Static Live Magazine March 2019

SPRING BROKE
Behind the Myth of Daytona’s Spring Break
by Rick de Yampert
In 1835, British poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson penned the
immortal line “In the spring a young man’s fancy lightly
turns to thoughts of love.” If Big Al had been alive and
walking the shores of Daytona Beach in March in the
1990s, he would have written: “Holy shit! In spring a
young man’s fancy turns to sand, sex, suds and rock
’n’ roll!”
Back then, Daytona was the Spring Break Capital of
the Universe. A gazillion college students would flock
to the city from up and down the Eastern Seaboard and
from as far away as the Van Allen radiation belt. For
a time, MTV was taping Spring Break mini-concerts
and some of its goofy shows at the Bandshell for later
broadcast. Some years later BET decided to do the
same thing during Black College Reunion, a singleweekend
spring event that also drew a gazillion young
folks lured by dreams of sand, sex, rap and roll (roll as
in cruising up and down A1A in blinged-out cars).
But here’s the thing: If you hear some guy reminiscing
about how cool and fun and CRAZEE a time they had
during the MTV/BET-era of Daytona Spring Break, then
you can be sure the odds are he spent most of that
time puking his brains out from excessive consumption
of shitty beer while sleeping 10 dudes to a room, and
the closest he got to getting laid was being asses-toelbows
in crowd of frat boys watching a wet T-shirt
contest. Not that that’s a bad time, mind you – but it’s
a far cry from the myth of Spring Break as some sort of
grand Roman bacchanalia.
In those days I was among the greatest freaks at Spring
Break and Black College Reunion because, as the
entertainment writer at the Daytona daily newspaper, I
was actually interested in what cool music acts would
be performing. MTV and BET certainly used their clout
to land some big names: the Black Crowes, Stone
Temple Pilots, Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Lenny
Kravtiz, Naughty by Nature, TLC, Living
Colour. Other promoters brought the likes
of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Notorious
B.I.G., Method Man and others to town.
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But it was disconcerting to watch MTV production
lackeys herd the college kids into the stockyards . . . er,
the concert viewing area, then see the students react
like trained circus poodles as they took commands
from the TV crew to “Cheer! Cheer! CHEER!” as the
cameras rolled.
Poor kids. They’d stand around for a few hours before
the cameras rolled, with dreams of being famous
ricocheting through their beer-addled gray matter –
“I’m gonna be on MTV!” Then, after about the 20th
time an MTV minion had ordered the kids to rehearse
going ape-shit for the cameras, you could see the
enthusiasm melting from the students’ faces like dog
turds sizzling on the hot concrete of the Boardwalk.
By the time, say, Lenny Kravitz took the stage wearing
just a loin cloth and a guitar, the kids just wanted to
escape the hot sun.
Of course, it was all about image: It was more important
for the MTV and BET crews that the kids LOOKED like
they were having fun, and to hell with them whether
they actually were having a good time. A TV show
depicting cool kids having a cool time in Daytona
would attract million of young viewers who wanted to
day-dream that they had been there, and that would
translate into high ratings and high advertising dollars
Yes, I heard some OK music performances during
Daytona’s Spring Break heyday. But if I or anyone else
tells you the music was great, you call bullshit on them.
Eminem was muzzled by the Daytona Beach mayor
himself and was forced to amp down his language
before BET was allowed to tape – an act of censorship
the mayor was able to get away with because the
performance was happening on city property.
And 10 years later when my wife mentioned the time
she and I saw the Notorious B.I.G. at the Ocean Center,
I called her liar – then she whipped out the review I had
written for the paper. I had forgotten that one of the
world’s most famous rappers had come to the World’s
Most Famous Beach. That’s how memorable Biggie’s
performance was.
Poor guy – I’m sure he was bummed before taking the
stage because the Daytona Spring Break experience
had not lived up to its myth.