This isn't the first Eels song I'd ever heard. I grew up watching MTV in the mid-nineties so of course I saw the video for Novocaine for the Soul and I remember that for much of my elementary/middle school years it was one of the songs I would randomly get stuck in my head though I didn't actually have any of the music. (Connection by Elastica was another that I found myself singing to myself on the playground. Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money in My Hand was yet another.) I never sought out the majority of these songs, except for Elastica when I was in middle school and deep into an obsession with Garbage that was ridiculous and will never* be discussed here.

I was sixteen when I sat down with a copy of Electro-Shock Blues, fondly remembering Novocaine for the Soul and wanting to see what else Eels had to offer. I went to what I knew the first single was, Last Stop: This Town, and it all sounded so ridiculous to me. I didn't even get through the full track. I didn't understand why there was a big weird deep voice and people yelling, the whole thing sounded like a cartoon. I was totally above it.

A while later I came across a copy of Eels' third album, Daises of the Galaxy, and bought it despite the protests of my girlfriend at the time who insisted they sucked, which only bolstered my desire to love them fully. I think at this point in time I was really branching out into what I listened to, I think I discovered Peter Gabriel around the same time, but I am pretty sure that I wasn't at all ready for the horns and Hot Dog on a Stick references contained within album opener Grace Kelly Blues.

Maybe this is the song to blame for my strange obsession with Hot Dog On A Stick. Maybe my attachment to Eels early on came from this reference, as the Sara mentioned yesterday worked at a Hot Dog on a Stick at some point back then. Perhaps I was climbing out of my youthful depression at late sixteen and Daisies of the Galaxy spoke to the sad optimism that has quietly resided in me since that age?

I've spent a lot of time trying to figure out why Eels sound like home to me, why they're my top artist on last.fm (which is actually easily explained by the fact that I have fourteen hours of Eels songs on my iPod and I listen to pretty much all of them, completely dwarfing any other artist in my collection by sheer mass of material), why that no matter what they do, I love it.

I think it's the sad optimism. I have to wonder if it was inherent in me, this coping mechanism of saying, "Man, this is some god awful shit, and sure it'll probably get worse, but I might as well listen to some music and enjoy the day, you know?" or if Eels taught me that the way to cope with overwhelming sorrow by putting my face in the sun/rain and smiling at it all the same?

I don't know, but out of all the other bands I've mentioned this week, Eels is my #1 to this day. I really don't know what I would be like if I had never discovered the Eels, or if they had never existed. Mark Oliver Everett (and I link to his Wikipedia article here simply because the picture of him in it is absolutely ridiculous) is an inspiration. His autobiography, Things the Grandchildren Should Know was exactly what I expected, as E is just a regular guy who has a lot of baggage weighing him down due to the way his family deteriorated around him, but for the most part... I don't know, he's just like me. He doesn't cry about what's happened to him, he speaks about it frankly and embarrassingly, and it doesn't matter to him what anybody thinks, or if anybody thinks at all.

Jesus, I didn't mean to rub one out over Eels or anything. I guess I did.

Have a good day! If you're feeling down and you buy this album and listen to it and don't feel better (if you don't feel better half way into "I Like Birds" you have no soul), I will refund your money out of my own pocket.*

Site News: I'm pretty sure I don't reveal anything personal about myself in this screen shot so I'm going to post it here, even more publicly than it's already publicly posted on my Twitter, this is what it looks like when I write on here.

* "Never" is a relative term meant to equal any amount of time between now and around the time I die. ** Please allow at least 3 years for refund to process upon receipt of request.