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Before They Broke Out
Everyone has that one band that they can honestly say that they've been with from the beginning of everything. And with that, comes the feeling of occasionally seeing that band of yours completely sky-rocket. Whether you see this as a good thing or a bad thing, you can't help but wince when some reporter, or VJ refers to the CD with the song that made them well known as their first CD. Sometimes it is, but usually it isn't. You know it's not, the band knows it's not, and this can lead to some hilarity, but it usually just just makes everyone cringe, shake their heads, and wish that people actually did their research.
Well, I have quite a few bands like this, and you know what? I still see some of their earlier, or even first CDs as some of their best work. Maybe it's the shining enthusiasm that comes through. The "Yes! We finally made it, let's do this up," vibe that you can get, but either way, there's something awesome there. So what I'm going to do right here, right now, is pick a few of my favourite songs from bands older CDs that you may, or may not have heard of. Stuff that came out- you guessed it- before they broke out.
THE BAND: Fall Out Boy
THE CD: Take This To Your Grave
RELEASED: 2003
THE TRACK: The Pros and Cons of Breathing
FAVOURITE LINE:
"My pen is the barrel of the gun. Remind me which side you should be on."
WHY I LIKE IT:
Now, many of you might be thinking, "But Manda, everyone knows Take This to Your Grave!" And I would have to correct you in saying that, no, not everyone knows this CD. Everyone in your scene may, in fact, know it, but let's be honest here, Fall Out Boy's break out CD, the one that got them them most attention, would be From Under The Cork Tree. So I'm going to brush aside your complaints and move on to the song. Ha.
The general content of Fall Out Boy songs never really changes. Attraction, sex, scorn, pride, sex, angst...sex... uh... you see where I'm going with this, really. So with The Pros and Cons of Breathing, you get all that good Fall Out Boy-ness with a bit of a harder edge to it. This is the perfect song to play and sing along to if you've just been royally f*cked over by someone you care(d) about, pretty much. That makes it good in my books.
OTHER SONGS TO CHECK OUT:
Chicago is so Two Years Ago, The Patron Saint of Liars and Fakes.
THE BAND: My Chemical Romance
THE CD: I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love
RELEASED: 2002
THE TRACK: Early Sunsets over Monroeville
FAVOURITE LINE:
"Not knowing you'd change from just one bite, I fought them all off just to hold you close and tight.."
WHY I LIKE IT:
I doubt it's a big shock for anyone to see My Chem on this list. They obviously broke out with their CD Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, and have grown even bigger since their last CD The Black Parade, but unfortunately, some people don't know about, or forget about, the existence of Bullets.
Early Sunsets is... well... about zombies. It's sort of a love song in the midst of a zombie invasion. The line I put up there? About "Not knowing you'd change from just one bite" ? Yeah. Zombies. Only G. Way would pull that off. Seriously.
The entire CD is like that. It most definitely has the raw, bare bones feel of this band, and personally, I think Bullets is the closest to what the band sounds like live. And like I said, it's raw, it's borderline violent, and damn it's good.
OTHER SONGS TO CHECK OUT:
Headfirst for Halos, Our Lady of Sorrows
THE BAND: AFI
THE CD: The Art of Drowning
RELEASED: 2000
FAVOURITE TRACK: Morning Star
FAVOURITE LINE:
"Am I the star beneath the stairs? Am I the ghost upon the stage? Am I your anything?"
WHY I LIKE IT:
The Art of Drowning still has some of the raw punk energy that AFI started out with before they moved into the deeper, more complex and haunting sounds of CDs like Sing the Sorrow and Decemberunderground. This CD is kind of a transition period for the band, and I think it makes a f*cking amazing combination, really. Morning Star is the perfect track to use as an example of that transition.
The rest of the CD keeps the driving force of punk music behind it, but the lyrics are a bit more complex. Morning Star also adds in a change of tempo and just generally sound, and can be compared to songs that the band has recently released like Love Like Winter.
OTHER SONGS TO CHECK OUT:
The Despair Factor, The Days of the Phoenix.
THE BAND: HIM
THE CD: Greatest Love Songs Vol. 666
RELEASED: 1997
THE TRACK: It's All Tears (Drown in This Love)
FAVOURITE LINE:
"Come closer my love, I'll violate you in the most sensual way,"
WHY I LOVE IT:
I doubt many of you are shocked to find HIM on this list, either. Most people know HIM through Bam Margera and... well, anything related with Bam Margera. He uses the bands logo, the Heartagram, for many things he associates himself with (Element boards, Adio shoes, etc), and the bands songs in his skate videos. Thanks to Bam (and Jimmy Pop), the band ended up getting signed to an American label as well as their Finnish one, and re-realeased all of their CDs on the american market, but still, some are picked up before others (Love Metal, Dark Light and their latest Venus Doom).
A lot like Fall Out Boy, HIMs songs usually have a very similar theme, which has never really changed (Love, heartbreak, redemption, that sort of thing). It's All Tears is just generally a good song. It displays lead singer, Ville Valo's, vocal diversity. I have to admit I've always been awed by the mans range.
OTHER SONGS TO CHECK OUT:
The Heartless, When Love and Death Embrace.
THE BAND: Good Charlotte
THE CD: Self Titled (Good Charlotte)
RELEASED: 2000
THE TRACK: I Heard You
FAVOURITE LINE:
"Today I screwed up again, I wasn't paying attention, I walked into the wall again, I heard you laugh and saw you grin."
WHY I LOVE IT:
When it comes to Good Charlotte's self titled CD, it's really, really hard for me to pick just one song to highlight, but I'm going to go with "I Heard You", mainly because it's the one I find myself listening to the most still. The song definitely reflects how young the boys were when they started out in all this. It screams high school loser being screwed over by the girl he likes- liked- when she suddenly becomes popular. It still manages to be catchy, upbeat and giggled inducing.
The entire CD speaks volumes about where the band came from, and the type of life they had growing up (which is touched further upon in their break out CD, The Young and the Hopeless). There's an innocence about the entire thing, something that makes you think of hope, that just sucks you in. I've been a GC fan since the time of this CD, and I think that that hope was what sucked me in so young.
OTHER SONGS TO CHECK OUT: Motivation Proclamation, Waldorfworldwide, East Coast Anthem- ...Hell, all of 'em!
So there you have it. Just a few bands that I love that do, in fact, have more stuff out than most people think. And just make sure, for everyone's sake, that if you're going to say something is someone's first... anything? That you're sure of it.
