"Goodbye to the circus, we hope you enjoyed the show."

So reads the official website of one of most forgotten yet unique pop groups in recent memory. Their cookie cutter videos, which played like a video version of a storybook with campy plotlines, cheesy characters and the romantic tease at the end were staples of what was the "pop period" of the late 90s.

As I follow in the footsteps of ejay's guilty listening pleasures, I plead guilty to not only being a fan of this band, not only buying their CD, but in KNOWING THE LYRICS TO EVERY SONG ON THEIR FIRST ALBUM!

I can only be describing one group:



As we rewind the pop culture tape to 1997, the music world was being overpopulated by pop. We had the Backstreet Boys, the Spice Girls, 98 Degrees, 5ive (I know, how clever) and the bubble was still years away from, dare I say...popping.

It was during this period that an unknown Danish group began getting tons of play on MTV with a parody song entitled "Barbie Girl".



"I'm a barbie girl, in a barbie world
Life in plastic, it's fantastic.
you can brush my hair, undress me everywhere.
Imagination, that is your creation."

The preceding lyrics ended up getting Aqua and MCA Records on a one way trip to court from toy maker Mattel, who felt that the Barbie name had been damaged from this song and made Barbie out to have a "party image".

Which I cannot understand how anyone would have that image associated with Barbie...



Unlike Barbie, the case had no legs and the court threw the case out due to Aqua stating right on the album that the song was meant as a "social comment" and Mattel had not given them permission. Barbie was considered a public item much like when you refer to a cotton swab as a "Q tip" or aspirin as "Tylenol" and Barbie was fair game.

Aqua was quick to capitalize on the publicity from the case and kept pushing their "Aquarium" CD with other hits like "Lollipop", "Happy Boys and Girls", "My Oh My" and of course "Dr. Jones".



The songs were all basic and followed a simple pattern to attack the teenage female audience and be so campy in presentation that it lured in the male audience (okay no males except me listened to this music but I'm trying to justify my love for this group in a sociological context).

The group consisted of the male voice (Rene), the female voice (Lene) and the other two Klaus and Soren (who actually ended up marrying Lene in June of 2001).

Their follow up album "Aquarius" came out in 2000 and featured the two hits "Around the World" and "Cartoon Heroes". Both CDs did phenomenally well selling more than 28 million copies across the world.



In 2001 the group decided to break up citing a lack of motivation to continue onward. Coupled with the pop trend coming to a screeching halt in 2001 it was clear that a group like Aqua was no longer the flavor of the month.

If you are a hardcore music fan then odds are you hated Aqua. Well who cares? Their music was fun and it all circles around what you look at to get out of your musical tastes. Were their songs sending a strong message that would be thought provoking? Of course not but who said music had to be a form of social consciousness? Why can't music be fun and not force fans to analyze every lyric to death? If I want to know why George Bush sucks, I'll watch "The Daily Show" or pick up a newspaper. I'm not going to e-mail Billy Joe Armstrong and ask why.

Some people tend to get so uptight over what music you listen to. Who cares? If singing "Barbie Girl" at a karaoke bar in front of strangers OR blasting their songs when I'm caught in traffic make me have terrible music sense, then I'm guilty as charged. They may have only had 15 minutes, but "Aquarium" will always have a prominent spot in my apartment.

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jopo