POP MUSIC / THOMAS K. ARNOLD : MTV’s UnNatural Museum May Get Potatoes Off Couch

Faithful viewers of MTV, it’s time once again to temporarily cease and desist from being a lethargic couch potato and get in on some of the on-screen action yourself.

For the second year in a row, the North County Fair shopping center in Escondido will this week host MTV’s Museum of UnNatural History, a traveling road show of pop music, culture, fashion and technology.

Step inside the 3,000-square-foot museum, set up Thursday through Sunday in the mall’s central walkway, and you’ll get a firsthand look at the MTV life style through more than 20 displays, grouped in four areas:

* In the “New Music” section, a wall of 16 television monitors, stacked into a square, will broadcast the latest music videos from established artists as well as promising upstarts. Visitors will also get the chance to make their own videos, using MTV cameras, stages and props.

* The “Long Live Rock” exhibit will display rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia on loan from the Hard Rock Cafe collection. There will be gold records, rare photographs, autographs, clothes and guitars from such pop heroes as Keith Richards, Bon Jovi, George Michael, Joan Jett, the Fat Boys and the Traveling Wilburys (Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne and the late Roy Orbison).

New this year is a painting of what, from up close, looks like an aquarium full of fish. But stand back and what suddenly emerges is the face of the late Jim Morrison. MTV commissioned artist Doug Auld to paint the portrait. Auld will be on hand to sign autographs all four days the museum is in town.

* The “Addicted to Style” section celebrates the latest pop fashion and beauty trends. The highlight promises to be the campy 3-D “Gone Fishing” display, a series of moving scenes that will show you the right look for leisure-time pursuits.

* The “Products for Better Living” area will showcase the latest in pop technology through a variety of commercially sponsored displays. Among them are Sunkist Soft Drinks’ “Make Your Own Surf Video” booth, which will give museum visitors the chance to be videotaped aboard a simulated surfboard; a nickelodeon with continuous showings of Hershey’s animated Twizzlers licorice promotional clip; and Designamics’ exhibit of innovative inventions that have yet to catch on, like the amphibious car.

The star attraction: “Robo Doc’s Body Shop,” will take a futuristic look at automobile-repair garages, complete with a greasy-fingered robot mechanic.

On last year’s inaugural tour of shopping centers throughout the country, MTV’s Museum of UnNatural History was visited by more than 5 million people, and host malls reported traffic increases of 5% to 20%.

This year’s 28-week, 24-city cross-country swing began in March in Durham, N.C., and concludes next month in San Francisco.

Ten years ago, almost to the day, Blue Oyster Cult headlined a sold-out show at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium attended by more than 50,000 screaming fans.

Apparently most of those screams have long since been silenced. When the pioneering New York heavy metal band returns to San Diego this week, it will be for a two-night stand, Thursday and Friday, at the 500-seat Bacchanal in Kearny Mesa.

The rise and fall of Blue Oyster Cult, described by the Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock ‘n’ Roll as “semi-satiric exponents of the high-decibel apocalypse,” is a testament to the inherent fickleness of pop-music audiences.

In the early 1970s, Blue Oyster Cult helped usher in the first wave of heavy metal with such savage head-banging anthems as “Tyranny and Mutation,” “Cities on Flame” and “Hot Rails to Hell.”

In 1975, the live “On Your Feet or On Your Knees” LP became the group’s first gold album, and a year later, after adopting a less explosive, more mainstream pop sound, they scored their first Top 40 single with “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper.”

Throughout the 1970s and early ‘80s, Blue Oyster Cult continued to do quite well, both on the charts and on the concert trail.

But, in recent years, the group’s place in the hearts of heavy metal fans has been taken over by newer, younger bands like Bon Jovi, Guns ‘n’ Roses and Great White. Blue Oyster Cult’s last hit album was 1982’s “Extraterrestrial Live,” and their last Top 40 single was 1981’s “Burnin’ For You.”

Unlike other first-generation heavy metal bands like Led Zeppelin and Grand Funk Railroad, however, Blue Oyster Cult has steadfastly refused to give up.

And, from the sounds of their last couple of albums, they’re still able to raise as much commotion as their younger, more commercially successful counterparts.

LINER NOTES: San Diego techno-pop duo Red Flag, whose debut album, “Naive Art,” has just been released on the Enigma Records label, will co-headline the upcoming Ocean Aid concert with veteran new wave zanies Devo. The two-day concert, on Sept. 3 and 4 at the Irvine Bowl in Laguna Beach, is a benefit for the Ocean Aid Foundation, a nonprofit trust that distributes funds to environmental groups concerned with protecting the ocean. . . . Tickets go on sale Saturday at 10 a.m. for the Doobie Brothers’ Oct. 1 concert at the Starlight Bowl in Balboa Park, and for The Cure’s Sept. 12 show at the Sports Arena. Tickets go on sale Saturday at noon for The Judds’ Oct. 1 show at San Diego State University’s Open Air Theater, and Monday at 10 a.m. for Michael W. Smith’s Nov. 5 show at the Starlight Bowl.. . . Foghat will appear at the Bacchanal Sept. 8, and not at Diego’s El Cajon two days later, as reported last week. . . .

Best concert bets for the coming week: the Bullet Boys, Spider Blue and Bang Tango, Thursday at Iguana’s in Tijuana; Jimmy Cliff, also Thursday, at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach; Joe Jackson, Saturday at the Open Air Theater; Jackson Browne, Sunday at the Open Air Theater; Al Green, also Sunday, at Humphrey’s on Shelter Island, and the U.K. Subs, Aug. 28 at the Spirit in Bay Park.