Songoftheday 7/12/20 - Life is hard and so am I, you'd better give me something so I don't die...
from the album Beautiful Freak (1996)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: ineligible to chart
Billboard Hot 100 Airplay peak: #39 (one week)
Weeks in the Airplay Top-40: 2
Today's song of the day comes from the modern rock act Eels, for the most part a musical moniker for musician/singer Mark Oliver Everett, or "E". Hailing for central Los Angeles, Everett was signed to Polydor Records in the early 1990s and under "E" released two "solo" albums that didn't get much sales, but brought a bit of attention to the performer. Forming a "band" with drummer Butch Norton, who played on Everett's second album Broken Toy Shop, and bassist Tommy Walter, Everett founded Eels, and switched to Disney's Dreamworks record label for their first group album Beautiful Freak in 1996. The lead single for the set, "Novocaine For The Soul", was a quirky yet addictive slice of hipster modern rock that got radio's attention. It became their first and biggest success....
Since "Novocaine For The Soul" wasn't released as a physical commercial single, the song wasn't able to place on Billboard magazine's official Hot 100 pop chart. However, the track got enough mainstream radio love to make it to the top-40 on the airplay component of the tally. The song was a huge hit on rock radio, spending three weeks at #1 on Billboard's Alternative Rock radio chart.. Internationally, the single hit #10 in the UK, while being a minor hit in Canada (#76), Australia (#84), and the Netherlands (#90). The Beautiful Freak album went to #114 on the Billboard 200 sales chart in America, while becoming a big seller in Britain at #5.
The record spawned a second top ten hit in the UK with "Susan's House" at #9 (their best showing there), but the song didn't even get a notice in the States. A third release, "Your Lucky Day In Hell", slipped into the British Top-40 at #35. After touring behind the record, Walter left the Eels, eventually creating the band Abandoned Pools.
In 1998, Everett and Norton returned as Eels for a second release, Electro-Shock Blues. The first single, "Last Stop...This Town", clipped the Alternative Rock radio chart at #40, their most recent American radio hit, while scoring another top-40 hit in the UK at #23. That was followed in 2000 by Daisies Of The Galazy, which nearly landed another British top ten hit with "Mr .E's Beautiful Blues" at #11. The album was a top ten sales hit in the UK at #8. A year later, Eels released the rougher Souljacker, which spun off the act's most recent British top-40 hit at #30 with "Souljacker Part 1". Since then there have been seven more studio albums under the Eels moniker, with the latest, The Deconstruction in 2018, reaching #10 in the UK. The highest ranking set in the States was 2009's Hombre Loco, which almost made the albums top-40 at #43.
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Here's the band performing the song on Conan in 1996...
Next up, Eels in concert in California in 1998...
And lastly, Everett live in 2018...
Up tomorrow: Boston Boys remain enamored.
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