From Buzznet: WTF?! WTK on Radio Disney?

Since I decided to save The Big Story, I figured I might as well take the rest of my significant Buzznet blogs and move them in here. I think this is better for easier access if I need to get writing samples or something.

This is the first piece I ever got featured in the Buzznet community published on 8/25/08. It was an opinion/commentary piece on the injustices of the music scene inspired by an appearance by We the Kings on Radio Disney and fan reactions to the event.

Hey everyone, Hunter and I are in Los Angeles right now getting ready to take over Radio Disney for a few hours. Turn on your radio's and find out which station Radio Disney airs in your area and listen to us... The show will be on at 3pm Pacific Time...which means (4pm mountain time)(5pm Central Time)and (6pm Eastern Standard Time).Hope you guys tune in, we love you and we'll see you very soon!!!


<3 Travis
WE THE KINGS

Check Yes Juliet (Acoustic) on Radio Disney

Even though it's AM radio, they still sound beautifulll. I'm kinda sad that I didn't tune in, or call in. I coulda had a full on conversation with them. I know a lot of the Radio Disney kids would have been like WTK? WTF? I bet the guys were hilarious. <3 But this is what I'm really here to talk about. Travis edited the post the next day:

hey everyone this is Travis, I just wanted to clear things up with everybody...ever since i was a kid i've watched Nickelodeon, Disney TV, and have seen every Disney movie that has come out...(also we live in Bradenton Florida about 1 1/2 hours away from Orlando and Disney World)  I thought it would be a really cool opportunity to do this radio takeover so people could hear us talk and people could call in... No, we are not turning into the Jonas Brothers or Miley Cyrus haha they're way more famous then we will ever be ;) If we didn't do this radio takeover show we would have been driving home spending our time in the bus playing video games (which means no one would have heard from us yesterday) this way we got to hang out with some of you through the radio airwaves!!  I hope no one is truly offended by what we did, but it was truly our choice to do this.  Hunter and I had an amazing time and we met some really great people.  I'm sure in the future we'll be able to host shows that you may think are much cooler but for us we look up to Radio Disney :)  we love you all and we care very much about our fans, those of you who have met us should know exactly what i'm talking about.  Thank you for all the support, and we can't wait to see you this fall, you mean the world to us! love, Travis

Now I'll admit that when I first heard about the takeover, I was personally disappointed because I love The Jonas Brothers just as much as the 9 year olds do, and I love Trav and Hunt, so naturally my first instinct is that the same 9 year olds who love JB will fall in love with We the Kings as well (as I have). I figure if I like them both, what's stopping them from liking both as well, besides the fact that I know about WTK and they don't? I was simply planning on crossing my fingers and hoping that they weren't attracted to redheads. Rofl. I just can't believe that people bitched about it to the point that Travis had to provide an explanation for it. He shouldn't have had to do that. The fans should love them regardless of what they do. =/ I think I can understand, I first heard about We the Kings when they toured with Metro Station last year for PureVolume. (Though I didn't get hardcore into them since they did the East Coast leg, whilst I met the dance party sounds of FTSK on the PureVolume tour. It's funny to me how all those bands are now suddenly blowing up. So is Danger Radio next? I think yes.) I know that we're all just afraid that they will get too big and then we'll have to share with the masses. Then we won't be able to get those prized sweaty hugs and easy photo ops. I know that I love that easily accessible face time, the fact that they are just people and not celebrities is what I like about going to a show and hanging out at the merch booth. Isn't that what the scene is all about? It seems as if that's why we go to the small shows and support the starving artists in the broken down vans. We bet on that one in a million chance that they'll make it, gain celebrity, and the venues will get larger and start selling out. Once that happens we want that feeling of self-righteousness, to get the opportunity to be able to say that we knew about them first. We want to snob the "teenies" and criticize the band we once "loved" until they "sold out". What we should do is love them, support them and hope that they remember the early fans and can figure out some way to pay them back one day, instead of jumping ship once it gets a little overcrowded. I provide this lip service knowing full well that I'm a hypocrit. I love the feeling of being on that barricade and making eye contact with that lead singer just as much as you do. Like I've said, I feel this way about Metro Station and I'm working on adjusting. On the other hand, I feel as if I'm in a sort of limbo. While I wasn't there for Metro's coffee shop shows circa 2006, I take some pride in the fact that I got to them before MTV did. So, I get criticized by the early early fans and I get annoyed at the MTV kids. I'm okay with that. I've realized that if a band is really good you can't expect them to stay a secret for very long, you know? And not everyone can find out about them in the beginning. (Don't we call that overnight success? Isn't there a social stigma for that too?)

What makes us think that we deserve to listen to them and love them more than the next person?

Let's all just enjoy the music, yeah? So now it's your turn, I wanna know what you think. Discuss.