I do (mock you); Spoof groups take aim at boy-band land
Michael Cuccione, the youngest member of the boy-band parody group 2Ge+her, died on Saturday (Jan. 13) in his hometown of Vancouver, British Columbia. He was just 16.
Cuccione's character in the group was Jason "Q.T." McKnight, the cutie, who on the show had the fictitious disease biliary thrombosis. In reality, the young star suffered from Hodgkin's Disease and died of respiratory failure following a bout with pneumonia, according to MTV.
The faux group, helmed by video director Nigel Dick, mocks the boy band craze with such silly pop songs as "Say It (Don't Spray It)" and "U+Me=Us (Calculus)" from its first album, the soundtrack to its self-titled MTV sitcom, and with "The Hardest Thing About Breaking Up (Is Getting Your Stuff Back)" from its follow-up, 2Ge+her Again. Both parody albums were released in 2000. The "group" started out with a made-for-MTV movie, which quickly led to its own series on the network.
In an interview with the group conducted before Cuccione's death, the 2Ge+her members referred to him lovingly as a little brother. "Yeah, he's kind of like our little brother, you know, so we all protect him. He's 16 years old, so he's still very young," says Noah Bastien, who portrays Chad Linus, the shy one. "When he started [in] 2Ge+her he was 15, so, yeah he's like a little brother, we all protect him. He's a good kid."
The interview will run on cdnow.com on Friday (Jan. 19).
by Carrie Borzillo-Vrenna
