Yeah, I just like Futures a lot more than I like Clarity. They’re both great, but Futures I can listen to whenever, whereas Clarity I have to be in a more specific mood.
Tomorrow, actually (not sure why Google says the 27th!) but I’ve got a retrospective coming up tomorrow for it.
Speaking of driving, I got my learner's permit about the time My Best Theory hit alt radio and I'd drive around with my dad, logging hours and playing that song
Driving is a core theme of the retrospective I wrote about this. Nice! Looking forward to reading yours also!
Invented's got some really fine tunes but some clunkers too. I feel like Damages is what Invented was trying to be.
I remember the era of getting out of school and driving to Best Buy to pick up a release-date album, then listening to it on the drive home before ripping it on the computer and sticking it on your iPod. Great writeup.
I'm torn between missing this era and loving how accessible everything is now. There was a different kind of anticipation for music back then.
I've made a conscious effort over the past few years to listen to less new stuff and spend more time with the albums I really care about. I'd definitely gotten to the point where I was listening to like 10-15 new releases every Friday and very few of them were having much of an impact, so I scaled back. Not a perfect system--I'm sure there's plenty of great stuff I'm missing--but it's helped me appreciate albums more in the way I did back then.
I like the accessibility now, but if there was something from that era that I wish had persisted, its the fact that you used to "log on" to the internet, as opposed to being online all the time. I would've loved Spotify back then for the discoverability while also keeping it isolated to my computer at home or in my dorm room.
Great read! Your words combined with the fall feeling here in Chicago definitely put me in the mood to throw this on while I walk to get some groceries.
Yeah, I've often thought about how psyched 14-year-old me would be if I could introduce him to Spotify. But I also think some of the limitations of my music discovery process allowed me to value and cherish albums more. It's definitely prime Invented weather here today: 50s, cloudy, off-and-on rain.
I can't even remember if I mentioned it hear or not yet, but I've never heard Futures (besides Pain)...until today! It's good. Very like Clarity, but I still maintain Bleed American as my favorite. :)
Ohhh! I completely forgot. Anyone catch Jim on Mark Hoppus' After School Radio today?? Unfortunately, my browser is too outdated to listen, but I heard it was awesome.
Wow lucky you. I wish I could go back in time when I first heard Futures....granted that would be in college....