10 Things you may not have known about Bowling for Soup

Bowling for Soup are making their way to South Africa at the end of this month for the first time. You may know a few songs that they’ve released over the years, but there’s probably a few things that you did not know about them, so I feel obligated to inform you.

Here are 10 Things you may not have known about Bowling for Soup:

1. The band was formed in Wichita Falls, Texas in 1994.

2. The band’s name was inspired by the American TV Game Show “Bowling for Dollars”. In the show people could play the sport of bowling to win cash and sometimes prizes based on how well they bowled.

3. To date Bowling for Soup have released 10 studio albums: Bowling for Soup (in 1994), Rock on Honourable Ones! (in 1998), Let’s Do It Johnny!! (in 2000), Drunk enough to dance (in 2002), A Hangover you don’t deserve (in 2004), The Great Burrito Extortion Case (in 2006), Sorry for Partyin’ (in 2009), Fishin’ for Woos (in 2011), Lunch. Drunk. Love. (in 2013) and Drunk Dynasty (in 2016).

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4. It became a running gag in Bowling for Soup‘s music videos to feature previous songs of the band as an introduction for the video. This can be seen in “Girl All the Bad Guys Want”, “Emily”, and “High School Never Ends”, which each feature music from “The Bitch Song”, “Girl All the Bad Guys Want”, and “1985” respectively.

5. The current members of Bowling for Soup are Jaret Reddick (on lead vocals, guitar), Chris Burney (on guitar, backing vocals), Erik Chandler (on bass, backing vocals, acoustic guitar) and Gary Wiseman (on drums, percussion, backing vocals). The only former member of the band is Lance Morrill (who was in the band until 1998 and has appeared as a tour guest performer on their 2009 and 2014 tours).

6. Their song “1985” was written and originally released by the band SR-71 on their 2004 album Here We Go Again. According to Reddick, Allan from SR-71 showed the song to him and instructed him to take it as his own, as it seemed more of a Bowling for Soup song than an SR-71 song.

7. “Girl All The Bad Guys Want” was nominated for a Grammy for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocal, putting Bowling For Soup in the company of No Doubt (who won for “Hey Baby”), Bon Jovi, Dave Matthews Band and NSYNC. The band wore the powder blue tuxedos they sported on the Drunk Enough to Dance album cover to the ceremony and declared that they had “no chance to win.” The nomination gave them a great deal of credibility, but it didn’t go to their heads though. Reddick considers the Grammies one of his shining moments, not for the nomination, but for winning “worst dressed” in Time Magazine.

8. According IMDB, the band financed their entire 1997-98 tour with credit cards.

9. Bowling for Soup Lead singer Jaret Reddick has appeared in a few films over the years: 2003’s Crossroads, 2005’s Cursed and 2011’s Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension. He was also on the Phineas and Ferb TV show between 2008 and 2013.

10. Their 2013 album Lunch. Drunk. Love. was completely fan-funded as well as being released on the band’s own record label (like their album before it).

Well, I hope that you feel schooled in all things Bowling for Soup now. You can catch them live in South Africa at Hillcrest Quarry in Cape Town on the 29th of March 2018, in Johannesburg at Rumours Rock City on the 30th of March 2018 or at Lush Festival or Splashy Fen festival (both happening from the 29th of March to the 2nd of April 2018).

If you’re looking for something else to read, check out previous Music Facts post featuring things you may not have known about Incubus.

Watch this space for regular updates in the Music category on Running Wolf’s Rant.

Henno Kruger

Blogger, Desktop Activist, Twitter / Facebook Addict, Music Festival Addict, Avid lover of South African music, Founder and owner of Running Wolf’s Rant