In before somebody makes a Roman Polanski/Woody Allen contrast

Interscope got "Counterfeit" on the radio by paying for full-length ad time.

There just isn't a lot to say about it. It's well-crafted Scandinavian teen pop but nothing genre-defining or genre-busting. It's thoroughly OK.

It just doesn't make a lot of sense, because the actual target of the piece is frat-boy rock.

I'll defend MMMBop, but Barbie Girl is like one of those 'spin til you puke' carnival rides.

It was clear that the media conglomerates had no idea what to do with the alternative rock format at about this time. Aggro nu-rock or the pure pop of Third Eye Blind and Matchbox 20? My local alternative station ("Channel Z") switched to a KISS-FM format at around this time.

Well, there was their terrible comeback power ballad— but that was years later. In the late 90s they were pretty good.

I think "I'll Be" vs "Lullaby" is best expressed in Rabinian terms as Failure vs Fiasco. "Lullaby" is way more ambitious. It's such a weird Frankensong of spare parts— a little "Welcome to the Boomtown" speak-singing about broken people, a drum machine, some tinkly piano, a rousing adult contemporary chorus. And…

History is cyclical.

And yet the Florida-Georgia Line has its own special brand of shiftiness…

According to my Google search, McCain also had a terrible soul-patchy facial hair thing, but IIRC it wasn't there in '97. Also according to my search, the lyrics to "I'll Be" are very shitty.

Basically, 1997 was the year the good stuff went back underground.

I feel like their songwriting improved after Floored. Not enough to make their singles classics but enough to make them listenable.

But compared to what came before… damn. 1997 was the end of major labels signing weird-ass bands. Goodbye, Spoon, Nada Surf and Jonathan Fire*Eater, don't let the door hit you on the way out.

Edwin McCain was another strong demerit from this two-week period— "I'll Be" was so inescapable, and so very, very bland.

And I second Sean's Squirrel Nut Zippers-inspired fuck you.

Kind of interesting to see Robyn pop up here in her pre-hipster days.

Yeah, but this was the year of Secret Samadhi. Not just bad but kind of an embarrassment.

Yeah, kind of. I like political humor but it's really crowded out everything else recently. For instance, I used to really enjoy the McSweeney's content that would pop up in my Facebook feed; now it's the same hacky garbage I could get anywhere else.

Stephen Body brought me here.