Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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6 THE GAMECOCK ♦ Wednesday, June 23, 2004 THEY SAID IT (.ON I AO F L S WILLY WONKA: “We are the music makers and E-mail us at gamecockfeatures%gwm.sc.edu we are the dreamers of the dream." Visions of a “nanny state” Quit the spanking. All of you. Now. Such is the talk coming from backbenchers in the Labour Party this week. Several Labour members of parliament, along with a group of sympathetic peers in the ■ House of Lords, are putting their brains together to get a provision in the Children’s Bill to outlaw “smacking.” According to The Independent, law allows parents to smack their kids WES WO LFE under the umbrella term of public ymr “reasonable chastisement.” relations The amendment the House student of Lords would make to the bill would only allow smacking when the children are in danger or about to break the law. The amendment is already drawing fire from MPs and lords who believe this is one more example of Britain becoming a “nanny state.” However, the anti-smacking amend ment isn’t the only nanny-state initiative re cently discussed. First off, there was the fat tax, to be levied on fatty and unhealthy foods. Labour, who hasn’t met a tax it doesn’t like, appeared to be very high on the idea. This pro posal was flawed from the start, though. People weren’t going to quit going to McDonald’s or eating traditional English meals that have obscene levels of fat and salt. All that would happen would be that a lot of middle-class and working-class Britons would pay more taxes just ior a quicx meat or some thing tasty, fatty and salty at home they’ve been used to eating. Ostensibly, the taxes would be used to improve the National Health Service to deal with the health effects of all these people eating so poorly, but you know what happens when politicians get their hands on money — it could go anywhere. Also, the junk-food industry is looking at get ting its vending machines pulled out of schools and its ads pulled from the air during children’s programming. The government flopped on this one, too, when most school principals wanted to keep the vending machines in the schools for ♦ WOLFE, SEE PAGE 7 PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK The Icarus Line brings its punk mentality to New Brookland Tavern on Saturday. The show starts at 6 p.m. BY MEGAN TREACY THE GAMECOCK The Icarus Line is a five-piece rock band from L. A. that is being hailed as the return of real punk in its purest and most dangerous form. The band, consisting of Joe Cardamone, Aaron North, Alvin DeGuzman, Don Devore and Jeff Watson, is known for its wild behavior during its performances as well as pranks off the stage, like spray-painting the word "sell outs" on The Strokes' tour bus. Yet, guitarist Aaron North proves that the band won't allow itself to be la beled. "I think the term punk is irrelevant these days," North said. "When people think of punk, they think of a look as op posed to a style of music." "We've never claimed to be any kind of band," North said. "I think it would be sad if it was easy to pigeonhole us." North points out that no reviewer has compared them to the same list of bands, and it's true. The Icarus Line has drawn comparisons to The Stooges, The Velvet Underground, At-the-Drive-in, Led Zeppelin and many others, but they'd rather just be considered as sounding like themselves. "If people think we're punk, then that's cool," North said. "It's all just rock 'n' roll." Immediately after seemingly coming ♦ ICARUS LINE, SEE PAGE 7 CD.Review ‘Boroughs * runs deliciously amok I TO THE 5 BOROUGHS The Beastie Boys ★★★★ out of BY STEVEN VAN HAREN THE GAMECOCK Oh, how the Beastie Boys have grown up. Gone are the days of giant inflatable penises adorning their stages, but the Boys still rap with a punk rock sneer. “To the 5 Boroughs” is a political party animal that salutes New York City, jabs George W., and keeps the funk alive even as middle age stalks this goofy trio. Adrock, MCA and Mike D manage to wrap a dictionary’s worth of lingo into every song, especially in the hilarious lead-off single “Ch-Check It Out.” Adrock’s staccato whine is irresistible as he sings “I work magic like a magician, I add up like a mathematician.” “Time to Build” mixes lyri cal anger with an optimistic chorus; when the track’s po litical chest-thumping threat ens to bog down the listener, the Boys then whip out “Rhyme the Rhyme Well,” a standard braggadocio track built on gloomy synthesizers. The Beasties have no short age of interesting beats, con structed on sci-fi keyboards, tropical bongos and standard acoustic drums. “Right Right Now Now” bumps along on a harpsichord lick that would make Beethoven break dance. “Oh Word?” uses a digitized voice to cue each Boy’s hilari ous verse. The Beastie Boys generously share the microphone on every song, sometimes trading duties line-to-line. This album, like their other efforts, is a three headed monster: no singer takes precedence. When they scat the chorus, however, to the siren-driven “All Lifestyles,” their voices create an all-pow erful fourth Beastie Boy. “An Open Letter to NYC” reads like a hip-hop version of Bruce Springsteen’s 9-11 mas terpiece “The Rising,” stirring goofy anecdotes into an honest portrait of the city. Much has changed since the Boys’ 1998 album “Hello, Nasty!”, but they still use skits and samples to bookend the beats. The Kool and the Gang sample at the start of “Shazam!” almost outshines the song itself. The Boys also harness the power of such old school favorites as “Rapper’s Delight” and Run-D.M.C.’s “Rock Box." Much of this in fluence is still felt in the Boys’ music: They sometimes rhyme with the simplicity of rap in its infancy. The strongest quality of “5 Boroughs” is the quality that ♦ BEASTIE BOYS, SEE PAGE 7