How I Like Electric Six: The Playlist

Did you know that “Gay Bar” by Electric Six turns 20 this year? Did you know Electric Six released Turquoise, their first album of originals in almost five years, last week? Did you know that Turquoise is Electric Six’s fifteenth album of originals, not including the covers album they released on Cleopatra Records (*re-recorded power chord plays*) in 2021? Did you know they also released a covers album for Kickstarter campaign contributors in 2015, and a Christmas album for them in 2018? While I’m sure you responded “duh” to each and every question, I wanted to affirm that everybody reading is thoroughly aware of how much content the band has released since “Gay Bar.” You're no scrub.

Then again, maybe you are a scrub. After all, 2003’s Fire made the top 10 in the UK thanks to “Gay Bar” and the uncredited Jack White duet “Danger! High Voltage.” The follow-up peaked at number 105, despite a cover of “Radio Ga Ga,” its video featuring singer Dick Valentine dancing on Freddie Mercury’s grave in a silver jumpsuit. Albums three through fifteen didn't really do the "chart" thing. While a ravenous cult followed this “crunk Roxy Music” (as I’d put it everywhere I could in the ‘00s) from their For Your Pleasure to their Siren and beyond, most people probably just remember the video with the sexed up Abe Lincolns.

I certainly did my part to correct the historical record. Dick Valentine is the only person I’ve interviewed since college, once for the Seattle Weekly in 2006 and again for the Broward-Palm Beach New Times in 2010. The latter piece tried to put the band in the context of respected lifers like The Hold Steady and Of Montreal, but sadly, the critical mainstream yet again failed to follow my lead. Assholes.

You don’t have to be a clueless schmuck, though! At least not anymore. I’ve gone and crafted a brief but thrilling introduction to the band, featuring a song from every “canonical” non-Kickstarter album from 2003’s Fire to that 2021 covers album Streets Of Gold, almost in chronological order (modest adjustments for “flow” were made). I could have put together a box set's worth of five-star tunes from the first half of their career alone. The eight songs from that unfuckwithable era included here send my soul right back to my days as a young bloggin' professional on the east coast, where I’d see them at least once a year, maybe three times, not counting Dick Valentine acoustic solo shows at Joe’s Pub in Manhattan and a nearly empty park in Philadelphia (only a handful of people saw him do a verse of “Lightning Crashes” before “Brilliant Disguise” in the open air that night, but all of them probably giggled in shock). The following seven songs are dope, too, even if I’m now a slacker dad with an MBA collecting dust on the west coast who doesn’t necessarily see any band in a year. Maybe I'll catch them next time they swing by LA and see if I can still do the ol' head-nod to "I Buy The Drugs" and "Naked Pictures (Of Your Mother)."

Odds are damn good this playlist will eventually get a sequel, as there’s far too many great jams currently denied shine. I'll probably even compile some of their sweet, sweet videos, fan-made and official. But today I ask you to give the a band a simple, measly goddamn hour of your day, for the first time since 2003 if ever, and play this playlist. If your ass isn’t alive with pleasure by the half-way point, return to the depths of your ignorance knowing you at least tried. If it is alive with pleasure and aching for more, go ahead and check out Turquoise! To quote the band’s tender 2005 ballad “Jimmy Carter"…"There's a lion out in the desert, slouching toward Bethlehem to be born again. Backstreet’s back, alright!"

How I Like Electric Six: The Playlist

1. "Dance Commander" (Fire, 2003)
2. "Devil Nights" (Senor Smoke, 2005)
3. "Mr. Woman" (Switzerland, 2006)
4. "Escape From Ohio" (KILL, 2009)
5. "We Were Witchy Witchy White Women" (Flashy, 2008)
6. "Jam It In The Hole" (Zodiac, 2010)
7. "Randy's Hot Tonight" (I Shall Exterminate Everything Around Me That Restricts Me From Being The Master, 2007)
8. "It Gets Hot" (Heartbeats And Brainwaves, 2011)
9. "Kids Are Evil" (Bitch, Don't Let Me Die!, 2015)
10. "Adam Levine" (Mustang, 2013)
11. "Lottery Reptiles" (Fresh Blood For Tired Vampyres, 2016)
12. "It's Horseshit!" (Human Zoo, 2014)
13. "Bride Of The Devil" (Bride Of The Devil, 2018)
14. "Routine Cocooning" (How Dare You, 2017)
15. "That's Entertainment" (Streets Of Gold, 2021)