According to VH1, the 2000s are over and there’s nothing left to see.
In 2004, the cable channel rolled out “I Love the ’90s,” the follow-up to its wildly popular series “I Love the ’70s” and “I Love the ’80s.” The general consensus among viewers at the time was that it was just too soon. “Let the ’90s sink in,” the people said.
Now, sensing that perhaps the shelf life of clip shows narrated by a cast of C-listers is fleeting, the reinvented and occasionally brilliant cable network isn’t even letting the current decade finish up before summing it up.
“I Love the New Millennium” debuts next week, airing two episodes back-to-back at 9 and 10 each night starting on Monday. The series concludes on Thursday, June 26, so you don’t need to be a math wizard to figure out there will be eight episodes in total covering 2000 to 2007. On tap are culturally important developments such as the iPod, Super Bowl wardrobe malfunctions and Sisqo’s “Thong Song.”
“Join us as we travel back in time to an era when Brad Pitt was happily married to Jennifer Aniston,” trumpets a VH1 press release. “Angelina Jolie and Madonna had yet to start the mad adoption craze, and Britney Spears still had her (expletive) together.”
Of course we’ll watch like passers-by taking in a car wreck on the Southeast Expressway. But we’ll say it again, and this time with moxie: VH1, it’s just too soon. We don’t need a retrospective on a decade that’s been nothing more than a retrospective of past decades. Not yet, anyway.
Virginal glory
When Cut Copy played the Paradise a few weeks ago, folks rolled up early to catch the opening set by Jacksonville, Fla., buzz band Black Kids. Now, when Black Kids return for a headlining gig Oct. 2, attention will once again be on the young and promising opening act. This time around, it’s New York City hipster-funk quartet the Virgins.
A sweet alternative to those not feeling the Vampire Weekend thing, the Virgins pump up the light, breezy r & b-pop, saluting Hall & Oates while nodding to disco era Bee Gees.
The Virgins’ self-titled debut might be the summer’s best road-trip album, but will it run stale by the time the band hits Boston in October? Maybe, maybe not. But what we do know is tickets to the show go on sale Wednesday at noon though Live Nation.
Should be a good one.
JP gets zombified
After Gary Glitter was arrested and imprisoned for sexually abusing children a few years ago, most sporting arenas tossed his celebratory anthem “Rock ’n’ Roll Part II” and replaced it with the more modern, techno singalong “Kernkraft 400.”
The duo behind that famous 1999 remix is Germany’s Zombie Nation, and they’re throwing down a dance party at the Milky Way in Jamaica Plain on July 2. Also on the bill are beat-monster DJ Baltimoroder and Spank Rock’s Chris Devlin. Tickets are $10; more info at milkywayjp.com.
