from NYTimes.com <P>January 16, 2003 <BR>By KELEFA SANNEH <P>On Monday afternoon at the MTV studios, the Donnas were strutting through a sharp make-out song called, "Take It Off." About a hundred fans - all young, mainly white, <BR>largely female - bobbed and clapped as Brett Anderson (who is Donna A.) told a reticent lover to quit dillydallying. "Stop staring at my D cup," she snarled.<P>The song lasted about as long as an average commercial break, and when it was over one of the MTV hosts, La La, nodded at Torry Castellano (Donna C.) and said, "That drummer is something serious." Then La La turned to the camera to announce the day's big news: for the fourth day in a row, Justin Timberlake's "Cry Me a River" was No. 1.<P>Every afternoon "TRL" (for "Total Request Live") plays MTV's 10 most requested videos. "TRL" celebrated its fourth anniversary last September, and for most of its history the show has been closely associated with the teen-pop boom. There were times when "TRL" seemed like an hourlong commercial for Mr. Timberlake's boy band, 'N Sync. <P>These days, though, teen-pop is in remission, and MTV executives think they may have identified its successor: punk rock. On "TRL" this is "Spankin' New Bands Week," which means performances from five punk-inflected bands in five days: the Donnas, the Used, Simple Plan, New Found Glory and Good Charlotte. <P>None of these bands have had widespread success yet, and MTV is hedging its bets by splitting its coverage. After playing just one song on "TRL," each band is playing a <BR>five-song set on MTV's sister network, MTV2. <P>Still, it's hard to dismiss the reductive logic behind the network's gambit. Like the pop acts that came before, these bands are known for straightforward tunes, energetic performances and teen-friendly lyrics. The band members generally seem friendlier than rappers, more wholesome than R&B singers, hipper than country stars, more fun than divas and more cheerful than their heavy-metal counterparts. If some of these bands score smash hits and if MTV stays supportive, punk rock just might become the new teen pop. Maybe in a year MTV will have a reality series called "Making the Punk Band." <P>For their part, the Donnas seem amused (and not a little bit flattered) to be on the show, even though the band isn't quite "spankin' new" - it was formed a decade ago, when the members were in eighth grade. All four Donnas admit to being fans of "TRL," and Maya Ford (Donna F.), the bassist, says she once e-mailed "TRL" to request "Take It Off." <P>The Donnas are traditionalists: they recently released their fifth album, "Spend the Night" (Atlantic), which completes their evolution from a three-chord punk act to a swaggering hard-rock band; onstage, guitarist Allison Robertson (Donna R.) prances and sneers like Angus Young from AC/DC. <P>If anything, the Donnas are more stylized than the average "TRL" act. In a recent video the band members were portrayed as cartoon characters. But while the lyrics to "Take It Off" wouldn't sound out of place on a Christina Aguilera album ("C'mon and break me off/ 'Cause I get what I want and I like what I see," Ms. Anderson delivers the lyrics with a playful blankness that warns you not to take her too seriously. <P>Like many of the rising punk rock bands, the Donnas have found a way to mock teen pop while co-opting its language. Tom Calderone, executive vice president of music and talent programming, argues that this attitude is what distinguishes the current crop of punk bands from earlier waves. "People may make the argument that it's punk-lite or that it's punk for girls," he said. "But in reality, people are gravitating towards it because these are great pop songs." <P>During the first punk-rock boom, in the 1970's, many of the groups defined themselves by their opposition to mainstream popular music. Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols used to wear a T-shirt that said, "I Hate Pink Floyd." In the 1980's punk's guiding ethos evolved from opposition to separatism; for many bands the goal was to create a self-sustaining punk community. Even Green Day, a punk band that achieved mainstream success in 1994, retained something of this spirit; the group seemed to exist in its own world, separate from the pop acts with whom they shared more than a few fans. <P>More recently, though, punk bands have found more ambiguous ways to exploit pop-star imagery. A few years ago Blink-182 made a video called "All the Small Things," in which the group posed as a boy band, draped in bright unbuttoned shirts and surrounded by screaming girls. They were making fun of the Backstreet Boys, but they were also acknowledging that they, too, were a boy band, of a sort. More recently, Good Charlotte made a music video called "Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous," which includes an appearance by Chris Kirkpatrick, from 'N Sync. <P>Many of the bands performing at MTV this week are veterans of a punk rock scene that exists somewhere between the underground and the mainstream. All five have been part of the Warped Tour, a traveling summertime festival. And Mr. Calderone says "Spankin' New Bands Week" was conceived last month, when he and other executives started noticing some of these bands hovering just below the Top 10 on the requests chart. <P>No one has blurred the line between teen pop and punk rock as successfully as Avril Lavigne, a Canadian singer whose debut album, "Let's Go," has sold more than four million copies, making it the third best-selling album of 2002 (after Eminem and Nelly). Ms. Lavigne's success has inspired a backlash, and some punk fans have denounced her as a poseur, even though her image doesn't seem much more (or less) contrived than anyone else's. Still, when the Donnas made their MTV appearance, some fans outside on Seventh Avenue raised a sign denouncing Ms. Lavigne. <P>Punk rock has not taken over "TRL," at least not yet. The show seems to be in flux. Carson Daly, the host who once personified "TRL," now shares the microphone with a gaggle of newer hosts; the Donnas were introduced by four MTV personalities, who might easily have been mistaken for a co-ed teen-pop group. <P>Mr. Calderone says MTV executives can do only so much to overhaul "TRL" since the playlist is determined by viewers. <BR>Still, the station is finding other ways to promote some punk bands. Joel and Benji Madden, the twins who lead Good Charlotte, are also hosts of the MTV program "All Things Rock." And since Bert McCracken, lead singer of the Used, dates Kelly Osbourne, his band has been prominently featured on "The Osbournes." <P>Some of the bands on "TRL" this week play punk rock at its blandest, but the best are easily good enough to justify MTV's optimism. The Used are every bit as appealing as the Donnas, though that's about all the two bands have in common. The group, from Utah, released its self-titled debut album last year. Every song aims for catharsis, and many succeed; with his stringy black hair and fidgety mannerisms, Mr. McCracken bears a passing resemblance to Kurt Cobain. <P>For the Used's performance, MTV put the band on a small stage, crowded next to an enthusiastic audience in a pit - it looked less like an old episode of "American Bandstand" and more like an afternoon concert at the punk club CBGB. Mr. McCracken leaned into the crowd and screamed at the top of his lungs; fans raised their fists and screamed back. When a host asked him to explain the next song, he deadpanned that it was about "crystal methamphetamines." <P>The band members say they wondered, at first, what they were doing on a show like "TRL," but eventually they warmed up to the idea. The bassist, Jeph Howard, reasoned, "I think it's more punk rock for us to play something like this than not." <P>A few of the group's fans, though, needed a little more convincing. After the MTV appearance, one fan wrote to the band's Web site and complained, "I can't believe my favorite band has already begun following the ever-so-popular trend of selling out to MTV." Another fan swiftly responded with a simple rejoinder, "Shut up, it was <BR>amazing."<BR>
