forgetful

Like many people my age, I laughed at the idea of the Muchmusic VJ search, watched an episode out of pure boredom one day… and got hooked. It was a pretty ridiculous show, but it was well done as far as reality tv shows go (especially Canadian ones). Among the potential VJ hopefuls was the token black guy, the token asian guy, the token gay guy, the overachieving all-Canadian guy who tries so hard he makes everybody else look bad, the prettyboy, and the sassy chick with maybe a little too much sass. Basically, they covered all their bases.

Anyway, the show ended a few weeks ago, and Tim (the prettyboy) won. He seems like a nice enough guy, everybody kept saying how “sweet” he is, and he looks a lot like a girl, so he should fit in well with the rest of the VJs currently on the Muchmusic roster.

Now, I’m not going to get all upset over the fact that he won because he was the best looking of the 4 finalists despite probably being the worst interviewer of the 4 possibilities. What I do find a bit dissapointing is the lack of music knowledge that the 4 finalists seemed to have. I’m trying not to sound like a music snob here, but when (in theory anyway) the point of the job is to interview musicians, talk about music, and indirectly shape the musical tastes of the hundreds of thousands of kids who watch Muchmusic every day, one would assume that a working knowledge of music and musical history would be a necessary pre-requesite for the job. Sadly, this does not appear to be so.

Not to pick on poor good-looking Tim (seriously, he’s a good looking dude. He makes that androgynous blonde guy they hired a few years ago look like a pail of puke), but when asked who the most influential bands/artists of all time are, one of his responses was Blink-182. While the wit and awesomeness of the album title “Take Off Your Pants and Jacket” may never be topped, that’s just an unacceptable answer. I suppose they were one of the first bands to popularize the whole poopy-bum-farts era of late-90s/early-00s “punk” music (that stuff is pretty much the opposite of punk, but whatever), but I don’t think musical scholars a few hundred years from now will be studying the cultural significance of the song “Dysentary Gary”. Call me crazy.

Maybe I’m being over-the-top ridiculous, but having people who think that Blink-182 were in any way important telling kids what to listen to is the reason that bands like Fall Out Boy are popular.  Entertaining and funny, sure – I enjoy a good fart joke as much as the next 20-something guy.  And of course, not every band/artist has to aspire to be the Beatles/Elvis/Stones/Velvet Underground.  Poop and fart jokes have been very profitable for the boys in Blink-182, and that’s fine.  But, important and influential?  Sorry, no.  Wrong answer (yes I know that sounds snobby and elitist.  it is.). 

Anyway, I guess this has turned into my “the kids today listen to crap music that I don’t understand” old man rant. I hope I’m wrong about Tim, and he becomes the Stroumboulopoulos-like Muchmusic rock authority he claims he wants to become. And hey, maybe I’m overreacting – maybe Blink-182 were better than I think they were, and I’m just complaining because it’s fun and I wanted to write something snarky.  I’ll end this rant with a quote:

“It’s Labor Day and my Grandpa just ate seven fuckin’ hotdogs
it’s Labor Day and my Grandpa just ate seven fuckin’ hotdogs
and he shit, shit, shit his pants
he always fuckin’ shitin’ his pants
and I’ll never talk to you again”

-Blink-182

oh man, the kids today are screwed.

Last 5 songs heard on my iPod: “Stutter” – Elastica, “Tangled Up in Blue” – Bob Dylan, “NYC” – Interpol, “Off the Record” – My Morning Jacket, “NY State of Mind” – Nas