Much of my musical reawakening was related to getting on Twitter, and it just happened that The All-American Rejects -- one of my "before" bands -- dropped a new album, Kids In The Street, about a month after I had been on.
This may be why I initially attracted more Rejects fans than MCR fans, though there was overlap.
If a band never did anything but provided good music, that would be enough, but there are three things about this band that stand out as special to me, specifically related to the on-Twitter and reviving time period of my life.
1. They were my first band review:
That it was a concert was important, but part of that is that there were four other related bands, and they were not the band that played first.
I normally review bands for a concert in playing order, but failed attempts showed me that I could not do the other bands until I reviewed them. Then it flowed, and it was more of a gush, ultimately, but really, they needed to be first. That was how it worked, and then I could go on and do the rest of the bands, and keep going with other bands. Maybe breaking in needed love.
2. They revived concerts for me:
I had been to other concerts, even during the gap; I had already made up other missed bands The Presidents of the United States of America and the Cherry Poppin' Daddies. Those shows were both at the Crystal Ballroom, and that's where I got to see the Rejects too. It felt like a nice continuity.
There was something else though. My very first concert was Charlie Sexton at Civic Auditorium in the summer of 1986 (between 8th and 9th grade). Before the concert I had seen Charlie stepping out of a limo and going in the stage door, and then after we chatted with the tour bus driver. There was so much excitement beyond the performance.
So seeing Mike Kennerty, and talking to him briefly, and seeing Nick Wheeler walking Dexter, it felt so much like that magic was back. I have met and talked to many musicians and tour managers and stage crew now, and it doesn't get old, but the Rejects were a perfect start for what has come after.
3. They inspired a book series:
It wasn't just them, but I saw them just before Halloween in the same week that I was seeing Bad Reputation Production's play of The Lost Boys. Putting all of that together gave me the dream that became Family Blood, and then Family Ghost and Family Reunion.
There are more vampires to fight (in Spruce Cove and in the Philippines and in Romania), and someday I hope to get there, but at the time I had just wrapped up one big project. It had been important to write that one, and I needed it, but it also had no commercial potential.
Finding something else to write that I could believe had commercial potential (even if it is still unrealized) was important. If the musicians in the book became their own characters (despite starting out looking a lot like this band), that is right and proper, but it still left a deep fondness for the band. I mean, I was already pretty fond anyway.
4. They surprised me:
Yeah, I know I said three things. Sue me. Maybe the other things aren't quite as big.
It wasn't just that suddenly this band that I had liked was on tour and had new music, they also had an album I had completely missed, When the World Comes Down, from December 2008.
As badly as my world was falling down right then, I could have used it then. Finding it later is my reminder that good things can still be happening, even when you aren't aware of it.
5. I am still learning from them:
I really thought these retrospectives would just be one week for each 100 bands, taking the top five or seven songs. It would not be fair to say every best song from the first 100 was theirs, but only one Rejects song was surely insufficient.
Then, listening to them again, I had my favorites, but listening to the whole albums again was so good. Some Forbes writer was just saying albums are dead; dude, you are only showing your ignorance.
When I am not listening to new bands, I will usually go with play lists I have on various themes, but it is also important to listen to the bands you love every now and then. Go over the catalog and remind yourself why you love them. So good.
I got to remember how it had seemed like there were a lot of counting songs on their debut album. Okay, they were "One More Sad Song", "Don't Leave Me", and "Happy Endings". Then there were all of the songs that worked for the 12-21-12 playlist: "It Ends Tonight", "When the World Comes Down", "The Last Song", "and when the sky is falling" on "Change Your Mind"... There are lots of smiles for all the yearning.
I must say, "Dance Inside" is a bit more sexual than I remembered.
I love these guys, but beyond that love, all of the counted points require two posts, and two weeks of songs.
The first eight daily songs were from the first two albums, so now we wrap up with songs from the last two.
“I Wanna” -- from the surprise record, this was the one that caught my attention first. I remember walking around with this song on repeat in my head. And, it was the first song I sang for karaoke at my birthday party after that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qwm7crkV124
“Another Heart
Calls” -- So yearning. It may be the track that reminds me most of their earlier work.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKUeZBbU4FA
“Heartbeat Slowing Down”-- I generally prefer their faster songs, but this performance and Tyler's talking about it at the concert was heartbreaking, and then re-listening I notice some guitar work that is worthy of Johnny Marr. It may showcase their craft more. Technical prowess is usually not why I fall for a band, but I do still appreciate it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_w6j3sDn5U
“Fast &
Slow” -- A very fun song. It could have done well as an official release. See, you miss things like this when you don't listen to entire albums.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGP7h5-Y0Kw
“Kids In The
Street” -- That year when they had a new album and I didn't know it? Among other things a childhood friend died. When this song came out four years later, in my mind it was just always about him. So even though in that dream that started the books, it was touring bass player Matt Rubano in that hospital bed, I know it was really Josh, and that dictated a lot of how things played out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIw7RAfYgI8
“I For You” -- A very brief acoustic song that is absolutely beautiful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTFf1ZCJA1k
Related posts:
https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2012/12/in-concert-all-american-rejects.html
https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2013/03/one-year-of-kids-in-street-1yeaarkits.html
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