Rocket From The Crypt Shake The (Lollipop) Tree

Jess Harvell | February 11, 2008 3:35 am
Puppies, pompadours, and punk-into-pop crossover means the video fro RFTC’s moment of near-miss MTV beach house acclaim, “On A Rope” from 1995’s Scream Dracula Scream, delights more than ever in a decade where a similar alt-rock suspicion over the possibility of mall-rat success is A.) actually not a conflict at all and B.) manifests as guys dressing and playing like lady-hating Dickensian bellhops rather than roly poly extras in some ’60s teens-gone-wild shlock. But while obviously the irony is louder than the kiddie set’s pastel walls, in retrospect the clip’s over-saturated sarcasm feels one shimmy away from a McG clip playing the same shtick straight, meaning it was probably wise for Speedo to rein in his goof as the ’90s wound down, redefining his sense of not taking himself seriously (ever) before the bowling shirts started getting a little too shiny. [YouTube]