This is a subject that has been preying on my mind for a while now, but something about Nathan Rabin’s AV Club piece on the most recent episode of Saturday Night Live has made it difficult to think about anything else (I mean that literally—I find myself waking up in the middle of the night with this going through my head). It isn’t the piece as a whole, but one particular paragraph that bothers me:
But the ultimate mark of desperation was that Lorne Michaels and the gang allowed Black Eyed Peas to perform three fucking songs. Three fucking songs! It’s bad enough that a show that once upon a time exposed audiences to Frank Zappa, Ricky Jay and Loudon Wainwright III had one of the worst, most obnoxious groups in existence as its musical guest. But to let Will.I.Am and his three fashion-victim stooges perform more songs than just about any act in Saturday Night Live’s thirty-five year history is just inexcusable.
I’m not going to spend time defending the Black Eyed Peas (at least not now, though I have a feeling I’m going to get to that sooner or later), but it seems to have become a point of pride among certain writers to not only put BEP down but to do so in the most aggressively vicious terms they can conjure up. This happens in conversation, as well—mention BEP and reactions will usually range from rolling eyes to primal screams. This isn’t a recent phenomenon, either—long before BEP took control of the number one spot on the charts, they were being attacked with a surprisingly intense virulence.
I fully understand people hating a band’s music, or their image, or even their personalities. What I don’t understand is why this band in particular generates such an incredible level of ire. I consider them harmless fun, sometimes good, sometimes bad, almost always interesting. But their detractors seem to consider them more than just bad, they think they’re evil, a symbol of everything that’s wrong with pop music.
So I’d like to put forward a simple question, maybe even a childish one: why? What is it about BEP, the music they make, the image they present, the philosophy they put forward, whatever, that makes them so hateful? Take as much space in the comments as you want, and feel free to vent your spleen in full. But also be prepared to justify you’re opinions. Comments like “Because they suck,” or “Because Fergie is a skank,” aren’t going to cut it. Even if you don’t hate them, but think you have a clue as to why they’re hated, feel free to contribute. Just be nice about it, OK? At least to each other.
