There’s a scene in Why My Love Life Sucks that reveals Gilbert’s favorite kind of music. This is after Amber has turned him into a vampire, and she’s been trying unsuccessfully to get him to leave his old life and join her.
* * *
I grab my backpack, and head for the bus. I know I have to make a short detour at the school, but I can’t wait to get to Queens.
Amber meets me at the corner. I start singing, “And there’s a creepy doll, that always follows you. It’s got a pretty mouth . . .”
Amber frowns. “You make that up just now?”
“No, it’s a Jonathan Coulton song.”
“Never heard of him.” Figures. “Who else do you like?”
“Well, I . . .” Okay, obviously I can’t say any Nerdcore bands or singers, so that leaves out MC Frontalot and MC Lars. If she’s never heard of Weird Al Yankovic, the only word she’ll hear there is “weird.” She’s definitely never heard of Stephen Lynch, and if she has, she probably doesn’t find songs like “Beelz” very funny. Come on, who do I like that most people like?
Oh, I know. “I like the Barenaked Ladies.”
She scrunches up her face and crosses her arms. “Most guys do, but they don’t usually mention it when there are girls around.”
What? Oh. “No, they’re not ladies. They’re a bunch of Canadian guys.”
“And they play naked? Ewwww!”
“No, they don’t play naked. You must have heard of them. They sing the theme song to The Big Bang Theory.”
“The TV show?”
“No, the actual Big Bang. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe from Douglas Adams’s book was so successful they turned it into a franchise, and they gave the Barenaked Ladies a permanent gig there.”
She rolls her eyes and shakes her head. I keep walking, she keeps following, the song “Creepy Doll” keeps playing in my head.
* * *
So what are his ten favorite songs? It’s hard to narrow it down, but I’ll try.
