TBT. A salute to American Idol: the Dollyrots, "Because I'm Awesome."

The news that American Idol will be going the way of all pop culture phenomena after one more season brought to my mind a delightful send-up of the show in its salad days; one that ends with a Simon Cowell look-alike cringing in terror of imminent castration. This is the video of "Because I'm Awesome" by the Dollyrots:


The Dollyrots (not to be confused with the Dolly Dots, a Dutch girl group popular in the '80s), have a style that's been described as "bubblegum punk." The group consists of a husband and wife--Luis Cabezas, who plays guitar, sings, and jumps around a lot, and Kelly Ogden, who plays bass and sings--and whatever drummer they happen to be working with. They've had more drummers than Spinal Tap, though I don't think any of them died in a bizarre gardening accident, choked on someone else's vomit, or underwent spontaneous bodily combustion.

Cabezas and Ogden met when they were students at New College in Sarasota, Florida, at the time a branch campus of my alma mater. They now call L.A. home. They have a daughter, River, who was in utero when they made their album Barefoot and Pregnant. They also do a nice cover of Melanie's 1971 hit "Brand New Key," which I'm including as a bonus, since it also counts as a TBT: