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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/16002753_1735774276750668_7800658604654269163_n.jpg]]
2
3''"I'm Simon. This is..."''\
4''"Milo, I'm Milo."''\
5''"Welcome."''\
6''"Welcome."''\
7''"To Prozzak's Website/TVTropes Page."''\
8''"Enjoy."''\
9''"Enjoy."''\
10\
11A Canadian [[VirtualCelebrity virtual pop band]] comprised of hopeless romantic Simon and studly-but-[[TheSilentBob silent]] Milo, known for their extremely bleak love songs.
12
13According to the band's mythology, the two were originally the last surviving soldiers for opposing armies during a great European war. During their final confrontation, a great heavenly light descended upon them and decreed that they must walk the earth in search of true love before zapping them into the late 90s. [[EasilyForgiven Immediately putting aside their differences]], the duo began writing and recording music to document their oft-vain attempt to find the girls of their dreams, with Simon [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption always on the receiving]] end of [[DidNotGetTheGirl a breakup]].
14
15The ''actual'' story behind the band lies with a different duo, Jason Levine and James [=McCollum=], formerly of the neo-soul group The Philosopher Kings. Despite not getting along, they both agreed that they did not like the direction in which the band was going. Their proposal for a more traditional pop sound came in the form of "Europa," which Levine sang in a broad English accent that he often did to amuse the rest of the band. The rest of the band turned it down, but liked it and suggested that the two of them strike out on their own, with Prozzäk being the result.
16
17The act's first two albums, 1998's ''Hot Show'' and 2000's ''Saturday People'', were very successful in Canada upon release, after which they had a huge ScheduleSlip, save for the title song to the Creator/DisneyChannel movie ''Film/GetAClue'' where they were credited as Simon & Milo. They eventually returned in 2005 with the DarkerAndEdgier ''Cruel Cruel World''.
18
19After recording one more song for the Canadian children's show "Roll Play," the duo went on hiatus. Levine began recording under the name Today Kid and [=McCollum=] returned to Philosopher Kings while also occasionally touring with Music/NellyFurtado's live band.
20
21Prozzäk reunited in 2015 for the Atomic Lollipop festival, giving their first live performance since 2002 and debuting their first new song in ten years. A fourth album, ''Forever 1999'', an a tour to promote it came two years later.
22
23A farewell tour began in November of 2019.
24----
25!!Discography:
26* ''Hot Show'' (1998)
27* ''Saturday People'' (2000)
28* ''Ready Ready Set Go'' (as [[SameFaceDifferentName Simon & Milo]]) (2002)[[note]]Compilation album, the only new song being "Get A Clue," intended to introduce the duo to an American market.[[/note]]
29* ''Cruel Cruel World'' (2005)
30* ''Forever 1999'' (2017)
31
32----
33!!"Ready Ready Set Tropes":
34* {{Animesque}}: Downplayed due to the art style, but Simon's standard design takes some cues from anime art styles; particularly his TaremeEyes. The "Get A Clue" video made the influence more explicit by giving him a slight redesign.
35* AbsenceMakesTheHeartGoYonder: "Lonely American Nights."
36* AggressiveCategorism: "Be As" is the deliberate antithesis of this. "Clothes We Wear" is a criticism of it.
37* TheAhnold: Milo.
38* AlbumTitleDrop: ''Ready Ready Set Go'' is taken from the very beginning of "Pretty Girls."
39* AllJustADream: "Sweeping Romance."
40* AllLoveIsUnrequited: Poor Simon.
41* AllThereInTheManual: According to [[https://soundcloud.com/prozzakofficial the band's SoundCloud]], Simon's last name is Thornhill.
42* AnimationBump: The video for "Get A Clue," funded by Disney, has the cleanest, most fluid animation of any of the band's videos.
43** An earlier song "www.nevergetoveryou" may also count.
44* AnimatedMusicVideo: [[EnforcedTrope Considering that the band are animated characters]].
45* ArtEvolution: The band has gone through a number of cosmetic changes throughout their history.
46** The character designs for their first two albums largely remained the same, though the style in which they were rendered was different for both (''Hot Show'' was done in pastels while ''Saturday People'' was digital). The animation in the music videos also got progressively better.
47** The art for ''Ready Ready Set Go'' gave the designs a massive overhaul, making them both more youthful (and, in Milo's case, more conventionally attractive) to appeal to a Disney Channel audience. "Get A Clue," the band's one song where they were credited as Simon & Milo, has their best-animated video.
48** The art and character designs for ''Cruel Cruel World'' were even more drastically different, completely overhaulting the colorful, cartoonie art of their previous incarnations in favor of a DarkerAndEdgier [[DeliberatelyMonochrome sepia-toned]] look to reflect the album's bleaker music. The designs also more closely caricatured Jay and James to how they appeared circa 2005. From this point on, all of the band's videos were animated in UsefulNotes/AdobeFlash rather than traditionally.
49** The artwork for their 2010s reunion returns to their original designs, albeit slightly cruder, as it's drawn by fans now that Jay and James don't have much of a budget to work with.
50* ArtShift: The artwork for ''Cruel Cruel World'' drastically redesigns the characters from charming and cartoony to graphic and moody, with the only colors being [[DeliberatelyMonochrome black and]] [[RealIsBrown brown]]. The album's only promo video, "When I Think Of You," was the only one not to be traditionally animated, and was instead [[UsefulNotes/AdobeFlash Flash-animated]].
51* AuthorAvatar: Simon for Jason Levine.
52* BandToon: An example of the cartoon ''being'' the band. Jay and James felt that two then-thirtysomething guys playing bubblegum pop wouldn't sell in an age of teen idols.
53* BigApplesauce: "NYC."
54* BigBallOfViolence: Simon gets into one in the video for "It's Not Me, It's You."
55* BigGuyLittleGuy: Milo and Simon
56* BilingualBonus: "Usted Es Muy Loco"(Translation: "You are very crazy" or "You're nuts!"). Doubles as StealthInsult. And in the last chorus, "Repazar la noche conmigo" (a slightly mangled way of saying "Spend the night with me").
57* BornUnlucky: Simon. For starters, he has no neck.
58* {{Bowdlerise}}: ''Ready Ready Set Go'' was released under the name Simon and Milo because Disney was uncomfortable having an act on their label that was a drug reference. Despite this, none of the profane-by-Disney-standards content of the songs ("Sucks To Be You," the opening line about sexual frustration in "Strange Disease") was similarly scrutinized.
59* CallBack
60** "Tsunami" has one to "Europa":
61--> "I told 'ya 'bout Europa and me/And how she haunted every memory."
62** The intro to "NYC" has one to "Mediterranean Lady."
63--> "From the shores of the Mediterranean, all the way to New York City."
64* CanadaEh: Of the bumper crop of Canadian pop acts that popped up at the tail end of the 90s, suffice to say Prozzak was a definite standout.
65* CannotSpitItOut: "Pretty Girls" is all about the different careers Simon could have in order to tell a girl that he loves her because "pretty girls make him nervous when they're as pretty as you."
66* CerebusRollercoaster: Their earlier work got progressively happier until ''Cruel Cruel World'' did a '''hard''' 180. When that didn't pan out, the band went right back to the lighter material with ''Forever 1999''.
67* CharacterDevelopment: On "Sleep With Myself," Simon laments how intimacy is losing to the digital age ("Fax machines, computer screens/Seems like love is something of the past"). Their next album featured "www.nevergetoveryou," which is about Simon having an online relationship.
68* ChristmasSongs: "My Little Snowflake."
69* ClusterFBomb: "Suck To Be You," due to the line "I'm a bastard if it's true" being the refrain.
70* ConceptAlbum: Their first three albums have some sort of underlying theme: ''Hot Show'' is comprised of songs about specific girls who broke Simon's heart; ''Saturday People'' is a pseudo-RockOpera about the characters working their way through the young, hip weekend crowd of the UK rave scene; ''Cruel Cruel World'' is set in a CrapsackWorld devoid of love itself.
71* TheCoverChangesTheMeaning: The additional verse in "Wild Thing/Poor Boy" changes an almost childishly simple rock n roll song about a pretty girl to one about a guy who expects a woman to love him just because he thinks she's pretty.
72* DarkerAndEdgier: ''Cruel Cruel World,'' as the name suggests, is easily the darkest album the band put out.
73* ADayInTheLimeLight: I Like To Watch (Milo's Night Out), as the alternate name suggests, is sung entirely by Milo.
74* DeadpanSnarker: Jason Levine, as evidenced by [[http://noisey.vice.com/en_ca/blog/whatever-happend-to-prozzak-interview-2014 his recent interview with Noisey]].
75* DeliberatelyMonochrome: Both the artwork and the backstory for ''Cruel Cruel World'' depict Simon and Milo in "a colorless world where love may not exist."
76* DidNotGetTheGirl: Poor Simon...
77* EasilyForgiven: From being at one another's throats to forming a band within a matter of seconds [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext after a time warp]].
78* EyesAlwaysShut: Milo.
79* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: 90% of their catalog is Simon bemoaning how he DidNotGetTheGirl.
80* FireForgedFriends: Jason Levine and James [=McCollum=] didn't get along when they first joined The Philosopher Kings and their relationship only became more strained as they were cramped together into a tour bus traveling Canada. A one-change agreement over their love of bubblegum pop resulted in an entirely new band, bringing them closer together and making them TrueCompanions.
81* TheFourChordsOfPop: The chorus of "www.nevergetoveryou."
82* FunnyBackgroundEvent: Simon is taken away by "Rick's Café and Asylum" in the video for "Strange Disease."
83* GenreRoulette: ''Forever 1999'' is probably the band's most eclectic album, featuring bubblegum pop and faux-Europop reminiscent of their first album, but also EDM, a millennial youth anthem, and a Music/{{Rihanna}}-esque Caribbean pop.
84* GetBackInTheCloset: One of the characters in "Be As" is going through this.
85--> "Lisa just had to get away/Nothing could make her stay/Tired of living under cover"
86* HeterosexualLifePartners: The due, both in real life and as the characters they portray, are very much this.
87* InkSuitActor: While they don't resemble them exactly (save for ''Cruel, Cruel World'', which still take plenty of liberties) the designs of Simon & Milo take some physical traits of the two musicians playing them, or are at least caricatures of how they envision themselves.
88* InformedAttractiveness: Milo is ripped, but his face is [[{{Gonk}} pretty disturbing]].
89* IntercourseWithYou
90** "Shag Tag (You're It)" and "When I Think Of You."
91** "Sleep With Myself," as the title suggests, inverts this
92** Subverted with [[NotHyperbole "Baby I Need Your Love (Pussy Cat)."]] It's actually about [[ShapedLikeItself Simon's cat]].
93* KickTheDog: Most of Simon's dates don't let him down... gently. The worst probably being all of the girls in "It's Not Me It's You."
94--> '''Simon''': "Minnie, if we don't make it out of this thing, I want you do know that I really did love you."
95--> '''Minnie''': "I know, Simon. It's just that..."
96* LeadBassist: Jay is Type B. Simon is credited as this on the album, but is only depicted playing bass in the video for "www.nevergetoveryou."
97* LighterAndSofter: ''Saturday People'' is MUCH happier than ''Hot Show.'' Similarly, ''Forever 1999'' is more accessable and upbeat than the extremely bleak ''Cruel, Cruel World.''
98* LimitedAnimation: The "Love Me Tinder" video. If you want proof that the band's comeback is a NoBudget independent project, compare one of their first videos to that one.
99* LimitedWardrobe: Played straight with Milo, but Simon actually has two primary outfits. He's primarily shown with a dress shirt and tie, but also in "Saturday People" he has a T-shirt with long sleeves underneath.
100* LiteralMetaphor: As mentioned above, "Baby I Need Your Love (Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat)" is actually about Simon's cat running away.
101* LivingEmotionalCrutch: Simon currently has this in the form of his cat Miles, whom he showers with affection after breaking off his engagement. The unwanted attention causes Miles to run away one night. "Baby I Need Your Love (Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat)" is about Simon lamenting the consequences of his actions as Milo goes out and looks for Miles, eventually finding him with a pack of coyotes.
102* LoggingOntoTheFourthWall: The music video for "www.nevergetoveryou" silently shows a ".com" added to it. The web address was used to promote that single in the early 2000's and is now defunct.
103* LoveMartyr: Simon, ''especially'' in the "Get A Clue" video.
104* LyricalColdOpen: "Strange Disease," "Pretty Girls," "www.nevergetoveryou," and "Clothes We Wear."
105* LyricalDissonance
106** "Monday Morning" is a rave song about finding out that your best friend died.
107** "Sucks To Be You" is a hot dance song about feeling guilty for treating a girl like crap.
108* MeaningfulName
109** When recording the first album, a friend of Levine's noted how much the process was helping him cope with his depression, as if the music was "like an antidepressant." Levine though this was AGoodNameForARockBand.
110** Their label, Left Hook Music, is named after an incident during the duo's time in The Philosopher Kings when James got mad at Jay and punched him in the jaw.
111* MinisculeRocking: "Simon's Final Though"
112* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: "Sucks to be You" is about Simon realizing how horribly he treated an ex-girlfriend and beating himself up over it.
113* NewSoundAlbum: ''Hot Show'' was primarily Europop with the occasional psychedelic rock song; ''Saturday People'' moved more towards pop/rock and rave; ''Cruel Cruel World'' was electro-indie; and ''Forever 1999'' is [[GenreRoulette a little bit of everything]].
114* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: In addition to being TheAhnold, Milo's bassy voice and indeterminable accent are based on that of Richard Fairbrass from Music/RightSaidFred.
115* NoNeckChump: Simon, who's head levitates a few inches off his shoulders.
116* OohMeAccentsSlipping: Levine's British accent for Simon varies from song to song. Most of the time it's exaggerated to [[Film/MaryPoppins Dick Van Dyke levels]] ("Usted Es Muy Loco"), while other times, it's barely there at all ("DJ-J-Vox").
117* PoorlyDisguisedPilot: The video for "Get A Clue." See "WhatCouldHaveBeen" on the trivia page.
118* PrecisionFStrike: From "Tricky":
119-->"Runnin' down the stairs and I kicked open the back door.
120-->Hit some guy and he called me a mofo."
121* PuttingTheBandBackTogether: Jason Levine [[https://www.ourlondon.ca/whatson-story/7215390-prozz-k-back-in-the-spotlight-and-feeling-the-love/ admitted]] that the band's appearance at the 2015 Atomic Lollipop festival in Toronto required a bit of arm-twisting, as he wasn't sure if the act's music held up enough to draw a big enough crowd. When they got there, their show was so packed that it ''nearly caused a fire hazard'', convincing him and James [=McCollum=] to start work on a comeback album, which eventually became ''Forever 1999''.
122* RandomEventsPlot: The video for "Sucks To Be You" begins with Simon & Milo entering a bar to get milkshakes, which somehow results in a brawl with thugs, who are defeated by Milo playing a guitar solo, intercut with fantasies/flashback of Simon failing to woo the female bartender. It ends with them going to a premier of their own movie.
123* RealIsBrown: The artwork for ''Cruel Cruel World.''
124* ReallyGetsAround: Simon. {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in "Sleep With Myself."
125* RogerRabbitEffect: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUzqWCUcGao The "rave" music video for "Omobolasire"]] ends with a shot of Simon & Milo in a live-action mirror preparing to go onstage.
126* SameFaceDifferentName: ''Ready Ready Set Go'', a failed attempt at an American crossover.
127* {{Sampling}}: The chorus of "Love Me Tinder" includes an interpolation of {{Music/Elvis|Presley}}'s "Love Me Tender," itself based on the traditional song "Aura Lee."
128* SesameStreetCred: Their song "Chloe The Chicken" for the preschooler show ''Roll Play.''
129* ShirtlessScene
130** Milo uses his shirt as a bullfighting cape in the music video for "Europa."
131* ShoutOut: The skit that precedes "Introduction To A Broken Heart" has Milo telling Simon about how, once he finds true love, they'll [[Literature/OfMiceAndMen buy that ranch that they always talk about]].
132** The CallBack to "Europa" in "Tsunami" ("I told ya 'bout Europa and me") is one to the numerous callbacks to various [[Music/TheBeatles Beatles]] songs in "Glass Onion."
133** The line "And all the White girls say..." in "Tricky" is one to "Walk On The Wild Side" by Music/LouReed.
134** As mentioned above, "Love Me Tinder" is named after Music/ElvisPresley's classic ballad "Love Me Tender."
135* TheSilentBob: Milo, save for [[StepUpToTheMicrophone "I Like To Watch" and "Feed The Night"]].
136* SillyLoveSong
137* SingleStanzaSong: "Sucks To Be You," "If You're Ready."
138* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: Closer to, but not entirely, cynical.
139* SuddenAnatomy: Simon gains a neck on the cover of ''Cruel Cruel World''.
140* TaremeEyes: Simon.
141* TechnicianVersusPerformer: Levine and [=McCollum=] both consider themselves technicians rather than performers. That said, it's clear that Levine does more of the creative work while [=McCollum=] handles more instrumentation.
142* TopHeavyGuy: Milo
143* TropaholicsAnonymous: "Love Fools Anonymous".
144* TruckDriversGearChange: "Be As", "www.nevergetoveryou", "You Don't Love Me That Way", "Infatuation", "Omobolasire", "Tsunami". "Get A Clue" does this in reverse (going from G major to E major in the last verse). "It's Not Me, It's You" has two (starting from F♯ minor to G minor to A minor).
145* UnusualEuphemism: From "Tsunami":
146--> "And like the South China Sea, Tsunami rolled over me."
147* VagueAge: The guys seem to be adults, but one of the videos has them as high school students.
148* VirtualCelebrity: Played with. The music videos always feature Simon & Milo performing the songs and the albums credits all the writing and performing to the characters. However, live shows would not keep up the facade. Instead, Jay & James simply performed the songs in-character on top of busts of the characters.
149* VocalEvolution: Simon projects far more on ''Saturday People'' than on ''Hot Show'', where he was more moaning than singing, and on "Get A Clue," he's practically shouting. His vocals on ''Cruel Cruel World'' are somewhere in between.
150* WhatTheHellIsThatAccent: Milo. {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in the video for "Be As" where his tag at the UN lists him as "Somewhere in Europe."
151* AWildRapperAppears: "Usted Es Muy Loco."

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