The Kids Are All Right With a New Generation

Forget those wishful predictions that heavy metal was gonna eat AM pop for breakfast, or that punk rock would abolish the notion of prefab rock stars or that gangsta rap was about to make music real again. Teen acts have come back with a gum-cracking, roller-blading, raging-hormone vengeance.

Kicked off by the success last year of Australia’s adolescent trio Silverchair (whose new video “Freak” is also an MTV success), teen stars are now infiltrating music charts and video channels, from the blues guitar of Jonny Lang to the sugary pop of Hanson to the grungy sound of Radish.

Whether these brat-packers are simply novelties or actual artists in the making, their mere presence brings back an era when the Jackson 5, the Osmonds and the like became television faves. Three of them are entered in this month’s Sound & Vision, where music videos are rated on a scale of 0-100. You don’t have to be eating a big bowl of Cap’n Crunch while wearing feety pajamas to enjoy these videos, but hey, as long as no one’s watching. . . .

Hanson, “MMMBop.” These three long-haired, skate-punk brothers (ages 11, 13 and 16) play Jackson 5-style AM pop, and now they have a time-warp video to match. Hanson takes its cues from the Monkees--goofing on the beach with surfboards, riding around in the modern equivalent of a dune buggy, landing on the moon. Middle brother and singer Taylor hits pre-pubescent vocal highs as he plays the keyboards with the smile and chirpy disposition of David Cassidy. This video is so un-self-consciously backward and hokey that it’s as irresistible as the song itself. It’s refreshing to watch a band having stupid fun, even if it is as feigned as a super-groovy Partridge Family outing. 90

Orbital, “The Saint.” This video--the “artier” of two that were made for the song--uses nine square screens to document the goings-on in a London neighborhood. Up against Orbital’s electronic adaptation of “The Saint” theme, the effect is like that of the TV department in an electronics store, where stacks of televisions display different images. It looks as if a hidden camera was placed in such mundane spots as the inside of a kitchen cupboard, at the sink of a hair salon and in the basement of a shop. The images are put side by side in a sort of choreographed work of random events, creating a constantly moving checkerboard of visuals. 90

Daft Punk, “Da Funk.” Another bizarre gem from director Spike Jonze sets this instrumental techno number to the scene of a lonely, dog-faced boy roaming the streets of New York with the song blasting from his boom box. Why does he have a canine’s head? Well, there’s a photo in his wallet of his parents--a regular old dad and a mom who’s a Labrador retriever wearing an apron. Jonze puts street sounds and dialogue over the music, including an inane conversation with a rude street vendor and an old high school friend, which helps build the whole absurd premise into a ridiculously funny sketch. 87

Depeche Mode, “It’s No Good.” The electro-pop veterans play a sleazy lounge act going from one sorry joint to the next, playing for rough, bottle-breaking patrons and little if any money. The video juxtaposes the moody electronic number with sub-lounge scenery, and pits the morose vocals of Dave Gahan with his role as a smarmy entertainer (complete with greasy pompadour and green, iridescent suit). The video is saturated in deep, vibrant colors and colorful characters, and its humorous premise offers breathing space inside the band’s heavy-duty song. 84

Jonny Lang, “Lie to Me.” In this black-and-white video, the 16-year-old blues prodigy is jamming with his band in the back of a crowded guitar shop. Dressed in a wide-lapeled leather coat and baggy, high-school-kid pants, Lang contorts and scrunches his face into convincingly pained shapes. It makes you wonder how a kid who hasn’t even had the chance to be done wrong by a cheatin’ woman or had a mean boss man can pull this off so well. The video itself forgoes any Disney-esque blues imagery and actually lets the guitarist’s own stage presence dominate. 79

Lil’ Kim, “Crush on You.” Brooklyn rapper Lil’ Kim saunters around in fuzzy red lingerie, blue and yellow wigs and a cornucopia of funky sunglasses while dancers gyrate around her on a checkered dance floor. The tiny singer’s mega-sassy attitude and unabashed flirtatiousness give the video a little flair, but it’s not enough to spice up the hip-hop-by-numbers dance moves, which can be seen in videos by everyone from Foxy Brown to the Notorious B.I.G. It makes you long for the “Da Dip’s” low-budget dance troupe. 65

Radish, “Little Pink Stars.” Though Radish and its 15-year-old leader lift their sound from the tapped-out Seattle scene, the video itself appears a decade behind in its sources. The gritty, intimate club setting comes complete with a Generation Next audience (see Nirvana), and we’re reintroduced to such long-gone video cliches as the wrinkled old man looking sadly into the abyss (see Metallica), two girls making out (see Guns N’ Roses) and the basic jump-in-the-air concert shots (see Poison/Van Halen). It makes Radish seem about as appealing as its name. 39