We've got the dreamers' disease

A timely defense of the One-Hit Wonder.

There’s something big happening in Washington today.

A voice from the past is reemerging, stepping up in this time of strife to soothe the frayed nerves of a rattled nation, delivering a message of hope that—while it may not be new—we badly need to hear in this moment. A figure once thought to be consigned to the dustbin of history is back, and we’re finally ready to listen.

Of course, you know exactly what I’m talking about:

The New Radicals are back.

Yes, the short-lived late ‘90s pop group is reuniting to play the inaugural event for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris today. It’s almost dishonest to say, as many are, that they’re “best known” for their hit 1998 single “You Get What You Give”, because that would imply that there’s a possibility that they’re known for anything else. Maybe their tour van ran over your foot in 1999? I suppose that’s possible. More accurately, though, they are only known for a lone, relentlessly catchy top-40 single from more than two d…