Dear God, Time-Life thinks I have this much money to spend on revisiting my adolescence.

I'm comfortable with Mark McGrath hosting Extra (what better gig for the leader of the most admirable sell-out rock act of the 90s than celebrity journalism?), but it's embarassing to see him smiling through 30 minute infomercials for The Buzz Box. That really seems like something Art Alexakis or the dude from Fuel should be doing. After all, McGrath still has his Extra gig. Sugar Ray just headlined Singapore's first international musical festival this August! Infomericals fondly recalling songs by Vertical Horizon, Eve 6 and Candlebox? This is beneath you, dude.

Things seemed so much more promising in 2004, when Shania Twain invited him to duet on her single "Party For Two." There's so much enthusiastic mugging here, you'd think an NBC logo was about fly out of his ass.



It's funny how differently the video for the "country" version plays out, despite its identical treatment. Where Billy Currington sways gentlemanly beside the beaming Twain, McGrath's frenetic moves leave her visibly weary. Both versions feel like they were released much, much, much, much earlier than 2004. Nobody in music is that happy now.