RAYGUN - finally the 00s has its own Gay Dad

Fuck burying this on the Guardian zing thread, this is way too important.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzWpNdGb4Ps&feature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMkqQWnbtaI&feature=related

Granted this was from a few months ago and was only ever meant to be a puff piece but WTF.

I found that after searching for info/evidence for prosecution after seeing this:

<LINK TO NOW DELETED YOUTUBE CLIP>

― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 1 August 2009 17:16 (3 days ago) Permalink

There was a time when I was at the job centre! Trying to get a job - in music! And they couldn't even get me a job in one of the record stores!

― splash the praying duck (DJ Mencap), Sunday, 2 August 2009 13:37 (2 days ago) Permalink

These guys are the new Palladium then?

― CosMc (Raw Patrick), Sunday, 2 August 2009 18:40 (2 days ago) Permalink

The new Gay Dad surely?

― Matt DC, Sunday, 2 August 2009 19:36 (2 days ago) Permalink

ned is their street team.

― djh, Sunday, 2 August 2009 20:44 (2 days ago) Permalink

Most likely to: Swagger like Jagger.

Louis, presumably?

― N1ck (Upt0eleven), Sunday, 2 August 2009 20:47 (2 days ago) Permalink

Vengeance is Sony's. The pricks.

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 4 August 2009 14:42 (3 hours ago) Permalink

Perhaps hoping Rhodri will write a story about it?

― djh, Tuesday, 4 August 2009 15:54 (2 hours ago) Permalink

You never know. He just mentioned on Twitter that he'll have a blog post soon, at least...

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 4 August 2009 15:59 (2 hours ago) Permalink

What was it when it was at home?

― seni seviyorum / senden nefret ediyorum (Masonic Boom), Tuesday, 4 August 2009 16:01 (2 hours ago) Permalink

A hapless band, best ignored (though ned was a fan).

― djh, Tuesday, 4 August 2009 16:04 (2 hours ago) Permalink

They entertained me in ways few bands have.

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 4 August 2009 16:08 (2 hours ago) Permalink

Anyway, here's Rhodri's blog piece on it:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2009/aug/04/raygun-sony

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 4 August 2009 16:56 (1 hour ago) Permalink

Wow. It's been a long time since I saw a boy wearing that much eyeliner.

This is a parody, right?

― seni seviyorum / senden nefret ediyorum (Masonic Boom), Tuesday, 4 August 2009 17:01 (1 hour ago) Permalink

Go nuts:

http://www.myspace.com/raygunofficial

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 4 August 2009 17:05 (1 hour ago) Permalink

No, seriously, this is like Shut Up Bands has put together a compendium of all the stupidest things that bands say and do in press kits and made a movie about it, right?

― seni seviyorum / senden nefret ediyorum (Masonic Boom), Tuesday, 4 August 2009 17:07 (1 hour ago) Permalink

Here, have a mojito.

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 4 August 2009 17:07 (1 hour ago) Permalink

errr... MAYBE coz I can't say no coz I'm too scared... on facebook... A HA HAHAH.

― seni seviyorum / senden nefret ediyorum (Masonic Boom), Tuesday, 4 August 2009 17:09 (1 hour ago) Permalink

It's kind of alarming when a band's image makes me want to crack wise about 19th-rate late 90s Stay Beautiful bands and then their music makes me wish they actually did sound like that (not a wish I'd ever previously have thought possible)

― a passing spacecadet, Tuesday, 4 August 2009 17:14 (1 hour ago) Permalink

I find Raygun's latest Myspace blog to be curious:

August 4, 2009 - Tuesday

Le Weekend
I've spent a lot of my weekend watching you tube. I blame Cody High school for this because he posted a link to a video on my last blog and that turned out to be like crack to me. It resulted in me getting very into watching conspiracy theory videos about the Illuminati. They passed the time excellently. When I got over my fear of the end of the world I decided to go out and watch Moon, which by the way is excellent. Highly recommended, I'll say no more.

It's a busy week for us this week, it being single release week. Lots of interviews today and tomorrow and then a gig at the Water Rats on Thursday - I expect to see you all down the front.

Yesterday we worked up a little surprise cover for attendees of the show we're playing at G-A-Y on Saturday. I'm not gonna reveal what it is but it was sounding good yesterday and as long as we still remember it on Saturday night at 1am after several fizzy lemonades all will be good. Now then, G-A-Y?! Do real gay people actually go to G-A-Y? Or is it just straight people wanting to have a night out going gay clubbing? I guess I'll find out on Saturday.

Next week we're off to Malaysia. We're playing a show on MTV Asia with Kasabian and All American Rejects. It's a hard life i know but someone's got to do it.

Oh and I nearly forgot to say that this week on Friday we'll be in Westfield shopping centre in Shepherds Bush playing a couple of sets at 3pm and 7pm so if you want to see exactly what kind of a mess we're in then come and say hi!

See you there!

Adj

P.S. i just realised we've put up a video game on our myspace, it's particularly good because I get to crash the car and kill Ray whenever I want, it's even got blood!

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 4 August 2009 17:16 (1 hour ago) Permalink

Sorry, I didn't actually notice the music at all, it left utterly no impression on my ears. None at all. That's actually really quite curious. I can't remember if I hated them or not. The songs just slid off my ears without leaving a trace with only their abject stupidity (wrapped up in the wide-eyed innocence that they clearly thought they were being very clever) to remember them by.

― seni seviyorum / senden nefret ediyorum (Masonic Boom), Tuesday, 4 August 2009 17:20 (1 hour ago) Permalink

Wait, that picture of that singer with blond hair. They've been around a long time, haven't they? 8 years, they said? I've run into them before in some dingy toilet venue.

― seni seviyorum / senden nefret ediyorum (Masonic Boom), Tuesday, 4 August 2009 17:22 (1 hour ago) Permalink

I love that the deeper meaning of one of their songs is about getting annoyed about having to do temping work.

Yeah, I was figuring this had to happen.

(This thread, not this band.)

The link in my WTF post up there:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/mar/16/new-band-raygun

We're playing a show on MTV Asia with Kasabian and All American Rejects. It's a hard life i know but someone's got to do it.

Oh and I nearly forgot to say that this week on Friday we'll be in Westfield shopping centre in Shepherds Bush playing a couple of sets at 3pm and 7pm so if you want to see exactly what kind of a mess we're in then come and say hi!

Truly, pimpin' ain't easy.

"Pschycedelia Smith"

Jeez the singer is a cock.

"Reason, Logic, Ableton or whatever"

Strokes tribute band with Mika's kid brother on vocals and namedropping?

Psychedeliasmith was a big beat act on Skint, right?

ok, so i'm not going to click on those youtubes, but can someone just explain why people are finding them so hilarious, compared to the usual hilariously awful indie?

Oh the music's anonymous, it's the sublimely stupid interview responses that are the real LOLs.

Although here's a live clip playing at a venue called, of course, Freebutt.

god they even xerox the opening movie to Rock Band 2 in their video.

The standing-on-cars idea also appears in an old video by Ash.

Given the thread title, let us compare to the masters:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C33u1NMaR8c

good lord this is great stuff.

"I go to church to repent my sins
I can't stop singing these urban hymns!"

(xxpost) ^^^ looks like an advert for "hairwax" or whatever it is kids put on their hair nowadays

but I ain't no stranger
to the thought
that heartbeat's don't come back

And you are moved, M@tt, yes you are.

Honestly man...I've got a lot to think about....

"It's like on Facebook, when someone invites you to something....you've got 'Yes', 'No', and 'Maybe'...'Maybe' is for people that are too afraid of what someone will think when they say they can't come...'Can't Say No' is for them."

"I go to church to repent my sins
I can't stop singing these urban hymns!"

That's got to be made up. Puzzled at the way the singer keeps looking to the fat beardy one for approval.

oh it's very real.

The funny thing I try to remember about doing radio interviews is that you have to try to be good value. I put myself in the position of the radio station and think if I was filling air time with a band I'd want them to be entertaining. The best interviews I've heard or seen are usually with people like Jack Black and Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters, they're not afraid to let you know they're in the room. We try to bear that in mind whilst we're doing these things ourselves. Before anyone gets the wrong idea I'm not trying to say that we think we're as funny as Jack Black or Mr Grohl, we just aspire to that level of quality.

Anyway the best thing about all this is meeting new people. Of course with local radio there's always a high chance of bumping into Alan Partridge 'local celebrity' types. Unfortunately they've been pretty thin on the ground so far this tour but I'm still holding out hope.

We filmed the video in the shadow of the Capitol Records building which added to the 'showbiz' feel of our LA experience. These trips were my first time in LA and if you've never been, its difficult to go to LA and not feel like you're in a movie. This is because everywhere you look you see something thats been in a blockbuster movie. Being British I have to mention the weather which was to quote Bill Hicks "Hot and sunny, hot and sunny, everyday is hot and sunny..." The Native Americans called LA 'Tapu' which apparently means forbidden. This was because they believed it was a place for the soul and not a place for living in - I guess they didn't get on with the heat! As a result its an early town people get up early and its difficult to find a place open later than 2am unless you like strip clubs! LA is also a seaside city. We took a trip to Santa Monica and Malibu and were amazed to see dolphins in the wild. I'm not sure if this happens to everyone who visits LA but we also saw some other beasts in their natural habitats (i.e. they were in the same hotel as us) namely Stevie Wonder, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Ryan Adams, Keane, James Morrison and my personal favourite Slayer! (They're not really my favourite). We also saw The Prodigy at Heathrow being stripped of their shoes, as were we I might add!

On our last day there, whilst we were at a bar in LAX waiting for our flight home there was an earthquake. It was a very surreal experience because we all looked at each other, you could see we all knew what was going on and we were all think 'ok is this really happening and how is it gonna turn out'. Fortunately it was nothing more than a minor event with not even so much as a broken glass to report. I think this was the best kind of earthquake to be involved in, if you're looking for earthquakes to get involved in, anything more and you start getting the ceiling falling down or whatever and thats a bit too serious for my liking! Yes I'm only an entry level earthquake tourist!

This is starting to get wierd so I'm off now. I look forward to returning to LA soon, who knows we may even play a show!

Oh PLEASE DO.

Ah, theory. From September of last year:

First of all I have to make a confession - I Love Pop Music. There I said it. I've come a long way since my early teens and my Metallica obsession (which by the way I'm not embarrassed about). However I've now grown up and part of that growing up process involved listening to the radio a lot. I mean loads. The radio has been a big thing in my life it's where some of my earliest memories of music came from and it's still where I find out about new bands/artists and great songs etc. I think here in Britain we're pretty lucky for having great radio too. Radio 1's new music policy has been one of the best things to happen in Britain cos we were nearly stuck in Status Quo hell at the end of the 80s. But not just Radio 1, XFM and others have been doing good stuff for new music for a while too.

However this year I have 1 big question - Where did all the good songs go? For the last few years we've had some great classic pop songs coming into our lives. It's been pretty special for a while I mean we had Outkast's Hey Ya, Strict Machine by Goldfrapp, Nelly Furtado's Maneater, Justice's D.A.N.C.E. , LCD Sound System's North American Scum, No Doubt's Hella Good and Muse's Supermassive Black Hole to name a few (Winehouse has been excluded from this list for pissing it up the wall). But where are the classics this year? What happened to pop? Maybe we've just been spoiled for the last few years. Or perhaps what's more likely is that whilst indie-schmindie was ruling the roost the only pop that was getting played was the cream and cos we liked what we were hearing so much we asked for more and so radio decided to focus on it. However it's pretty obvious there's not enough good stuff to fill the playlists. I think they call that binging so I guess this is the purge!

Don't worry though we'll be coming round the mountain to clear up the mess next year!

and my personal favourite Slayer! (They're not really my favourite)

whew! i was worried there for a second

Does this guy actually write for the Guardian too?

Why don't they just cover Babylon Zoo's Spaceman and have done with it?

Hahah

The pop theory post in question, with lovely accompanying image.

"If you stuck Iggy Pop, James Brown, David Bowie and Shirley Bassey in a lift... you'd probably have our band"

Also... the singer is called RAY GUN.

"If you stuck Iggy Pop, James Brown, David Bowie and Shirley Bassey in a lift... you'd probably have our band"

omg, funniest quote.

they've gotta be taking the piss here. they just gotta

Something tells me that they take themselves all too seriously.

I don't mean to self-aggrandize and sound like I'm tooting my own horn here but count the parallels between the Raygun clip and this comedy video my friends and I did last year about an overhyped indie rock band doing a stupid promo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o76xHGWolKU (It's long, so just skip to 5:51 if you want the gist of it)

I've got: Eyeliner guy, former boy bander now in an indie rock band, pretentious lead singer who thinks he's an intellectual, a ridiculous quote about what the band sounds like ("We sound like Wham going over to Joy Divisions' house for a game of Halo, so it's introspective and dark but then really pop, and there's still a sense of tragedy hanging over everything. But Wham wins the Halo match in the end btw")

Watching the Raygun video a second time I started to pity them, if only because of the fallout over this.

Yeah it's the sincerity that's kind of sad. Imagine waiting eight years to record your album and then immediately becoming some kind of internet joke.

No, sorry, I have no pity for anyone, in the year 2009, with all the knowledge and experience available, *still* is stupid enough to sell their soul to some major label for the price of a trip to LA and a few carchase videos thrown in.

I've never understood the comedy value of cruelty before (re: the Office, etc) but watching this lot, I suddenly *got* it. It's their utter sincerity that makes it so hilarious.

if they're in on it then they're brilliant, if not then, well, british ppl are the worst tbh

i almost think that "Adj" is worse than the lead singer

usa gives the world attack! attack! & brokencyde

uk gives the world raygun

RIP dom as well

raygun vs. mexican food

http://www.usdat.us/secretary/archives/US_flag_burning_2a.jpg

Raygun fans, yesterday.

"If you stuck Iggy Pop, James Brown, David Bowie and Shirley Bassey in a lift... they'd frantically press the DOOR CLOSE button when they saw us coming."

TS: Raygun vs Naked Raygun, anyone?

I remember an interview in the local paper with the band World Leader Pretend where one of them said something along the lines of "We're like the Frank Lloyd Wright of music. Listening to one of our songs is like walking through different rooms of a modernist house"

An alternate take from MJ Hibbett, who would know:

Raygun are actually quite sweet compared many of the MILLIONS of bands EXACTLY LIKE THEM I have played with over the years.

It's a fair point, pretty sure that Raygun interview is no more stupid than anything that's been posited by the Pigeon Detectives or whoever over the years. Think Raygun have been unfortunate enough to have done it all in one interview and at totally the wrong point in the decade.

RAYGUN vs. Gay Dad vs. GAYGUN vs. Ray Dad

(xpost) most indie bands don't have: a) 8 YEARS to come up with this stuff, b) the support of a major record label, c) 15 minutes on C4 to pontificate.

Gay Ray ftw

tho Iggy may prefer Dad Gun (cf Sister Midnight)

I'm sure one of these guys was in Rooster (srsly). eight years, my ass.

Whenever I see this thread I immediately think of:

http://old.kak.ru/images/archive/8/raygun/01!.jpg

lol 90s.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8183655.stm

See I think this is the key to their comedy factor - dude is *remarkably* bad at conveying notions of struggle and hardship

It was very unusual. I was working in the distribution room of a record label called Tru Thoughts. I had one tape - an old, 1970s James Brown compilation

Why didn't you bring some different ones in then?

http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=239610968&blogId=504211155

"August 6, 2009 - Thursday

An Apology
Category: Blogging
APOLOGY FROM RAYGUN

Since Monday my band have advised me not to speak out even though since the incident I wanted to publicly express my regret and accept full responsibility. I thought it was time for you to hear directly from me that I’m sorry.

When future generations look back on the events of the last few days, as they surely will, I ask that they think not of the singer in a band nobody has ever heard of saying some slightly ridiculous things about his music, but of the way those shameful events brought people together.

Admittedly people were brought together mainly on messageboards as they posted comments such as ‘LOL WHAT A DICKWAD’ but that is not really the point.
I owe some apologies.

I’m sorry to my band mates Adj, Sam and the other one. And I thank each one of you for standing by me during what has been a difficult time for all of us.

I apologise to Delia Smith and to the concept of psychedelia. What I did to you both was unforgivable.

I now fully accept that if you stuck Iggy Pop, James Brown, David Bowie and Shirley Bassey in a lift you would basically just have Iggy Pop, James Brown, David Bowie and Shirley Bassey in a lift. You would not have our music. You would have three famous singers and a dead one.

I also accept that I know very little about hedonism and that I am not an expert in the field of drug use simply because of the time I tried to get high from smoking a banana in the Argos car park.

I apologise for being somewhere in the region of 27% more of a twat than I usually am, and I apologise for any twatish parts of my nature, although I do urge you to consider the fact that I am a singer in a band. I am by definition someone who wants to stand on a stage and sing while people watch me and for that reason will always be a little bit of a twat because it is in my makeup.

On the subject of makeup, I apologise for sometimes overdoing the eyeliner. I apologise to those who have pushed forward the proud tradition of singing men in makeup: Robert Smith, Brian Molko, the ginger one from Pussycat Dolls.

I apologise to Ken at my label and ask that you do not drop this boy.

In future I shall look to, and take my cues from, the true masters of modesty, humility and understatement: Bono, Johnny Borrell, Kanye West.

I close by thanking you for your time and requesting that my band and I are now afforded some space, and some time, to consider these awful events and to rebuild our lives. This is now a band matter and I respectfully ask that we are permitted to move forward in private.

Thank you.

Ray"

what a dickwad

he really is, you know?

(xxpost) Regardless of whether that's a genuine statement or part of a continuing publicity strategy, their music is still generic 00's indie shash.

and he's still a dickwad

That backpedalling apology reminds me of something.

of a backpedalling dickwad?

Erm... "I’m sorry to my band mates Adj, Sam and the other one."

That backpedalling apology reminds me of something.

lol something or someone

Has any band ever had this kind of hype and then gone on to blow us all away? Raygun could be breaking new ground here.

TS: Jimmy Ray vs Raygun

I think the first time anyone had heard of Raygun was when they made tits of themselves on TV. There doesn't seem to be a massive hype bandwagon rolling yet, although if you get your band on tour with Kasabian you've probably got a fair bit of financial heft behind you.

There's a few decent gags in his "apology". He actually does a pretty good job of redeeming himself there.

yeah, the apology is lolsome in a good way. the "Ken"/"drop the boy" line is my fave.

what percentage of potential raygun fans will get that bros-reffing line? it's purely for the old industry duffers, surely?

It's mostly the old industry duffers that are doing the pointing and laughing, though.

the initial video reminds me of chris needham without *any* of the likeability

I think the mention of the 90s magazine Ray Gun over on ILE made me go 'whatever happened to...' -- and and the answer:

Demise/Break up

Early 2010 following a meeting with the label the band (along with others) were dropped by Sony which consequently lead to the band deciding to go their separate ways.
Sam Embery and Ben Lyonsmyth have now been snapped up by Amy Macdonald and are currently touring with her.

Did they ever release anything? Like, at all? Or did Sony realise their new band had become an internet joke and just cut their losses?

They released a single, accompanied by the car chase video discussed upthread.

Lack Of Self Awareness

lol

Memories

https://noisey.vice.com/en_uk/article/bjm9d5/worst-interview-ever-raygun-lift-2009-4play?utm_source=vicefbus

4 August 2009 19:23 (ten years ago)

There's basically no reason to revive this thread, other than to note that it's been over a decade since this debacle. I can't remember what any of their songs sound like.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSJyzLzWYi0
oh...
Sounds like something that would be used as background music on The Inbetweeners. Not a peep out of these guys since.

Well at least these guys can relax and know a newer one has emerged to be the focus of mockery instead.

it's funny there was an indie band named this, because when I saw the video of that woman at the olympics I thought it was like a kind of 'indie breakdancing'. they should have an indie olympics for people who aren't very technically accomplished at their particular sporting discipline, but have a charmingly naive or shambolic style

I didn't think her dancing was that bad, it took me a while to realise that people were sharing clips of it because they thought it was bad, I thought people were sharing it because they thought it was cool and funny? But I didn't know that breakdancing is an olympic sport, I thought the videos were her doing a victory dance after whatever actual sport she did, if you see it in that context it was pretty good

i've been pondering minstrelsy a lot this weekend

As we all do.

I misremembered that 'Iggy, Bowie, James and Shirley in a lift' interview as helming from BBC Choice and spent a few years trying to find it again that way until I realised the error of my ways last year. Really surprised there was ever an ilx thread.

hmm BBC Switch I mean

lol "just because" is finally on spotify!

Following the widespread attention that Edwards received in Calgary shortly after the Olympics finished, the entry requirements were made stricter, making it nearly impossible for anyone to follow his example: the International Olympic Committee (IOC) instituted what became known as the Eddie the Eagle Rule, which requires Olympic hopefuls to compete in international events and be placed in the top 30 percent or the top 50 competitors, whichever is fewer.[13]

did this not apply to the breakdancing for some reason, or are there just not enough people taking part in international breakdancing events for it to have worked in this case or something?

She actually won an Oceania comp in 2023 apparently. Absolutely baffling.

(so I have to assume the latter of your possibilities)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MorhA98eK7M

she qualified by winning the oceania championship but it seems pretty clear that the oceania championship is just not very competitive by international standards

anyone else getting Kenny "K-Strass" the Yo-Yo Master vibes from this

watching the full performance, it was underwhelming but I kind of didn't see the bits that looked really terrible when you look at them in isolation (like the dinosaur walk). it was not very impressive compared to the girl from chula vista

Yeah, I watched her live, we definitely felt she was a weaker competitor at the time but this whole idea that she was making a mockery of the sport is something generated after the fact from clips

but the clips do narrow in on the things that the judges were paying attention to so I think it's probably fair

The whole thing is so lame because every other competitor in the women's and men's was, like, mind blowing. And this is what comes up if you search for "Olympic breakdancing."

yeah as part of a whole performance maybe it didn't stand out that much. idk all the breakdancing performances I saw looked at least a little silly. but stitched together like this it's hilarious, the real version of the Elaine dance in a much funnier situation, though thinking more about it I kinda feel bad for her, if she's a serious breakdancer who just happens to be pretty mediocre that would be pretty emotionally devastating

she's an academic in her 30s who studies breakdancing and was deliberately doing some goofy very non-standard moves in an attempt to score points for originality (which is something the judges are supposed to care about) because she knew she couldn't compete in terms of raw talent & athleticism. didn't work but the result was very funny

oh yeah then it is pretty funny, I can't help but love it when people try to game the Olympics somehow

breakdancing judges for the ioc? ya, i'm certain there's no behind the scenes interests at work there. none whatsoever. i'm very positive about this.

er, wait...?

https://www.foxsports.com.au/olympics/people-were-really-worried-truth-behind-aussie-breaker-being-picked-for-olympics/news-story/a7b362a04b73138e21ca96fd797e51d4

Apparently this (inclusion of breaking at the olympics) was a situation not dissimilar to other olympic sports where the IOC relies on another existing org. The problem is that they relied on the WDSF, which really just wanted a foot in the door despite being a ballroom dancing (!!) org.

Yeah, I watched her live, we definitely felt she was a weaker competitor at the time but this whole idea that she was making a mockery of the sport is something generated after the fact from clips

I decided not to watch the clips that surfaced on social media because I wanted to watch the whole routine later. When I did, it was kind of anticlimactic; I'd been expecting something much worse or weirder.

Ohhh, reading the article mh posted. The bit about the three other Aussie B-girls coming in 37th, 38th and 40th respectively in a 40-person Olympic qualifying event. So brutal.

I didn't find Raygun's breaking to be anything but really sad to watch. She was so slow. She looked like a comedian, not an athlete, but it wasn't funny, just awful. I don't want to see her dance again, thank you!

I just want everyone who watched her battle to see the actual semifinals. Like, did you see the moment where the one dude (who eventually won the gold) correctly predicted the ending freeze that the other dude would do, and went into it at the exact same moment as a way of calling him out for repetition? Looked so sick (I think it was Phil Wizard vs Shigekix).

I didn't watch any of the men's competition, but I did watch the women's (er, B-Girl) finals (including quarter- and semifinals) and a lot of them were really amazing and fun to watch.

Yeah I watched the men's. Shigekix was so fun to watch, huge smile.

I think that in every Olympic event you should be penalized if you're not in time with a breakbeat.

I just want everyone who watched her battle to see the actual semifinals. Like, did you see the moment where the one dude (who eventually won the gold) correctly predicted the ending freeze that the other dude would do, and went into it at the exact same moment as a way of calling him out for repetition? Looked so sick (I think it was Phil Wizard vs Shigekix).

“Breaking is all about originality and bringing something new to the table and representing your country or region,” head judge Martin Gilian — known as MGbility — said at a press conference. “This is exactly what Raygun was doing. She got inspired by her surroundings, which in this case, for example, was a kangaroo.”

https://apnews.com/article/2024-olympics-breaking-raygun-460a04ea70bef78e401ace415eb293db

lol

I like having a few people in every Olympics who show up just to be silly goofballs

do people think like there's a kangaroo in every house in Australia

a big problem was they basically started out the whole thing with a few (well, two of the three) truly awful performances, including the aussie. was hard to recover and retain interest from there. also, prob just too many rounds and too much time, was hard for them to sustain energy and creativity the further they got.

the mens gold medal match, they were both gassed and out of ideas i thought, the earlier rounds were better. also shoulda been done indoors with more dynamic lighting. i really liked the celebratory vibe of it all, and the friendly competition. similar to skateboarding in that way where everyone is happy to see something special even if it means they're gonna get beat by it. the story that USA(?) ran about Victor was pretty sweet, his dad was in a death metal band!

they clearly needed to add a team event, as well.

the story that USA(?) ran about Victor was pretty sweet, his dad was in a death metal band!

it was on E! during the finals. on peacock its about 35 minutes into the finals if anyone cares to watch.

wait Tommy Victor of Prong?

Victor Bermudez: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2024/08/08/victor-montalvo-breaking-paris-olympics/74481849007/

watch the whole routine later. When I did, it was kind of anticlimactic

Which of the three?

The first two, I think. (Had to skip around the Peacock replay.) I didn't see her battle vs. Nicka.

That’s where she went most wrong (at least it was the source of most of the clips)

Watching from the start. Only seen her first go and yeah nothing noteworthy. Went better than Talash from Afghanistan who I figured wisely realized she was losing badly and went for the political statement disqualification.

Wound up on her wiki page and..damn
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manizha_Talash

She continued breakdancing despite receiving opposition from her family and a number of death threats; her club was the target of bombings three times, with two going off and causing multiple deaths.[2][3][7] The third was an attempted suicide bombing that was stopped by the police.[2] Afterwards, the club was ordered to close for being a "major threat".[3] Despite the difficulties, when asked whether she ever considered stopping, she replied: "I love breaking too much for that!"[1]

do people think like there's a kangaroo in every house in Australia

Internationals never quite get what is the "right amount of kangaroos" an Australian can expect to see in the wild. It's somewhere between the extreme margins of "they're everywhere" and "you only find them in the zoo". Majority of Australians would know where to find one in the wild within 30 minutes of their house. My region has a massive group of them lounging around the university lawn at any given moment.

Anyways, she didn't spend enough time studying kangaroo moves for my tastes.

Which of the three?

oh shit I didn't realize there was more than one, no wonder

I hate Peacock's discoverability of these things

frankly if she had kangaroo kicked her opponent off the stage it would have been more exciting

or if she had climbed up a tree and eaten some eucalyptus like a koala, she could have gotten bronze for that

“Breaking is all about originality and bringing something new to the table and representing your country or region,”

I mean, that’s not really what it’s all about. It’s first about being good at breakdancing, and then maybe the other things as icing.

The first two, I think.

The first one was merely very poor, I think, but the second battle (against Syssy) was one thousand times more hilarious / sad in full than any of the social clips or re-edits of her specific moves from the third battle

the “toddler headspin”where she just plants her head down & walks her body around it is my favorite, it makes me laugh so hard

Every event should have at least one academic athlete whose participation looks to deconstruct the assumptions of the scoring system

Only just starting watching the breaking but I can’t believe everyone is dunking on raygun when the Slovak judge’s moustache was right there.

Also the world feed coverage is whack, commentary high in the mix, music and crowd way down. TBF this has been a consistent problem through the games.

https://imgur.com/a/y4FBxdn

I think raygun’s major flaw was letting the Australian team dress her in an outfit that screams - just got done with a hard shift collecting glasses at the bowls club.

can't watch it on Peacock anymore. :/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT53hDXSXw8

how does anybody award Raygun the win in this battle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MorhA98eK7M

it looks like floor humping

Thought this was a good explainer about how Raygun got to the Olympics:
https://www.vox.com/culture/367059/raygun-olympic-controversy-breaking-corruption

Tried to find that Shigekix vs Phil Wizard round and surprisingly found someone who shot it on their phone and posted, although that great freeze call-out moment is nearly blocked by some dude's head

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAiJ1W1fmCw

lol the freeze call out is great!

i watch this and feel sad that I can't do more than 5 situps

The whole battle is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0O-WH8FQjE

I actually like this view better than the telecast I watched.

Nice, I still haven't gotten tired of watching that freeze (and really there were so many incredible matches, but if you're going to watch one it might as well be this one).

this whole thing got me to watch more cool breakdancing than i otherwise would have but i do hope it's memory-holed quickly, being reminded about raygun now just makes me sad, i have no taste for irl cringe humor

I think of it less as funny than iconic in the "well, we tried to do this particular thing, and ended up doing an entirely different type of thing. and it did not hit"

Sorry map, I know this isn’t your thing but this may be about as close as one can get to “objectively funny”:

https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/10/sport/raygun-ranked-number-one-breaker-spt-intl/index.html

It's getting to where i mathematically can't even

Asymptotically approaching “can you not”

governing bodies suck, what can i say

Thought this was a good explainer about how Raygun got to the Olympics:
https://www.vox.com/culture/367059/raygun-olympic-controversy-breaking-corruption🕸

this totally unimportant person cycling in and out of the news for a solid month is really reminding me of the 90s media environment, a nice check on misguided nostalgia

balloon boy was only 15 years ago tho. i feel like we get someone like this every august.

The dress was blue, y'all.