|
:''This article refers to the a cappella singing group. For other uses, see The Bobs (disambiguation)'' The Bobs are an a cappella vocal group founded in San Francisco, California in the early 1980s. Now based in Seattle, Washington, they have been recording, and touring throughout North America and Europe ever since. ==Background== Founding members Gunnar Madsen and Matthew Stull decided to form an a cappella group when they left their jobs as deliverers of singing telegrams in San Francisco.〔The Bobs at "Primarily A Cappella" (singers.com ). Accessed 2010 January 14.〕 Instead of covering more traditional doo-wop songs, The Bobs started out with original arrangements of their own songs and songs like "Helter Skelter" and "Psycho Killer" . Although two of their albums are dominated by cover versions, 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. Their arrangement of "Helter Skelter" was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1984.〔1984 Grammy award nomination, Best Vocal Arrangement for Two or More Voices, Richard Greene, Gunnar Madsen - Helter Skelter (The Bobs) LA Times, ("The Envelope" awards database ), accessed 2010 Jan 13.〕 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". 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 Bobs supplied inter-gender wrestling champion Andy Kaufman with his iconic entrance theme, entitled ''March & Fanfare''. The song was played at the beginning of the Kaufman's biopic, ''Man on the Moon''. 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'' was released in summer 2007. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Bobs」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|