Is David Brooks’ Next Half-Baked Pop Sociology Book Going To Be About The Super-Geeky “A-Punks”?
Nerds had their own heroes (Stan Lee of comic book fame), their own vocations (Dungeons & Dragons), their own religion (supplied by George Lucas and “Star Wars”) and their own skill sets (tech support). But even as “Revenge of the Nerds” was gracing the nation’s movie screens, a different version of nerd-dom was percolating through popular culture. Elvis Costello and The Talking Heads’s David Byrne popularized a cool geek style that’s led to Moby, Weezer, Vampire Weekend and even self-styled “nerdcore” rock and geeksta rappers.
I, personally, would have name-dropped one of those Nintendo cover bands instead of Moby, but I guess going to all those Bobo-ish Play-playing wine bars in the early ’00s really had a long-lasting effect on Brooksie. Also: When I searched for “Geeksta” on YouTube, this piece of NSFW garbage came up:
People, people. This is yet more evidence as to why the rise of the geeks is not a good thing for music. At least if you’re going to write a “dirty” rap about robots, at least have decent flow.
The Alpha Geeks [NYT; HT MC] Vampire Weekend – A-Punk [YouTube]