As it turns out, the moron website was Christian Cambridge's website of the week, one week in June, 2004. Also, here is a link to the review itself.
My first contact with moron music was when a friend in my church played to our youth group a CD from some strange guy in America with whom, having read about him in a magazine, he had entered into a correspondance. At this stage, moron's appeal to me was largely based on the "alternative" credentials of the music and its quirky entertainment value. It must be admitted that the repetitive style of many moron songs was irritating rather than intriguing to some friends and family. This quirky appeal is certainly present in moron's latest offering, Beyond the Green Planet, in joke pieces such as the sinister-sounding 'Dr. Richards' and offbeat retellings of Bible stories such as 'Mrs. Ed.' However, my favourite song on this CD for quirkiness is the ethereal synthesiser-based piece 'Pale White (but with a good prognosis)' whose lyrics idiosyncratically express belief in the Second Coming of Christ:
I hereby stipulate
That when I am late
My body to science be willed,
Kept in a lab
Lying flat on a slab
Pale white, ice keeping me chilled.
I hope I succumb
Just before Christ comes
When He calls His chosen to rise.
As the med students dissect
I'll then resurrect.
Won't there be a look in their eyes!
However, moron is not just a joke; moron is a real person, as we discovered when moron's alter ego Bob Brown, "math professor from Baltimore, Maryland," turned up unexpectedly at our friend's wedding and had to be accommodated with my family overnight. At times, Mr Brown seems a very angry young man, setting biting social comment to music. This is particularly so in his frequent anti-abortion diatribes. To a cosmopolitan Guardian-reading British public, a song such as "Jesus Loves the Unborn Children,' with its sampling of children's voices repeating "Jesus loves us," might be disturbing, prompting accusations that Brown is a Paul Hill-esque right-wing extremist. Such perceptions are entirely unfounded, as his opposition to abortion is not driven by hatred but by a deep love towards "the least of these." Nor does the "right-wing" label stick, as Bob also attacks what he sees as the idols of corporate America. The Irving Berlin parody 'God bless americka' is a critique of the unthinking identification of God and country. (The liner notes comment, "What bothers you more? Misspelling and not capitalizing 'America' or sloganizing God's Name?") The corrosive effects of popular culture are decried in the grungy song 'Junk':
Junk is all around me. Hey, hey!
It's coming through my T.V. Hey, hey!
Don't want no junk around me. Hey, hey!
So, I threw away my T.V. Hey, hey!
Bob Brown/moron is not just a joker, neither is he just an activist. At the core of Bob Brown is a person, and consequently at the core of moron's music is a devotion to Jesus Christ. This emerges simply and touchingly in songs such as 'Jesus, please' and the acoustic song 'Grateful,' dedicated to the memory of a friend who died in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. With its harmonic interweaving around simple phrases, 'Most Beautiful' is indeed beautiful.
I hope I have whetted your appetite for moron. If so, try visiting www.geocities.com/moronmusic for information on how to obtain free moron CDs. However, Bob Brown would be the first to admit that his music is at times ragged around the edges, and he has often said that he wants friends rather than fans. More than that, Bob is not particularly concerned if you dislike his music--as I said, it's an acquired taste. What he is much more concerned about is that you encounter the One for whom he makes his music, and in whose honour he gives away his CDs.