The Starting Line - Eternal Youth (September 26, 2025) • Page 30

Thank god this exists, I was reading along to the "Circulate" lyrics on Spotify and I'm like there's no way this is accurate lol

 

The wrong lyrics for Sense of Humor are particularly bad

 

I wish someone would put up the lyrics to quitter

 

Curveball is soooo As You Please coded haha. Those drum tones and verse chord progression. Can really hear Mat singing those melodies too, especially the “how was I supposed to knoooooow”

 

vinyl came in today and boy that is one SHINY ass album cover. my greasy paws might ruin it lol

 

Fuck, man, I had shit to say about the production when this came out but it’s already one of my most-played albums of the year.

 

I'm really surprised "Enjoyment" doesn't get more love. It reminds me so much of BOATS and Direction, thought it would be a fan favorite for sure.

 

Enjoyment is my favorite on the record for sure. Those guitars in the verses feel cut right from Direction, and something about the melody behind “at the end of the line it is not for me to say” just oozes vintage TSL

 

Agree, instrumentally it's very Direction and the vocal melodies feel like they could've been lifted straight from BOATS.

 

Easily one of my favorite tracks on the album next to the title track and Curveball.

 

I've seen a ton of people say it's their favorite. It's mine, too.

 

Enjoyment is in my top 5

 

I enjoy Enjoyment

 

The end of Enjoyment when Kenny strains to reach the upper register gives me chills

 

Revisiting their discography as I have listened to Direction x100000 more than the first two, and I can’t believe how great BOATS is. Did this seriously get a mixed reception at the time? How?

 

I don’t know about mixed. I remember it being regarded as a huge step up (with the exception of the bedroom talk chorus). It’s still my fav album of theirs

 

I like about 3/4 of that album. I think a lot of people wanted SILYMI pt. 2

 

Definitely love this song as well, but I'm far happier to hear other ones in more of a new style actually; Enjoyment does sound like older TSL - cool to have both approaches on this album

 

I think it mostly came down to how substantial a departure from SILYMI it was. More complex, darker moments, less straightforward song structures, all that stuff. I remember even Kenny saying he felt like they were a little too navel-gazey with trying new things (like the outro to "The B-List"), and the combined fan/label pressure seems like it was tough for them.

Which sucks, because I think it's their best album (and I love all the albums), and things like the outro to "The B-List" are a big part of that. I feel like it perfectly splits the difference between SILYMI and everything that came after. I'll never forget seeing them in Boston in 2018 and Kenny being visibly shocked by the reaction to "Inspired by the $," which went absolutely nuts. He said something after like, "We love that song, but I don't think we ever realized how much you all love it."

 

I love BOATS, but it was a big woof going for Bedroom Talk as the first single. Like, it's kind of fun, sure, and they wanted to seem rebellious and more mature than their high school song days, but it was a rough first impression of the full album and I'm certain turned a lot of folks off. Geffen did them straight up dirty by not having any other singles release from it.

If Surprise, Surprise had been the lead single, followed by something like Photography, I think we'd be living in a different world right now.

also, just to reiterate, Eternal Youth is so fucking good.

 

Best BOATS songs:

Making Love to the Camera
Surprise, Surprise
Stay Where I Can See You
The B-List
Cut! Print It

 

This year has been a wild one for new music, and even though it's not over... this is for sure going to end up being my AOTY with how much I've already listened to it. Not a single song that I even considering skipping on here.

And yes, Enjoyment is my favorite track.

 

I don’t know if Surprise or Photography would’ve moved the needle for BOATS but I do know that my top favorite tracks off that record are:

Inspired By The $ Sign
Surprise
Stay Where I Can See You
Artistic License
Ready

 

Stay Where I Can See You would have been a good single.

 

I always wondered why the full band version of Lasting Impressions was left off BOATS. Classic Jazz should've been on there as well. Oh yeah, Nights and Weekends as well.