I love this band and think they should've been a more enduringly huge band in the scene, but I don't think they've ever really had the same mainstream crossover appeal potential that the more pop punk/rock oriented successes like MCR/FOB/Panic!/Paramore had even early on. Those bands all have songs built on more of a pop base, and even the catchier Saosin songs really aren't that. I think for them to get that big would've required changing more about their sound to intentionally go for something that fit on the radio and, in that process, cutting back on the riffing and cool textures (which are both some of the most important parts of what makes them a good/interesting band). All of the talent is there to make it work, but I think there'd have to be more of a tradeoff of in terms of what the band actually sounds like/the types of songs they were trying to write (or more tolerance from the mainstream, which I don't think was realistically going to happen).
i agree with this but i also wildly underestimated how much crossover appeal some of the bands you mentioned had, especially panic. i recognize you're not alone (and voices) were super popular and i remember hearing them on the radio but if they really leaned into that direction to get as big as those other bands i almost certainly would've liked em less lol. would've been super happy for em, but those songs are snoozefests compared to the hits from the other bands.
I admittedly haven’t watched it in a while, but I thought I remembered the consensus being that the video didn’t quite shoot that song to the stratosphere that it deserved.
Fun fact: That video was done by a Swedish production group called Popcore Films, the same group that produced all four Underoath videos for Define the Great Line and From First to Last's "The Latest Plague" that same year. It's an admittedly quirky video, but I don't think it had any negative effect on the popularity of that song. I think it was just about as popular as it was ever going to get, all things considered. Capitol did a lot of promotion on that album, and while I clearly don't think it met the expectations they had in store for it, the band did pretty damn well during that run. Scoring a spot on Projekt Revolution was huge, and they had several other really successful billings around that time. Could they have been even bigger? Certainly. But I don't think MCR/FOB/Panic status was ever in play, honestly.
I'll never forget the first time I heard that dual riff in the bridge of It's Far Better to Learn. Up until that point I didn't know that there were bands that were that "heavy" that didn't have harsh vocals. Really helped me understand my taste in music and I think it's why I still gravitate towards bands with heavy/technical instrumentals and majority clean vocals.
17 year old me is pretty jealous of that tour lol, cove era saosin and senses fail were both major soundtracks to my life at that exact moment
the first time i saw saosin was in 2006, the bill was STACKED Senses Fail Bleeding Through Alexisonfire & Saosin
It's pretty obvious ISOSG killed all this band's momentum after the S/T. I agree they probably wouldn't be FOB/Paramore big but another album in the vein of the S/T probably would have kept them in the spotlight longer. And there's literally nothing to indicate this band is toxic. Green left on his own after the EP to be with family, anyone would have kicked out Cove due to his stage presence/smoking in 2009, and Justin got kicked out of the Used right after, lol
I’m wondering if we will get a self titled tour in the US. I’d love to see them again. First club show I ever sent to was Saosin, Norma Jean and Alexisonfire which was a hell of a time.
This was my thinking too lol They could easily do a coheadliner celebrating Self titled/Cities and play a few new tunes to promote their new albums.
as fun as that would be i think id rather see them both fully in new album mode on tour. when otherness came out they went pretty light on it in their sets, would love to see that change this time around lol that said that for sure would be a big seller
This will be a nice show to show up late to and not take up my entire night. Support is definitely disappointing, but Saosin hasn’t been to Portland in over 15 years so this is a must see for me.
Eh totally not my thing at all, but honestly I’m totally fine not standing for 4 hours. Showing up late is preferred these days if I don’t care about the openers.