A new podcast deals with the rapid rise and deep fall of Tic Tac Toe – and plunges Aida right into the rabbit hole of her memories.
What do we actually call it when you binge a podcast? Binge listened to? At least that’s what I did last week. The Podcast in question: “Reclaim Tic Tac Toe” from BR, hosted by journalist Meret Reh. For me as a millennial, it was a journey through time: Tic Tac Toe were the first band I was a “fan” of. I was in second grade or so when I asked my mom to buy me a maxi CD. Content: doesn’t matter at first. And my mom bought me “Lick mich am ABC” by the three black girls from the pot.
Did she know what the song was about? I don’t believe. At least I didn’t either – but I found the pun in the title funny. And today, many years later, I tell myself that the – let’s be honest: harsh – words from Lee, Jazzy and Ricky have lodged themselves in the coils of my brain and saved me from being careless about my health.
I still remember how we rapped lyrics in the locker room at my elementary school that we definitely didn’t understand at the time – what does an elementary school student know about what PMS and period pain feel like, which is what “Always Ultra” deals with? – and exchanged excerpts from Bravo with articles about our heroes.
Back then you were either a tic-tac-toe fan or obsessed with boy bands, that’s how the fronts went. My mother made the decision to buy me the first maxi CD – I was part of the snotty brat team. Even though I was anything but a snotty brat. Is Tic Tac Toe the reason why I became a constantly critical feminist? Probably not alone, but I’m sure they’re not entirely innocent.
“If we were friends…”
When we think of Tic Tac Toe today, we primarily remember the band’s breakup on stage at a press conference, the sentence “If we were friends, you wouldn’t do this shit!”, and the fact that the rise was rapid and the fall was even more rapid. When I moved to Berlin, I heard that Jazzy was supposedly working in a pizzeria in East Berlin, Ricky was seen at the “Perfect Celebrity Dinner” at some point, and all we heard about Lee was that she had worked as a cashier at the Cologne Zoo before she went into hiding. At some point there was even a Facebook group (remember Facebook?!) that was looking for her – and found her, but she wanted to be left alone.
Understandable when you consider how the three women, especially Lee, were literally ripped apart by the press. Back then, as a pre-teen, I didn’t really record it. But shortly after the press conference at which the band split up, the Tic Tac Toe era was over – even though Jazzy and Lee initially continued as a couple and Ricky also released songs as a solo artist. The “Reclaim Tic Tac Toe” podcast traces the rise and fall very well, especially with a lot of empathy for the artists and a critical look at everyone who largely left the young people to fend for themselves in the face of a radicalized press and racist, classist and, last but not least, sexist reporting – or rather: hate-hunting.
Everything is better… right?
Good thing those times are over. Or? I’m not so sure about that. Today the tabloid press no longer has the same power as it once did, and yes, as a society we have made a few steps forward – but has anything really fundamentally changed? I think of the treatment of Britney Spears, the public breakdown of Amanda Bynes, I think of Amy Winehouse, of the brutality of the noughties, as described by the journalist Sophie Gilbert in “Girl on Girl” – but also of Chappell Roan today, about whom I have already written here, of Manon Bannermann from the girl group Katseye, who was the only black member of the cast “global” girl group who was exposed to racist accusations, and of the normalization of bullying in the world Internet, from gossip sites, fandoms and especially haters.
Editorial recommendations
Hopefully, young up-and-coming pop stars will be better protected today – because taboos such as talking about mental health have fallen and because management and labels have learned, if only in their own interest to keep their “product” productive for as long as possible. Bullying, especially online, is more widespread than ever and has been democratized in a terrible way. It no longer only affects the absolute superstars: you with your 200 followers on TikTok or Instagram can also become a victim of bullying; you, too, who have an unflattering photo that ends up on the Internet, can become a meme. Have we learned as a society? I don’t know it.
