Changes
→How GQ Came to Be
GQ's story actually begins with a proto-GQ started by Erica Hyman '98 and Bryan Frederick '98 their freshman year that was comprised of frosh that did not get into any other a cappella groups. They did not hold auditions, seeing that it was "part of the problem," which unfortunately led to the group not working out that well. Rehearsal attendance was an issue and the group struggled with complicated arrangements. The group was not an official college sanctioned club, lacking even a real name. Despite these issue, the group did manage to pull together and perform two songs ([https://youtu.be/MtMnI4NTs7A "Zombie Jamboree"] and "Goodnight, Sweetheart") on [[WCFM]] that spring. Then, in a moment that has gone down in GQ history, the radio host asked the group what their name was, and Bryan answered without thinking “Good Question.” The host responded, jokingly, “Wow, great name for a group.” (Listen [https://youtu.be/FV7-JKFMjUY here])
The next fall, Erica and Bryan disbanded the proto-group and held private, invitation-only auditions a couple weeks after the existing groups had held theirs, drawing mostly from folks that had tried out for the [[Frosh Revue]] and didn’t get into any other a cappella groups, as Erica was music directing [[Frosh Revue]] that year. That first year, the group consisted of nine members, with Bryan and Erica the only sophomores and the rest freshman. That group was actually good, and so they did need a name to perform and advertise. Erica and Bryan had been joking since the spring that they could just keep calling ourselves themselves Good Question, but they were determined to come up with a better name, though one that was not a pun on either “Eph” or musical terminology (see [[Ephlats]] and [[Accidentals]]). In Bryan's words, "We failed spectacularly," and the group has been Good Question to this day (often abbreviated with its kick-ass initials).
Because of the Frosh Revue connection, there was a pretty heavy emphasis on skits and choreography in those early years, and while that emphasis has come and gone, one part of GQ’s founding ethos did persist: "our goal was to take the music seriously, but not take ourselves too seriously." (Bryan Frederick) Since then, through good times and bad, GQ has kept to this goal, and hopefully will for years to come.