Yes, today is the anniversary of Kids In The
Street by the All-American Rejects. I thought perhaps I could actually do a
full review of the album. I even believed that this morning. And yet, I am
having so many crazy thoughts and feelings, that I don’t know that I could get
anywhere with that.
For one thing, look at that hash tag. I don’t
think I’ve ever used one in a blog title before. It’s important, because the
AARmy (AAR fans) want to make it trend today, to celebrate the band and the
album. Honestly, with the Supreme Court hearing today, I don’t think they have
a chance. Furthermore, trying to make anything trend is so not my thing.
However, they want it, and I love them, and so here I am, participating.
That sentence could be confusing. I do love
the Rejects, but also I love these AARmy members that I never even knew existed
a few months ago.
I was writing recently about how music
connects us. It wasn’t a blog post, oddly enough. Another Twitter contact (I
hate “tweep”, but I haven’t found a preferred alternative yet) was collecting
people’s musical experiences and their feelings. I’m going to copy two
paragraphs in here:
“They were very different feelings,
but they were both real, and those songs helped me through. They relieved the
built up ache inside. They took the pain and made something beautiful. They
told me I wasn’t alone. Someone else had written and performed that music that
was reverberating through me…
That’s what music does. It connects us. It connects us to
ourselves, and the deep and hard to reach places within us. It connects us to
the bands. It connects us to the world outside. It connects us to each other.
And it helps us heal.”
The thing that had kept coming back to me, but I did not use
in that piece, is a quote from C.S. Lewis: “Friendship is born at that moment
when one person says to another: "What! You too? I thought I was the only
one.” The connections we make over music can be so powerful, and I think that’s
because first we have connected with the music, which told us we were not the
only one, and then we connect with someone who had that same connection, and
it’s multiplied.
Also, I seem to love pretty easily, so there’s that.
Regardless, I love the AARmy, and if they want it to trend, I’ll join in, even
if I feel pessimistic and silly.
I have been looking at old blog posts that have mentioned
the Rejects, because I have written about them a lot. A lot of them are
connected with My Chemical Romance, which brings up more emotions. You see, I
also love the MCRmy (some of the same members), who are having a rough week
right now, after My Chemical Romance announced their split.
So there are those emotions running rampant, and also there
are the thoughts of what this year has been for me – mainly as a writer, but
also as a person, and the bands have been a big part of that. This is a big
week for me as a writer, and I will delve more into that tomorrow, but one of
the things I found that I wrote made me smile:
“I don’t think I can write coherently
about albums.”
Okay, maybe today, for this one, I can’t, but
I have gotten a lot better about writing about music. I might be able to take a
crack at it now. But I don’t think I can today.
I wanted to. A couple of people had posted
asking what everyone’s favorite KITS song was, and most people had to at least
put two, or say they couldn’t choose. I did choose two, and then I kept
remembering others. Someone had raised the issue earlier, and I said to just
let them take turns, but yes, going over each track individually, and writing
what was special and beautiful about it seemed like a good solution. I don’t
seem to be able to do it today. Too many feelings.
Also, I just realized I’ve been listening to
it wrong. I have the deluxe edition, with four extra tracks. I knew the two
demos were extra, but I did not realize that “Drown Next to Me” and “Do Me
Right” were not part of the original flow. That changes the whole structure,
and now I don’t think I’ve understood it enough. That’s okay. I’ll listen
again. I can guarantee it.
So, here I am, as I have so often been
before, having written something that was not intended, and that possibly makes
no sense. However, I am putting links to some of the other things that I have
written about the band. It is not every time I have mentioned them, because
that would be ridiculous, but here are some, and a lot of them also mention
other bands.
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