THE RETRIEVER WEEKLY FOCUS November 10, 1998 PAGE 15
"Fire It Up" Without Burning It Down: Ads That Stretch the Truth to Its Limits from ADVERTISING TRENDS, page 14 other was strategically poised at zipper height, as if paused for the inevitable cue. "Shee." the second lad offered. clucking a This gent was clearly made up to mimic John sympathetic tongue while adjusting what Travolta in Saturday Night Fever. His ribald seemed to be a glossy swim-cap. posturing shamelessly aped Travolta's lithe "Should have seen Antoine last night. He performance. got all up m dat fool's face and said: 'Man! I Two other representatives of the leisure fuck you up! I fuck you up right now! Then I class, both female, flanked the first. Perhaps go get your bitch and fuck her up. too!· He the ~revious statement falls short in its accu was all yelling, know what I mean." (The last racy. for "flanked" misrepresents the blatantly phrase was pronounced as a monosyllable: animalistic body language. The ersatz disco "nawhmeen". It bas been phonetically clari sensation was suspended between two forces fied for greater readability). A deliberate and enjoying every second of it. His com plunge in the youthful narrator's pitch was panions were so smitten by his Newport-en The Hardline on Hardcore augmented by a corresponding increase in hanced charisma that any obstacles hinder volume. ing gratification (like tact and judgement) had JEN GIBSON "straight edge.·· A Jot of people have heard "Heard dat. And he say to Antoine: 'What? been suspended. One rapt devotee attempted Retrie~·er Wtekl\ Staff Writer about this one - they stay away from What? I kick you down deez damn steps you to wrest him to the ground while her rival drinldng and doing drugs. Another group just came up.' Heh." The original storyteller tugged at his :;naky gold neckchain. And all Many people use the tenn hardcore - is the ·'sldnheads'· - they are into unity. scuffed at the rubberized floor with a pris of this was in good fun, as evidenced by wide. it's become a common expression for cool The last group is made up of "hardcore tine construction boot, his thunder stolen. So affected smiles and sweaty necks craned back ness or intensity. But there's a whole sub kids'' who are just out for fun. the other continued, waxing analytical. with abandon. culture behind this phrase - it's the Hardcore bands are made up by a di "Antoine, he like to talk shit. He dat one al An alternative translation to this scenario hardcore scene. The hardcore scene is verse group of people- it's not just one ways saying 'Get the gun man! Go get the might involve the nouveau riche of a crum made up of many different layers. type of Joe that is a part of it. Hardcore gun!" bling Stalinist economy-young dilettantes "It's more than just the music. There's has a multi-cultured ethnic background I pondered this psychological parable. If with money to bum and an overwhelming a message that goes with it," stated James they're more than just your average "al the testimony overheard was accurate, ambition to experience American excess. Walter, 20. "It's about being open-minded ternative" band. Some hardcore bands are Antoine seemed to habitually initiate futile This would explain the outdated garb and and helping out your friends. It's about influenced by rap. For example, Biohaz attempts at bravado. When exposed as a hyperbolic color reminiscent of clumsy what's real and what's not and doing your ard has been influenced by House of Pain, blowhard, he would clamor for armed inter Mentos commercials. Perhaps the Travolta own thing." Onyx and Cypress Hill. The beats of vention. In other words, Antoine was all bark clone was a cigarette smuggler specializing The tenn hardcore has come to gener bardcore are also similar to the beats of and no bite, a strutting but ineffectual char in mentholated indulgences. In any setting, ally describe a genre of music that has rap. acter- ultimately discredited. the primal tug-of-war (a popular Newport never surfaced into mainstream "top 40 There are some shows coming up in the My attention swiveled to the other passen motif) depicted results in a single, incontro hits:· "When people are first introduced area. On Thursday, November 12, Agnos gers of Bus R-3. Those not bobbing and vertible end. No matter how the cards fall, to hardcore. they seem to see it in a nega tic Front is coming to the Capital Ball mouthing to headphones sat frozen in this guy had scored big and largely thanks to tive light. When actually, hardcore music room. On Sunday. November 22. Sick of askance. They were evidently struggling to his taste in tobacco. is extremely positive," says Jennifer Elliot. It All is at the Capital Ballroom. On Sun ignore the dialogue by maintaining a rigid A quizzical subordinate message graced the 20, a biology major. day, December 6. Madball and local band head-forward, hands-in-lap ''hear no evil" lower right comer of the poster. It was stan This fonn of music has been around Next Step up will be at the Capital Ball posture which reminded me of my parochial dard Newport orange, but printed in a dis since the early ·80s. Major centers of con room. Try going to see one of these bands, school's stern version of the lotus position. armingly "cool" font of mismatched capitals centrations for hardcore are in New York it may broaden your horizons to an up Paradoxically, the rectitude of these decent the same gimmicky typeface reserved for stay and Connecticut. but there are also clus coming music trend, one that's been un folk led to them into an equally iniquitous in school ads and emblazoned on the backs ters in DC and Baltimore. Bands from derground for over a decade. display. of cartoony cereal boxes. "FiRe iT UP!" it Nev.. York include Biohazard. Madball and In Biohazard's song "Tales from the I was far from the first to encounter the commanded. Sick of It All. while Hate breed hails from Hardside," they aptly sing. "The virus of delicate tension that defmes social interac The slogan "fire it up" is hardly a recent Connecticut. Local hardcore bands are hate affects an ignorant mind." I hope that tion on mass-transit vehicles. Advertisers, innovation and connotes all the spontaneity Fugazi and Next Step Up. reading a little bit about hardcore has perchance foreseeing that a similar situation of a night long freebasing binge. If you were There are several types of different eradicated this virus from a now informed would cause riders to turn away from the huddled with a group of panting fiends in a groups that make up hardcore. One is mind. bleak landscape of overturned shopping carts utility closet, dark except for the occasional and wire-windowed schools and face front, Zi ppo flare and someone instructed you to had erected a monument to their own intu "fire it up'', well. it would mean that if you ition. Bolted to the wood-veneer directly be didn't quickly touch flame to glass. the guy hind the driver's seat (and facing a rapt audi next in line would kindly take your hit for Trendy or Just Plain Stupid? ence) was a large rectangular frame rented you. Rick James. recently sprung from the from DANGEROUS TRENDS. page 14 that sexual sensations are greatly heightened to the Lorillard Corporation, distributors of Big House. was familiar with the lingo of after having penile implants and no surprise fine tobacco products. "Newport Pleasure!" these Bacchanalian revelries. tual cause of death (pornographic magazines. since the sldn is stretched over the implants the poster announced in lively. luminescent Newport's little legend is exemplary of the videos. sexual pleasure accessories. etc.) and thus thinning the membrane which sepa orange. modem marketing strategy of appropriating while coroners overlook evidence. Boy. it rates the tactile nerves from outside stimuli. A photograph next to the title displayed an subculture vernacular. The theory goes that would be a shame if those who sought the However. if excessive pressure or stimuli is actual Newport box and one cigarette. This drug culture excites an uninitiated and often "ultimate climax" actually never found it applied to these protrusions then it is highly depiction momentarily confused me until I younger audience with notions of iconoclas before things went wrong and cost them their possible that the sldn may break or the pieces realized it was a charitable gesture by Madi tic unconventionality. heedless impulsiveness lives. 'under the skin may move around and cause son Avenue. Ever been stuck in line at your and Faustian gratification. Hence stodgy Body art has been around since the dawn medical problems. I guess that some people neighborhood Rite-Aid while your predeces household staples like Crystal Light arc of civilization and exist-; in different fonns think seventeen piercings and three tattoos sor described his intended purchase to the touted as able to "pick you up" without "get in different cultures. Tattoos. piercings. en just ain't enough to show their individuality, clerk. "That pack. No the green one! With ting you down." Never mind the whole Surge largements and the like have been done be but procedures involving surgical operation the upside down swoosh!" Illiteracy (which ''Feed the Rush" campaign. After wearing fore but have you ever thought about skip may seem a bit excessive to others. plagues the same impoverished urban neigh thin the Beat Generation Road Trip mystique implants? What I mean is a form of three di There ·s nothing wrong with trends and you borhoods targeted with the highest frequency and sea cnging the 60's. 70's and 80's for mensional body art v..hich involves slicing may think that as long as no one is hurt in the of Newport billboards) should not be a bar mlll..:r .tl, advertisers seek to capitalize the open the skin on a certain part of the anatomy, end. you can do whatever you like with rier separating the discriminating smoker romantic allure of addiction while comfort placing metal pieces under the skin. and then whatever's currently cool to do. But remem from his "Newport Pleasure." The pictorial ably ignoring its bleak aftermath. Lamenta allowing the flesh to heal and creating bulges ber that the action of one can bring about re bulk of the ad also required little education bly for some, no unadulterated soft drink or under the :surface of the body. This type of 3- action or consequence. depending on how the to decipher. fiberglass tipped cigarette is ever going to D body an ha-, become increasingly wide action is executed and in what situation the A trio of gaudy figures were positioned. make one see spots. Then agaiP. according spread among those wishing to express their action is carried out. Of course, dumb people mannequin-like. under the N'e\\ port banner. to the thinly veiled association:. insinuated individuality in ways not done before. who do stupio crap arc the reasons why our The central persona was an unctuous social by Lori liard. the distinct aura of ~e\\ port Among the most requested part.. of the society is so messed up like it is today and ite bedecked in a white jumbo-lapelled smoke is enough to make girls clad in hot anatomy to receive such treatment is the pe that trend is clearly visible in the past. present. lounge suit. One of his hands was raised, a pink and cerulean queue up two-by-two. Fire nis. ivlany recipients of this procedure claim and future. triumphant finger poking heavenward. The up a Newport and Pleasure is guaranteed.