Take a look at online message boards devoted to the Used, or read about them in an MTV.com article titled "The New Boy Bands," and you might wonder if the Utah foursome are the latest successors to the Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync. One message board features such posts as "What's Bert's best feature?" and "Who is hotter ... Jeph or Bert?" The Jeph in question is Used bassist Jeph Howard, who bristles at the idea that his bandmates (including singer Bert McCracken, against whom he is pitted in the "Who is hotter" post) are thought of as sex symbols. He says he thinks the members are all "funny looking," and given that the Used's music is not at all Backstreet-esque, has a blunt response to the "New Boy Bands" assessment: "That sucks."
Whether or not Howard thinks it sucks, the Used and bands like them are the new pin-up idols for teenage girls in America. With actual boy bands out of favor, purveyors of angry, angsty—but still catchy and hook-oriented—rock are the ones with screaming girls coming to their shows and obsessing over every detail of their personal lives. While pre-fab pop groups tend to sing innocuous songs about love, the Used (and McCracken in particular) bare their souls in all their messy glory, meaning that the screaming fans they attract often not only idolize but also identify with them.
"I think we have fallen into that role-model category and I hate that," Howard says defensively, before disavowing the responsibility. "People shouldn't look up to people like us. Definitely not people like us." He refers to himself and his band mates as "idiots" and "douche bags," and maintains that they rarely think before acting.
It's precisely that uncultivated attitude that fans of the Used and similar bands, including Thursday, Taking Back Sunday and My Chemical Romance (with whom the Used recorded a hit version of Queen and David Bowie's "Under Pressure") find so attractive. Howard's disavowals aside, his band was introduced to the world via singer McCracken's appearances on MTV's The Osbournes, on which he dated daughter Kelly, much to her parents' chagrin. They've been a mainstream band from the start, and it seems pointless to pretend otherwise.
Still, Howard is adamant that the band's music be more important than their image, and that's an admirable sentiment. "People put so much on looks and identity and stuff like that," he says. "It's pretty shitty. All that should matter is the songs, and if the songs are good, people should like it." Clearly, the dedicated fans aren't just following the band because they want to decide which member is hottest, and Howard emphasizes that he loves the fans, no matter how overzealous they may be. "People don't understand the personal space thing. Like, if you haven't met somebody, and somebody runs and jumps and grabs you around the neck, that's kind of weird." He's happy to talk to fans as long as they respect his boundaries. "I'd rather just meet somebody instead of get tackled by them."
If Howard is uncomfortable with his positions as role model and sex symbol, he's just as uncomfortable as taste-maker. The Used's blend of hardcore screams, heavy guitars, heart-on-shoulder lyrics and melodic hooks has been dominating radio lately, and Howard is tired of it. "I don't listen to the same type of music that we play," he says bluntly. "I'm just sick of hearing the same thing over and over. I want to hear something new." Since music is cyclical, it wouldn't be too much of a surprise if that new sound shows up soon, perhaps in the form of actual new boy bands. Teenage girls will adapt accordingly.