Right Here, Right Now
by Stiffy Biceptz

[This is part three of a three-part rant. Part 1 is here, and Part 2 is here. -Ed.]
 
It was a hot Saturday morning last August. Actually, I don't remember the day but it was in the morning. My son had been up for an hour as per usual and was happily playing with the hundreds of toys scattered about the family room. The TV was on; PB&J otter were busy doing the Noodle Dance. Normally, he would join in and swing his little butt around and yell, "I'm doing the Noodle Dance too Daddy!" But this morning he seemed uninterested in the show. Seeing a rare opportunity to recapture control of the Telescreen, I casually flipped over to MTV. No music of course, just some sorority sisters squabbling over eye-liner. Off to VH1, it's "Poison: Behind the Music". Mildly entertaining, but they're no Motley Crüe.
 
With my window of opportunity closing fast, I zipped over to Much Music USA. Damn, nothing but infomercials for a couple of hours. Then I realized I had skipped over MTV2, so I went there and was pleasantly surprised. An actual video of a band. I didn't like whomever it was but at least it didn't last long.
 
By now my son had looked up and figured out Peanut was not in this video. He frowned and was about to say what he always says when I watch the weather channel: "I want to watch something that's good." And all of a sudden a new sound came out of the tube, from a band I had never heard of. Immediately I sat down and said to myself, hmmm, interesting, this is good, who is this? And as had happened in the past, I was instantly aware of a shift in the order of things - this is going to have impact, things are going to be changing after this. As the video progressed, even my nearly 3 year old son seemed to appreciate the song--he stood transfixed watching. Apparently HE thought this was "something that's good." As my wife passed by, she paused, and matter-of-factly stated, "That's good", before continuing on.
 
The Song was "Get Free" by The Vines, and it is an amazing track. It reminded me a lot of Nirvana, Green Day, and a dozen other bands who at some point in time had a single that captured that special energy, that intensity, that simply moves you. Nothing pretentious, nothing manufactured, nothing designed. Just pure, organic, spontaneous.
 
Three recent singles, "Fell In Love With A Girl" by the White Stripes, and "Hate To Say I Told You So" by the Hives, together with "Get Free", are a breath of fresh air that I hope signal a change in the current alt-music scene. It's happened in the past many times, and only good stuff can result from it.
 

©2002 Stiffy Biceptz