Sometimes you have revelations about matters that have been in your orbit for a long time. And these revelations make you reassess why something has not been closer to you before. These days, it's the Bouncing Souls for me.
I wonder why I have not loved this band more. I mean, I've seen them play twice (and I enjoyed both times), own a number of their records, and would see them again if I had the chance. Yet something eluded me about them until I watched Do You Remember?, a documentary on the band, last week.
I remember when my friend Sarah interviewed Greg Attonito, talking about Do You Remember? as it was in the pre-production stage. There was about fifteen years of footage available to use and a lot of hope as to when this documentary could come out. The documentary eventually came out and I passed on taking a look. I don't remember why I chose to do that, but that's what I chose.
Recently finding a used copy and watching it a few days later, I had to ask myself why this band isn't one of my favorite pop-punk bands of all time. Maybe not in the case of entire albums by the band, but certain songs have stuck with me long after my initial love of pop-punk started to wane. "Kate is Great" is one of them. The song's lyrics seemed to sum up my life through college and after college, even though it was written from the perspective of a guy passing on college and living in a group house with his bandmates.
I think the key reason why is, while I think the band is incredibly sincere in what they do, the level of humor has been a little too high for my taste. Blame the number of silly songs on the self-titled record, but aside from songs like "Kate Is Great," "Say Anything," "Kid," and their version of the Kinks' "Better Things," the band has been a fun band instead of a meaningful band.
This perspective changed drastically as I watched the band perform "Gone." For the first time, I paid attention to the lyrics and really took note of the chorus's melody. Even though it could remade into something you'd hear in a church (yes, you heard me correctly), I find the song very fitting these days. Look past how simple it is to play on guitar, the song's a simple tale of overcoming. And I buy into this mindset completely. Maybe that's why I've listened to the song at least twice every day since last week.
Once again, here's to rediscovering a band from your past and realizing there's so much more to digest and enjoy.
I wonder why I have not loved this band more. I mean, I've seen them play twice (and I enjoyed both times), own a number of their records, and would see them again if I had the chance. Yet something eluded me about them until I watched Do You Remember?, a documentary on the band, last week.
I remember when my friend Sarah interviewed Greg Attonito, talking about Do You Remember? as it was in the pre-production stage. There was about fifteen years of footage available to use and a lot of hope as to when this documentary could come out. The documentary eventually came out and I passed on taking a look. I don't remember why I chose to do that, but that's what I chose.
Recently finding a used copy and watching it a few days later, I had to ask myself why this band isn't one of my favorite pop-punk bands of all time. Maybe not in the case of entire albums by the band, but certain songs have stuck with me long after my initial love of pop-punk started to wane. "Kate is Great" is one of them. The song's lyrics seemed to sum up my life through college and after college, even though it was written from the perspective of a guy passing on college and living in a group house with his bandmates.
I think the key reason why is, while I think the band is incredibly sincere in what they do, the level of humor has been a little too high for my taste. Blame the number of silly songs on the self-titled record, but aside from songs like "Kate Is Great," "Say Anything," "Kid," and their version of the Kinks' "Better Things," the band has been a fun band instead of a meaningful band.
This perspective changed drastically as I watched the band perform "Gone." For the first time, I paid attention to the lyrics and really took note of the chorus's melody. Even though it could remade into something you'd hear in a church (yes, you heard me correctly), I find the song very fitting these days. Look past how simple it is to play on guitar, the song's a simple tale of overcoming. And I buy into this mindset completely. Maybe that's why I've listened to the song at least twice every day since last week.
Once again, here's to rediscovering a band from your past and realizing there's so much more to digest and enjoy.
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