The Alternative Number Ones: Eels’ “Novocaine For The Soul”

In The Alternative Number Ones, I’m reviewing every #1 single in the history of the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks/Alternative Songs, starting with the moment that the chart launched in 1988. This column is a companion piece to The Number Ones. The column is now biweekly, alternating with The Number Ones on Mondays.

Depending on how you count them up, there are something like 15 Eels albums. The records might not have been hits, at least in the US, but those records have an audience. Over the years, Eels records have had contributions from big-deal collaborators like Tom Waits, Jon Brion, and R.E.M.'s Peter Buck. Eels songs keep showing up in movies. So does frontman Mark Oliver Everett, the only permanent member of Eels. His scraggly hangdog face is super-recognizable, and he's happy to make a quick walk-on in Ant-Man or whatever. He's made a life for himself in the entertainment business, and he's got a cult fanbase and a huge body of work.

But sometimes, a single image can overshadow everything else in a long career. That's what happened with Eels, but at least the single image is a cool one. It's Everett, then just known as E, in opening of the "Novocaine For The Soul" video — strapping on headphones and drifting gracefully into the air as if ignoring gravity is an in-the-moment decision. Everett already had a couple of major-label solo albums to his name when the "Novocaine For The Soul" clip came out, but it was the world's first glimpse at Eels, the band with him at the center. That image could've been too memorable.