Motion City Soundtrack Band • Page 19

My list would probably be:

EIIKM>Go>CTTM>PS=MDL>IATM

 

EIIKM really is just a masterpiece. Its funny going back to old reviews and hearing things like "the band sounds tired" or "this is far too polished for an emo record" or even calling EIIKM their "Raditude". Like, no EIIKM isnt this post-hardcore tinged aggressive pop punk record like IATM and CTTM were, but that doesnt mean it comes off worse because of it. The songwriting is there in spades, Justin delivers some deeply confessional lyrics that even I cant help but get a little uncomfortable hearing just how eerily relatable they are. I love the Ben Folds kind of influence thats all over the record and its probably got the best production job of any MCS record. I'm glad to see it get so much praise in hindsight and I hope the same thing happens to Go

 

CTTM > EIIKM > MDL > Go > IATM > Panic

 

Wtf who said it was their Raditude? That might be the worst take of all time. I'm being serious.

 

I'd take Panic Stations over literally any Weezer record.

 

i think it was like one of the retrospective "MCS is breaking up" posts. im pretty sure it was on absolutepunk, it was a user comment. or maybe it was like a blog post or something. it seemed like a really out of touch comment, like that doesnt even begin to make sense. sure MCS have always had some Pinkerton era Weezer in them but nothing theyve done is comparable to anything after that.

 

Yeah, I can hear a little bit of Blue in a few of their records, but definitely no Raditude. Has that guy even heard Raditude?

 

exactly like EIIKM isnt this weird party album or anything. sure its got some cleaner melodies and favors more piano than synth but its got much more depth both lyrically and musically. its not like MCS were TRYING to get on the radio and make party anthems or anything.

 

that's a step way too far

 

EIIKM was both the first record I agonized waiting for and also a major letdown, and I will never forgive it for that.

 

It doesn't have any Dr. Luke co-writes, thank god.

(It makes me sad that Butch Walker was also involved in Raditude, but at least he co-wrote the only worthwhile song on there.)

 

Maybe Blue and Pinkerton above PS. Probably just Pinkerton.

 

true that. fuck that guy

yeah that opener is really the only redeemable song on there haha. that album had some weird cowriters. didnt they give one of the songs to Sugar Ray or something? Plus All American Rejects helped write a song. Dupri was also a very odd choice.

 

cosigned

 

I don't know if Sugar Ray co-wrote it or not, but they put "Love is the Answer" on one of their records. Come to think of it, I think the Sugar Ray version actually came out before the Weezer version.

 

yeah i thought they like donated the song or vice versa or something. what a strange arrangement that was

 

Yep, Sugar Ray one came out first, and it featured Rivers on vocals haha

 

Speaking of, what the hell happened to Sugar Ray? Are they still a band?

 

according to wikipedia:

The band continued its "Under the Sun" tour through 2014. However, in June 2014, McGrath revealed that the band had been struggling with legal wranglings with Karges and Frazier since their departure in 2012, and that there will never be another Sugar Ray album.

 

Wait what? Inside Out is on the Panic Stations vinyl? Was there like a limited edition I missed? I don't think mine has that. I've also never heard Everything Is Fine, but I'm going to hunt it down now.

 

It was written during the PS sessions and was intended to be on the album. I think there's a pressing that has both it and Everything Is Fine, at least people in the MCS subreddit seem to have it.

 

I get why people wouldn't call PS one of their favorites, but I've said it before and I'll say it again: that album suffered from the worst choices for lead singles imaginable. TKO and Lose Control are pretty easily the weakest material there, and I just think people went in with negative expectations. (I don't even think they're bad songs, just a little bland). The back half of that album is great, and I Can Feel You I would go as far as calling one of their very best songs (top 5), so the album is worth it if for no reason than that (But there are plenty of other reasons). And yes Days Will Run Away was just a perfect goodbye. It's even perfect how we didn't really know it was the goodbye until a while after we'd heard it, because it definitely kind of has that "you don't know what you got til it's gone" vibe.

 

I feel like that's the opposite of how expectations work.

But yes, Days Will Run Away definitely felt like their last song even before it was announced. It was a feeling I had that I didn't understand until they split. It definitely had that "this is it" feeling to it. Like, Dark Places doesn't feel like the last Gaslight song or anything. Days Will Run Away, from the second it starts, feels like an actual goodbye.

 

Some other thoughts: I can't believe I missed all the action the one day this thread was really active! The more time goes on the more I realize this band will just always be a part of my life. No other band gives me that visceral feeling in my gut. Listening to the band is maybe the most comforting thing to me, I can't even explain it. They make me happy and sad and calm me down and hype me up, somehow all at once? I truly don't think I will ever connect to a band like this again.
Ranking their albums is honestly brutal for me because it implies that the last album on the list is somehow inferior, when really it's just that something has to go last: CMTTM=My Dino Life>EIIKM=IATM=PS>Go (see I really can't do it haha). But like I said I hate putting Go low, cus it's absolutely not that I don't love that album or that I was disappointed by it. It's just the one I find myself revisiting in full the least. This band, I don't know I'm just rambling now but y'all got me going. And hahahah I'm not even trying to pick top 10 songs I couldn't do that one.

One more thing: That's wild about Time Turned Fragile. Makes an already amazing song just even better (that "one day I'll fail to breathe" line will hit even hard now).

 

You mean if people didn't like the songs, then they heard the rest and it was good, they'd be pleasantly surprised? I see where you're coming from, but I think people also do kind of make up their minds before an album, especially when they've already heard 3 songs that they didn't care for. I think the rest of the songs get kind of an unfair microscope put on them and the songs have to be really exceptionally great to get people to actually pay more attention (such as I Can Feel You and Days Will Run Away did).