Sunday, May 23, 2004
Pop Music
Since this is my first blog entry, I thought I’d use this space to discuss my guiltiest of guilty pleasures, pop music. More specifically, boy bands. It’s been a while since I’ve waxed idiotic about my obscene fascination with photogenic white guys who’ve turned imitating black R&B artists into lucrative careers, so I figured now would be a good time to get it out of my system.
But before I get into my bad taste in music, I wanted to mention something I’d been thinking about since Jimmy “I suck the comedy out of every single sketch I’m in” Fallon left SNL last week. I’ve been wondering about what they’re going to do with Weekend Update when the new season begins next fall. Will Fallon be replaced, or will Tina Fey man the Update desk all by herself? Personally, I think Fey’s funny, and smart enough to do Weekend Update alone. She carried WU while Fallon was co-anchor, so I’m pretty confident in her ability to keep bringing the funny without having to share the screen with a marginally talented pretty boy.
But if The Powers That Be insist on pairing Fey with another cast member, I think it should be Maya Rudolph. Maya would be a great choice for co-anchor because A) It’d be the first time in Weekend Update history that two women were at the desk. And B) She’s ten times funnier than everyone else on the show. (with the exception of Amy Poehler and Rachel Dratch)
Okay, now on to the boy bands. First of all, I want to start out by saying that I really feel for JC Chasez right now. You could tell that Justin Timberlake’s solo success was like a slap in the face to him, so he immediately called on Dallas Austin and the Basement Jaxx to hook him up with a top 40 album to call his own. I still can’t pinpoint exactly where it was that Chasez went wrong. The guy’s got a great voice, and to his credit, he doesn’t come across as annoying and clueless as Timberlake has proven himself to be in countless interviews. I thought “Some Girls” (the first song off of Chasez’s solo debut) was a slinky, subversive stab at R&B street cred, but for some reason the single was met with a resounding “Meh.” Oh well, at least he still has his day job.
And speaking of the Backstreet Boys- (was that a smooth segue or what?), I hear they’re ending their three year sabbatical to begin work on a new album. Um…why? These guys are a great example of the disasters that can occur when you give pop stars too much creative control. BSB were at their best when they were in the hands of seasoned writers/producers like Veit Renn and Timmy Allen- talented pop/soul architects who knew how to craft songs that showcased BSB’s strengths and downplayed their weaknesses. As soon as Brian, AJ, Howie, and whoever the hell those other two guys are, decided to grab the creative reins, the quality of the music dropped faster than Brittany Murphy’s panties on a Friday night.
The fact that they’re collaborating with Kenna sounds promising, but I’m not expecting a whole lot from this album. Unlike N’Sync, Backstreet just can’t be trusted when left to their own devices. It’s frustrating to see BSB crank out one shitty album after another because they’re such incredible pop/R&B vocalists. Seriously, Howie Dorough has the kind of silvery falsetto El Debarge would kill for, and AJ Mclean could sing circles around any of the black R&B artists currently dominating the urban radio market. I’d love to see AJ go solo, because I think that with the right producer, he could blow people away, much like Janet Jackson did when she unleashed “Control” on an unsuspecting public back in ‘87. What? Why are you looking at me like that?
But before I get into my bad taste in music, I wanted to mention something I’d been thinking about since Jimmy “I suck the comedy out of every single sketch I’m in” Fallon left SNL last week. I’ve been wondering about what they’re going to do with Weekend Update when the new season begins next fall. Will Fallon be replaced, or will Tina Fey man the Update desk all by herself? Personally, I think Fey’s funny, and smart enough to do Weekend Update alone. She carried WU while Fallon was co-anchor, so I’m pretty confident in her ability to keep bringing the funny without having to share the screen with a marginally talented pretty boy.
But if The Powers That Be insist on pairing Fey with another cast member, I think it should be Maya Rudolph. Maya would be a great choice for co-anchor because A) It’d be the first time in Weekend Update history that two women were at the desk. And B) She’s ten times funnier than everyone else on the show. (with the exception of Amy Poehler and Rachel Dratch)
Okay, now on to the boy bands. First of all, I want to start out by saying that I really feel for JC Chasez right now. You could tell that Justin Timberlake’s solo success was like a slap in the face to him, so he immediately called on Dallas Austin and the Basement Jaxx to hook him up with a top 40 album to call his own. I still can’t pinpoint exactly where it was that Chasez went wrong. The guy’s got a great voice, and to his credit, he doesn’t come across as annoying and clueless as Timberlake has proven himself to be in countless interviews. I thought “Some Girls” (the first song off of Chasez’s solo debut) was a slinky, subversive stab at R&B street cred, but for some reason the single was met with a resounding “Meh.” Oh well, at least he still has his day job.
And speaking of the Backstreet Boys- (was that a smooth segue or what?), I hear they’re ending their three year sabbatical to begin work on a new album. Um…why? These guys are a great example of the disasters that can occur when you give pop stars too much creative control. BSB were at their best when they were in the hands of seasoned writers/producers like Veit Renn and Timmy Allen- talented pop/soul architects who knew how to craft songs that showcased BSB’s strengths and downplayed their weaknesses. As soon as Brian, AJ, Howie, and whoever the hell those other two guys are, decided to grab the creative reins, the quality of the music dropped faster than Brittany Murphy’s panties on a Friday night.
The fact that they’re collaborating with Kenna sounds promising, but I’m not expecting a whole lot from this album. Unlike N’Sync, Backstreet just can’t be trusted when left to their own devices. It’s frustrating to see BSB crank out one shitty album after another because they’re such incredible pop/R&B vocalists. Seriously, Howie Dorough has the kind of silvery falsetto El Debarge would kill for, and AJ Mclean could sing circles around any of the black R&B artists currently dominating the urban radio market. I’d love to see AJ go solo, because I think that with the right producer, he could blow people away, much like Janet Jackson did when she unleashed “Control” on an unsuspecting public back in ‘87. What? Why are you looking at me like that?
