Geek Anthems: Online - Brad Paisley

Songs like'White And Nerdy' and 'It's All About The Pentiums' by Weird Al Yankovic are considered a couple of geek anthems, songs that celebrate geek culture.  There's another one that fits into the catergory as a geek anthem.  Online by Brad Paisley may not celebrate geeks or geek culture but it is story of one geek played by Seinfeld's Jason Alexander in the video.  The protagonist works a dead end job in the fast food industry and drives a beater of a car.  He lives in his parents' basement, his real life is much different than the life he creates for himself on the Internet.  In his fantasy world he is played by Paisley himself.  The video intercuts concert footage featuring Taylor Swift and Kellie Pickler to go with the line of the chorus of the song "Even on a slow day I can have a three way chatting with two women at the same time"

Alexander's geeky protagonist is then seen playing the song in the concert footage and dancing with Swift and Pickler.  The protagonist's dream is shattered when Paisley comes to ask him "what the hell are you doing?"  The dream is totally over when after a dissolve we see him and his father played by William Shatner asking what the hell are you doing?  The protagonist dons his marching band uniform presumabily from high school days and goes marching down the street with the geeky female from next door.  The protagonist's mother played by Estelle Harris is seen with Paisley she says that "marching music makes me hot" with Paisley shuttering at the thought. 

Many reviewers panned the song stating that is way mean spirited and close to bullying.  I doubt that most of us have embellished the truth about ourselves to make us look better than we actually are online or offline.  To the critics maybe they should take a look at themselves and listen to the song and have a laugh.