The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, February 09, 2000, Encore!, Page 2, Image 16
The 'royal we' with Rob and Kevin
Wfe are not strangers to popular culture these days.
We just choose to ignore and, quite often, lash out
against it. For example, we do not particularly care for
98.9 percent of the stuff that is played on popular ra
dio.
No sir, we just don’t like it.
MTV? Give us a break. It has been out of the pic
ture since they started endorsing krap like Kom and
Limp Bizkit.
Rolling Stone is now a loss. It hasn’t been worth
the trouble or money recently. If you have a sub
scription, you can easily document the decline of the
once-illustrious magazine.
It isn’t because the staff of these mediums have
gone.to hell, it’s just the pop cultrue. Let’s face it, it
sucks right now. Those kids had a reason to set fires at
Woodstock. They realized they had just paid too much
money to see crap. It wasn’t a cry for help. It was a
cry for their money back.
We’re right on this one. Trust us.
That fire, though nearly a year old, might have
been a sign that these kids are fed up with the cook
ie-cutter crap on the radio these days. Maybe they
aren’t so sure that Kid Rock is the rebel they were
looking for. Maybe Lou Bega is just asking for too
much. Maybe Smashmouth have worn their welcome.
Even MTV is showing signs of uncertainty and dis
comfort. It might realize the mess it have gotten itself
into, because we have seen signs that.it are trying to
dig itself out.
MTV has been working on a mock boy band called
2together. There has been a mock video, and we be
lieve a mock movie is on the way. The band is very
stereotypical of boy bands, with the older brother, the
cute one, the shy one, the heartthrob and the rebel.
There are plenty of preview and teaser commer
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members. All seem to fit the proverbial boy band bill
to the exact detail. While MTV is trying to be funny,
it is frighteningly close to the truth, and we doubt it
realizes it.
The mock single “You + Me = Us (Calculus)” is
another stab at cheesy love songs boy bands are so good
at producing. Mixed with choreography and sweater
vests, the video is a carbon copy of everything else you
see on Total Request Live.
It seems that MTV is trying to win back some of
the fans that jumped ship when it started sinking into
the sea of today’s pop culture.
First of all, how can MTV start making fun of this
teen-pop phenomenon when it was one of the main
contributing factors to its initial success? That would
be like Woody Harrelson telling people that marijua
na is bad. It doesn’t add up.
For MTV to support and endorse groups like
The Backstreet Boys, N’Sync and 98 Degrees only
to take a tongue-in-cheek stab at them is ridiculous. It
doesn’t add up. Why would it turn its back on the same
people that are making it money right now? Is it smelling
the inevitable in the air? Maybe MTV is starting to re
alize what we’ve known from the beginning: that this
craze will crash and burn as these fans grow older
and these teen idols go through puberty. Fads change
with the seasons, and so does popular opinion. You’ll
be looking at this stuff in the same manner that you
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Second, the whole mock boy-band idea was our
friend Pete’s. He wrote a column on it last year. We
think he has a legitimate copyright infringement case
on those swine. Is there no originality in the world any
more? Did we just ask that in the face of such an un
original pop culture?
Finally, we would just like to encourage you, Joe
Bob Consumer, to not fall for this outrageous attempt
at redemption. MTV just thinks that because most of
you fell for it in the first place, you’ll come crawling
to this cube of salt lick, as well. Prove them wrong
and, more importantly, prove us right.
WUSC-FM spring 2000 schedule
Time slot
*
12-2 a.m.
Oc
2-4 a.m.
4-6 a.m.
6-8 a.m.
8-10 a.m.
10-noon
12-2 p.m.
2-4 p.m.
4-6 p.m.
6-8 p.m.
8-10 p.m.
10-midnight
MONDAY
Tug, with
Dasional Music
Peter A.
Jim village u
Variety
Trent
Niffer
The
Wasteland
Breakneck.
Punk Rock
Radio Riot
Hardcore
HARDTIME
LoudRock
TUESDAY
Audio
Assault
Mandy
k'ovin
Heard It
Auditory
Simulation
The Girl
Show
Marquee
Music
Blues. Moor
w/ DeLune
Big Band
Show
The
Connection
WEDNESDAY
Imperial
Theater
Audio XTC
Adam C. &
Bek. M
rejuiumu s
Revenge
Supertwins
Action Hou
Scar Radio
Richard H.
The
Revolution
Revolution/
Wed. Shag
Wed. Shag
THURSDAY
Chris F.
The Dead
Cow Show
DJ Mclaine
Justin
DJ Smiley
Russ B.
Afterlight"
Free Format
Nonstop
Hip-Hop
FRIDAY
Nonstop
Hip-Hop
Louis St.
Jacques
Matt R
The
Catacombs
Late Nite
with JMAC
TGIF
Ska
mageddon
La Voz
Latina
Locals
Only
SATURDAY
Andy’s T
Onslaught
Red Bank
Bar & Grill
Onnl/
* UUi MX
Bar & Grill
Nate the
Great
Ghetto
Hymns
Easy
Skanking
Nick &
CK
Textures
Dark
Entries
SUNDAY
ug, with Occa
sional Music
Sunday Mom.
U.AVU1 v>IVl Iv?
Lone
Gunman
Radio
Clash
Radio
Inferno
Electric
Podium
Digital Dis
tribution
Heads
Down
wusc
top 30
for week ending Feb. 4
1. Sex Mob- Solid Sender
2. Robert Pollard- Speak Kindly of your
Volunteer Fire Department
3. Tim ORourke- Halfway to Three
way
4. Mos Def- Black on Both Sides
5. DJ Spooky- Subliminded
6. Camper Van Chadboume- Re
venge of...
7. Enigma- The Screen Behind the Mir
ror
8. Charles Gayle- Ancient of Days
9. Blame- Two Revolutions
10. Kismet- North Atlantic Balkan Ex
press
11. raLdima- s\oi
12. Songs:OHIA- The Lioness
13. Russel Mills- Pearl and Umbra
14. Crooked Fingers- S/T
15. Briggan Krauss- Descending to End
16. Kid Loco- DJ Kicks
17. Green Pajamas- 7 Fathoms Down
and Falling
18. CaB/Flarence/Pow- These Are The
Plans
19. Sadia- XpanderEp
20. Frigg- Brecht
21. Mogawi-EP+2
22. Snapcase- Designs For Automation
23. NOFX- The Decline
24. The Jesus Lizard- Bang
25. Black Heart Procession- SfT
26. The Kingsbury Manx- SfT
27. Knodel- The White Hole
28. Terry Calher- Lifetime
29. Richie Hawkins- Decks, Sets, and
FX
30. V/A- Delicious Vinyl
ADDS For Feb. 7 and 8
1. Gunga Din- Glitterati- JetSet
2. Ryuichi Sakamoto- Cinemage- Sony
Classical
3. The Handsome Family- In the Air
Carrot Top
4. Nick Cave- And the Ass Saw the An
gel- Mute
5. Chip Taylor- The London Sessions