Summer Music: 1st Generation

The past few weeks I’ve found the music I listen to has shifted. I had been listening to more screamo and indie-type rock (my best way to describe Say Anything and The Hold Steady). I started listening to music a little more pop and a lot more fun. Its summer time and I didn’t even realize that I change my listening habits when summer comes around. It also seems like a lot of bands that I like or am starting to like are releasing new albums around this time.

It started by going back to some albums that I hadn’t listened to a whole lot recently. Once I gave them a listen I started to grab for them more often out of the CD case. Now they are in a solid rotation with all the stuff I’ve just bought recently. They bring me back to when I first got them, which for most of them was some point in college.

It doesn’t seem like I’ve been listening to all these groups for a few years now. It seems like yesterday when I first heard them. They all date back to high school and early on in college. I don’t even know what I listened to before all this besides Weezer and Green Day. Well, I guess you can’t forget Hootie & the Blowfish. Cracked Rear View is a masterpiece.

Here is what I’d call my first generation. Each band I have a pick of a song that is a quality summer tune. You can’t go wrong driving around all summer with these bands.

The Starting Line
For a while I had gotten sick of them. A combination of listening to them too much and seeing them in concert every few months. I went back and listened to all their albums again and every one is amazing. Say It Like You Mean It still reminds me of sophomore year and is still great. Getting back into The Starting Line seemed to have set me off down this path to summer.
Pick: Leaving

Blink 182
Everything I listen to traces its’ roots to when I first listened to Blink 182. Enema of the State might have been my first summer album. The summer I got it I played it at the shore about a hundred times, and I was only there two weeks. This was also the album that caused them to blow up. I eventually went back and purchased Dude Ranch, which turned to to be even better, and I think their best.
Pick: The Party Song

+44
Both decedents of Blink are fantastic. Angels & Airwaves was a great fall/winter album. More mellow, amazing lyrics. It was in rotation for quite a while. +44 is one more similar to Blink with the punk energy. Since its pretty much still Blink, I’m including it in this list. Its’ sound fits in more here than the newer stuff.
Pick: Cliff Diving

Lucky Boys Confusion
I’ve always had trouble putting Lucky Boys in a genre. I’ve settled on fun. So much fun in concert, with only about 12 people paying attention, maybe 4 of whom knew any of the songs, they were great. They were #5 on my favorite concerts. Lucky Boys are also on the top of the list of groups I’m hesitant to listen to at work since they are known to cause spontaneous dancing in my chair.
Pick: One to the Right

Fall Out Boy
I had downloaded a demo called ‘Headphones’ and was instantly fully on board with FOB. Headphones wound up being called Homesick at Spacecamp and is still one of my favorites. The summer after that there was only one CD in my car the entire summer. I put two FOB albums onto a single disc and listened to it over and over. Those albums: An Evening Out With Your Girl and Take This to Your Grave. Add on their two newer full lengths and you’re pretty much set for a solid day of good music.
Pick: Grenade Jumper

New Found Glory
Somehow they always fly under the radar to me. When I think about their albums, they are all great. Just going into my iTunes I am a little surprised how many high rated songs I have for NFG. Actually, its not really a surprise, I just need to not forget. I guess there’s always been enough bands that I like just a bit more keeping NFG down. Their consistent effort over the years, always being in the mix, will earn them a trip into my Hall of Fame someday.
Pick: Forget Everything

Less Than Jake
Ska can’t help but be fun. In my opinion these guys do it the best. I’d like to see a ska band give it a try to be sad and mellow. People would probably still dance. I saw them in concert once and really enjoyed them, which is surprising because I had to put up with the ska kids (I don’t want to do your kicking dances with you).
Pick: Anthem (the whole CD)

All these bands I was listening to four years ago. Next I’ll take a look at who I’ve gotten into since then.