Mark McGrath cruise canceled; singer blames ‘recent cruise fiasco’

Fans of post-alternative radio rock and bottomless daiquiris have been dealt a blow after a Mark McGrath & Friends cruise hit the proverbial iceberg today.

The Sugar Ray frontman and pop-culture gadfly had curated an immaculate assemblage of bands that were staples of any late-’90s BMG Music Service subscribers: Smash Mouth, the Gin Blossoms, Spin Doctors, Marcy Playground -- a veritable Justice League of acts that came to fame in that brief golden window between grunge and rap-rock. They were all set to take fans from Miami to the Bahamas in October for a “utopian” seafaring venture.

Unfortunately, however, McGrath announced on the event’s website that the cruise has been called off, and took to Twitter to describe the circumstances as “a real bummer.”

He blamed bad press from the recent Carnival cruise disaster, saying “that recent cruise fiasco really took us down” and “that poop cruise did us no favors.”

Others have cracked wise about the commercial viability of a $649 cruise featuring bands many years past their radio relevance and yet untouched by ‘90s-revival nostalgia (except the Gin Blossoms; we will defend them to our waning days).

But regardless of whether the prospect of a sewage-strewn pool deck or the wisdom of a McGrath-themed cruise is the reason, the bubble may have finally burst on the music-cruise phenomenon. Better that than septic pipes breaking in the middle of the Caribbean with nothing but “Two Princes” to soothe your panic.

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