This is what gets me about TBS. They write a song like Places to Be a Mom which is, in my opinion, the best song they've written since Where You Want to Be, and the closest thing to a return to original form. They write El Paso, which while it is clearly in the vein of Devil and God and Brand New, I don't mind. An album of songs like El Paso would be, in my opinion, a welcome reinvention of the band.
Then they write this. It's like when Pete Wentz praised The Get Up Kids for their influence on today's pop punk scene, and Suptic responded by saying that's nice that people feel that way about them, but "the problem is most of [the bands they inspired] aren't very good," and he went on to literally apologize for "the world they've created."
I feel the same about Taking Back Sunday. Those first few albums inspired so many bands who wanted to sound like that, and most of them aren't really that good. And instead of writing more material like Best Places and El Paso, they write songs that sound more like those bands. Best Places and El Paso sound like Taking Back Sunday, and this song sounds like Taking Back Sunday playing covers of a crappy band that plays crappy Taking Back Sunday covers. Suptic was right when he said "The punk scene we came out of and the punk scene now are completely different. It's like glam rock now."
It's not that I don't like the band, it's just that it's clear to me, especially after hearing El Paso and Best Places, that TBS is capable of writing an album that is both a step forward for them, and true to their roots as a band.
This is what gets me about TBS. They write a song like Places to Be a Mom which is, in my opinion, the best song they've written since Where You Want to Be, and the closest thing to a return to original form. They write El Paso, which while it is clearly in the vein of Devil and God and Brand New, I don't mind. An album of songs like El Paso would be, in my opinion, a welcome reinvention of the band.
Then they write this. It's like when Pete Wentz praised The Get Up Kids for their influence on today's pop punk scene, and Suptic responded by saying that's nice that people feel that way about them, but "the problem is most of [the bands they inspired] aren't very good," and he went on to literally apologize for "the world they've created."
I feel the same about Taking Back Sunday. Those first few albums inspired so many bands who wanted to sound like that, and most of them aren't really that good. And instead of writing more material like Best Places and El Paso, they write songs that sound more like those bands. Best Places and El Paso sound like Taking Back Sunday, and this song sounds like Taking Back Sunday playing covers of a crappy band that plays crappy Taking Back Sunday covers. Suptic was right when he said "The punk scene we came out of and the punk scene now are completely different. It's like glam rock now."
It's not that I don't like the band, it's just that it's clear to me, especially after hearing El Paso and Best Places, that TBS is capable of writing an album that is both a step forward for them, and true to their roots as a band.