#alt-rock

[afireformyheart]

Some of my faves from the first three shows 🥰

[mreinberg]

Die Spitz live in Vancouver. Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark IV.

[hist105rockblog]

Lecture 21: “Excuse Me Mr.” - No Doubt (Live at Red Rocks, CO 1996): No Doubt, a ska/punk/reggae inspired band(formed in 1986)out of Anaheim, CA, helped bring about a ska music revival in the early-mid ‘90s.After about a decadebuilding a strong following in Southern California, the band - singer Gwen Stefani, bassist Tony Kanal, guitarist Tom Dumont, anddrummer Adrian Young - released their third album. Tragic Kingdom (1995) took the band mainstream and brought them international success with songs such as “Don’t Speak,” “Just a Girl,” “Spiderwebs” and “Excuse Me Mr.,” released as a single in 1996.  This live performance from 1996 is emblematic of the high energy shows No Doubt was known for.

[littlegirltree]

Muriendo juntos en cada universo, through cartilage and fluid.

[falloutbradreviews]

The All-American Rejects Are Kind Of Underrated

One of my favorite things about media and entertainment is that everybody’s experience with a certain medium is different. Not even in terms of liking different things, because everyone’s taste is also different, but people also discover things differently. The first album that you ever heard, or that made you fall in love with music, might not be the same one that I first fell in love with. My favorite bands when I first got into music might not be the same as yours, but if they are, that’s a really cool thing we can bond over. The experiences that people have when it comes to getting into music are all different, and I just love how unique everyone’s individual experiences can be. I first got into music my eighth grade year, so when I was about 12 or 13 years old, but I didn’t completely get into music right away. I mainly always just listened to whatever my parents liked, so a lot of country and some classic rock (their classic rock collection was pivotal in me getting into classic rock around a year or two later, especially with bands like Hall & Oates, The Eagles, and Creedence Clearwater Revival, who are three of my favorite bands today), but I wanted music that was “mine.” I guess I grew up at the right time, because this was when emo, pop-punk, and alternative was exploding in the mainstream. As a kid going through puberty, I was very angsty, emotional, and going through a lot of changes, both physically and emotionally, so I was looking for stuff that I could relate to. The alternative scene really spoke to me, so bands like Fall Out Boy, Panic! At The Disco, My Chemical Romance, and Paramore were bands I gravitated towards.

The first album I ever picked up, however, was a little record called Move Along by The All-American Rejects. That album turns 20 this year, and I wanted to write a retrospective on that album by itself, but a few weeks ago, I picked up their debut and the follow-up to that album, those being the 2002 self-titled and 2008’s When The World Comes Down, so I wanted to talk about their first few albums as a whole. I’ve spent some time with these, and I think The All-American Rejects are a rather underrated band, at least these days, anyway. They were huge back in the 00s, but their star power has fallen a bit, especially in terms of a mainstream band. They’re pretty nostalgic for a lot of people, myself included, but they’re not the rockstars that they once were. They just put out a new single after over a decade of being inactive, but people mainly remember their first few albums, especially Move Along. That was their peak, but When The World Comes Down was a still pretty successful album I its own right. Their self-titled debut, however, is where it all began. This album has the single “Swing, Swing” that a lot of people remember as well, especially in the alternative and emo scene. They weren’t super popular yet, but this record was a big deal. The All-American Rejects are cool, too, because they had one foot in the mainstream alternative scene and the emo and pop-punk scene. They were a perfect “crossover” band in that sense, so I can understand why their sophomore album exploded. Their debut, however, is more or less a power-pop, pop-rock, pop-punk, and emo record that runs the gambit of all those styles. This record is kind of rough around the edges in spots, but it’s a charming and fun little record. I don’t have a lot to say about it, and that’s one reason why I wanted to talk about their first three albums as a whole, because their debut is pretty generic. It’s really good, and it’s got some great hooks on it, but it’s nothing you haven’t heard before.

It's their sophomore album, 2005’s Move Along, where I think they got a lot better. This album was a big moment for the band, whether it was the title track, “Dirty Little Secret,” “Stab My Back,” or a few other songs on the record, but this record is really awesome. This record moved the band into a more mainstream pop-rock sound, but they kept some pop-punk and emo influences. The hooks were more pronounced, and more pop-focused, but the lyrics were still kind of emo and relatable, so they had a nice balance. I love this record, and I was surprised at how much I love it, because I hadn’t listened to it in so long, but I dusted it off when I picked up their debut and third albums, so I was like, “Let me listen to the album I remember, and see how it holds up,” but I love it. It’s so catchy, fun, and full of variety, it never gets old. Every song is very catchy, well-produced, and unique to itself. This album has a few lanes it goes down, but it manages to be unique and catchy. Every song sticks out, and the album never gets boring or lackluster, so I love it. I don’t have a lot to say about this album the more that I think about it, minus the nostalgia that I have for it, because it’s a relatively straightforward pop-rock album, but it’s a great one. It’s one of my favorites of the era, but I think it’s kind of the more underrated albums, only because so many great and iconic albums came out at the time. That same year had albums from Fall Out Boy, Panic! At The Disco, Paramore, Avenged Sevenfold, Plain White T’s, The Academy Is, and a ton more heavy hitters, so this album got the shaft. It was a still a success, because people loved a few singles from it, but I think this album is more underrated these days, despite being one of the best albums from that year.

Their follow-up, however, is another album that I hadn’t heard. I never checked it out when it came out in 2008, but I think that’s because I was into metalcore and post-hardcore at the time, along with a bunch of “neon pop-punk,” so the album fell to the wayside for me. I’ve listened to When The World Comes Down a few times, and aside from the lead single “Gives You Hell” being pretty cool, I don’t care for this album a whole lot. I don’t dislike this record at all, but it’s definitely a step down from their last two. It’s a generic pop-rock album, but without any of the emo and pop-punk influence that they had, even on their last album. This album isn’t bad, or even offensive in any way, but it’s a generic and boring album that doesn’t quite do anything interesting. I don’t actively dislike it, but there’s a step down in quality. There’s a reason why this album didn’t do as well, and it’s both due to the fact that pop-rock in the mainstream was starting to die down by this point (minus a few bands that would still very popular in the coming decade), and this record just isn’t great. It’s fine, but this isn’t a good first impression with this band, so I’m glad I got Move Along, because that album is so good. There’s just something about it that doesn’t click with me that much, and it’s unfortunate, because I really want to like it more. I might need to give it more listens, but it’s still a decent record. I don’t hate it or anything like that, but it’s easily not my favorite.

The All-American Rejects are a weird band in the context of 00s music, because they were really big at the time, but now you don’t hear about them as much. That’s sort of the case of Lifehouse, too, which is a band that I just talked about as well, because they were big in the 00s, but they disappeared after their hiatus in 2015. Maybe The All-American Rejects might have their moment hear soon, especially if they drop a new album, but they’re still kind of an underrated band. I’d ultimately recommend the first two albums, and I’ve never even listened to their last album, but I’ve heard it was okay. I know it came out in 2012, but I felt as though I was “too old” for that music by then, so I never listened to it. Looking at them retrospectively, they were a solid band. I loved Move Along, and it still holds up today. Even their debut holds up fine, but it’s a bit around the edges in spots. I think emo and pop-punk fans may like that one more, because it does have more of a foot in the pop-punk and alternative scene, but Move Along is more or less a pop-rock album. That’s my favorite of the bunch, and that’s surprisingly the one that I’ll go back to most. I’m surprised that I love that album as much as I do still, because I didn’t expect it to hold up so well. It’s just a very catchy album, and if you want a good pop-rock album, you should check this out. Hell, if you got into this album back in the day, too, I’d recommend hearing this again. I’ve been having a lot of fun with this album, and even if When The World Comes Down isn’t a truly great record, it’s still got some catchy and fun songs on it, so I’d still give their first albums a listen. They’re one of the most underrated bands of that era now, and it’s been a ton of fun getting into their first few albums again.

[literallyaurl]

Over the hill, but not too far away, you'll find me standing still.

[history105rockandrollblog]

Lecture 21: “1979”  - The Smashing Pumpkins: “1979” was the second single released from The Smashing Pumpkins third (double) album Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (1995). The album was a monster hit, debuting in the #1 position on the Billboard 200 and earning critical acclaim. This song (“1979”) was by far their biggest hit, rising to #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and  #1 on both the Billboard Alternative Songs and the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks. The song remains a classic rock anthem of the mid-nineties, and the video presents a very Nineties-ified (if that’s a word???) portrayal of the late 197