Why you tryin' to do without me

My usual computer is getting fixed today, so I've had to postpone the post I was planning; it should happen tomorrow, I think, and will be less pop-for-preteens sounding (though there's nothing wrong with that genre by itself). For today, though, I give you a boyband.

LMNT were made up of the guys not good enough to make it into MTV's Making the Band's final band, O-Town. Now, my first reaction on hearing this that they must be truly awful, but really, in theory, there's no reason they couldn't have been better than O-Town, or at least decent--Liberty X outsold Hear'Say, after all. That, though, is not the case for LMNT. They released one album, All Sides, and were featured on a couple of Disney soundtracks; the never really made it into the consciousness of most kids, let alone the general public. And, generally, for good reason. However, there is at least one song of theirs that is worth hearing.

Juliet--there are about a million and a half reasons why I should not like this song. It is bargain bin boyband-ness. There's some innuendo it (only a bit) that would (I hope) go over the head of any ten-year-old girl, and that in and of itself is fine--innuendo less indirect thant this is a staple of pop songs--but I get this awful mental image of the four guys sitting around and conspiring how they were going to sneak dirty thoughts about their preteen audience into the song (though I know that's probably giving them too much credit, as I doubt they wrote this song). There's a bizarre DJ voice in the middle of it (admittedly for only one line) that is so weird and not necessary; it's like the (exaggerated) voice you would expect LMNT to use if they were attempting to rap, but they aren't. It's also dated for two reasons: its music and its lyrics (paging people? So very '90's).

And yet, I cannot help it. I like this song. It's ridiculous on so many levels, but it is also ridiculously cute; I can't help smiling whenever I hear it. The electronic backing effects (sort of rapidfire in parts) are probably critical to the song's appeal. As a warning, though, it is definitely aimed at a young audience, which should already give you an idea if you're even open to liking it.

You can buy LMNT's album, All Sides, here (physical) or here (digital; I'm really surprised to see their album on a Danish site--did they try to make it in Europe at some point?). However, I would not recommend it. For some reason, I did (I blame deceptive 30 second previews on iTunes) and the rest of All Sides isn't like this in style or "quality." One of the songs has a half-decent beat, but it has the worst lyrics ever (really. I think so. I might even post it some day just so I can go into how awful the lyrics are).

Next up: the dance-pop I promised earlier, if my computer comes back.

lmnt