Saw The Middle video on MTV. Went and downloaded random songs off of Kazaa. For Me This Is Heaven was on of the first ones from there, if not the first one. I’ve loved them since. Shortly after that I bought Clarity and BA. My older sister who hated me had a boy over and somehow they ended up in my room where I was playing bass or guitar. Her friend asked about the music I jammed and he saw my Clarity CD and said I was cool and knew what I was doing when it came to music taste. My sister didn’t get it at all. He and I played When I Come Around together, him in my guitar and me on bass. He had a Vagrants comp that he let me borrow (which I still have 20+ years later). He told me about The Get Up Kids. I know I heard Mass Pike and Action & Action that night. It’s such a vivid memory to me, it was so random. My sister wanted nothing to do with me. I felt so validated that this guy approved of me. Weird times.
Futures is my favourite record of all time and I think it always will be. I've already told my family I want 23 played at my funeral
At @anonimito 's suggestion I'm listing what I've heard so far if y'all have recommendations based on these (I'm sure I missed a couple on Futures, I forget what else I heard)
Well, if you take out bad covid years (2020-2021) then it's technically still a 3 year album cycle if it comes out in 2024
Are you only looking for specific song recommendations? Their run from Clarity - Chase This Light is filled with amazing songs, and there are still tons of great ones on the later albums as well, especially Integrity Blues.
There are a few songs to check out on Static Prevails. Not on the same level as everything from Clarity on, but at least fun to see what the band started out sounding like. Call it in the Air, Rockstar, and Thinking That's All are fun jams
It's always been the best song from that EP. Disintegration is good, but doesn't hold a candle to Closer.
Futures is also that record for me. It was fall of 2005, I was 19 and completely lost in college. My parents split when I left home at 17 and I discovered drinking at the end of my freshman year because my dad was an alcoholic and it was forbidden growing up. I wasn’t going to class and basically paying college tuition to party it up - just an all-around angsty mess of a young man. To top it off, I had unrequited feelings with a girl back home and it got in the way with any sort of maturing I should have experienced at that time. I always shopped at a secondhand CD store on campus and when I stumbled upon Futures. I hadn’t heard of the record since I only knew BA. Snagged it on a whim and turns out it was the Japanese import with bonus disc of demos! The fall-like atmosphere of the record and the unrequited love ballads (Kill, 23) spoke to me in a way I hadn’t felt in so long. Fortunately, I can still listen to this album and still claim it to be my favorite of all time.
This is single handedly the worst thing I have ever read on this website. Considering mentioning Jason to get you banned over this.