I saw Madness’s “Our House” video for the first time in about twenty years the other day, and, stunningly, it actually made me feel kinda good inside—like angels were peeing pink sugar water into my lungs—for some unspecified reason ((as opposed to back in the day, when i’m sure i was lobbing sneakers and pull-tab beer cans at the TV in disgust every time it came on)). In retrospect—and, perhaps, ONLY in retrospect—that was a pretty good song, really. I have no idea what the fuck this has to do with the Plimptons, other than the fact that, if MTV still played music, i’d like to think the Plimptons would be in Madness-esque heavy rotation ((which brings up a chilling tangent: Is “these guys would be in heavy rotation if MTV still played music videos” this generation’s version of “in a perfect world, this song would be blasting out of every AM radio in America”??? Yikes!)). They’re poppy and ska-ey and clever and jumpy and sing with funny accents because they’re from Scotland ((good, i’m sick of Ireland anyway)), but they’re also punky because GOD DAMMIT WE HAVE RAISED A GENERATION OF CHAMPIONS. Who knows, for all i am aware, maybe this band is big and famous and continually overplayed at the corner bar ((and, hell, maybe MTV plays videos all the time again? How would i even know?)), but i’ve never heard of ‘em before and i’ll go so far as to say that their videos ((viewable on many popular social networking sites)) are mildly life-affirming necessities. HARK, THE HERALD ANGELS SING! BREATHE DEEPLY OF THEIR SUGARY TINKLE!!! BEST SONG: “I Don’t Wanna Be Dead” BEST SONG TITLE: “The Day My Baby Said She Hated Ska.” FANTASTIC AMAZING TRIVIA FACT: Nobody really knows what the last decade was called, and i don’t blame them.
–norb (16 Ohm)