New Radicals, led by young singer/songwriter/producer Gregg Alexander, is chomping at the bit.

The group’s impulsive debut release, “Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed, Too,” has blasted into the market, receiving heavy radio rotation as well as sufficient recognition on MTV.

The outspoken stance the band has taken on many issues has received both rave reviews, and rejection from music listeners.

What drives a group that would have the nerve to rip on Beck, Courtney Love and Marilyn Manson in its first radio single ever?

As the band explains in its bio: basically, frustration from the fact that kids look up to melody-free careerists with huge media profiles, seemingly forgetting about the music in the midst of the hype.

Alexander’s baby, “Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed, Too,” is a testament to the group’s anti-industry sentiment. Filled with catchy, pop-rock melodies, it received instant success with the single “You Get What You Live.”

Alexander’s musical career began in early childhood. Born in Grosse Point, Mich., to a plumber father and a mother who constantly switched religions, his family was barely able to scrape by.

Bouncing between gifted student and juvenile delinquent, he was branded the school revolutionary.

At age 12, Alexander began playing around with his brother, who did his best Keith Moon on the drums.

“I saved up for a guitar and had a teen epiphany,” Alexander said in a press release. Sneaking into Detroit’s house and punk clubs at night while listening to R & B and working class-rock radio by day, Alexander began forming opinions on where music was headed.

“The spirit of Detroit radio was powerful; it’s such a segregated town,” Alexander said. “It’s like legal apartheid, to the point that you can feel the soul and pain and spirit in the faces.”

At age 15, with money made from doing odd jobs around the neighborhood, Alexander saved up $300 to buy his first four-track recorder and began composing original songs.

“I couldn’t afford guitar lessons,” Alexander said. “My uncle taught me the chords to the Who’s ‘I Can’t Explain,’ and immediately I started switching up the chords to form my own songs.”

Alexander went on to make roughly-recorded songs which he sold to his friends at school. It wasn’t until his family made a trip to the Grammys that Alexander began to seriously pursue music as a career.

Moving away from home and traveling the country, Alexander continued to write songs and look for other musicians who were interested in playing in a band.

With his acoustic guitar and portable tape recorder as his companions, he journeyed to places like Los Angeles, London and New York. Alexander finally settled in the Big Apple and began slowly assembling the New Radicals.

Alexander would test out his songs with audiences in Central Park.

“Occasionally, I would enter a trance when I sang,” Alexander said. “I was at Thompson Square Park, and the crowd’s reaction to ‘Someday We’ll Never Know’ and ‘You Get What You Give’ was scary and fanatical.”

With such a positive response from the industry and fans alike, success has been the name of New Radicals’ game.

The band plays with Grammy nominees Goo Goo Dolls and rockers Dovetail Joint tonight at Hilton Coliseum at 9. Tickets are $7.50 for students, $15 for student guests. Iowa State ID and fee card are required to purchase tickets.