Diesel Boy

Sofa King Cool (1999)

Scruffy

So, Diesel Boy titled an album Sofa King Cool. Get it? It's got a mediocre painting of two disgruntled faux-Teletubbies on the cover, and a letter inside supposedly from someone telling them they would be nobodies soon (which was hilariously prescient).

There's a song about watching a girl undress through her window, a Dead Milkmen cover ("Punk Rock Girl"), plenty of drug references and self-referential humor and a song that directly rips off NOFX. But, as hard as it may be to believe, it wasn't released on Fat Wreck in the nineties.

Okay, it was released on Honest Don's.

But there's something so undeniably FUN about this disc that I can't ever stop listening to it. It sounds like if Goldfinger had integrity. I know that's a stretch for any imagination to conceive, but that's the best description of Sofa King Cool. I could never fault anyone for hating this record or expect anyone to like it, but I know that some will love it.

"She's My Queen" has some great lines in it, and the wordplay in "A Literary Love Song" ("I need your plagiarism. You give great definition.") is great, even if it is somewhat crude. The guest vocals (and I won't tell you who) on "All About the Abes" are one of the highlights of this album. The penultimate song on the album, a midtempo letter to John Lennon, aptly titled "Dear John," shows that this band can, however, write mature songs when they want to (something they would do admirably with the song "Big Sparkling New" off of Sofa King Cool's followup, Rode Hard and Put Away Wet)

Honestly, if I hadn't stumbled across this album for free a few years ago, I would have continued to write it off, despite the band's fantastic showing on the Short Music for Short People CD. As a critic, I could honestly say more negative things than positive about this album, but it's so enjoyable that I ignore my cynicism whenever it's on. If you're looking for the next album that will change your life, look elsewhere, but if you want something stupid and awesomely entertaining, with songs you can shout along to, pretending you're still in high school, Sofa King Cool is what you need.