Jonah Weiner’s article in Slate makes an interesting point about the Black Eyed Peas as having a more serious vision than they let on: The Peas have been the hardest-working punch lines in show business for six years, singing ridiculous lyrics, dancing ridiculous dances, and wearing ridiculous pants, all in the name of an unabashedly uncool utopian vision. In the group’s daffy singalongs, as in its multiethnic ranks (the members are African-American, Filipino, Mexican, and Scottish-Irish), we’re meant to glimpse a world in which all races throw down arms, join hands, and possibly do the white-man-overbite dance, too united by common goofiness ever to fight again.
To me, they’re the modern, multiculti version of the B-52’s — the party band for the hipster set, making goofy music for smart and self-aware people. Sure, “My Humps” is a silly, stupid, superficial song — but so is “52 Girls.”
Tags: B-52s, Black Eyed Peas, music, Slate, video
