Tynan's Anger

SONGS OF THE DECADE #67

[For more info, read the Ground Rules of The Song of The Decade List]

Eels - Souljacker Part I (2001)



Like most art that was released the week of 9/11, The Eels' "Souljacker Part I" was a victim of bad timing. Most famously in music, this meant the Strokes couldn't release "New York City Cops" off their debut album. But of all the bands hurt by 9/11, the Eels may be the most tragic, because their failure to succeed in the U.S., exactly reflects the failures in American politics after 9/11, the ability to understand anything resembling nuance.

The Eels, like the Strokes, White Stripes, The Vines all revived the garage rock motifs inherent in punk with an added cocksure that typified it's decadent time. Unlike those bands, however, The Eels's strut was all contained in the recorded work, needed no video support.

Of course, after 9/11, everyone was declaring irony dead, an idea that would last all of six months. That window was still large enough to reduce The Eels to a lark in the U.S while, like Mark Bolan 30 years previous Mark Everett would turn into an icon of his decade in the U.K.

Anglophilia in rock is a mixed bag, but the Eels represent all the good sides of British roc (intelligence, nuance, swagger) without any more of the bad parts (classism, gossip obsession, uncalled-for rudeness) than any if the bands tha got big in the U.S. for the same reasons.

Labels: 2000s, eels, lists, pop music, songs of the decade, souljacker part i