Camp Counselor

Cable subscribers, take a deep breath. Electrocution-coiffed VJ Jesse Camp is hanging up his MTV credentials after a yearlong stint on the network, but -- like it or not -- that doesn't mean his 15 minutes are up. Tuesday, Camp and his band, the 8th Street Kidz, released their self-titled debut album. Despite a roster heavy with songs about cutting school, hanging out, and partying, Camp sees the album as the aural equivalent of a big, squishy hug for today's troubled youth. ''I have things I want to say to kids,'' the 19-year-old singer tells EW Online. ''I want to be like what Ozzy or the Crue was to me for a new generation.''

Though Camp's heroin-chic physique and frequently incomprehensible onscreen patter have led to rumors of drug abuse, he hopes his album will inspire kids to just say no to drugs, at least most of the time. ''It's real easy to fall into a trap where you try to fill your wounds in a self-destructive way, and that's why you have so many kids who are junkies and strung out,'' Camp says. ''In the song, 'Summertime Squatters,' we're saying that if we can all come together and love one another as kids and as people, we can learn to love ourselves. There's nothing wrong with partying and having a good time, but when you're using and abusing to run away from yourself, that's when you've got trouble.''

If that isn't enough of a feel-good vibe for you, the throwback rocker has even found it in his heart to forgive his ''really straight'' mom and dad, an accomplishment Woody Allen's been struggling with in therapy for the last 40 years. ''I had a tough time with my parents. They didn't really understand me, and they got really frustrated and took a lot of their own anger and hostility at the world out on me,'' says Camp. ''But I think they loved me the best they could.''

And even clean-cut pop stars N' Sync and the Backstreet Boys have made it onto his list of huggable people. ''I think that stuff is way cool,'' says Camp, who's admittedly more likely to listen to metal acts like Alice Cooper, Guns N' Roses, and Hanoi Rocks. ''As long as you're giving kids something to really dream about, to hope for and believe in, that's great. I think it's a beautiful, positive thing they do, and they're good guys, too.'' Funny, I don't remember the part about a man who styles his hair with peanut butter being the one to lead the little children.