POP STAR KIDS
THIS IS: POP STAR KIDS
ALBUM PLAYGROUND RELEASE: FEBRUARY 8, 2000 REVIEW: MAY 10, 2000


New York-based duo Pop Star Kids is something of a boy-band, hiding behind an endless row of credible childhood idols. Drained from every semblance of originality and in a desperate attempt to create an illusion of substance, they pour their eclectic love over (mostly eighties) acts like Jane's Addiction, The Cure, Madonna, AC/DC, PIL, Nina Hagen and so forth (no less than thirty influencing artists are mentioned in the press release).
It's just painfully obvious that members Andee and Anthony are so utterly depending on what these ancestors have once achieved. Without references to other artists' efforts there aren't much to discuss. Well, except from why Andee is single and Anthony doesn't drink as much alcohol as his band-mate. So despite enjoying a Gary Numan rip-off like "Black of the Ocean, Crush of the Motion" and sometimes noticing a talent for structuring melodies, I really can't be anything but repulsed by the superficial dumb-happy approach this band show on their debut album "This Is: Pop Star Kids". Because Pop Star Kids is nothing but nonsense. Like a Warhol-creation minus intelligence or provocation. Or an empty shell drifting in it's postmodern nothingness.

ERIK ALMGREN