Is there anything about your pop stardom period — of slick international hits like "Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin)" and "Absolute" — which you recall with affection?

No, not at all. I remember it with great discomfort. It felt so wrong. It was something I'd wanted to try in an ironic way. There was no way I could buy honestly and earnestly into the whole pop thing, because I knew too much about pop, as it were. I wasn't naïve. And yet in another way, I was. I'd thought it'd be fun to explore and play with, both musically and politically. To see what happens when you're in Black Rock New York or Warners offices in LA...to go to the heart of things and see what it's like.

And I just HATED it. I felt uneasy 24 hours a day. I felt a complete phony. It really got to me. There was an irrational emotional response to the whole business of being...looked at. And made to do silly, bullshit things on television, to be a little performing thing. I don't ever remember thinking "well done," not even quietly to myself. So I stopped making music altogether, for a long time. Now as I get less uptight about things generally, sure, it's nice when Timbaland says he used to listen to it, and I have fond memories of meeting Miles Davis. But back then a little bit of me died every time I did some TV rubbish...

What kind of "TV rubbish" could fill Gartside which such horror 20 years after the fact? Well, thanks to YouTube we don't have to guess:

Okay, it is pretty embarrassing watching three white guys in white socks and bad haircuts talk about how the British just aren't funky enough. But can you imagine Justin Timberlake explaining how his album sleeve was inspired by a Marcel Duchamp-designed, banned Vogue cover where the surrealist wrapped a hunk meat in cloth? Yeah, us neither.

Q&A: Scritti Politti [eMusic]
Scritti Politti Interview [YouTube]

^* Yes, we were at different shows. We're not that bad.

ok.
1. you have no fuking life whatsoever.
2.wanting nick to die from diabetes is the WORST thing anyone can say toward anyone. thats just horrible. He didnt do anything wrong to get it, it happens and hes living with it and making it easier for people who have it to cope with it knowing NOT every celebrity is perfect.
3. if you think the jonas brothers' music sucks and you think the background music you put on here is good, you seriously need a hearing aid. The Jonas Brothers actually sing their songs,not scream into the microphone and call it music.
4. The mosh pits probably turn into a riot because want to die after hearing that so called music.
5. its called a backup band for a reason there are 3 people in the backup band not just the drummer and they get their credit.
6. Thier hair is fine. Just because it isnt spiked or have fades in it doesnt mean its bad.
7.STOP FUCKING HATING ON NICK.
8. They all play instruments, not just guitars. Nick can play guitar, drums, and piano/keyboard. Kevin can play guitar. Joseph plays the tambourine and keyboard and guitar.
9. yeah they have 10 year old fans, but they have older ones too. the age range of fans differs for every celebrity, just because jonas fans are more upfront about it doesnt mean anything.
10. jonas fans dont think we're tuff or mean or whatever you were tryin to portray in that picture of what we "think" we look like.
11. the fans or think they are just "hawt" as you put it, arent really fans of the music they just like their face, cant say i blame them, but there is wayy much more to them then their looks.
12. the childish comments come from the young fans who havent yet learned to be a sick asshole.
13. How can you say they dont have talent. Nicholas Jonas was on broadway when he was fucking 6 years old. explain that.
14. while you're explaining things to me, explain how they look like girls?
15. no jonas concert breaks into a mosh pit so i have no clue what you're saying. the closest thing to a mosh pit may be when they are trying to reach the front because they have jumped down in front of the crowd.
16.if you hate them so much stop talking about and live your own life. stop obsessing over them
17. send me hate mail whatever i really dont care. you dont understand how much the jonas brothers do for their fans because they actually care, they didnt jus come out of no where and go platinum (which they did). they worked there way to the top, so they are actually appreciative of what they have
18. what other group/band/singer do you know of that makes youtube videos for their fans, responds back on myspace, does meet and greets whenever possible, sells tickets at a reasonably low price so everyone can get a show? No one does because no one else cares, they know what its like to be on the bottom and what its like to be on the top.

OK, it's not exactly Luther's 95 Theses, but I am hoping for a follow-up video in which this clip's auteur lays out just what, exactly, makes the brothers Jonas look like girls. Or, barring that, maybe some remedial English lessons for everyone?

The Jonas Brothers suck [YouTube]