When you're in high school, it's cool when a band writes about issues that are close to your heart. Unfortunately, these bands are also most likely way older than you. I mean, these guys or gals are way out of high school, but they're still singing about that one girl they couldn't grow a pair to talk to.
There's something to be said about bands that consistently act like they're 15 or 20 years younger than they are. It's not always a bad thing. Some bands just possess that youthful energy that is infectious. A good live show with a mature sound that still maintains the youthful energy a band displayed in their 20s is amazing. The problem really comes in when a band just refuses to mature at all.
Take a band like All American Rejects. Never have they been a truly profound band, but after three albums I still feel like I'm in middle school when I hear one of their songs. There's no growth between ""Swing, Swing"" and ""Gives You Hell,"" except perhaps the intensity of their word choice, if ‘hell' is a really intense word for you. It's not like the band has an absolutely prolific career or anything, I mean they only have three albums. It has been 12 years however, and I would hope for some musical growth in that time span.
On the other side of the coin is a band like Green Day. I have to admit, I do have most of their albums, although after American Idiot I refused to pick up another one. Gone was the fun band that sang about masturbation and being ""another shitty old man,"" in their place stood a band that wrote rock operas about disillusioned youth. They did also start doing the whole guy-liner thing, which wasn't exactly the most appealing, unless you're a 14-year-old girl.
There are bands that can toe the line between growing up and losing their edge and not growing up at all. As I flip past bands like NOFX and the Offspring, I can't help but think about how weird it is that some of these guys are pushing 40 or more and still writing songs about drinking at six in the morning and hitting rock bottom. After seeing NOFX play live, I can honestly say I don't know how they could ever sound mature, which might be a good thing. The youthful energy they maintain on stage is wonderful. The Offspring on the other hand have mostly grown up, but the core of their sound has remained.
To that end, the hiatus is usually the enemy of music fans. When a band takes a long break their sound tends to change drastically. Members may start new projects or join established bands that twist and warp their style. Listening to a band like the Get Up Kids have trouble with a come-back record after pioneering the second wave of emo in the 90s is painful. They sound like a completely different band, and maybe should have started working under a different name to preserve their legacy.
Finding a band that has managed to do the opposite of that is much harder, however. The only band I can think of, at least in my record collection is the Smoking Popes, who called it quits in 2001, released a mediocre album in 2008, followed up by This is Only a Test, which turned out to be one of the best of the band's career. There is a precedent here that I'd like to see overturned. I would love to see blink-182's new album surpass their self-titled garbage from 2003, but I have little hope of that actually happening.
The music industry is a soul-eating monster, and bands that can retain their core sound and balance it with a little growth are the bands that are going to be successful. Too many bands today are getting swallowed up in the machine and spat out with guy-liner and skinny jeans.
Is Green Day still your favorite band, guy-liner and all? Do you think Jeremy's just a blithering idiot? You should probably let him know at jgartzke@dailycardinal.com.
