers to an a cappella group. For the ride, see The Bobs (rollercoaster); for the weblog awards, see The BOBs (weblog award).
The Bobs are a "new wave" a cappella group founded in San Francisco, California.
The original members met while employed as deliverers of singing telegrams. Instead of covering more traditional doo-wop songs, The Bobs started out with songs like "Helter Skelter" (The Beatles) and "Psycho Killer" (Talking Heads). Although two of their albums are dominated by covers, the overwhelming majority of their repertoire is original, with songs discussing diverse subjects like lunar cattle farming, sleepy bus drivers, bumper stickers, laundry, hurricane-related flooding, graffiti, Oliver North, shopping-mall security guards, celebrity autographs, synaesthesia, post office violence, heart transplants, Heaven's Gate, spontaneous human combustion, turtles, rebellious footwear, tattoos, nicknames for genitalia, and felines intent on ruling the world.
The Bobs have broken with a cappella tradition several times by including instruments. The majority of the 1995 album Plugged is backed by toy drums. Plugged also made heavy use of studio equipment to make the voices sound more like guitars and bass guitars. Coaster includes a rock rhythm section on one song. Rhapsody in Bob features their arrangement of Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" with pianist Bob Malone playing most of the original piano concerto as The Bobs become a vocal orchestra. But this original "band without instruments" usually uses just their mouths, hands, feet and "other body parts" to fill a room with a sound as big as an orchestra.
Members of the group are always credited with "Bob" as their middle name. The name is often described as an acronym for "Best of Breed", an award given out at dog shows. Another story that the Bobs give is the name was shortened from "The Oral Bobs" in the first months the group performed together.
The group has garnered a healthy cult following in the U.S. and Europe in the 26 years they've been touring and recording, and has won numerous songwriting and vocal performance honors.
Several anniversary concerts were held in Berkeley, California in January 2006 to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the Bobs. These concerts featured seven of the eight singers who have ever been in the band.
A documentary about the group, called Sign My Snarling Movie: 25 Years of The Bobs (which includes archival material, never-before-seen footage, new band and fan interviews, and footage from the 25th anniversary concerts), was released in summer 2007.
Contents |
[edit] Videography
- The Bobs on [PBS]'s Lonesome Pine Special (1989)
- The Bobs on [PBS]'s Lonesome Pine Special - ISOBOBS (with the dance group ISO) (1990)
- Live at the 20th Century (1998)
- The Bobs Sing! (And other Love Songs) (2000)
- SIGN MY SNARLING MOVIE: 25 YEARS OF THE BOBS (DVD) (2007)
[edit] Other appearances
In 1993 the Jason Alexander movie For Better or Worse (1996), the Bobs performed most of the soundtrack, including the background music that occasionally interacted with the story. During the 1995 Emmys they performed a medley of television themes with Alexander.
[edit] Current members
- Richard "Bob" Greene
- Matthew "Bob" Stull
- Amy "Bob" Engelhardt
- Dan "Bob" Schumacher
[edit] Past members
- Gunnar "Bob" Madsen
- Janie "Bob" Scott
- Lori "Bob" Rivera
- Joe "Bob" Finetti
Other singers have toured with the group, but were not incorporated as permanent additions. For example, Maureen "Bob" Smith performs on two songs on the recording Sing the Songs of . . .
[edit] Original members
- Matthew "Bob" Stull
- Gunnar "Bob" Madsen
- Richard "Bob" Greene
- Janie "Bob" Scott
