11:54 p.m., 19.01.04
Richard Mercer.... The Love God.

I'm a big fan of Richard Mercer, the Love God.

For those overseas folks among you, or those poor disaffected youths that leave their radios tuned squarely to JJJ, the Love God plays all night on MIX FM.

It's a simple enough format; love songs and dedications. It's been done a million times, but never as well as this.

Richard Mercer speaks in a Barry White register, close up and intimate on the mike, and he takes calls from all manner of Aussies about their loved ones.

It's completely cheesy and schmaltzy, and the cringe factor can be enormous. There's few things on radio funnier than Shaz from Altona saying, "Awww larv yeoo Dazza, an awww can't wait to spend the rest of moi loife wif ya" - and yet somehow few things more touching, because it's as sincere as it gets.

It's like the second wave kickback. Heartfelt schamltz was the way to go back in the 80's - wear it on your sleeve, don't ever miss the chance to tell somebody how you feel, songs sung on one's knees in front of a wind machine.

Then along came postmodern irony with the grunge scene, and cynicism became the go. And to a large degree we're still stuck in that dirty great rut. And what a shit place to be. Nobody ever does anything remarkable in a world full of cynics.

Listen to the wankers we have on brekky radio these days. Or better still, don't.

But then there's the Love God. Relentlessy positive. Unashamedly sincere. What is it about this bloke that makes the average Aussie joe call up and basically dack himself in front of any one of his mates that would admit they're listening?

You just can't take the piss out of him, because there's no way you could take the Love God's act any further than he does. It's SO over the top, SO sentimental and SO cheesy that you just have to piss yourself laughing - and yet, at the back of it all, you find yourself feeling just the tiniest bit caught up in it.

And that tiniest bit is enough.

On ya Richard Mercer. Long live the Love God.

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