My music taste is derived almost entirely from my sister.

Now, that isn’t to say I haven’t found some bands I love on my own. Such as Oasis, Barenaked Ladies, and Coldplay. But the latest favorites, Fall Out Boy and Dashboard Confessional, are entirely her fault. And it doesn’t help that my iPod is full of emo bands that I wish existed when I was in high school.

I think I’m in love with these two bands. These are the boys I would have wanted to date in high school, if I dated boys in high school. There’s just something about emo that just… describes the everyday emotions that plague me. I live so much inside my head, that when someone puts in words what I’m feeling, I can’t help but fall for them.

For example, my favorite Fall Out Boy song, “Sophmore Slump or Comeback of the Year” from their album From Under the Cork Tree express completely the way I feel about words and songs.

We’re the therapists pumping through your speakers
Delivering just what you need
We’re well read and poised
We’re the best boys
We’re the chemists who’ve found the formula
To make your heart swell and burst
No matter what they say, don’t believe a word
…
We’re the kids you used to love
But then we grew old
We’re the lifers here till the bitter end
Condemned from the start
Ashamed of the way
The songs and the words own the beating of our hearts

This song always gives me the chills every time I hear it. When I heard it in concert, I think I very nearly wanted to cry. Because, you just have this feeling that they mean it. That this is their life, and they wouldn’t have it any other way, even if girls just keep breaking their hearts.

Dashboard Confessional came before Fall Out Boy, or, at least my love for them did. I have learned with emo music that the pauses in the music are sometimes contrary to the way they write out the lyrics. It’s like reading a poem with different punctuation than was intended. So, the geek in me loves lyrics that can have different meanings, depending on where the comma is placed. For example, in Dashboard’s song “So Beautiful” off of “A Mark, a Mission, a Brand, a Scar,” they are either praising a girl or deriding her. The difference between

Careful now
You’re so beautiful, when you’ve convinced yourself
No one else is quite as beautiful

and

Careful now
You’re so beautiful, when you’ve convinced yourself.
No one else is quite as beautiful

Both interpretations fit in the song, and it is up to the listener to determine what the song means. Like poetry, really. And perhaps that’s why I love these bands so much. Lyrics mean a great deal to me, and it almost seems like these songs are poems set to music.

And now, I believe I have a new band to adore. K just introduced me to Reliant K, and while I sit here going on and on about FOB and DC, I’ve been listening to Reliant K’s album “Mmhmm.” And K is right, as always. They are a blending of Fall Out Boy and Dashboard Confessional, and I love them too. I predict I’ll have this album memorized by the end of the week.

Thanks K, you’re the best.

- “Sophmore Slump or Comeback of the Year,” From Under the Cork Tree: Fall Out Boy

Tagged: music on Monday, February 27, 2006 · 1 Comment »