This article has been imported from chorus.fm for discussion. All of the forum rules still apply. This weekend marked the 15th anniversary of one of my favorite album release dates in my lifetime. On July 22nd, 2003 both Yellowcard’s Ocean Avenue and Thrice’s The Artist in the Ambulance were released. I was home between my sophomore and junior year of college and both albums imprinted on me like few ever have. Driving around my hometown, seeing old friends, reigniting old flames, these two albums became a part of my summer. AbsolutePunk.net was just becoming something I thought I wanted to do with my life and much of what that website would become was created with these two albums as the soundtrack. I was still very much trying to figure out who I was as a person, and these albums felt like a foothold of hope on the future. Watching Yellowcard’s meteoric rise, a bunch of kids that felt almost like peers, gave me a boost of confidence during a time I needed to think things could get better. The world was changing, my world was changing. 15 years later that summer remains one of the best of my life. The friendships made, the hearts broken, the speakers blown out, it all feels like a moment frozen in time. An idealized summer that probably wasn’t nearly what I’ve made up in my mind all these years later. But I hold it dear nonetheless. And when I put on Ocean Avenue, and hear “Back Home,” I’m transported back 15 years ago when that song meant everything to me. A rallying call for what my life was and a romanticized version for what I wanted it to be. And that feeling of home intersplices with the intensity of Thrice’s The Artist in the Ambulance, an album I used as an outlet for my anger at the world, at the war, at myself and all the chaos that felt just beyond the borders of my hometown. Two sides of me dueling it out through two albums released on the same day, during the same summer. So, here’s to you July 22nd, 2003. I’ll always remember you fondly. Expand - View Original
Love looking back on days like this...keep up 'This day in History for releases' i think it could be a LOT of fun.
Dang, I didn't check out the full Ocean Avenue record until years later -- had no idea it released concurrently with TAITA. It makes me wonder what twin 2018 releases will hold this kind of significance for me in 2033(!).
I know that may 27th 2016 will hold a special place in my heart. Thrice TBEITBN and Hotelier Goodness
Vividly remember that week and my first listens of both. For Thrice, I put the record on to the outdoor stereo system and listened while lounging in the sun on our deck. (Which, looking back on it, was probably a listening experience better suited for YC). And then with YC, I drove out to an indie record store that I would trek out to for special releases. It meant that I had like a 35 minute drive home. At the time, I had a Jeep Wrangler. I put the top down and cranked up YC. That summer rocked. In Keeping Secrets came out like 3 months later.
Great week, summer, even year for music. Iconic albums released all throughout that year. I remember my first listen to both of these.
Ocean Avenue was the soundtrack for my high school week long love I met at Bible Camp the summer it was released. I've relived that heartbreak for 15 years. DESIREE! WHY?!?
And in the months around this, there was The Ataris' So Long Astoria, AFI's Sing the Sorrow, Rise Against's Revolutions Per Minute, Fall Out Boy's TTTYG, Alkaline Trio's Good Mourning, Less Than Jake's Anthem, Deftones' self-titled, Mest's self-titled, Deja, Mars Volta's De-Loused, Motion City's IATM, ETID's Hot Damn, and Dashboard's A Mark, A Mission . . . I remember cycling through all of these on my bus and train rides to work and first summer being able to hit the bars with my friends.
I completely share your sentiment Jason; both had such a profound effect on me then and to this very day. So many memories fuelled by these albums. On a sidenote, I am so incredibly old (33) that I read this as 2013 and thought MAN 5 years ago... then realised it's been 15 years. I'm going senile already! 2003 must have been one of the best years for album releases (even if there was no NFG)
I missed both these albums on release date and got into them later on. I do remember YC's follow up "Lights and Sounds" and POD's "Testify" getting released on the same date and that was a fun few weeks for me.
Summer 2003 also holds a special place for me in terms of new music. Not super into Yellowcard but Way Away will always be associated with that summer. Got into a ton of new bands including Thrice, MCS, Ataris, Against Me!, Brand New, Rise Against, None More Black, Lagwagon, Slick Shoes, Tsunami Bomb, Me First, TBS... so many introduced through ap.net
Damn. Going through that list I think i can state with little reservation that nothing influenced my musical tastes more than that year.
I remember my brother coming home from Warped Tour that year and handing me Ocean Avenue and saying 'put this on now.' And I played the hell out of that album. TAITA also, but I didn't play it to top to bottom as much that summer as Yellowcard.
I remember waiting in line at Tower for the midnight releases of “In Reverie” and “War All the Time” but I forget if that was 2003 or 2004. Those were the days.
Oh man, this article says it well. The nostalgia is too much sometimes, I wish I could have these types of summers again.
September 2003. I remember those, plus Coheed and Something Corporate, dominated my listening that fall along with some holdovers from the spring/summer before.