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Right Now
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Date Aired
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June 7, 2017
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Running Time
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15:14
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Todd plays "Right Now" on the piano.
SR-71 - RIGHT NOW
A one-hit wonder retrospective
Todd: Welcome back to One-Hit Wonderland where we take a look at bands and artists known for only one song. Now, I try to hit a wide amount of genres here, but for the most part that means that I cover a lot of stuff that's ancient history to me.
[Clips of "Rock Me Amadeus" and "Freak Like Me']
Todd (VO): I came to popular music relatively late in life, so a lot of the songs on here I didn't get to experience when they came out, even if I was the right age for it.
Todd: So for once, I want to cover a genre that actually meant a lot to me. Yes, today we are going to be listening to Late 90's teeny-bop mall punk!
[Clip of "Right Now", with Todd playing air-guitar]
Mitch Allan: She clings to me like cellophane
Todd (VO): Yeah, I was all into this stuff. [Clips of Blink-182- "All the Small Things" and Sum 41 - "Fat Lip"] These guys ruled the late 90's and early 2000's as far as I was concerned.
Todd: And then Avril Lavigne and Simple Plan rolled out and I realized I was a huge lame-o and started listening to indie rock. [Back to "Right Now"] But for a while, this was my jam. I was all about Blink-182, Sum 41, Eve 6...yeah, they all had numbers at the end of their name for some reason. And of the number bands, we're gonna look at one way down at the bottom of the pyramid.
Mitch: Why, why you always kick me when I'm high
Todd (VO): Now technically, this was not a hit on the Billboard Top 40, but I remember it being played constantly on the rock stations and on MTV. If you wanna know what the year 2000 looked like, it looked like this. Bright shiny colors, not a care in the goddamn world. This was on the Dude, Where's My Car soundtrack, which, yeah, that about sums it up. It was upbeat. It was an innocent time. And yet the band behind it, SR-71, never really ranked very high in the teen punk pantheon. Not like Sum 41, Good Charlotte, The Ataris, New Found Glory, Yellowcard, or the other six billion bands filling out the Warped Tour roster. Which is sad to me because when I listen to this song now, I'm like "This is killer." It's like the perfect summation of the entire genre.
Todd: I mean, I'm not the only one who remembers this, right? [Image of a Google search reading "Sum 41 - Kick Me When I'm High"] No, it wasn't by Sum 41! God.
Mitch: That bitch, it's over
You know I used to be such a nice boy
Before the hit
Todd: Eh, this is the boring part, let's get this out of the way.
(Still images of the band, Mitch Allen, and a jet)
Todd (VO): This is the band. This is Mitch Allen, lead singer, lead guitarist, only consistent member. They're named after a military jet that's way more popular than they are.
Todd: They were originally known as Honor Among Thieves, and they're from Baltimore. Oh! Oh, they're from Baltimore! Okay, well no wonder they never had a second hit, because nothing good ever comes out of that stink-ridden city of garbage and puke--
OFFICIAL STATEMENT
We would like to express our most sincere apologies to the fine city of Baltimore and all its residents, and we deeply regret any distress caused by statements made on this program
Todd: --Cal Ripken never benched himself, because then he'd have nothing to do but look at that flaming toxic waste--
We would like to again offer our deepest apologies. Statements made on this program are not reflective of its producers and sponsors. Uh...go Ravens?
Todd: --wonder Poe was depressed. You'd write miserable goth poetry too if you--
Look, we just work with the guy, we don't like him. We don't even really talk to him, okay?
Todd: Well anyway, let's listen to the band
The big hit
[video for "Right Now," Todd headbangs and raises the horns]
Todd V/O: OK, full disclosure: When I say things like, "Am I seriously the only one that remembers this?"
Todd: It turns out that I actually kind of don't remember this. I mean, I thought I did, but every time I tried to sing it or hum the melody, I'd get it confused with "Dammit" by Blink-182.
[video for "Dammit"]
Blink-182: So I guess this is growing up
Well I guess this is growing up
[back to "Right Now" video]
Todd V/O: I mean, they're pretty similar songs,
Todd: and what's that - what are these chords I hear?
[Todd's piano is shown, along with the chords as they are played]
The one, the five, the six, and then the four? Yup!
Todd V/O: Of course, you can't be surprised. Most pop-punk songs are written with those chords. It's a very basic genre; we're lucky we even got to a fourth chord in there.
Todd: So what is this song about exactly? Well, basically just a breakup song.
Mitch: She clings to me like cellophane
Todd V/O: About a clingy girl who treats him bad. It's not very serious; it is, as they say, a silly love song.