THE FOUR EYES

If you were around SF in the mid-'00s then you might know THE FOUR EYES. But you definitely know their millennial earworm "Hat Nerd." I've still never consciously listened to the song, but I feel like I could probably sing along with most of it simply because I'm friends with Floyd, who seemed as apt to gleefully sing "his head's where his hat's at!" as he was to simply say hello. But after spending some time with this 1994 demo, I may have to back off of my boycott, because good is good, even if (or especially when) it crawls under your skin. These Sacramento weirdos were (are?) super heavy on the nerd angle - examples include, but are not limited to: "Nerd Power pt.2," "Nerds In Space," "Nerdy Girl" and "Video Games" - but their arguably accidental fusion of garage/Nuggets/pop punk/HICKEY transcends simple geekdom and enters realms typically reserved for formidable '90s Bay Area greats.  There's something about not caring and just doing that is impossible to fake, and THE FOUR EYES surely lean more on the "don't care/just do" side of the fence. So I'm gonna blast "Riptide Robots" on the way to Riverside today, and all three chords are gonna make me smile.

ROCK 'N ROLL