Ookla the Mok – Great Nerd Rock
The name ‘Ookla the Mok‘ may conjure images in your mind of Thundarr’s faithful sidekick. However, it should make you think of great music! I’ve posted here before about the band Ookla the Mok. If you still haven’t tried them, you are really missing out. If you enjoy the kinds of things I post here, than you will love Ookla the Mok. They bill themselves as “Rock Music for Nerds”. Their lyrics are hysterical and speak directly to people like us. I mean, c’mon, their name is taken from the 1980’s cartoon Thundarr the Barbarian for goodness sake.
You can order their CDs from their website or through iTunes. I personally recommend the album ‘Less than Art’. It contains songs about Commander Riker (from ST:TNG), Aquaman, and many more that resonate with people like us. Just one fantastic example is a song entitled, ‘View Master’. It’s a song about people like us growing up and the things we loved as children being gone. It has one of the great lyrics of all time, “All my Star Wars guys are gone except a headless Tusken Raider and the Carbon Frozen Han. And Boba’s still digesting in my sandbox Sarlacc pit.” That’s hilarious!
Here are the full lyrics for ‘View Master’…
I turned on the TV set to check up on Battle of the Planets
At seven a.m. on Saturday
But G-Force and Mr. Magoo went the way of the New Zoo Revue
And all my Super Friends have gone away
Daphne, Fred and Velma, what am I to do?
You’ve gone and left me hanging out with Scooby-Dum and Scrappy-Doo
All the countless hours we spent
watching Jimmy Olsen, Lois, Perry and Clark Kent
I guess George Reeves wasn’t bulletproof after all
Oh Captain Kangaroo
they broke the Creepy Crawler Mold after they made you
And Mr. Moose ran out of ping-pong balls
My Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots have seen better days
And Mom just went and threw my Archie comics away
CHORUS:
I’m gonna cry if I can’t find my View Master
Etch-a-Sketch me a pretty picture
Go Speed Racer go a little faster
I could hear the voices of my childhood
When I traded in my Close and Play for a second-hand guitar
I was straining to hear, I was straining to reach them
But Stretch Armstrong couldn’t stretch that far
Slinkies and Slurpees and Crazy Straws
The Easter Bunny and Santa Claus
A Shogun Warrior, a Weeble, and Evel Knievel
I opened my blue toy box
and found a couple dead spiders and a pair of old socks
My Batman costume didn’t seem to fit
All my Star Wars guys are gone
except a headless Tusken Raider and the Carbon Frozen Han
And Boba’s still digesting in my sandbox Sarlacc pit
My NHL Slot Hockey is rusting underneath my bed
My Hungry Hungry Hippo’s starving, it’s been years since he was fed
I can’t believe it’s been so long
since I stayed up past my bedtime just to play a game of Pong
My Sit and Spin has got me in a whirl
Was it twenty years ago
that I’d get up once a week to watch the Krofft Supershow
With Electra Woman and Dynagirl?
I can hear the Sleestak pounding at my door
Since Puff the Magic Dragon ceased his mighty roar
CHORUS:
I’m gonna cry if I can’t find my View Master
Spirograph me a pretty picture
Go Speed Racer go a little faster
I could hear the voices of my childhood
When I traded in my Close and Play for a second-hand guitar
I was straining to hear, I was straining to reach them
But Stretch Armstrong couldn’t stretch that far
Seriously, you gotta listen to these guys. In addition to clever geek-related lyrics, their music is also enjoyable. You can check out their website by clicking here.