The direct connection between the band Eels and the “multiverse” theory of quantum physics
Dating back to the mid-1990s, devoted fans of the Los Angeles alt-rock band Eels have wondered why this consistently brilliant act has been relegated to cult status. In some parallel reality, surely, they must be the biggest band in the world.
According to the “many-worlds interpretation” of quantum mechanics, however, the same could be said about every other cult band in rock history, not to mention literally any group that’s ever plugged in an amp. This “everything, everywhere” concept of multiple realities might diminish the specific existential significance of Eels, perhaps, but frontman Mark Oliver Everett, aka ‘E’, wouldn’t be offended. In fact, without the contributions of his own father, physicist Hugh Everett III, our current popular concepts of the so-called “multiverse” might not even exist.
When ‘E’ was a kid banging away on his drums in his family’s home near Washington, DC, in the 1970s, he had little knowledge or interest in his father’s career, which by that point involved doing defence research for the US government. Hugh Everett was not the warmest or most communicative of parents, and when he died suddenly of a heart attack when ‘E’ was but 17, it seemingly ended any chance of the son ever really getting to know his dad.
That all changed in 2005, when a now 42-year-old Mark Oliver Everett began taking a renewed interest in his late father during research for his memoir, Things the Grandchildren Should Know. The music he had released as the lone constant member of Eels, particularly on albums like 1998’s Electro-Shock Blues and 2000’s Daisies of the Galaxy, often delved into deeply personal territory, including songs about the loss of his mother to cancer and his sister to suicide. Now, for the first time, he was gaining a similar appreciation for his father, a former star student at Princeton University whose dissertation, titled The Theory of the Universal Wave Function, introduced some of our key modern ideas on parallel universes.
As ‘E’ learned, though, his father’s notions were a bit ahead of the curve and were rejected by most of his contemporaries. A disastrous meeting with the great Danish physicist Niels Bohr in 1959, in particular, essentially crushed Everett’s desire to pursue his theory any further.
As these stories came to light, and Hugh Everett’s profile began to grow among modern-day quantum physicists, Oliver was approached by the BBC to make a documentary on the subject and his relationship with his dad, which became 2007’s Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives.
“I could never identify with him,” ‘E’ told the Los Angeles Times in 2008, referring to his now suddenly revered father. “I thought part of it was because he was a scientist. But one of the great things that came out of this film was the realisation I came to. There are scientists, and then there are scientists who are artists. And he was one of the artists. That was one of the things that led me to identify with him.”
Oliver Everett found the process of making a film about his father hugely rewarding, a way of “clearing the decks” after a lifetime of pent-up frustrations and questions. And while he was used to getting adulation from Eels fans on tour, he’d also managed to acquire a new, very different sort of fan base.
“I find myself getting invited to [quantum mechanics] conferences where I have no idea what anyone is talking about,” ‘E’ said in 2008. “It’s fantastic, though. These are big ideas, and it’s interesting to delve into them and try to understand them. You learn about yourself.”
