Doubleshot Tuesday: Whenever You Need Somebody/Bang! Pow! Boom!

[Today: The joy of the absurd...]

Ton after ton of processed cheese passed itself off as music during the 1980s, and you’d have to’ve been pretty stout-hearted to escape the decade without getting a little on your fingers. Personally I enjoyed Dead Or Alive, Bon Jovi, Thompson Twins, The Fixx and dozens of other bands that today rate as either a guilty pleasure or a vivid reminder of my unformed (or just plain awful) taste in music as a teen. I can cop to a laundry list of cheesy musicians I liked during the 80s, but Rick Astley wouldn’t be on that list. However, my best friend Bobby did like Rick Astley, and because he often drove, we often listened to Rick Astley while cruising around Springfield in his white, mid-70s Pontiac Sunbird (look out ladies).

Like me, Bobby probably has a giant scroll of bad 80s bands he once loved, and like me he probably forgot all about Rick Astley right around the time Guns ‘N Roses appeared on the scene. But recently Astley has returned to pop culture with a vengeance in the form of the “Rickroll” – a gag link that is supposed to go to some item of interest, but instead leads to the Rick Astley video for ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’. Click that link, and you’ve been Rickrolled. Enough people have been Rolled that his video has had nearly 24 million hits on YouTube and the term Rickroll has its own Wikipedia page.

The funny thing about all this Rickrolling is that it brings back some great memories of rolling through my hometown with my best friend, and I’ve realized that I like this music (for the nostalgia) much more now than I ever did then. The knee-jerk reaction might be to laugh it off or say that it sucks, but strictly speaking, ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ is no worse than Journey or a lot of the other stuff you’d have liked if you’d been in high school during that era…

*****

I’ve written some not-so-nice stuff about the Insane Clown Posse in the past, and I’d like to use this opportunity to take it all back. You guys rule! I might not like the music, and probably never will, but how can anyone dislike a band with such a great sense of humor? They and their Horror-Core (don’t ask) Juggalo (ditto) followers have recently been the springboard for a series of inspired spoofs from the likes of Saturday Night Live. When the dust settled, the New York Times arts blog stepped in and talked to some key figures involved to trace the history of ICP-inspired comedy.

Against all odds, ICP members Shaggy 2 Dope and Violent J have a positive, enlightened outlook on those who poke fun at their music and followers. When SNL ran a mock version of their video for the song ‘Miracles’ (which really is a great piece of unintentional comedy), Violent J called his mom to tell her about it. Regarding the SNL spoof, Shaggy 2 Dope told the New York Times, “I remember back in the day when Weird Al Yankovic did ‘Amish Paradise,’ off Coolio’s ‘Gangsta Paradise.’ Somehow Coolio got mad. If Weird Al wanted to do one of our songs, I’d be like, ‘Hell yeah.’ To me, it’s the same thing with Saturday Night Live.” And with that measured response, 2 Dope struck a mortal blow against the stereotyping of insane killer clowns.

Violent J was willing to concede to NYT that “Two clowns floating around in space, swearing, rapping about wonderful things. I get that that’s funny to an outsider.” It sure is fellas. Keep up the good work…

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Tags: Bon Jovi, Dead Or Alive, Guns N Roses, Insane Clown Posse, Journey, New York Times, Pontiac Sunbird, Rick Astley, Rickroll, Rickrolling, Saturday Night Live, The Fixx, Thompson Twins