If you think of pop culture crazes, several phenomena might pop into your mind: "Star Wars," "Star Trek" and "Lord of the Rings," to name a few.
And while the world may have been subjected to a couple of novelty hits, such as the likes of "Pac-Man Fever," the disco-ized "Star Wars" theme or possibly doing the Bartman, none of those fads can boast of being the genesis of an entire musical genre.
No one, that is, except Harry Potter.
The boy wizard is not only filling book stores and movie theaters with Muggles, for the past couple of years he has been getting them to go to rock concerts, as well.
The music is known as Wizard Rock. In its most basic definition, Wizard Rock is people playing songs about the Harry Potter books. There are currently more than 200 Wizard Rock bands that have myspace pages, all of them using references to the epic seven-book series in their names. A check of the Wizard Rock community finds bands such as Draco and the Malfoys, The Remus Lupins and The Moaning Myrtles.
The most popular band, the one that started the Wizard Rock subculture, consists of two brothers from Massachusetts who call themselves Harry and the Potters.
How popular are they? Recently they played before 10,000 to 15,000 people in their hometown of Boston. The band regularly tours the United States during the summer, playing mostly at libraries, and has done gigs in England. Not bad for a couple of guys who did their first show before a total of six people in their back yard after spending the afternoon writing songs in their kitchen.
Harry and the Potters, which consists of Paul and Joe DeGeorge, got its start in 2002. It was an idea the brothers had thrown around for a couple of years, Paul DeGeorge told the Deseret Morning News recently while on the road in Ohio.
The brothers, who have played in other bands, were scheduled to have a concert in their back yard, but the other bands backed out. Quickly, the brothers wrote seven or eight songs at their kitchen table to play for their friends that afternoon, DeGeorge said. From that humble first show, a musical phenomenon was born.
Sure, there are better-known bands, like Led Zeppelin, that wrote songs making reference to "The Hobbit." But Robert Plant never took the stage using the name Bilbo Baggins.
On stage, Paul DeGeorge is "Harry Year 7," while his brother goes by "Harry Year 4." With song titles such as "Save Ginny Weasley" and "The Human Hosepipe," the DeGeorges write songs from Harry Potter's perspective.
"So if Harry had an awful first date, this is what it would sound like if he wrote a song about it, or if he found a cool potions book, this would be a song he'd write about it," DeGeorge said.
DeGeorge, 28, and his 20-year-old brother tour mainly during the summer when Joe is on break from college. Their audiences are filled with people of all ages bonded by their love for the Harry Potter books. But with a dominant crowd being high school to college-age students, DeGeorge said some of the band's music has taken on a broader meaning than just songs about fictional characters.
"Whatever we're doing is speaking to the overall themes of the book. There's a power inside everyone to change the world," he said. "The power of love is a huge deal in the book."
The last time Harry and the Potters played in Utah, about 200 fans showed up at Kilby Court to hear them.
But if you think Wizard Rockers are a bunch of geeky kids running around in robes and playing quidditch, consider this: Some of the bands in the Wizard Rock genre are using their popularity to raise money for charities and even awareness of world issues.
Harry and the Potters have started an EP of the month club with a dozen other Wizard Rock bands. The goal is to raise $10,000 to put books in the hands of less fortunate children who might otherwise never get to own a book.
Furthermore, an effort called Dumbledore's Army has been set up through the Wizard Rock community to raise awareness of the injustices in Darfur.
If you go
What: Harry and the Potters and Draco and the Malfoys
Where: Salt Lake Public Library, 210 E. 400 South
When: Saturday, 7:30 p.m.
How much: free
E-mail: preavy@desnews.com