S/he just sucked...

bbbbbbbbbuuuuuHHHHLARGHhhhhhhhhhuhhhhhnnnngggggggggg.

Back in me high school days when I would bemoan the rapid descent of popular music by the mid-90s, my standard target/example was the contemptible 3rd wave (Canadian) suburban alt. rock rejects, Rainbow Butt Monkeys. Always found it somewhat amusing that whoever directed their video listened to their derivative of RHCP sound and decided to go with a video derivative of RHCP's videos.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/M0lVjky2roU" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/M0lVjky2roU</a> (if you watch the video, do so in the browser or you blow the punchline of the story)

More than their embarrassing penchant for pogoing and now hilariously dated fashion sense, the reason the memory remained with me all these years is that name which they no doubt believed was "cleverly dumb" (the joke is on me, I still remember it, don't I?)

Fastforward like fifteen years and I am again hearing bad music on a near daily basis (as I was when I watched Much Music) and one band which stands out is the Marvel Studios soundtrack star, Finger Eleven. Their sound is just as bad but more polished and rendering them virtually indistinguishable from other soundtrack stars like Nickelback. Well, I have contradicted myself. song:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/BYGCT4AQIR0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/BYGCT4AQIR0</a> Correction: their music does not stand out at all, I am simply aggravated each time I hear the name.

On break two days ago the conversation turned to the radio and then to band names (after being asked by a girl if I liked Maroon 5) and I singled out "Finger Eleven" as probably the lamest band I had heard in some time. The girl who asked about Maroon 5 tried to explain "finger eleven" to me and I assured her that I understood, just that it wasn't clever. I uttered "Finger Eleven is the 'Rainbow Butt Monkeys' of modern day." Of course no one else knew what the fuck I was talking about and I explained that they were just a shitty Canadian band out of some Ontario suburb in the mid-90s.

Anyway, I was just reading a thread on another message board and noticed the words "butt" and "monkey" in some proximity to each other and wondered again what their song sounded like, as all I could remember was the pogoing and it sorta sounding like RHCP or RATM lite. I was surprised to see it listed in YouTube, wondering what fan they could possibly have had that would still be so inclined to take the time to upload it. About fifty seconds into the video I went to close the window in my browser, but as I did I noticed a name in parentheses beside the song name. Unsure if my eyes decieved me or there was some explanation, I rushed to Wiki and it confirmed:

Finger Eleven also known as F11 and Finger 11) is a Canadian alternative metal band formed in 1989. They originated in Burlington, Ontario as Rainbow Butt Monkeys. They have currently released five studio albums, with their 2003 self-titled album Finger Eleven bringing them into the mainstream with the hit single "One Thing". Their 2007 album Them vs. You vs. Me launched the single "Paralyzer", which went on to top numerous charts including the Canadian Hot 100 and both US rock charts, as well as reaching #6 on the US Hot 100.

Tongue