I was one of those kids that spent the early 2000s rolling through the streets in my piece of crap 1989 Buick LeSabre that I bought for $100 from my aunt, windows rolled down (with a broken handle, and kept down because there was no A/C), blown speakers blaring Tell All Your Friends as loud as they could, screaming at the top of my lungs. From the first moment I hear "Cute Without The 'E'" I was completely sold: @Taking Back Sunday was my band. The emotion, the intensity - it was a perfect outlet for all the things my angsty teen self was dealing with.
When Where You Want To Be came out a few years later, I was a little underwhelmed. There were a few good tracks of course, but the album didn't really speak to me. I know it resonates with a lot of fans. It just wasn't my cup of tea, and that's okay.
But from the first second I heard "MakeDamnSure", I was recommitted to my TBS devotion. It became my MySpace song for many months and I made sure I was there when my local record store opened on April 25th, 2006 to buy my copy of Louder Now on CD.
Louder Now, Taking Back Sunday's third album and major-label debut, landed right as third wave emo broke into the mainstream. Panic! at the Disco was already exploding with "I Write Sins Not Tragedies," My Chemical Romance dropped The Black Parade that October, and Fall Out Boy followed with Infinity on High in February 2007.
You can hear the budget right away, too. Tell All Your Friends had a gritty, angsty basement charm to it, and Where You Want to Be polished that up and matured a bit, but Louder Now had real money and a mandate to make radio hits behind it. Even with that new-money smell, Taking Back Sunday still held onto most of what made them Taking Back Sunday, and the album stands as a testament to that. It's a classic, and a no-skipper for me.
Here are some of my favorite songs from the record.
What's It Feel Like To Be a Ghost?
This is one of the greatest album openers in the genre. It starts with a simple guitar riff that sounds almost like it's off in the distance before crashing in and kicking down the door. Everything about this song is an absolute production and I will admit to day dreaming about how I'd perform this one on stage.
The guitars, the drums, the call-and-response of the lyrics. It's TBS in their best form.
Plus, it makes an appearance on the Transformers soundtrack!
Liar (It Takes One To Know One)
Definitely the most aggressive track on the album, this song has mean riffs and sick harmonies. This was Fred Mascherino's last album with the band and he shines in harmony on this song in my opinion. And those guitar hits on the off beats in the verse are reminiscent of the RX Bandits - the whole track really reminds me of some of the later Bandits actually, and that's a great thing in my humble opinion.
I'm an addict for dramatics
I confuse the two for love
You can't tell me that you don't beg!
That vibrato on beg lives rent free in mind.
MakeDamnSure
Ah yes, the single. This song is a masterpiece from start to finish, and it helped break Taking Back Sunday out of the "scene" mold and into the mainstream. The music video got MTV play, and was directed by Marc Webb who would go on to direct The Amazing Spider-Man.
The hook to this song is possessive, unhealthy, romantic and aggressive all at once, and it's so quotable. It's one of those lines that defines the mall emo era.
I just wanna break you down so badly
I trip over everything you say
I just wanna break you down so badly
In the worst way
And the bridge? Yikes. But it's so damn good.
My Blue Heaven
This track is probably the most underrated on the album in my opinion. It's a little slower, a little less full of rage, but still soars with emotion. There's multiple rise and fall moments throughout the song, and the production is just top notch.
Like plenty of 20 somethings, I went through my share of heart ache. This song is one I could turn the volume up as loud as it could go and just belt and throw all my emotion behind.
Is this all too familiar?
Does it happen all the time?
I'm just asking you to hear me
Could you please, JUST ONCE, just hear me?
More than anything, you just wanted to be right
Still, it's you, you
It's you I can't deny
Twenty-Twenty Surgery
This song is fun. It's all about being able to see things clearly, but only after the damage is done. It's poppy, and punchy, and it's once that always gets my toes tapping and head bobbing.
You can definitely hear some pop-punk influences throughout the song. Parts of it sound like they could have been cut right out of an Alkaline Trio song, and other parts sound like they fell off of a Fall Out Boy album.
Miami
The whole truth
and nothing but the truth
Stop me if you've heard this one before
No, this is not Will Smith.
This is another song that's really underrated, and could have held it's own as the single on a lot of lesser albums.
Not only is it catchy as hell, but it's got a wistfulness to it that drives a strong emotional response.
Whoever I was then, I can't ever be again
Error Operator
Featured on the Fantastic Four soundtrack. Total banger.
I'll Let You Live
Closing tracks are tricky. You've already said your piece across ten songs, and now you've got one more shot to leave the listener with something. Some bands fade out, some go for a victory lap, and some decide to twist the knife one more time on the way out the door.
There's a whole lot of anger in this song, almost like the whole album has been building up to this point.
"I'll Let You Live" is not a song about healing. It's not about forgiveness, or moving on, or finding peace. It's a song about being DONE: done waiting, done trying to understand, done extending grace to someone who never deserved it. They're not worth the effort anymore.
Tell me just how dangerous is second best
You settle for less, then I'm sure you'll settle again
The song builds in a way that any great closer should, and delivers the gut punch before fading out.
You can catch Taking Back Sunday on tour this summer with Bayside, and if your near Colorado in October you can catch them playing Louder Now front to back to celebrate the 20th anniversary.