The Richter Scales are a bevy of gentlemen songsters, all residents of the San Francisco Bay Area. They perform selections from a wide variety of genres, including American standards, Broadway, Motown, and contemporary music.

Formed originally as a band of semi-organized scavengers in the wake of the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906, the "Richter Scabs," as they were then known, didn't actually sing a cappella until another major catastrophe -- the crash of the Internet bubble -- befell the San Francisco Bay Area in the summer of 2000. Since then, the Richter Scales, a bevy of gentlemen songsters, have applied traditional men's a cappella techniques (multiple guys on a part, minimal amplification, and a sparing and mostly ironic use of vocal percussion) to a wide variety of contemporary subject matters.

The group is best known for its frequently amusing and sometimes intentionally funny singing. Notable original compositions and arrangements include "I've Got Mail" (an ode to email spam), "I Hate A Cappella" (just kidding, kind of), "More Cowbell," "In The Valley" (a musical roast of the tech industry in 2009 for the TechCrunch "Crunchie" Awards), and "Here Comes Another Bubble" (the video to which won the Best Viral Video Webby Award in 2007).