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. The group is known for humorous original songs and avant-garde arrangement techniques. 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. New Wave was a pop and rock music genre that existed during the late 1970s and the early-to-mid 1980s. ... This article is about the vocal technique. ... San Francisco redirects here. ... A singing telegram is a message, transmitted by telegram or otherwise, that is delivered by an artist in a musical form. ... A work similar to Marcel Duchamps Fountain Avant garde (written avant-garde) is a French phrase, one of many French phrases used by English speakers. ... In popular music, a cover version, or simply cover, is a new rendition (performance or recording) of a previously recorded song. ... Doo-wop is a style of vocal-based rhythm and blues music popular in the mid-1950s to the early 1960s in America. ... This article is about the Beatles song. ... The White Album, see The Beatles (album). ... Talking Heads were an American rock band existing between 1974 and 1991, composed of David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth and Jerry Harrison. ... Bumper stickers are often used on commercial vehicles so that employers can receive feedback about the driving habits of their employees A bumper sticker is an adhesive label or sticker with a message, intended to be attached to the bumper of an automobile and to be read by the occupants... Cyclone Catarina, a rare South Atlantic tropical cyclone viewed from the International Space Station on March 26, 2004 Hurricane and Typhoon redirect here. ... For other uses, see Graffiti (disambiguation). ... Oliver Laurence North (born October 7, 1943) is most well known for his involvement in the Iran-Contra Affair. ... The tone or style of this article or section may not be appropriate for Wikipedia. ... For other uses, see Synesthesia (disambiguation). ... The logo used by the Heavens Gate group Heavens Gate was the name of a cult co-led by Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles. ... Spontaneous human combustion (SHC) refers to the belief that the human body sometimes burns without an external source of ignition. ... For other uses, see Turtle (disambiguation). ... This article is about the tattoo, a design in ink or some other pigment, usually decorative or symbolic, placed permanently under the skin. ...

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. Year 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full 1995 Gregorian calendar). ... For other uses, see Guitar (disambiguation). ... A sunburst-colored Precision Bass The electric bass guitar (or electric bass; pronounced , as in base) is a bass stringed instrument played with the fingers (either by plucking, slapping, popping, or tapping) or using a pick. ...

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. Best of Breed is the title given to the dog or bitch who has been judged the best representative specimen of its breed at a conformation show. ... In a conformation show, judges familiar with specific dog breeds evaluate individual dogs for how well they conform to published breed standards. ...

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.

Discography

• The Bobs (1983)
• My, I'm Large (1987)
• Songs for Tomorrow Morning (1988)
• Sing the Songs of . . . (1991)
• Shut Up and Sing! (1993)
• Cover the Songs of . . . (1994)
• Plugged (1995)
• Too Many Santas (1996)
• i brow club (1997)
• Coaster (2000)
• 20 Songs From 20 Years: The Best of The Bobs (2003)
• Rhapsody in Bob (2005)
• Get Your Monkey of My Dog (2007)

A compilation album, The Best of the Bobs, was released in 1990 in Germany, containing tracks from The Bobs, My, I'm Large, and Songs for Tomorrow Morning. The Bobs is an a cappella album by The Bobs, released in 1983. ...

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)

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 Jason Alexander. Jason Alexander (born Jason Scott Greenspan on September 23, 1959) is a Jewish American television, cinema and musical theatre actor, best known for his role as George Costanza on the hit television series Seinfeld. ... An Emmy Award. ...

Current members

• Richard "Bob" Greene
• Matthew "Bob" Stull
• Amy "Bob" Engelhardt
• Dan "Bob" Schumacher

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 . . .

Original members

• Matthew "Bob" Stull
• Gunnar "Bob" Madsen
• Richard "Bob" Greene
• Janie "Bob" Scott

External links

• Official site
• The Bobs at MusicBrainz
• The Bobs on MySpace