What IS this?

Short Version for Those with a Busy Schedule:

This is a rebirth of the original Backup Dancers From Hell blog (wacky music-video reviews), with some new things thrown in (Typos from Hell, Misunderstood Song Lyrics) and some odd bits that have nothing to do with music but fit the general credo of “Life Is Much Better If You’re Laughing”. Important thing to remember: This is a satire site. If you get offended easily, you probably shouldn’t bookmark this site.

Long-Winded Version for Those Who Appreciate Detail:

A long time ago, in a galaxy just south of Dallas, there was an innocent writer who jumped into the blogosphere with both feet. He had no idea what he was doing, but he vaguely understood that he needed to be doing something if he wanted his writing to be a career and not just a cute little hobby.

And because this writer was a confirmed over-achiever intent on proving his worth, he was not content with just one blog. Instead, he launched TEN blogs, each with it’s own distinct flavor. Most of the blogs failed, the natural fallout of roughly 4 billion other people launching their own blogs and some probable missteps on the writer’s part. It was a sad development. Happily, two of the blogs actually managed to get some traction.

One of them, the original version of “Backup Dancers From Hell”, concerned snarky little reviews of music videos. These reviews were not meant, by any means, to be taken seriously. BDFH was about satire, not scholarly analysis, poking fun at the musicians, the often mind-boggling videos they were involved in, and the general tendency of the videos to have nothing to do with the actual lyrics of the song. In the roughly three-year run of the site, nearly 400 videos were subjected to the BDFH treatment, with a wide range of musicians being shoved into the Easy-Bake Oven.

In February of 2013, the last review rolled down the assembly line and the power was disconnected. (The site is still there, and although now a bit dated and dusty, it somehow manages to get 50-odd hits a day.) BDFH slipped into a coma for two reasons: One, the writer shifted his focus from daily blogging (which he still enjoys) to working on actual books (see sidebar). Two, despite mostly positive comments, there was a subset of folks making comments (always as “Anonymous”, imagine that) who chose to lash out, apparently outraged that someone would ridicule their musical deities. Side Note: The fans of Japanese pop-sensation Kyary Pamyu Pamyu are especially aggressive if you don’t worship her bizarre video work. Be prepared.

The writer was not hurt by the negativity. (He grew up gay in rural Oklahoma. He’s seen worse.) He was more baffled that someone would take the time to bang out their negativity and hatefulness on what was clearly a sarcasm site. (Of course, this seems to be a trend with almost any site out there, with nut-jobs throwing an anonymous brick and running.) The situation was mundanely annoying, mostly, but it did contribute to the writer moving on to other projects.

In the time since the BDFH factory shut down, however, things have changed a bit. The writer now has two published books (self-published, but still published), so that itch has been scratched to some extent. And the writer has received multiple requests for a resurrection of BDFH, from the faithful readers who actually got it and want to get more. There was even a comment on Amazon for one of the writer’s books, a shout-out along the lines of “if you liked this book, you need to seek out the old Backup Dancers From Hell site, it’s worth the effort”.

That comment made the writer smile, a really gratifying moment. (It’s nice when people appreciate what you’ve done, whatever that doing might entail.) So he pulled out the old archives, clicking through them and remembering the spark that ignited those posts, and he missed that time. Why NOT go back?

So the power has been reconnected, although there’s been a real estate update from Blogger to WordPress. BDFH 2.0 (“The Remix”) will have the same snarky video reviews, including some “best of” posts from the old site along with fresh commentaries. But we will also have some new ingredients, some of them pulled from an equally-dusty Tumblr site (“Duck Sauce”) and Pinterest group (“Shocking Reality”), and additional warped concepts that are percolating in the writer’s mind.

What we won’t have? The negativity. The writer firmly believes in free speech, and always has, which is why the pointless, bitchy comments still remain on the original site. None of them were ever deleted. (Thought process at the time: Let the world see what heights of ass-dom this person has attained.) But the negativity will not be on the new site. Constructive criticism? All for it, bring it on, a healthy debate is what moves us forward as a society. Mindless bashing? We’ve had enough of that. Click and delete.

Final Note: This has been the least humorous thing you will read on this site. If you’ve made it this far without mousing your way somewhere else, that’s a good sign. It means you like to learn about things before you make a decision. And you should probably click at least one of the “follow” options in the sidebar, so we can firm up our tenuous relationship.

Fair enough?

Enjoy.

 

BGL 11/21/14