When MTV's "Total Request Live" went on the air Friday afternoon, about 40 Princeton sophomores were sitting in the program's Times Square studio, ready to cheer, holler and "shout out" through an hour-long countdown of 20 music videos.
TRL, the network's flagship music video show, is best known as an after-school TV staple for "teenybopper" pop music aficionados.
In fact, the bulk of the non-Princetonians in the audience on Friday appeared to be girls who have not yet graduated from middle school. Judging by the enthusiasm of some members of the Class of 2006, however, TRL's appeal may have a wider appeal than previously thought.
"People were lined up 12 hours in advance just for the chance to go, which I think speaks to the enthusiasm our class had for the event," said Class of 2006 President Chris Lloyd, who organized the event.
Although he characterized the event as a successful one, Lloyd's own experience was not entirely positive.
During the show, TRL producers frequently encouraged individual audience members to speak into the camera and say hello to their friends back home. These energetic "shout outs" — shown on a small corner of the screen while a music video plays — have become a distinctive feature of the program.
But when an MTV staffer asked for "shout out" volunteers at one point on Friday, and Lloyd offered a preview of what he wanted to say on the air, the staffer flatly rejected him.
In fact, she called him "boring."
"I'm really excited four '06ers got to give shout outs," Lloyd said. "Of course I'm disappointed the casting lady thought I was too boring to give one. I'm not boring."
Two members of the Class of 2006 contingent awaited the countdown on Friday with particular anticipation.
Bob Moore and Nate Domingue, also known as "P-Unit," had organized an Internet campaign to get their "Generic Rap Song" onto the air. The video, a satire of contemporary rappers featuring several Princeton sophomores, has gained a cult following in cyberspace; in fact, the University's servers have been burdened by the level of demand for it from outside the Princeton network in recent weeks.
Moore and Domingue persuaded the owners of collegehumor.com and albinoblacksheep.com to promote "Generic Rap Song" on their sites. The effort attempted to convince Internet users to vote for the video on MTV.com and thereby get it into the TRL lineup on Friday.
"The Internet more or less took over, and we ended up on message boards all over the place," Moore said.
Ultimately, "Generic Rap Song" did not break into the top 20. But Moore felt no disappointment.
"We knew in advance that MTV is . . . well, MTV," he said. "We never expected to get on, or even mentioned, but did hope that the votes would at least raise some eyebrows and maybe get the video passed around MTV Studios a little bit."
Moore added that he did not know if that happened. But, he said, "We had an awesome time and would do it all over again if we had the chance."
Aly Spencer '06 was among the Princetonians in the studio on Friday. She said she enjoyed herself, despite the artificiality of the show.
"They had a woman going around the studio and coaching people how to do shout outs," Spencer said. "I mean, how contrived can you get?"
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