Underrated

You were probably thinking to yourself today when you clicked on my blog, "I wonder what's going on with Kent and Melanie and Hendrik? We haven't heard from them in a while."

And then you saw the new post. "Great! Now I'll find out what's been going on!"

Brace yourself for disappointment. Nothing about us in here. Just more of my opinions shoved down your throat.

I want to pay a little tribute to an underrated band and an underrated TV show: Cake (the band, not the dessert), and Malcolm in the Middle.

Cake, to me, has always been somewhat of a guilty pleasure for me. They seemed like nothing more than a novelty band, with one quirky hit an album. Even though I bought Fashion Nugget in high school, and enjoyed it immensely, when their next album, Prolonging the Magic, came out, I didn't bother checking it out. No way it was better than Fashion Nugget, I thought. It wasn't.

But it was still good! A few good songs, that, to this day, I still enjoy.

That was it for my Cake days. It would seem that 2 albums chock full of clever lyrics interwoven with toe-tapping bass lines wasn't enough to warrant my loyalty. They weren't worthy of my devotion, instead banished to the cold grip of "Just friends" status. I wasn't sure they could be much more--they seemed too shallow, too flippant, to be considered for a serious relationship.

Then, as I worked at TGI Friday's, a couple songs from their latest album, Comfort Eagle, found their way onto the Friday's playlist. These songs were awesome, so I went out and found someone who owned Comfort Eagle, and had them burn me a copy. I only listened to it a few times through, not really giving all of the songs a chance, only the 2 I heard at Friday's. Then the CD got buried in my Giant Pile o' CDs, now obsolete due to the MP3 format.

I had to dig out my GPOC because I was using Mel's old CD stereo while finishing the basement. This forced me to listen to the CD's the entire way through, as I wasn't going to go wash my filthy hands every 4 minutes to swap out a CD. I then discovered the beauty of Comfort Eagle, and repented. Most of it is now on heavy rotation in my iTunes library, and it's not going anywhere soon.

Here is a small sampling of the subjects of Cake's songs:
1. An Austrian nobleman commissioning a symphony in C
2. A vain opera singer
3. A long line of cars, thanks to you
4. A guitar being chucked out a high-rise window
5. Stick shifts

Malcolm in the Middle is my favorite underrated TV show. I always dismissed it as a kid's show, thinking that it appealed to teenie boppers and adolescents, and I'm not going to stoop to that level. Well, not today, at least.

Then I started catching episodes on FX every so often, usually in the morning as I was getting ready, and I started laughing at some of the episodes. As an avid DVR-er, I'm always looking for something to watch when there's nothing else to watch. Usually a series of some sort, something in syndication or whatever. I usually watch all the episodes and then move on. First it was Scrubs, then Futurama, then This Old House, then Sweat Equity, then House Hunters, then Modern Marvels. As you can see, the last 4 were more or less educational, so I got tired of learning and decided to find something that required less brain. I settled on Malcolm.

The more I watched, the more I realized that each character is more complex than I thought. And I certainly can relate to growing up in a messy house with penny-pinching parents. My favorite characters are the parents, and Hal (the dad) is hilarious. In one episode, Hal has a dialogue with his early adolescent son Dewey, who wants to buy a watch off of the back of the cereal box:

"See, it says 12.99, but that doesn't include the hidden costs. Shipping, handling, box tops, by the time you're through, you're paying on the high side of FIFTEEN dollars. I've never owned a 15 dollar watch."

"But I NEED one, Dad!"

"Son, a cork and a piece of string make a perfectly fine sun-dial. AND, a nice conversation piece with the ladies!"

Then, later, after Dewey comes home complaining he missed the bus because he didn't have a watch, Lois (the mom) retorts, "You wanna know what time it is, Dewey? It's half past a roof over your head, clean clothes and 3 meals a day. THAT'S what time it is!"

Malcolm is a bit Seinfeld-esque (especially in the last seasons, for both shows), because each key character has their own story line that eventually comes together at the end with all the other story lines. It's also a bit Seinfeld-esque in the sense that the first couple of seasons were just not as funny. I watch it and think, "How did this show get renewed after the first season?" I guess it was groundbreaking at the time (still talking about both Seinfeld and Malcolm).

Now, don't get me wrong: there's a reason why these are underrated. Cake is no Pearl Jam, and Malcolm is certainly no Seinfeld. But if you're looking for some alternative tunes to listen to while doing the dishes, then I would recommend Cake. And if you need a new TV show to watch when all of the reruns are rerunning, then DVR Malcolm.

I don't think I've learned my lesson about underrated entertainment. I still don't have the "newest" (2004) Cake album ("eh, it's probably not that good"), and I'm sure I've dismissed a witty TV show or 2 without a chance (like Sealab, for example--is that still on TV, Kurt? Was it ever?). But maybe I'm just saving those things for 10 years from now, when I need some different but familiar tunes, or a new TV show to DVR.