During my summer, I had the delight of meeting Jeanette Wall, the powerhouse behind The Miscreant and Miscreant Records. She asked if I'd like to have an article published, to which I responded, "Hell yeah!" You can download the 'zine from which this article is pulled here. Fair warning, there is a dash of harsh language.
I Got The Fevah
by Lauren Caputi
Everybody loves a boy band, whether you’re willing to admit
it or not. And before you get all defensive on me, keep in mind that the
Beatles were, indeed, a teenage pop sensation. Now, times have changed and,
accordingly, sounds did too. But that doesn’t stop a record company from
throwing together a ragtag group of teenage boys for the sole purpose of making
that cash money. From the Beatles to Menudo to New Kids on the Block. To Boys
II Men to the Backstreet Boys. Every decade had (at least) one.
Now,
as a female growing up in the 90s, I have to say I still have a die-hard
allegiance to “my bands.” *NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, 98 Degrees and Hanson. They
made my jams. I popped in their cassette tape in and I was ready to go. But lately,
upon further listening, I found myself asking the question, “What the hell
makes these songs so special or so different?”
You
see, in my young mind, these were mine. Mine and mine alone. I even staked out claims on which boys I
wanted to marry. They were my first exposure to music which, sure, might sound
sad. But these songs made the soundtrack to my pre-pubescent life. I memorized
every sexual innuendo and double entendre, all the while having no clue what
each one meant. It was a glorious time, innocent youth at its finest. And we
all kind of miss that just a tiny bit, right?
What
I’m trying to get at is that no matter the decade, folks will fight tooth and
nail that, for the given genre, that band is the cream of the crop. Each decade
will declare that their music reigns supreme over the last. Granted, out of all
of the aforementioned bands, the Beatles had the most diversity in their career.
They stemmed away from their uber-poppy ways of the early 60s. But, you get my point.
For example, when someone starts insulting your school. Usually, even if someone
absolutely loathes that school, he or she is the peppiest, shiniest ball of
school spirit you ever did see for that single, fleeting moment. Because, holy
Christ, are we territorial.
And
the idea holds strong in 2012, with Big Time Rush and Justin Bieber as the
poster boys. I don’t know about you, but if I hear a song by either of these
artists, I want to scream. I’d rather listen to nails on a chalkboard while a
baby’s crying through a megaphone. Yet if I dared to say that to my 12-year-old
cousin, she’d claw my face off.
Bottom line, it’s pretty funny to step back and look at what’s going on. The hatred and snobbery about our guilty pleasure tunes comes with the decade we grew up in. And we can look at the full cycle: how record companies can make us listen to shit which we believe at the time is “the shit,” only to later learn all of it was kind of shitty.
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