Rolling Stone Review: Johnny No Name - March 27 - Los Angeles, Wiltern Theatre

Back - Index - Submissions - - What is RSS? Date: Mar 30, 2000 Source: Rolling Stone Submitted By: karen hoke From Backstreet Boy to Bad Rock Boy To be an authentic rock & roll rebel, Johnny No Name needs a real identity. Instead, as Backstreet Boy A.J. McLean demonstrated in his outing of his alter-ego Monday night at the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles (the first of a nine-stop tour benefiting VH-1's Save the Music), Johnny's only half-conceived, with bits of A.J. still poking through. Recalling the Garth Brooks/Chris Gaines split personality, McLean wants Johnny to represent his rock side. "I'm a totally different person," he said, explaining that A.J. was backstage somewhere getting a good laugh about all of this. Then, demanding the audience recognize his other self, he bellowed, in Kid Rockian fashion, "I'm going to ask you one more time, Los Angeles...What's my naaaame?" But that totally different person didn't fully emerge, as he wasted much of the opportunity by arranging half of the hour-long set around tepid ballads and Backstreet B-sides. And songs that Johnny would have been more than happy to sing straight through -- such as Methods of Mayhem's raunchy "Get Naked" -- found themselves abbreviated and censored for A.J.'s preteen audience. Sauntering onstage in a matching brown cowboy hat and trench coat, McLean was handcuffed and escorted by a security guard wearing a shirt marked "Police" -- for as part of Johnny's bad-boy mystique, he's only allowed to perform when on probation. Johnny's other defining character trait is an odd, mangled accent. Johnny's supposed to be a Brit from Nashville, so McLean mixed Austin Powers-isms with a slight cowboy drawl: "Y'all be cool, be real, and be-haaave, baby!" McLean, ahem, No Name got off to an interesting start with a cover of Stone Temple Pilot's "Down," pounding his stomach to the beat and tracing his finger suggestively along his crotch line. To Johnny, all rock songs -- be they political or not -- are about sex. "It's all in the pelvis," he later explained. But Rage Against the Machine's "Killing in the Name" was sapped of its original intent by McLean's pelvic thrusts. Swiveling his hips, Johnny lifted his shirt to show the space between his stomach and his underwear, and would teasingly start to take off his jacket, only to show just a glimpse of shoulder and armpit. "I have a surprise for you later," he joked, "and no, my pants are staying on." After these first two songs, he changed to an all-white over-sized suit that proved easier for him to show some skin. But by this time, the songs he chose to cover didn't require sexier readings. Tonic's "If You Could Only See" was deflated of its romantic yearning as the backing band -- mostly borrowed from the Backstreet Boys' touring ensemble -- tried to toughen it up with a heavier, more distorted guitar sound. Same with "Open Up Your Eyes," which was oddly fraught with drama, as he wailed out the chorus. Johnny No Name as a concept would have worked better perhaps if Johnny truly dictated the show. Unfortunately, A.J. McLean slipped out too often, songs he had written for the Backstreet Boys, such as "If You Only Knew What I Knew," broke up the momentum of any rock numbers. A take on "Hey Mr. DJ (Keep Playing That Song)" seemed out of place. Only a snippet of "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)" made any musical sense, since it extrapolated off the dense, deep bassline of Wild Cherry's "Play That Funky Music, White Boy" and came back to the song in perfect timing. Once fellow Backstreet Boy Howie Dorough joined him for an encore of "Brick House," the transformation back into A.J. was so complete that he didn't even use his nom de rock anymore. The merging of the two personas was most apparent during a rendition of "Bad to the Bone" -- playing off A.J.'s nickname "Bone" -- where he got the preteen girls squealing by gesturing a sort of "come here" motion rapidly and repeatedly with his fingers. Their piercing, shrilling screams -- which threatened to overpower his vocals -- came at every juncture, whether he stood still, sang or picked up a guitar. Though McLean can play both saxophone and keyboards, as Johnny No Name, he said, he couldn't really play any instrument but a two-stringed guitar. Strung casually low on his hips, he used that more as a prop to allow him certain rock postures. Changing the lyrics, he sang, "A.J.'s bad to the bone." Didn't he mean Johnny? No matter, no one was keeping track anymore. -- JENNIFER VINEYARD (March 29, 2000) Comment on this item. Recent Comments Submitted by: Carol Clark Submitted by: James Submitted by: David Submitted by: Mark Submitted by: James Submitted by: Kevin Submitted by: Mary Submitted by: Louise Submitted by: Edd Comment on this item. Next Item: LA Times Review: Johnny No Name - March 27 - Los Angeles, Wiltern Theatre Prev Item: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Review: April 1 - Milwaukee, WI