They could care less about what goes into the creation of the music because they are more concerned with how a musician spends his or her time outside the spotlight. There's a slick obsequiousness about journalists who cover celebrities, the way they try to ingratiate themselves into the life of the artist, as though they were old friends, though most are little more than fawning fans with press credentials.
Two weeks ago, Boyz II Men's Shawn Stockman submitted to a tele-conference with nearly a dozen smaller papers in larger markets to promote the tail end of the band's year-long tour, which began last fall in Japan and concludes in September, with a date in Dallas this week. What happened during that "press conference"--with journalists from such papers as the Sacramento Bee, The Florida Times-Union (in Jacksonville), The Defender in Houston, and something called Straight from the Street in Washington, D.C.--revealed less about Boyz II Men's music and more about the current state of music journalism, if such a thing isn't quickly becoming an oxymoron.
There's no doubt Boyz II Men is among the world's most popular bands right now: Their brand of slick, dance-floor-back-room R&B--a hybrid of '70s Philly soul and '50s doo-wop propped up by today's brightest studio technicians (Dallas Austin, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, L.A. Reid)--has remained atop the pop and R&B charts for close to four years. Boyz' videos are more constant on MTV than commercials. They are the ubiquitous superstars of urban radio, the wholesome, bright, and cheery counterparts to the alt-rock and hip-hop musicians with whom they often share the stage at televised award shows.
They're a throwback to Motown's heyday, when The Temptations, the Jackson Five, the Supremes, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, and Marvin Gaye were churning out top-40 hits for white and black audiences. If those artists of the '60s and '70s were the brilliant result of a cynical formula perfected by Berry Gordy, the antithesis of the down-and-dirty soul music coming from Memphis' Stax and Hi labels during the same period, then Boyz II Men dance in their predecessors' footsteps--certainly no less talented, but no less calculated. The evidence is in the band's use of so many hit-making producers. Do not forget the very first hit for Motown was a call to arms, a mission statement still in full effect: "Money (That's What I Want)."
But such considerations do not matter when journalists and celebrities converge for brief moments. Rather, the notebooks are traded for autograph books; the hardball questions are swapped for Nerf balls; and all queries become pronouncements of love.
Here, then, are a few notable moments from that "press conference," questions and answers provided for your enlightenment and enjoyment. Candice Bergen swears you can hear a pin drop if you use her long-distance service, but she says nothing about hearing two lips pressed firmly against someone's ass.
Hey, yo. This is Sam, Straight from the Street in D.C. Whassup, bro? I was wonderin'--you guys are on top of the world right now as far as R&B groups. How do you think you guys compare to the old R&B groups of the '60s--The Temptations, the Miracles. I mean, you guys are up there. How do you think you guys compare to them, or is there any comparison?
Shawn: "Of course. I mean, we basically owe them as far as just pioneering the way for us to do what we do. And we got our influences from them. We still watch our old tapes of The Temptations and their live performances, and they're great performers, and we learn a lot from them, being little babies quote-unquote compared to them. And they're very receptive to us. Whenever we see them, they're always talkin' to us and always tryin' to teach us things."
This is Tim Butler with the Tri-State Defender in Memphis. It must be refreshing to see there's a market for good wholesome lyrics, good wholesome images in music today.
There is a long pause.
Shawn: "Do you want me to comment on that?"
Yes, yes.
Shawn: "I'm sorry. I thought there was a question. I mean, yeah, you know, we just do what we do, and that's all I can say. That's us. We write our lyrics the way we feel 'em, and hopefully other people get into them."
Shawn, Dan McDonald again [with The Florida Times-Union]. On that same note, because you guys have a good, clean image, do you ever worry the slightest little thing will be picked up by the media to turn that---a speeding ticket, if one of you guys happened to stay out too late? Is your image and keeping it a clean image a battle?
This is Sam from Straight from the Street. You guys didn't pick up any prostitutes last week, did ya? He laughs.
Shawn: "What's that?"
Sam: You guys aren't anything like Hugh Grant--you didn't pick up any prostitutes?
Shawn: "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. None of that."
Sam: What do you guys do to chill out? What do you do on a Saturday or a Sunday besides shootin' videos?
Shawn: "Well, um, we try to play some basketball, we try to play pool..."
Sam: Don't let me find you...
Shawn: "...we like just hangin' out, goin' to the mall, shoppin', whatever."
Hey, Shawn, this is Antoinette with AJTV Productions, and I wanted to ask you--the new song "Broken-Hearted" with Brandy. How did that duet come about?
Shawn: "Well, Wanya [Morris, another of the Boyz] and Brandy are really good friends, and they've grown very close. We've all grown very close to Brandy. She's like our little sister."
Sam: Can I get a date?
Shawn: "Hello?"
Sam: No, go ahead, man.
Shawn: "What did you say?"
Sam: Can I get a date? Can I date your sister?
Shawn: "Oh, a date with Brandy? No."
Shawn, this is Lela Ward from the Herald-Dispatch newspapers in Los Angeles. What would you say is the biggest change of having such a successful career over the last four years? What has been the biggest change in your career--other than money and ladies fallin' at your feet?
Shawn: "We had to mature, we had to grow because the entertainment business forces that, it makes you go that way. You have to be more on your toes because you're not only a singer when you're on tour and takin' care of the things we take care of. You almost have to turn into businessmen, executives running a business and trying to make it run as smooth as possible."
Shawn, whassup? Sam, Straight from the Street in D.C. again. Yo, man, lemme ask you, do you have a good time in all these interviews? You guys are so hot!
Shawn: "You mean do we get tired of 'em?"
I mean, seriously. You guys wake up in the morning...Lemme put it like this. Describe to me your average day. What time do you guys wake up?
Shawn: "Uh, see, it differs. Our average day isn't average. We have different types of day."
Nine o'clock? Six o'clock? Eleven o'clock?
Shawn: "It could be."
Like, "Let's chill and wake up at 11 o'clock. Fuck it."
Shawn: "It could be 6 o'clock for a video shoot. It could be 11 o'clock for a recording session before a show. It could be 5 o'clock in the afternoon to go to the venue for a show. We have different situations for different shows. We don't get tired of interviews, per se, we just get tired."
It's an ugly situation.
"A lot of times we want to relax. We get tired. We're human beings. Everyone gets tired when things get to be too much."
Boyz II Men performs August 25 at the Starplex Amphitheatre. TLC, Montell Jordan, and Mary J. Blige will open.
