Tell All Your Friends

Taking Back Sunday

I can't remember who showed me Cute Without the "E" but I knew from the first time I heard it that it was a classic. Now we're almost 20 years later and I can still tell you that song is a God-tier emo classic. The iconic opening chord progression, the speedy palm muted verse guitar riff, the dueling vocals from Adam Lazzara and John Nolan; this song has all the elements that make for a catchy and engaging emo/pop-punk tune. Despite loving many of their other singles and even going to see the band live once, Taking Back Sunday was a band I never really dove that deep into. Until now, I don't think I've ever listened to one of their records from start to finish before. Well I thought I would fix that and there was perhaps no better way than to start with their 2002 platinum selling debut.

To cut to the chase, I do like this record. Some of the other songs I remember hearing all those years ago still hold up for the most part. I love the unsuspected restraint in the verses to You're So Last Summer, especially after the song's intro where Lazzara's sudden entrance with some leading drum hits make you to believe the song is going in a heavier direction. Ghost Man On Third instrumentally and melodically comes off as a bit of an homage to early emo acts, but with Lazzara's fried vocals and shrieks, it has a bit more of an edge. While I wouldn't say the song has aged poorly, I do find it to be a little over-dramatic with the heavy application of reverb on the drums in the verses.

One song I came to love much later was You Know How I Do. I love the busy drum beat where Mark O'Connell relentlessly rides on open hi-hats and quickly connects with the snare and toms somewhere in between. The chorus lyrics and melody are dead simple; begging to be sung along to. The mantra, "we won't stand for hazy eyes anymore," is a call out for a mental health checkup; remove the blinders, remove everything that is clouding your judgement, and move on to a better life. It is still an anthem and I love that it opens this record.

Now, not everything has aged well on this record in my opinion. Some of the lyrics are pretty cringe inducing and melodramatic. There is no better example than There's No "I" In Team; a song penned by Nolan about his destroyed friendship with Brand New frontman Jesse Lacey over a romantic interest. Singing about a brick in the back as opposed to a knife in the back is unfortunately not enough to keep this song from sounding incredibly cliché. The vocals at times are also a point of contention for me. While generally I do like Lazzara's voice, at times his singing turns into wailing and it is not the most flattering of sounds. Lazzara and Nolan can also trade wails at such a high rate that it creates moments that are overbearing. Let's also talk about the elephant in the room, and that's the high pitched hum present during the vocals. It's a pretty massive recording flaw and it was always something I found hard to ignore. Even though the remastered version was able to reduce a bit of that hum (from what my ears could tell) allowing it to blend more into the cymbal wash, it's still present and distracting.

Tell All Your Friends, in my eyes, might not be the emo-punk classic many people make it out to be, but I still think it is a good record. Perhaps if I was a little more familiar with this record during my formative years, the nostalgia glasses might have given me a different perspective. At the very least, this record has two undisputable bangers that will appear on every playlist probably for the rest of my life. There are also two bangers on their follow-up as well meaning that the Taking Back Sunday album dive might be far from over.