Radical Child - music and lyrics of the New Radicals

National Catholic Reporter, May 7, 1999 by Robin Taylor

Group's founder has undeniable talent, but he needs to lose the bad boy attitude

Teachers do miraculous work. When I was in my teacher education program, I watched movies based on the lives of some of the great ones. There was Jaime Escalante of "Stand and Deliver" fame and Louanne Johnson of "Dangerous Minds." These teachers were tough but they loved their students, and their students loved them. They accomplished miraculous things together, overcoming tremendous hardships to form communities of grace. I dreamed of being that kind of teacher.

My three-year teaching career didn't turn out that way. I had moments when I felt good about my work and know that I helped a student or two, perhaps in a way that no one else could have. I have a beautiful pastel drawing on my bulletin board even now from a teen who said that he didn't give up art because of me.

Mostly, though, I struggled with classroom management and the few students, generally boys, who seemed set on making life miserable for me. There were difficult parents, endless stacks of grading, countless extracurricular duties and administrative tasks. When I couldn't sleep most Sunday nights, felt sick to my stomach Monday mornings and dreaded late August as the saddest time of the year, I knew it was time for a change.

Gregg Alexander, founder of the new group the "New Radicals," reminds me of some of my most problematic former students. He's young, smart and, big surprise, has a problem with authority figures. His group's album, Maybe you've been brain-washed too has so far peaked at number 41 on the Billboard Album charts. The first single, "You get what you give" has been on the charts for 23 weeks so far, topping out at No. 11. That's an impressive feat for Alexander, who wrote or cowrote all of the album's songs, sings lead vocals, produced and arranged it.

The album is an easy listen, with catchy '70s-style poppy tunes, grooves reminiscent of the Beatles' later work and vocals that occasionally have U2's "Joshua Tree" passion. There is a simplistic, sweet love song, "Someday we'll know," which should be another hit for the group, with its romantic lyrics about dancing on the moon, the end of the rainbow and stars crashing into the sea. There are darker moments, too, that take the listener into a world where horrible acts are committed without remorse, and drug use and casual sex are just part of life.

One of the most disturbing songs on the album is "I hope I didn't just give away the ending," a deceptively mellow six-minute story built around the refrain: "Are you an illusion/Or am I just getting stoned/Because I can't take it alone." In the song, the singer and a girl make a porno movie for cocaine ("I hear I'm big in Japan," he sings), witness the death of the girl's father when he accidentally mistakes the cocaine for Sweet'n Low for his coffee, then steal her father's wallet and drive "him to the hospital/To sell all of his donatable [sic] body parts."

The girl dies of a drug overdose, and the singer is blamed "in the confusion." All this, and his conclusion is that he "didn't even love [the girl]/We weren't even friends/It's just that I can't take it alone." Poor thing.

Drug references continue throughout the album. In "Gotta stay high," Alexander sings that "I saw your eyes/I had to run away/I fell too deep in love/There were no words to say/I just had to get high." Elsewhere, he sings that his love is real, "As real as the flowers you smoke to get high."

Alexander says in record company promotional materials that he's "tried most drugs," and that he has dark secrets, "but nothing I'm not proud of." Don't expect to see him in an antidrug campaign anytime soon, then. Blame it on youth, perhaps, and that sense of invincibility that comes with it. Maybe drugs hurt other people, like Everclear rocker Art Alexakis, who recently did his own television antidrug spot, or countless other musicians through the decades who died from their habits. There's nothing on the album that indicates that Alexander's drug use troubles him. The implication, then, is that it's OK for his teen fans, too.

This is disturbing -- partly because Alexander sets himself up to be a spokesman for youth. Young teens especially will love the anti-authoritarian bent to his songs, especially the hit "You get what you give." On the surface, it's a poppy feel-good song. "Don't give up/You've got the music in you/Don't let go/One dance left/This world is gonna pull through/You've got a reason to live/Can't forget/We only get what we give." There are scriptural truths here, allusions to reaping what you sow and all things working for good.

The song's underbelly has a darker message, though, especially when combined with its video. "Wake up kids," it starts, "We've got the dreamers disease/Age fourteen/They got you down on your knees/So polite/You're busy still saying please."

What does it mean to wake up in Alexander's world? According to the lyrics, you could "smash [a] Mercedes-Benz," then run, then laugh "till we cry." If you're a rock star like Beck, Courtney Love or Marilyn Manson, you could "run to your mansions" because "you're all fakes" and Alexander and company want to "kick your ass in." In the song's video, Alexander presides over a youth riot at a mall, where dogs are let out of cages and well-dressed adults are driven into cages.